New, determined but very anxious

[AndrewLee]

Hello everyone. 35 years old overweight and haven’t been taking care of myself.
always had a terrible phobia of health related things in general. Through Christmas I started urinating really frequently and had a dry mouth and strained vision. Suspected Diabetes and scared myself to death. Out of hours doctor diagnosed a urine infection and said my blood was fine. I was thrilled! After finishing antibiotics I still had symptoms so called my GP and he looked at my test results and sympathetically told me I have diabetes and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t told. Spent that night in hospital for more testing and was officially diagnosed with Type 2.
hba1c was around 80 something and blood sugar was 14. Discharged yesterday with metformin and all the info and first clinic session next week.
Had a lot of success in the past with keto diet. (Made me feel amazing) but slipped back to my old ways after having another baby a year ago.
Anyway whilst I’m very driven and determined to get the weight off and I know I can do it, my anxiety is through the roof. Vision is still strained which I will mention on Monday and I have a habit of overthinking things to the point of catastrophe.
Found reading these posts quite soothing.

 

[Northerner]

Hello everyone. 35 years old overweight and haven’t been taking care of myself.
always had a terrible po is of health related things in general. Through Christmas I started urinating really frequently and had a dry mouth and strained vision. Suspected Diabetes and scared myself to death. Out of hours doctor diagnosed a urine infection and said my blood was fine. I was thrilled! After finishing antibiotics I still had symptoms so called my GP and he looked at my test results and sympathetically told me I have diabetes and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t told. Spent that night in hospital for more testing and was officially diagnosed with Type 2.
hba1c was around 80 something and blood sugar was 14. Discharged yesterday with metformin and all the info and first clinic session next week.
Had a lot of success in the past with keto diet. (Made me feel amazing) but slipped back to my old ways after having another baby a year ago.
Anyway whilst I’m very driven and determined to get the weight off and I know I can do it, my anxiety is through the roof. Vision is still strained which I will mention on Monday and I have a habit of overthinking things to the point of catastrophe.
Found reading these posts quite soothing.

Hi @AndrewLee, welcome to the forum 🙂 I'm very sorry to hear about your diagnosis Have your symptoms come on really quickly then, or did they just become more acute over Christmas? Try not to worry, the good thing about diabetes is that, with the right amount of information, support and effort, it can be managed very well 🙂 Bear in mind from the start that there isn't a 'quick fix' - any changes you make should be ones you find sustainable. Hopefully, as many here have discovered, the adjustments you make will be positive and lasting changes, so that it becomes a way of life to you to feel happy and healthy 🙂

I'd recommend reading Maggie Davey's letter for starters, it will give you a good overview of how to approach things 🙂 Also, I would highly recommend getting a copy of Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker, which will guide you through these early weeks and months 🙂

Your vision will improve as you begin to bring your blood sugar levels under control, but it can take a week or two - don't go buying any expensive new prescription glasses until things have settled 🙂 Cheap reading glasses were fine for me 🙂

Please feel free to ask any and every question you may have - nothing is considered 'silly', and there are lots of friendly, knowledgeable people here who will be more than happy to help 🙂

 

[AndrewLee]

Thanks for your response. My symptoms became more acute over Christmas.

 

[Jha19]

Sounds like you're determined to keep on top of it, especially with your diet...
While I'm sure it's a bit overwhelming, you now know what's going on and you can take steps to manage it all and hopefully avoid the complications...

 

[SueEK]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Good advice above from the others. I too experienced problems with my vision which scared me; however this did settle and returned to normal within a few weeks, this seems to be a common problem. I found by reducing my carbs quite a bit, I did eat a lot of carbs, I reduced my weight and more importantly reduced my blood glucose levels. Sounds like you know the score and any help or support we can offer please just ask, we are all here to help each other.
Also once we are given a diagnosis it is a real impetus to do something to help ourselves but remember this is for the long haul so don’t go mad with the diet to begin with or you will find it difficult to sustain. Good luck to you and feel free to ask anything at all. Sue

 

[Drummer]

Although your surgery has been very negligent in its care of you, it isn't anything dreadful, really.
By avoiding high carb foods, eating more stir fries and salads it is not impossible for you to be back in normal numbers inside 6 months.
I stuck to a low carb diet whenever I could, but unfortunately my surgery for the last three decades is very gung ho about high carb low fat meaning low cholesterol. It meant rapid weight gain, so now I am happy weighing less and feeling better.

