Needing help....eeek!!!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Cat1964

Cat1964

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hey , I was diagnosed on Wednesday. So confused with everything I have read on various sites. Since the time I my GP did my blood. I cut all rubbish out of my diet. Been having lots of episodes of trembling, vagueness, forgetting what I want to say and generally forgetting things like my home phone number, feeling generally dreadful. At the moment slightly trembly, headache and light headed. Couldn't even tell hubby what had just happened there in Big Brother! Had a really bad one 2 weeks ago and thought i was going to pass out.Are these hypos?

My appointment with the nurse to discuss my diagnosis is Wednesday afternoon. I don't even know if she's a diabetic nurse though I have a feeling she's not.

Just need help just now haven't a clue what to do for me to feel good and I haven't felt good for days. No clue what to or what not to eat or drink apart from the obvious.......sugar! And I miss sugar in my coffee too.....lol. Right at the moment not happy and feeling miserable about all this.

Please help x
 
hey its so tough when first dx but you found a good place here do you know what your dx results were and what meds are you on ?
firstly as you are doing try and cut out all obvious sugars and then its about moderation
..no question is regarded silly so ask away 🙂
 
Hi Cat1964, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I think that what you may be experiencing are not hypos, but you may be getting the symptoms of a hypo because your the changes you have made to your diet mean that your blood sugar levels are lower than you have been used to. This should settle before too long if you stick with things. If you are not on any medication for your diabetes then your levels will not fall dangerously low, it will just be unpleasant for a while. I'm presuming you haven't been given a blood sugar meter so you know what your levels are when you feel this way?

Don't panic! Although diabetes is a serious condition it can be managed well with the right knowledge and a bit of work. Many people find that they end up feeling fitter, healthier and happier than they did before they were diagnosed as they start to bring things under control and make the necessary adaptations to their diet and activity levels 🙂

I would suggest you read Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter as a quick introduction. I would also highly recommend getting a copy of Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker - many of our members have found it invaluable. There are lots of other resources in our Useful links thread.

I would also recommend getting a book about the GL (Glycaemic Load) diet. You can have a healthy, varied diet, it just takes planning and a bit of compromise here and there. Nothing is forbidden, but common sense needs to be applied for 'treats'! A good introduction is The GL Diet for Dummies.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. Nothing is 'silly', so if it is troubling or confusing you, please ask and we will try to help 🙂
 
Hi, I have no idea what a dx is. My first blood test was 7.9, they didn't tell me what the 2nd one was. My diagnosis was given to me over the phone by GP's receptionist. I have no medication yet. Until I see this nurse on Wednesday to discuss my 'diagnosis'.
 
Cat1964 said:
Hi, I have no idea what a dx is. My first blood test was 7.9, they didn't tell me what the 2nd one was. My diagnosis was given to me over the phone by GP's receptionist. I have no medication yet. Until I see this nurse on Wednesday to discuss my 'diagnosis'.
Click to expand...

dx is just shorthand for diagnosis Cat 🙂
 
Cat1964 said:
Hi, I have no idea what a dx is. My first blood test was 7.9, they didn't tell me what the 2nd one was. My diagnosis was given to me over the phone by GP's receptionist. I have no medication yet. Until I see this nurse on Wednesday to discuss my 'diagnosis'.
Click to expand...

mine was the same on Diagnosis (Dx sorry i hate jargon 😱) you maybe put on meds and given a diet sheet ...what you need to try and work out what it is that you are eating that causes you to have high Blood sugars difficult if they dont suggest you test ..but the main thing is to cut out all obvious sugars firstly x🙂
 
This sounds really stupid...but I need to ask. Am I doing right cutting all chocolate, sweets, crisps, junk food out of my diet? Also are potatoes REALLY bad for me. Is rice a good substitute or am I not allowed to have that either?
 
Hiya - welcome to the club no-one wanted to join.

And {{{Hugs}}} to start off with.

'Dx' is only the word 'Diagnosis' to prevent us having to keep typing the word. There are various other abbreviatons which I promise you you'll soon get the hang of - most of us use a thing actually called a Glucometer - a machine that you stick a little strip into, apply a drop of blood from a fingerprick to the end of the strip and it electronically reads your Blood Glucose level. In practice we just say 'meter' and abbreviate Blood Glucose to BG.

There's another Blood Test we all have periodically (blood taken from a vein by a nurse, sent off to a lab for testing) which is actually called the Glycosulated Haemoglobin test. Yep we want to keep typing that one NOT - so it gets shortened to it's shortest form of HbA1c. Hb = Haemoglobin though and we knew it tested that bit of our blood, so why bother with the Hb? - so it gets shortened further to just 'A1c'.

Don't worry! You'll get there - and asking EVERY question you want to ask is VERY important. You'll get a sensible answer to every one here - I promise.
 
