New to all this.

[Aurora]

This day two weeks ago, as I was standing in a packed doctors surgery, the receptionist cheerfully told me I had type 2 Diabetes, and would need to make an appointment at the Diabetic Clinic. To say I was stunned just doesn’t cut it. Setting aside the manner in which I was told, the news itself sent me reeling. I’d been diagnosed as pre-diabetic 5/18 and I was brutal in my expulsion of sugar from my diet, as instructed by my doctor who broke the news on that occasion. I honestly expected to be ok.
My appointment at the Diabetic Clinic was 10mins with a doctor who told me everything and nothing at the same time. A sampling of the information on offer.....they used to test for Diabetes by tasting the patients urine!! Yeap I got told everything I didn’t need to know about Diabetes, and nothing about what I needed to know. I’ve since learnt a lot from Diabetes.org.uk and am just trying to wrap my head around it all and what it means for me and my family.

 

[Ralph-YK]

Welcome to the forum Aurora from a fellow T2.

 

[Drummer]

The doctor obviously did not understand that type two is the inability to deal with carbohydrates - not just sugars, but starches too - bread, potatoes, rice, oats, pastry, breakfast cereals, all raise blood glucose levels and Hba1c results.

 

[leonS]

Hi Aurora,
Welcome to the wunderfull world of "good grief how have I managed to get by without knowing that!" Next time you go to a party and explain that you have to limit the amount of carbohydrates that you eat, you will be able to slip that one in. Gives a whole new meaning to the expression "Going on the p..."

If you want sensible answers to any questions this is the place to ask them.

 

[SueEK]

Hi Aurora and welcome to the crazy world of diabetes. That’s a shocking way to find out you have it but sadly I am not surprised. It’s only when you have it that you learn how much you don’t know about it, certainly I didn’t and I work as a medical secretary. As the others have said low carbs is the way to go to bring your bg (blood glucose) levels down. Exercise will help if you can and losing weight also if you need to. Having said that on a low carb diet you do lose weight and fairly quickly. I am a carb loving person so struggle with my diet but have managed to get mine down from 90 to 51. Do you know your bg levels, have they done an HbA1c test yet. A lot of us have a meter to test our bg’s before and 2 hours after food to find out which foods suit us best, that way you can tailor what you eat as what one person can eat, another can’t.
Try not to worry as you can control this with some adapting of your diet but it will take a while to get your head around it. We are all here to help you and so ask as many questions as you want, even if you think they are silly ones because they’re ’ not. You cannot change everything overnight so have a good look around the site to get an idea of what we are all talking about.
Good luck to you and stay in touch.

 

[Aurora]

Thank you all for your kind reply’s and offers of support. I’m still struggling a bit with the terms so forgive me if I’m not answering your questions correctly. The doctor showed me a chart with my results from last year to this. Last year I was 46 ( not my age lol) and pre-diabetic, this year it had gone up to 52 and am now considered diabetic. However I now understand that as levels go I’m only a ‘baby’ diabetic as some of the folks on here have levels so much higher and I’d guess more serious than mine.
The information on carbs is so helpful thank you, and may explain why my efforts to reduce my levels last year didn’t work. I ordered all the dg testing kit and it arrived yesterday so started monitoring today. Panic had set in, despite no sugar and greatly reduced portion sizes my levels where way north of 8.5 after food. Now know the problem, shredded wheat for breakfast, half a bagel for lunch and spaghetti bolognese for dinner!
Exercise another great suggestion I’m sure, how I’m registered disabled. Was medically retired at age 34 when my Fibromyalgia went into hyperdrive. Had managed it with very strict/controlled exercise and medication since I was 18, but by my 30’s it had gotten bad and complicated by CFS and (my families kryptonite) Arthritis. The Fibro has its own complications (as any sufferers out there know) as does the CFS, to mobility but since the Arthritis is in all my joints and my spine, if I’m not in my car, scooter, chair, or wheelchair, I’m in bed. As you can imagine despite my efforts weight has become an issue. And am fighting the voice in my head that’s telling me the T2 is my fault. However for any one else out there that also has Fibro, you may be interested in a clinical study that has just come out in Texas USA. The university found evidence that Fibromyalgia can be linked to insulin intolerance. In a study group of Fibro sufferers more than three quarters tested as being either pre-diabetic or diabetic. When treated with (mmmm can I remember the name, no, need to re-read email. Back in a mo) Metformin, it not only treated the diabetes but also reduced their Fibro pain levels. The study author is Dr. Miguel Pappolla a professor of neurology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston.
I have become very involved with keeping track of studies into Fibromyalgia over the years, in hopes of understanding what’s wrong with my body. I plan to do the same with T2, and hope to take control of it. Thank you once again for your lovely welcome, please take care of yourselves.

 

[Drummer]

You might find that low carb makes things easier, as it is much easier to lose weight - sometimes without even trying, when eating low carb.

 

[CathyB]

Hi and welcome, the others have said it really, changes to your diet will help a lot, the exercise is added value so my advice would be take some time to focus on your eating for now, you might find this section useful:

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/forums/food-carb-queries-recipes.4/

 

[Aurora]

Thanks again to you all for the lovely welcome and great advice. Had my first low carb day today and boy did it make a difference to my levels compared to yesterday. My highest BG was 10.7 so that’s great isn’t it? I know it’s to be under 8.5 after food but 10.7 was a big improvement on yesterday with its shredded wheat, bagel and pasta! Thanks so much for putting me on the right track. I’m still waiting for news about going to a class for diabetics in my area, if I hadn’t have gotten all this help and support from you guys I don’t know where my head would be at by now. So thanks again and take care everyone.