new to this

[Ian Gardner]

Hi all,i was told to maybe do this,so i am retired after driving lorries all my life going all over Europe and of course here,i have recently been told i have type 2 and to watch a lot of what i eat,chocolate is out and i love it.but a lot of things have to be changed or given up like all of you,also i was told it could go to type 1 where i have to inject,not looking forward to that,but what will be and all that,anyway not much more to tell other than im not a happy bunny having to cut out the one think i love after stopping smoking and drinking on a regular basis,so after giving up my love of sweet stuff,not much else to pack in,oh and my cups of tea and coffee taste like its been poured from the sink bowl,oh well ill just have to crack on.

 

[HOBIE]

Hi Ian & welcome. I don't know who told you that you could be going to T1 but they need to go back to school. They should be 2 different illnesses. Lots of people don't know. A T2 on insulin is NOT a T1. Sorry for making a point but I have been a T1 for a few years now. When I was a kid I used to want to be a long distance truck driver. 🙂

 

[Martin Canty]

Welcome to the group, sorry to hear about your diagnosis.... Certainly things are going to change but often it's for the better, myself, I'm 3 years in & in the best shape I've been for most of my life.

 

[CathyB]

Welcome Ian 🙂 I sympathise with the loss of chocolate, although I do sometimes have a little sugar free dark chocolate as a treat but only 2 or 3 squares rather than a whole bar 😳
I am no sure how much you have been advised about diet but it’s not only obvious sugar stuff we need to avoid, carbohydrates are the biggest enemy, especially rice, pasta, potatoes and bread (many of us do eat Burgen bread which is a soy and linseed low carb option), the other food to reduce is fruit, the guideline is no more than 2 small pieces a day. Some people can tolerate berries in small amounts but sadly I can’t
The good news is that if you choose to follow the low carb pathway then you can go high good fats, so full fat Greek yoghurt, butter, cream etc as your body will use the fat as energy instead of the carbs.
The others can explain it much better than I can and give you links for the right threads to read and learn from. It’s not as bad as it sounds, honestly, once you get your head around it 🙄

 

[Martin9]

@CathyB is right above it's the carbs in our diet we need to watch, it's possible to control T2 with diet & exercise for some , others may need meds and even insulin, but what worked for me was a reasonably low carb diet under 60g per day, losing weight and upping activity.
I reduced my HbA1c from 77 to 35 in 3 months..on Metformin

 

[Ian Gardner]

Wow i didnt think i would get so many come back to me,well firstly thanks all of you and i was told by a friend it may become t1 so maybe hes wrong,i hope...also i was told by the diabetic nurse not to do it all at once,but my readings are very very high,so its important i get them down sooner than later,so no choc,it will also help me get my weight down as i have bad knees as well,that came with doing many many miles up and down off the lorries,im on metformin two tabs a day as from tommorrow,it was found because i had a bit of cellulitis on my leg and the doc got me on the metaformin that day.but again thanks to you all.i will read a lot of stories on here to gain knowledge..thanks.

 

[Ian Gardner]

Hi Ian & welcome. I don't know who told you that you could be going to T1 but they need to go back to school. They should be 2 different illnesses. Lots of people don't know. A T2 on insulin is NOT a T1. Sorry for making a point but I have been a T1 for a few years now. When I was a kid I used to want to be a long distance truck driver. 🙂

Just a note to let you know i met a driver in Italy a few years ago and he was injecting,so theres no reason not to if you still can.

 

[Bronco Billy]

Hi Ian. The good news is that your chances of getting type 1 haven’t changed as it is a separate condition to type 2. The second piece of good news is that, if you were going to get type 1, you probably would have it already as it’s usually diagnosed in childhood. Not always, of course, as our Prime Minister has proved, but there’s probably more chance of me dating Miss World than you developing type 1 now!

If you do need insulin eventually, this doesn’t mean you are type 1. It’s not uncommon for type 2s to use insulin, my own father being an example.

 

[Ian Gardner]

Hi Ian. The good news is that your chances of getting type 1 haven’t changed as it is a separate condition to type 2. The second piece of good news is that, if you were going to get type 1, you probably would have it already as it’s usually diagnosed in childhood. Not always, of course, as our Prime Minister has proved, but there’s probably more chance of me dating Miss World than you developing type 1 now!

If you do need insulin eventually, this doesn’t mean you are type 1. It’s not uncommon for type 2s to use insulin, my own father being an example.

hi and thanks for again getting back to me,as you are aware im new and dont know a great deal only what ive been told by the nurse and you kind people on this site,well thats great news im not gonna get T1,but sad i may have to inject,but again i will get used to it if i do,right well where are you taking Miss World to?well have a great time...lol..tommorrow is the first day i need two tablets and im not right pleased as when i started these i had to go to the loo urgently..and i just hope it dont effect me the same again,but it is what it is,but thanks for all the news i have found out more on here than the doctors.

 

[Martin Canty]

,but sad i may have to inject

Not a foregone conclusion, Ian, well controlled T2's can come off meds altogether, I'm one of them..... There are many factors which may affect the progression of our disease, either for the better or worse, the critical thing at this early stage is to learn how your body reacts to food; despite what the medical communities opinion is, many of us rely on self testing to show on a day by day, meal by meal, how our bodies are reacting & allow us to react accordingly.

 

[Drummer]

You can have the high cocoa chocolate - they are fairly low in carbs, and if you only have a small amount then it should be OK even if you do need to cut down the carbs - that is the trick to reducing blood glucose.
I manage without medication as it made me so very ill - I have managed to stay at the top edge of normal for over a year now. It means no potatoes bread rice pasta and nothing containing sugar except a small bowl of berries with cream a couple of times a week, and I only eat twice a day - but I really like what I can eat, so it is not much of a problem - most of the time it is an advantage to eat breakfast and be able to go out for the day without bothering about what to eat or when or where.
I started off using a meter to see how various foods spiked my BG, and how much carb i could eat - it seemed that 50 gm a day was the magic number. Once I got that sorted I saw my BG level falling below 8, and then going on down. I rarely test now as I know what I can eat and stick to it - the thought of having to take tablets is quite enough to keep me from temptation.

 

[Lyn68]

Welcome to the forum Ian. As someone still pretty new to this only diagnosed in May and a fellow chocoholic I found in the end I didn’t really miss it. I keep a bar of 75% cocoa dark chocolate in the fridge and have a couple of squares every so often. If you are having stomach problems with the metoformin there is a slow release version which may be a little easier on the stomach. I haven’t really gone low carb I’ve just switched to better versions and cut my portions which seems to be working for me so far. You should also get yourself a meter and test test test it will let you see how certain foods affect your blood sugar levels.