New, grumpy and confused !

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clairemm

clairemm

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi, I'm new to the type 2 club. I have a billion questions but I?m going to hold back on most of the them so you don?t all block me.
I?m feeling a little adrift since being diagnosed, I have been given barely any actual diet advice (I know cakes = bad, etc) but I had to ask if I should avoid certain fruits, (grapes v v bad apparently) and if carbs sugar was ?sugar sugar? etc.
I was given a 1 sided idiot sheet, which basically said I shouldn?t eat butter, chocolate, etc and should eat potatoes, rice, wholemeal bread and pasta. but having read a lot on here and diabetes uk website it appears that?s possibly not the best advice especially as I have a lot of weight to lose.

so already I?m questioning the knowledge/facts behind the little I have been told and the following doesn?t help.

? would you lose weight with undiagnosed type 2 ? (it would appear I have lost over 2 stone in the 6 months before diagnoses) I asked my nurse if you would lose weight with type 2 (there was questions as to whether I had type 1 or 2 at first) and she just said no and moved on to something else (ignoring to fact I have lost weight with no dieting)

? I also asked if I would have to be on the metformin forever even if I lost weight and she said "yes, sorry but your pancreas will always be damaged you will need tablets for the rest of your life" but I?ve already read one case on here where someone has been taken off it after a few years and a large weight loss.

I don?t want to sound like I have an enormous sense of entitlement and I know even the doctors and nurses cant know everything and the best education in living with something and I?m grateful for the help and medication I have received, but now I know why I kept getting sick, bad headaches and slept all the time and what my blood glucose levels are (3 weeks plus and day and night my numbers range between 11 to 14) but I do think especially the first question is important, especially as first nurse seemed to think it was possible I was type 1 (she gave me ketostix and told me to seek help if read ++) they regularly read + and on 2 occasions so far read ++ but second nurse didn?t even seem interested when I told her.

What one medical professional thinks is important another ignores and it?s just adding to my despondency/what?s-the-bloody-point thoughts.

Moan over (felt good to get it out though :S )
 
Hi clairemm, welcome to the forum 🙂 It looks to me like you have exhausted the 'knowledge' of your nurse so I'm afraid it doesn't look like you can depend on her for any future problems or questions you might have 🙄 it is perfectly possible to lose weight when you have undiagnosed diabetes of any type. This is because your body, being unable to utilise the energy from the glucose in your blood, has to burn body fat (and, to some extent, muscle fibre and other tissue) instead, resulting in weight loss - this process also produces ketones as by-products. Like you, I lost two stone in the 2 years leading up to my diagnosis for no apparent reason. Once you can improve your insulin sensitivity (exercise helps enormously with this) and modify your diet bu using your meter to inform you as to what food you can and cannot tolerate well, your body will be able to use your blood glucose more efficiently, keeping levels lower and reducing ketosis
.
Secondly, yes, it is perfectly possible to start on medication, but then be able to come off it once you have gained good control of your blood sugar levels with modifications to your diet and activity levels - many of our members have achieved this. It is not always possible, but it is a possibility.

As for diet, again, the type of advice you have been provided with is largely discredited. Far better advice is to try and follow a low GL or GI (Glycaemic Index/Load) diet and, as mentioned, use your meter to inform your food choices. The GL Diet for Dummies is a good introduction to the principles of GL.

So you can understand how to tackle your diabetes, a good place to start is by reading Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter. I would also highly recommend getting a copy of Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker, which will put you in the picture and give you a far greater understanding of your diabetes than you have been given so far.

Hopefully, this will set you on the right track and clarify much of the confusion you have been feeling! If you have any questions, then please do ask - nothing is considered 'silly', and there are hundreds of lovely people here who have been exactly where you are now, and who will be happy to help out where they can 🙂
 
Welcome to the forum clairemm 🙂
 
Ok, and now some information from someone who knows how it is for real and not just what was 'learned from a day course'.

First things first though ... Welcome to the forum. 🙂

1) I lost more than a stone before diagnosis and so it is possible that weight loss can occur. In my case it was down to severe insulin resistance.

2) No, you don't need to be on metformin for life. It may be advisable to be on metformin long term for various reasons but it isn't written in stone. In my case I was on metformin for around three months after diagnosis but was then able to stop taking it. I have been off it for over two and a half years now.

3) Diet is a trickier issue. For me I have reduced my carbohydrate intake quite a lot. I also cut out most of my saturated fat intake (in the form of butter etc). This helped me get down to my fighting weight of between 13.5 and 14st and since then I have slackened the restriction a little to maintain rather than lose weight. I still strictly control my intake of potatoes, rice and pasta though .... they are the things which affect me the most.

