Hello all! Been lurking for a few weeks and decided to say hello. 🙂
A bit of a back story. I've always been fit and strong, having played Rugby League for 20+ years until I hung up my boots 4 years ago. Tried to stay fit via the gym but then an old back injury resurfaced and has limited what I could do for the last 2 years. Last summer my back went badly and I've been mostly sedentary since then.
So I put on weight...about 3 stone over the last 4 years. And then sat on my bum not doing very much. To make matters worse my father's side of the family almost all have type 1 (I didn't really know this, being adopted).
In January I came down with a nasty chest/lung infection requiring a few courses of antibiotics. About 2 weeks in I started experiencing weird symptoms: my eyesight went down to about 4-5 metres, desperately thirsty, needing the loo every 15 minutes, severe fatigue - and very rapid weight loss, about 1.5 stone in 3-4 weeks. 😱
After nagging the doctor they agreed these symptoms sounds like diabetes. I had blood tests and they said "nothing urgent but we'll call you in a week", only to tell me over the phone my reading was "a bit high and could be type 2 diabetes". No more info, stuck me on 2 x 500g Metformin and sent me away. That was it. No advice, no face-to-face appointment, nothing.
After a couple more weeks I pestered them again and finally got in to see a doctor. She told me my reading was "99, a bit high", doubled my Metformin to 4 x 500g a day and again sent me away. I had no idea what 99 meant, what test it was, nothing. Only another 3 weeks later when I saw a nurse did I get any advice and was the "99" put into context in terms of a HbA1c scale, when I realised it was rather high.
Anyway, it's been going fine and the lung infection has nearly cleared. Felt a bit fuzzy at times but nothing too bad. My diet has always been good - nearly all fresh & home-cooked food, no processed/fast food, no white bread, etc, and I've never been into sweets or chocolate, but of course now I'm extra careful. Like many on here I was too much of a wine lover (didn't help with my weight!), but stopped altogether until last weekend when I tried a little without any adverse effect. My back is much better so I'm also back in the gym and feeling the benefit. Total weight loss so far is just over 2 stone.
Despite that, I was back in with the nurse today and she did a quick glucose test. We were both very disappointed to find it at 20.6 rather than the ideal range of 3-7 (she said she'd accept up to 13 seeing as I'd eaten not long before). She took another HbA1c test just to check, results should be in 2 days.
So there we are. Sorry for the essay. In some ways it's been a good thing - lost plenty of weight and improved life style, back in the gym, but of course there's a bit more to it than that! 😉
A bit of a back story. I've always been fit and strong, having played Rugby League for 20+ years until I hung up my boots 4 years ago. Tried to stay fit via the gym but then an old back injury resurfaced and has limited what I could do for the last 2 years. Last summer my back went badly and I've been mostly sedentary since then.
So I put on weight...about 3 stone over the last 4 years. And then sat on my bum not doing very much. To make matters worse my father's side of the family almost all have type 1 (I didn't really know this, being adopted).
In January I came down with a nasty chest/lung infection requiring a few courses of antibiotics. About 2 weeks in I started experiencing weird symptoms: my eyesight went down to about 4-5 metres, desperately thirsty, needing the loo every 15 minutes, severe fatigue - and very rapid weight loss, about 1.5 stone in 3-4 weeks. 😱
After nagging the doctor they agreed these symptoms sounds like diabetes. I had blood tests and they said "nothing urgent but we'll call you in a week", only to tell me over the phone my reading was "a bit high and could be type 2 diabetes". No more info, stuck me on 2 x 500g Metformin and sent me away. That was it. No advice, no face-to-face appointment, nothing.
After a couple more weeks I pestered them again and finally got in to see a doctor. She told me my reading was "99, a bit high", doubled my Metformin to 4 x 500g a day and again sent me away. I had no idea what 99 meant, what test it was, nothing. Only another 3 weeks later when I saw a nurse did I get any advice and was the "99" put into context in terms of a HbA1c scale, when I realised it was rather high.
Anyway, it's been going fine and the lung infection has nearly cleared. Felt a bit fuzzy at times but nothing too bad. My diet has always been good - nearly all fresh & home-cooked food, no processed/fast food, no white bread, etc, and I've never been into sweets or chocolate, but of course now I'm extra careful. Like many on here I was too much of a wine lover (didn't help with my weight!), but stopped altogether until last weekend when I tried a little without any adverse effect. My back is much better so I'm also back in the gym and feeling the benefit. Total weight loss so far is just over 2 stone.
Despite that, I was back in with the nurse today and she did a quick glucose test. We were both very disappointed to find it at 20.6 rather than the ideal range of 3-7 (she said she'd accept up to 13 seeing as I'd eaten not long before). She took another HbA1c test just to check, results should be in 2 days.
So there we are. Sorry for the essay. In some ways it's been a good thing - lost plenty of weight and improved life style, back in the gym, but of course there's a bit more to it than that! 😉
)
