New diagnosis

[Debbie James]

Hello, looking for advice Please.

My husband was diagnosed a couple of days ago, urine test glucose off the scale but blood test shows is not type 1 or 2 ? Waiting for more tests. Doctor thinks he may have had it years. Has appointment to see doctor again on Tuesday and an appointment at a local hospital diabetes clinic on the 10th January. He has been given metformin but no advice regarding diet (and no glucometer so I don't what his blood sugar is doing) other than cut down sugar intake. He has been sick and I understand this can be a side effect of the drug, but I don't know whether to make him eat or not? He often goes most of the day without eating and then eats a lot in the evening, should I be making him eat regular small meals even if he feels sick? Thank you.

 

[pav]

Welcome to the group it can be daunting at first, and the lack of information you have been given is fairy common leaving people in the dark. What sort of food is he eating as you need to look at the total amount of carbs in the food and not just sugar alone. White bread for the majority of us is out of the food chain as it causes rapid rise in our sugar levels, also any highly processed food can cause problems. Fruit is a mixed bag, bananas can be bad for us espec when very ripe, I used to be able to eat them just as they turn from green to yellow after that I have to leave them, and even then recently they got to a point where I had to stop eating them, trying a repeat trial to see if it was just a blip or it's a no more bananas. Fruit juices are loaded against us for the same reason as some fruits cause a to big a rise in our levels.Unfortunately there is no catch all what you can't and can eat as we all react differently to the same foods.

Metformin has a common side effect of causing excess wind and the need to be near a loo, without digging out the into leaflet on the med I can't remember if the sickness is a side effect at the moment I don't have a leaflet to hand.

A meter is the way forward, though docs and nurse say you don't need to test unless you are put on hypo causing medication, but is always worth chasing up again. People who don't get strips on prescription tend to by the SD code free meter as the strips are around £8 for a pot of 50 where as the bigger names are £25 + for 50. If you decide to buy a meter in the short term the UK uses mmol/L measurement method and is available from home health https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/ Also remember to tick the I am a diabetic box as that removes the VAT from the purchase. The start kit only comes with 10 strips, so would be worth buying some strips at the same time.