That's about it for now.

Good luck,

Andy 🙂
 
wow lots of Hi's and information, thank you

and now I?m confident I?m not wrongly diagnosed and/or crazy things might get a bit easier. I?ve ordered the ".. the first year book" yesterday so that should be here soon and I?m about to order the gi for dummies, so I should be a genius soon (I won?t be, I?m crap I forget everything as soon as I stop reading, but I can carry them around with me 😛)

I was worried about all the carbs I was eating, my inner voice was telling me that much bread and rice, etc was gonna put the weight back on, I?m already worried that now I?m on metformin that the weight loss will stop or reverse. the only good thing about all this so far has been the weight loss and on my low days I?ve seriously considered not taking the tablets and letting the weight loss carry on that way. I?ve gone from apparently been able to eating what I like and lose weight to not able to eat so many things and putting on weight.
I know that?s dangerous and lining me up for so many problems down the road as my type 2, copd, 2 x heart attacks, severe arthritis, 1 legged dad keeps pointing out.

lastly could it be not-yet-controlled diabetes that has turned me into a walking and very sensitive perfume, air freshener, bath foam, most materials barometer ? I?m so sensitive to everything now, even on other people sets my skin prickling and coming up in hives, in fact I only got diagnosed the day I did because I?d been sent home from work coz they thought I had shingles!
 
Metformin will not make you gain weight, so don't stop taking them 🙂 Losing weight from having too high blood glucose levels just isn't worth the trade-off - your father is right! 🙂 I can'r explain the hives etc. but we are complex beings that can respond in unusual ways when our bodies are not on an even keel - I imagine the problems will dissipate as you gain better control 🙂
 
Thank you for asking these questions

I have also been diagnosed with diabetes although the letter did not say which type. I got a lot of leaflets by post sent by my surgery and have been told to make an appointment with the practice nurse. I find the diet advioce on the web really confusing and have come to the conclusion that I will need to test my blood sugar level several times a day and keep notes about what helps and what does not. My understanding is that carbohydrates are converted to sugar. Should I concentrate on proteins and drastically reduce carbohydrate intake? I need to loose a bit of weight. Which is the most accurate meter to buy? Do I need training to do the test or can I just do it? I also have an underactive thyroid and have a tablet to take for that. I have been told that this makes weight loss very difficult. Is this true? I am feeling very confused and am so glad to have found somewhere that I can ask questions. The nurse who originally said that my blood sugar was high 11.9 but did not give me any other information. She said that it was important to see my GP. I have an appointment in three weeks time. I have had two fasting blood sugar tests through the practice nurses who said they do not know about diabetes but that it is serious. Yesterday I got a letter saying that I have diabetes. Sorry to have gone on but I feel a bit "alone" on this amd it seems very little interest being shown by the GP etc.
 
Welcome to the forum happydog 🙂

Sadly you are experiencing the fairly common lack of knowledge in a GP surgery. If you are lucky you can ask to be referred to a hospital clinic. I'd make a request for them to give your test results to you as well (in printed form). It should come under the Data Protect Act, so they can't refuse.

Have a read around Alan S's advice on his website, this http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.co.uk/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html is good for explaining how to test for different foods to find what is best for you. But there is lots of useful advice in his blog.
 
Thank you

Mark T said:
Welcome to the forum happydog 🙂

Sadly you are experiencing the fairly common lack of knowledge in a GP surgery. If you are lucky you can ask to be referred to a hospital clinic. I'd make a request for them to give your test results to you as well (in printed form). It should come under the Data Protect Act, so they can't refuse.

Have a read around Alan S's advice on his website, this http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.co.uk/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html is good for explaining how to test for different foods to find what is best for you. But there is lots of useful advice in his blog.
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Thanks for the welcome. I am on a very steep learning curve and really grateful fo all advice and experience. I will certainly follow yours.
 
Hi Happydog,
I can answer the throid question for you 🙂 It's a myth re being hard to loose weight. This is due to taking the thyroxin medication to bring your levels back to normal. If your thyroid is underactive and not treated then you gain weight and find it hard to shift.
So taking the meds works wonders 🙂
 
Thank you

Pumper_Sue said:
Hi Happydog,
I can answer the throid question for you 🙂 It's a myth re being hard to loose weight. This is due to taking the thyroxin medication to bring your levels back to normal. If your thyroid is underactive and not treated then you gain weight and find it hard to shift.
So taking the meds works wonders 🙂
Click to expand...

Thank you for your welcome. The news about the thyroid tablet is brilliant. I feel better already!
 
Hi Happydog! Good advice you've had there. You don't need training to operate a Glucometer, words and pictures in the instruction book!

