New to forum and T2

[Dollyspark]

Hello,

After visiting my doctor for my blood results yesterday, I was very shocked to receive a rather blunt diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. Whilst originally visiting for stomach pains, particularly after eating, and very painful periods, I was not prepared for this diagnosis.

On reflection, the symptoms of extreme thirst, frequent urination and fatigue have been very apparent for quite some time. My confusion and concern lies in the fact that I live a very healthy and active lifestyle and have done since I was young; I’m 28 now. Given I’m not overweight, I don’t binge on carbs or sugary foods and I exercise regularly, I’m worried about how I’m going to manage and improve my situation.

My meeting with the diabetic nurse is a little over a week away so google will have to be my friend until then!

Whilst I appreciate the forum isn’t full of doctors, I wondered if anyone could offer any input/advice to perhaps help me sleep tonight!

Thank you in advance and I look forward to being part of your community.

Dolly

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Well hello Dolly (@Dollyspark) 🙂

Sorry, couldn't resist!

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis . It sounds like it came as a real shock. But be encouraged, while potentially extremely serious, diabetes is also a longterm condition that can be successfully managed with the right approach and medication if needed. Some people also find that a diagnosis becomes something of a catalyst to a push for a healthier lifestyle and an increased awareness of just how individual and amazing our bodies are.

On the basis of 'forum history' I would recommend Maggie Davey's letter https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/maggie-daveys-letter-to-newly-diagnosed-type-2s.61307/

And Gretchen Becker's book 'Type 2 Diabetes the first year' https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/073821860X/ which is written in a clear and easily understood style.

But...

And it's quite a big BUT... There are parts of your story that raise some question marks for me. Sometimes a diagnosis of T2 is assumed because a person is not a child - but type 1 can develop at any age, and there are other slowly developing forms of T1 such as 'LADA' which can initially present like T2, but are autoimmune in nature and should be treated as T1.

Do you have details about what checks were done prior to your diagnosis? Do you know if you were producing 'ketones'? Were you losing weight aling with the tiredness and urination?

Sorry it's more quetions than answers!

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Dolly.
So sorry to hear of your diagnosis. Diabetes is diagnosed by a test called an HbA1c which is a measure of the glucose molecules stuck to the haemoglobin cells in your blood stream. It does not tell the doctor what type of diabetes you have and many doctors assume that you must be Type 2 if you are not a child because their limited training on diabetes (remember they are GPs not specialists), however many years ago that was, may have suggested that only children develop Type 1, which is incorrect. There is specific testing (GAD antibody test and C-peptide test) which will identify if you are Type 1 but it is not routine and often authorised by a consultant rather than a GP, so you might be best pushing to see a consultant.
It is also possible that you are a thin outside, fat inside Type 2 and the initial diagnosis is correct. Your idea of healthy eating may not unfortunately correspond to what is healthy for a diabetic.... starchy carbohydrates as well as sweets, cakes and fruit can all spike our blood glucose. So bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, breakfast cereals, fruit and even "healthy" porridge can cause us problems as well as the sweet sugary stuff.

Have you been told what your HbA1c reading is?..... I am guessing it is probably pretty high since you are symptomatic. If so, cutting right down on carbohydrates will help short term and drink plenty of water to help your kidneys flush some of the glucose out in your urine and get yourself to A&E pronto if you start to feel unwell as Diabetic Ketoacidosis can set in quite quickly if your Blood Glucose gets too high and your pancreas is not producing enough insulin to deal with it and that is a very dangerous condition which will need emergency treatment.
Since you are suffering with stomach pains it might also be prudent to discuss a pancreas scan.

Have you been given any medication yet? I am reasonably confident that you will not have been given any insulin at this stage, but if you have then disregard my comment about reducing carbs as injected insulin could then send you hypo if you are not eating enough carbs for it to work on.

Things you can eat without any great concern are eggs, meat, fish, sea food, full fat dairy produce like cheese, Creamy Natural Greek Yoghurt, butter and cream, nuts, mushrooms, leafy green veg and salad (I love cheese coleslaw with my salads) Mediterranean veg like aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes peppers etc. Olives make a good low carb snack if you like them or cheese or nuts. Cauliflower is a miracle veg for us diabetics as it can be enjoyed as cauliflower cheese or boiled and mashed with a dollop of cream cheese and whole grain mustard and used instead of potato mash to have with bangers etc or to top a cottage pie or chopped finely/grated and used as a rice or couscous substitute in recipes. I hate to give people a list of things they would do well to avoid without an accompanying list of things they can eat, so apologies for rambling a bit here but hope you find some of it helpful.