 

[CathyB]

Hi and welcome, reading your initial symptoms is taking me right back to where i started, I thought i was going blind, never considered diabetes.....bit embarrassing as i am a former nurse 😳 I now follow a low carb diet and everything is back to normal, well as normal as i guess ill ever be 🙄

 

[Neens]

Hello everyone. 35 years old overweight and haven’t been taking care of myself.
always had a terrible phobia of health related things in general. Through Christmas I started urinating really frequently and had a dry mouth and strained vision. Suspected Diabetes and scared myself to death. Out of hours doctor diagnosed a urine infection and said my blood was fine. I was thrilled! After finishing antibiotics I still had symptoms so called my GP and he looked at my test results and sympathetically told me I have diabetes and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t told. Spent that night in hospital for more testing and was officially diagnosed with Type 2.
hba1c was around 80 something and blood sugar was 14. Discharged yesterday with metformin and all the info and first clinic session next week.
Had a lot of success in the past with keto diet. (Made me feel amazing) but slipped back to my old ways after having another baby a year ago.
Anyway whilst I’m very driven and determined to get the weight off and I know I can do it, my anxiety is through the roof. Vision is still strained which I will mention on Monday and I have a habit of overthinking things to the point of catastrophe.
Found reading these posts quite soothing.

Welcome AndrewLee - these posts are amazingly helpful!
I am recently diagnosed Type 2 my readings were 117 and 17.5 I wasn't showing symptoms (other than 2 which were side effects of other meds I am on), didn't feel too unwell but had flake outs and dizzy spells (no wonder)... I had 3 infections close together and asked for bloods to be tested. Straight onto metaformin and now on top dose. I am overweight but not as badly as I have been before, I know it isn't all about weight. I had an operation just over a year ago and had a very inactive/morphine filled life for a while.
I wish you hope for your anxiety over it all - your health team should be able to help with that at your appointment (I had to wait a fortnight for mine and was terrified). There are specific places you can seek advice and help for the mental health/wellbeing of diagnosis and coping - hopefully a more knowledgeable member can post details, they are somewhere on my desk. Was diagnosed just before Christmas so only in the game for weeks... not yet all sunk in.
This place is incredibly supportive and informative.
Sorry to hear the traumatic diagnosis/hospital.

Try not to overthink.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hello @AndrewLee

welcome to the forum!

You’ve had some great info and encouragement already and I’d highly recommend those links and resources in @Northerner’s post.

Keep us updated with how you are getting on, and how your diabetes management is doing. It can be a shock and a bit frightening in the early days, but a happy healthy life with diabetes is perfectly possible, and many people on the forum have said that their diagnosis was actually a bit of a turning point for them which helped them to a happier, healthier version of themselves.

 

[AndrewLee]

Hi and welcome, reading your initial symptoms is taking me right back to where i started, I thought i was going blind, never considered diabetes.....bit embarrassing as i am a former nurse 😳 I now follow a low carb diet and everything is back to normal, well as normal as i guess ill ever be 🙄

Hi Cathy, how long did it take for you to get your BG levels into range and these symptoms go away? X

 

[Eddy Edson]

Hi Cathy, how long did it take for you to get your BG levels into range and these symptoms go away? X

I reckon the two most common T2D newbie questions: what do I eat and how long will it take to get rid of it?

For the second: plenty of people around here have gotten BG down to "normal" levels within 6 months or much less. May or may not work for you, but I wish somebody had come out & given me that kind of target when I was first diagnosed. Good luck! With better BG control, the urination and dry mouth, and no doubt the vision probs, should go away.

 

[CathyB]

Hi Cathy, how long did it take for you to get your BG levels into range and these symptoms go away? X

It was about three months to get a steady 5.5, not bad when my starting point was 22! The symptoms stopped before that though, as the bg came down the eyesight returned to normal and the peeing did too 🙂