Claire - something in your first post made me laugh - hope it does you too (in retrospect)

So they tell you to eat shedloads of starchy carbs; then tell you that you'll never come off the meds.

Oh dear.

In actual fact that was true, cos if you follow that dietary advice - you most certainly never will !

So don't ......
 
Happydog I thought I?d been treated a bit shabby, but diagnosed by letter and appointment 3 weeks away! that?s rough. I can understand why you feel abandoned. a new diagnoses is like a slap round the face anyway and you sit there, head reeling thinking "now what?"

I thought I would be better off as my surgery is a big health centre, with a diabetes team, asthma team, weight management centre, etc, I thought I was lucky as there would be less people booking in to see "my" diabetes team than there would be booking the diabetes team at the local hospital, but after only 1 follow up visit I?m finding the knowledge lacking.

I've still got a lot to learn, but I?m trying to take the following good points from all this
(1) at least I know what?s wrong with me now, because my general health was getting worse and worse
(2) I have the medication needed to help
(3) I?ve found somewhere to get more relevant and upto date advice (here and diabetes uk website)
(4) my blood glucose is depressingly high despite massive changes to my diet, but they must have been a lot higher before.

one thing I would recommend is pushing for a sooner appointment (even if it means time off work, etc) I found 2 weeks between diagnoses and first proper appointment a right merry go round. swinging from good intensions, to thinking "what?s the point" it?s hard to maintain good intensions when you have to wait weeks to talk to someone that?s got the advice you need. I missed a blood test that would have diagnosed me a few weeks earlier because I couldn?t fit it in round work, then I got ill with about 4 different apparently common side effects of uncontrolled diabetes all at the same time and ended up having to have the whole week of work and fitting in blood tests and appointments while feeling pants lol
 
trophywench said:
Hi Happydog! Good advice you've had there. You don't need training to operate a Glucometer, words and pictures in the instruction book!

Claire - something in your first post made me laugh - hope it does you too (in retrospect)

So they tell you to eat shedloads of starchy carbs; then tell you that you'll never come off the meds.

Oh dear.

In actual fact that was true, cos if you follow that dietary advice - you most certainly never will !

So don't ......
Click to expand...

LOL trophywench prehaps thats what its all about, its an evil ploy to keep me hooked on thier meds forever 😱 i will defeat. i will overthrow the dark powers :D
 
so does a hba1c of 86 get me any prizes ?! as i'm new to this it didnt mean much to me, obvoiusly did to my nurse though, shes phoned me everyday since to ask how i am ! lol

i did look up a hba1c scale but the one i found only went up to 75 😱

all my life i've been getting low scores in all the tests i took, and people told me off. now i get high scores in tests, people are still telling me off ! 😉
 
It's 10% in old money - which since the target is 6.5% is a bit high.

But glad to hear the nurse is being a little more attentive now.
 
clairemm said:
so does a hba1c of 86 get me any prizes ?! as i'm new to this it didnt mean much to me, obvoiusly did to my nurse though, shes phoned me everyday since to ask how i am ! lol

i did look up a hba1c scale but the one i found only went up to 75 😱

all my life i've been getting low scores in all the tests i took, and people told me off. now i get high scores in tests, people are still telling me off ! 😉
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It equates to 10% in the 'old money', which is on the high side. The ideal is to get it to 6.5% or below (48). Mine was 11.8% at diagnosis and I was feeling VERY bad. Hopefully, things wil begin to improve for you now that you are diagnosed and receiving treatment 🙂
 
6.5% huh, this is gonna take more chocolate and bread dodging then.

they have put me up to 4 x 500g metformin a day so prehaps the numbers will start coming down now.
 
Claire hun - the Metformin will help once you get it well into your system - that takes 2 to 3 weeks. But it can't do it alone if you eat too much carb.

But with it, you certainly know when you've eaten too much carb because it tends to pass straight through ... it's aka Metfartin .... if windyoops were the only thing it might not be so bad but there's often quite a bit of err, 'follow through' LOL
 
clairemm said:
6.5% huh, this is gonna take more chocolate and bread dodging then.

they have put me up to 4 x 500g metformin a day so prehaps the numbers will start coming down now.
Click to expand...
Don't bank on that! Metformin is reputed to be able to bring down your HbA1c by about 2% at best (someone else knows the actual figure, but I think I'm in the right magnitude).

The rest of the needed reduction you will need to achieve via exercise and diet adjustments. That doesn't mean lettuce leaves and running 10K every day :D If you have a meter then Alan Shanley's advice (posted previously) is excellent for identifying which foods you can eat without going really high.

If you are overweight then loosing some will help your numbers come down too.
 
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