Please take care of yourself and let us know how you get on and feel free to ask anything which comes to mind. The first few weeks and months after diagnosis can be really overwhelming and I am not sure I would have survived with my sanity if it had not been for the wonderful advice and support of the members of this forum, who spotted my misdiagnosis and helped me to understand this condition and learn how to eat low carb to help me manage it.

 

[Drummer]

There is so much in the media about poor lifestyle choices giving people diabetes that it isn't surprising many feel guilty, or bewildered.
I was diagnosed after almost two years on a high carb cholesterol lowering diet which made me so overweight I was almost spherical - my fault for not taking enough exercise, apparently.
Things such as porridge and whole grains are likely to elevate your blood glucose, they are high in starch, so a diet which comprises low carb foods can appear to be unhealthy according to the guielines we are supposed to follow, but many find that it not only controls diabetes it makes us feel great too.

 

[Dollyspark]

All,

Thank you so much for your detailed responses; it's greatly appreciated!

@everydayupsanddowns Thank you for the links, I'll take a look at them. I've updated my signature etc with diagnosis details but to be honest I don't really understand much at the moment! My HbA1c was 50 and I had full blood work done which showed anemia, liver was ok, thyroid was slightly underactive, cholesterol was 5.0.I did have a urine test back in early December but was told it was ok. My weight has been fairly steady.

@rebrascora I've tried to be aware of my carb intake since Thursday and I tend to clock 100-120 without any diet changes so not sure if I should be reducing this further now.
I haven't been given any medication or much advice at all other than to look at this website, if possible self monitor my BG and wait to see the diabetic nurse a week on Monday. My fasting BG was 6.5 then went up to 6.6, despite not having any food or even water about an hour later. Two hours after eating it's usually around 7 although it was 7.7 about 4 hours after eating last night; meal was <5g carbs from broccoli.

I suppose being fairly into fitness and tracking my food intake daily for years will help the process but I'm just so confused by everything!

@Drummer I certainly do feel guilty and agree with the conflicting healthy guidelines from health professionals. I suppose everyone is different!

Thank you again for the responses

Dolly

 

[Felinia]

I'm not a medical person, but looking at your readings and description of your diet, lifestyle and age, I agree with everydayupsanddowns, that you should push your medical practise quite hard to be referred to be tested for LADA. Before you have your next appointment, I suggest you go prepared with a week's diary of food, exercise, and key personal measurements like weight, waist. If you can prove you have a healthy lifestyle you might be taken seriously. The common assumption is that most people follow an unhealthy lifestyle (sadly true in most cases). Best wishes.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi again Dolly

Very relieved to see that your HbA1c is just 50 as that is only just over the diabetic diagnosis threshold of 48, so no immediate panic regarding Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) occurring or even needing to start medication in the near future. I would say that it is unusual to experience symptoms of diabetes at that level. The body usually starts to try to eliminate glucose through the kidneys when your BG is above 10 usually significantly higher, which is obviously what causes the thirst and consequent frequent weeing. Not saying your symptoms were not related to diabetes but unless you have dramatically reduced your carbs since you were suffering those symptoms ,then it seems unlikely they were caused by it and even then I would have expected you to have a higher HbA1c since that is a sort of average reading for the past 2-3 months as the haemoglobin cells only live that long before they are replaced.

You mention painful periods, are you also suffering heavy periods as that could lead to anaemia which can cause a raised HbA1c and perhaps push you into the diabetic range. That would also cause fatigue. My gut feeling is that there is something else going on which may be impacting your BG rather than diabetes being the cause of the symptoms you have been experiencing..... but I am no doctor and diabetes is a very individual condition which effects people quite differently, so just because you don't fit the normal stereotypes does not necessarily rule it out. LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) is still a possibility, or maybe some other pancreatic problem. If you had been Type 1 then I would have expected your HbA1c to have been much higher, but if you already eat low carb, then that might disguise it at least for a while. The abdominal pain is concerning. Can you describe it in more detail.... location and strength and frequentcy

 

[Drummer]

As your sensitivity to carbs has been found quite early on, with any luck you should be able to return to normal just by eating what many HCPs regard as a fad diet - low carb and higher (than advised) fats. I eat chicken thighs rather than fillets, have chops and steak - and if I had stuck to that sort of diet rather than taking notice of the doctors I'd have been a lot healthier and happier for decades.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

so no immediate panic regarding Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) occurring

DKA is quite rare in T2 I believe, unless there are other complicating factorS (or unless there has been a misclassification)

The T2 version used to be Called HONK I think, but I think it’s now HHS or something?

 

[rebrascora]

DKA is quite rare in T2 I believe, unless there are other complicating factorS (or unless there has been a misclassification)

Yes, I was thinking the OP might have been misdiagnosed as Type 2 given that she described having symptoms of quite high BG like thirst and frequent urination and was not overweight and already eating a relatively healthy diet.