Hi all
I'm James, and I've recently been diagnosed with Type 2, so still getting to grips with everything.
It all kicked off back in January. I'd been getting up a lot in the night to go for wee, often 3 or 4 times, so thought I'd get it checked out with the GP. My wife, a non-clinical NHS employee, thought it might be either prostate-related (I am 44) or Diabetes. The GP did a blood test and, a few days later, an HbA1c result of 108 rather confirmed the latter... With hindsight, I'd had other symptoms such as thirst and irritability too.
As I guess many others have similarly found, something of a whirlwind of appointments and information then followed. I was prescribed Metformin, and am currently on a daily dose of 2000mg, together with some additional blood pressure medication. The combined tablets haven't been without their side effects, but they're starting to subside a little now as I get used to them.
There's been so much advice and information to absorb in the weeks since. I'm the type of person that needs to fully understand everything as to be able to cope with it, but I'm getting there. I'm not really one for face-to-face support groups, but the information both here, and the support from my GP, has been great.
I'm sure that, again, like many others, the diagnosis was a wake up call in terms of lifestyle choices. I haven't been super active of more recent years, have a desk-bound job, and am obese (by BMI definition). My diet has always tended towards convenience, and sugary treats have always been my nemesis. I'd class myself as a moderate drinker, erring towards occasional weekend binging, but I did at least give up smoking around 5 years ago.
I started making some positive changes pretty much straight away. My diet is improving, I've more recently been using HelloFresh/Gousto meal deliveries to get some better variety and balance in what I eat, and have found it easier than I expected to really cut down on alcohol too. I am writing this whilst staring at a Cadbury Wispa though... I'm getting a lot more exercise in, mostly longer and/or more frequent dog walks, and am slowly getting back into cycling as the days get longer, warmer and drier.
So far, so good, it seems. The Diabetes Nurse wanted me to finger-prick to check my glucose levels, and that's been showing a steady decline in the mmol/L readings. My current 90-day average is 7.5, and my 14-day average is 6.5, so that looks fairly encouraging (I hope...). I still get occasional highs around 9-10, but in a way that's been useful as I'm starting to better understand the effect that particular food and drink is having. Morning readings tend to sit around 7, but this declines through the day depending on what I'm eating and doing, to the point where a typical pre-dinner reading might be somewhere between 5 and 6, even the odd 4.something.
I'd had another HbA1c result of 81 about 4 weeks ago, which I'm pleased with. I've also lost 10kg in weight since diagnosis, going down a size in clothes, and my wife will agree that my mood has improved too.
I do appreciate it's a marathon and not a sprint, but I'd love to get to a place where the Diabetes is controlled simply through diet and exercise, rather than medication, which I know is playing a heavy part just now. My next blood test is early June, so I'm hoping to continue the downward trend on the HbA1c result and go from there.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this. I look forward to hanging around here and sharing in others' experiences. 🙂
I'm James, and I've recently been diagnosed with Type 2, so still getting to grips with everything.
It all kicked off back in January. I'd been getting up a lot in the night to go for wee, often 3 or 4 times, so thought I'd get it checked out with the GP. My wife, a non-clinical NHS employee, thought it might be either prostate-related (I am 44) or Diabetes. The GP did a blood test and, a few days later, an HbA1c result of 108 rather confirmed the latter... With hindsight, I'd had other symptoms such as thirst and irritability too.
As I guess many others have similarly found, something of a whirlwind of appointments and information then followed. I was prescribed Metformin, and am currently on a daily dose of 2000mg, together with some additional blood pressure medication. The combined tablets haven't been without their side effects, but they're starting to subside a little now as I get used to them.
There's been so much advice and information to absorb in the weeks since. I'm the type of person that needs to fully understand everything as to be able to cope with it, but I'm getting there. I'm not really one for face-to-face support groups, but the information both here, and the support from my GP, has been great.
I'm sure that, again, like many others, the diagnosis was a wake up call in terms of lifestyle choices. I haven't been super active of more recent years, have a desk-bound job, and am obese (by BMI definition). My diet has always tended towards convenience, and sugary treats have always been my nemesis. I'd class myself as a moderate drinker, erring towards occasional weekend binging, but I did at least give up smoking around 5 years ago.
I started making some positive changes pretty much straight away. My diet is improving, I've more recently been using HelloFresh/Gousto meal deliveries to get some better variety and balance in what I eat, and have found it easier than I expected to really cut down on alcohol too. I am writing this whilst staring at a Cadbury Wispa though... I'm getting a lot more exercise in, mostly longer and/or more frequent dog walks, and am slowly getting back into cycling as the days get longer, warmer and drier.
So far, so good, it seems. The Diabetes Nurse wanted me to finger-prick to check my glucose levels, and that's been showing a steady decline in the mmol/L readings. My current 90-day average is 7.5, and my 14-day average is 6.5, so that looks fairly encouraging (I hope...). I still get occasional highs around 9-10, but in a way that's been useful as I'm starting to better understand the effect that particular food and drink is having. Morning readings tend to sit around 7, but this declines through the day depending on what I'm eating and doing, to the point where a typical pre-dinner reading might be somewhere between 5 and 6, even the odd 4.something.
I'd had another HbA1c result of 81 about 4 weeks ago, which I'm pleased with. I've also lost 10kg in weight since diagnosis, going down a size in clothes, and my wife will agree that my mood has improved too.
I do appreciate it's a marathon and not a sprint, but I'd love to get to a place where the Diabetes is controlled simply through diet and exercise, rather than medication, which I know is playing a heavy part just now. My next blood test is early June, so I'm hoping to continue the downward trend on the HbA1c result and go from there.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this. I look forward to hanging around here and sharing in others' experiences. 🙂