Cat1964 said:
This sounds really stupid...but I need to ask. Am I doing right cutting all chocolate, sweets, crisps, junk food out of my diet? Also are potatoes REALLY bad for me. Is rice a good substitute or am I not allowed to have that either?
Click to expand...

yes if you can cut out the junk ...however its about moderation ...by cutting out all obvious sugars you immediately start to help , however this is a lifestyle change and it will take a while to adjust ...i only for example have the very darkest quality chocolate a small bit at a time ...umm i savour it ...a mars bar etc now tastes just tooo sweet ....🙂
 
Thank you so much everyone I appreciate all you are telling me. 😱 I know I sound really really thick. But I've been left on my own to deal with this till Wednesday and no clue what I should be doing. I feel mega stressed. You all probably think what a wimp...get over it. I am probably panicking over nothing. I mean for example how often should I be eating a day. Is it stick to 3 meals a day or should there be snacks too????? What about drinking, I still have incredible thirsts. I drink lots of water to try and sort that out but find the thirst only gets worse. I'm just clueless :confused:
 
....and right now if someone offered me a Mars Bar I'd eat it all!!!!!!! :D
 
You can eat what you want to, as long as it doesn't have too much of a bad effect on your Blood Glucose.

Yes cut out overly sweetened stuff, the cakes the sweeties etc as you mention if possible - sugar added to drinks, do try to manage without or use a sweetener if you can't - I had already stopped sugar in coffee before I was diagnosed but hated tea without. After diagnosis, by the second cup of tea without sugar - I suddenly realised it's FAR better at quenching my thirst without sugar!

Both taste like poison now sweetened with anything! How unbelievable is that?

Spuds, Rice, Pastry, anything with carbohydrate in it eg flour, cornflour etc - even some fruits and other veg - bananas and grapes and oranges have shedloads, as do parsnips - can and will affect our Blood Glucose - ie will increase it. So that's not a good thing. But the thing is, we all have our different tolerances for these things.

Be very careful at first, but cutting ALL carbohydrate out at once will probably make you feel absolutely dreadful to begin with so it may be better to say to yourself, I'll cut it by half or a quarter, and work downwards from there a bit more gradually.

Once your BG returns to 'good' levels, you may be able to gradually add a bit back here or there without you BG going berserk.

But the only way to know this, is to get one of those meters, and test - as explained in the 'links' others have already given you.
 
Cat1964 said:
....and right now if someone offered me a Mars Bar I'd eat it all!!!!!!! :D
Click to expand...
You mean there's an option to NOT eat a whole one???

Sorry to be flippant, but I know how I was pre-diabetes. The good news is that once everything is back under control, not only will you feel better but you will know what treats your body will tolerate. I'm about to make a cup of cocoa (Tesco Lighter Options instant hot chocolate with a dash of milk).
 
no worrys lovely thing about this place is its a support forum ..we all wear a similar badge... 'been there'🙂 ...not a wimp at all ...i cried for days ...😱 my prob was that i thought i was a 'Healthy' eater loads of fruit only natural juices to drink... museli etc... i now find grazing through the morning is good ...but thats cos im busy running a charity shop and have to 'graze' you will find your balance 🙂
 
You are not stupid, you are not thick, you are not a wimp.

So there.

The insatiable thirst is your body telling you it has too much glucose and the only way it can get rid of it is to convert it into extra urine, which makes you need to pee. A Lot. And there was you thinking it was just all the water you feel compelled to drink, didn't you?

Keep on drinking and peeing! You can have diet pop and No Added Sugar cordials to make a change if you want, or tea/coffee without sugar as already mentioned.

Couple of questions, how old are you if you don't mind me asking, AND - are you suddenly losing weight by any chance?
 
I'd definitely agree with Trophywench!

The thirst is often because your blood glucose levels are high and your body is trying to flush them through your system.

One way that some of us use to get the levels down is to go for a brisk walk (vigorous exercise will actually temporarily put your levels up) for a while.

[deleted a few sentences which were effectively the same as what trophywench wrote]

Just to be annoying 😉 please try to avoid getting stressed over it, since that will put your levels up too 😱
 
Thanks. I eat she'd loads of fruit but it seems I probably have to curb that a bit. Right now I feel the best thing for me to do is just stay off the rubbish and junk food till I speak to the nurse on Wednesday. I really miss sugar in my coffee, but yesterday was only the first day without sugar in my coffee....lol. The sweeteners didnt taste too bad today, but I still didn't finish the coffee!! Just as well I hate tea! I will thoroughly read the links over the next few days and absorb every piece of info. Just thinking Wednesday shouldn't come quick enough. My worry is the nurse may not be a diabetic nurse and may not be able to tell me all I need to know or have time to answer whatever questions i need to ask. 🙂
 
I am *whispers* 48.....ouch! :D I haven't been losing weight so it will be nice if by cutting out rubbish that I do lose weight. I initially went to my GP because I thought I was anaemic again. Last transfusion I got 6 units. So as I was displaying some of my anaemic symptoms I went to GP for a blood test. My FBC was normal but showed a fasting blood of 7.9. Just what I need huh...to be an anaemic diabetic!!!!:D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top