Newbie here

[Steve Ingleby]

Morning all

I received a call from a nurse at our Doctors surgery a week last Wednesday giving me the news that I have diabetes. It was a real shock, and still is just over a week on.

I got in to see her in person last Friday. She explained that my sugar levels are 96, which I know you will all know is pretty high. What I knew at the time of diabetes I could have written on the back of a postage stamp to be honest.

She isn’t sure if it’s type 1 or 2, she thinks 2 but have been referred to the local hospital for further tests to confirm.

I have never smoked and drink very little (2 pints a week is heavy week), which she is said I am fine to keep having the odd drink. I know exercise is a big thing, I have signed up for the Diabetes U.K. 1 million steps and have started fundraising as the added incentive (not that I need any extra kick up the backside) which I started last Sunday. I know I’m 6 weeks behind everybody else, I would like to complete by the end of September but still giving myself 3 months to mid November if needed.

I still can’t get my head round what I can eat, I will be sitting this weekend and trying to understand everything, At the moment I feel that everything that isn’t fruit & veg is the devil.

I used to drink mainly fizzy drinks, Pepsi max, diet lemonade, but been told to try to avoid even sugar free drinks. Have drank so much water this last week.

What has made the last week harder is that last Saturday we drove to Paris for a booked trip to Disneyland Paris.

Was given metaformin (think that’s right) last Friday, start on one tablet a day for a week, then two tablets for a week from today, then thee tablets a day from next Friday. She mentioned the sickness & runs side affect, which wasn’t great when driving to Paris the following day, so to be safe I didn’t start these until the Sunday. Have been ok so far, no side affects.

We had a half board meal plan booked and three buffet restaurants booked which I was looking forward to. Was very sensible all week and ate as healthily as possible as somewhere like Disneyland Paris is.

This morning we were just walking into breakfast at the Premier Inn Ashford where we stayed last night on our journey home when received a call from a nurse at the local hospital telling me the doctor gave her a note with my name on and just told her I need to start taking insulin, so meeting her a week on Tuesday. Breakfast ended up being half a pot of natural yoghurt and a glass of water.

Have a telephone call with the nurse from our doctors next Tuesday, then seeing her face to face next Friday.

To everybody who takes their time to give advice on these forums, thank you, knowing there are people out there willing to support others means a lot.

Cheers
Steve x

 

[Wannie]

Hi @Steve Ingleby and welcome to the forum, I didn't want to read and not respond as it seems you're having to deal with a lot at the moment, I'm afraid I'm not confident enough to give advice as it is only a few weeks since my own diagnosis. My HbA1c was 50, so I am trying to reduce it by keeping to a low carb diet for now, eating my own foods just weighing everything, and moving more.
I'm sure someone will be along soon who can offer some information and advice, take care.

 

[admc26]

Hi @Steve Ingleby and a very warm welcome to the forum!

I'm sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis, but you seem to be taking a lot of it in your stride! Do you know if was your HbA1c that was 96 (or "long-range blood sugars" if you like)?

Hopefully your appointment with the hospital nurse will provide you with more information! It sounds like they might have a better idea about which type you are. It can be quite a daunting process but from what you've said you seem to be making very sensible adjustments already.

If you need to ask any specific questions, please feel free to ask away - someone will always provide an answer!

I hope you managed to enjoy some of Disneyland in the end, despite your news!

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome.

So sorry to hear about your diagnosis but pleased you have found the forum as I know how enormously helpful it has been to me over the past 3.5 years. My HbA1c at diagnosis was a bit higher than yours at 112 but you will gradually bring that down with the aid of diet and medication and insulin if that decision has been made. Diabetes is usually quite slow moving and whilst you can't afford to risk burying your head in the sand for months or years, you don't have to make too many changes immediately and I certainly think you were rather wise to hang fire on the Metformin until your return from hols. You may not suffer any ill effects or you may develop some later when you up the dose. It is very individual. Taking them mid meal is probably the best way to mitigate any impact on your digestive system. I would get occasional colic pain spasms and feel like I wanted to pass wind to relieve it but without visiting the bathroom it was a risk as you could never be sure it was just wind. 😱

As regards fizzy drinks, whilst drinking lots of them isn't ideal from all the additives they contain, you certainly don't need to steer clear of the diet ones. I tend to water them down so that I get the flavour but not as sweet and obviously increases the amount of water I drink, so I started off with 3/4 glass of Pepsi Max (or the Lidl equivalent which I think is just as good) and topped it up with water and gradually changed that to half and half and then a quarter cola and 3/4 water.

Shame about your breakfast as you could have indulged in bacon and eggs and mushrooms and sausage and tomato at the Premier inn. It is the carbs which mostly cause our bodies an issue. So the toast, hash brown and baked beans would be the things to go easy on. The yoghurt was a good choice but shame to have passed up on the opportunity of a full English!

Anyway, don't worry about being overwhelmed and unsure about everything at first and not knowing what to eat.... we all went through that and it is a long slow learning process, but that is fine. Diabetes gives us time to make a few mistakes and conduct experiments to find what works for us as individuals.... and what doesn't 🙄

Ask whatever questions you need to. It sounds like you won't be started on insulin until later next week but feel free to pick our brains in the mean time and let us know how your appointment goes and which insulin(s) you get. Most of all, DON'T PANIC. Whatever the problems we will be able to help you find the answers for you as we have all been through the practicalities and emotional turmoil of it and we are all still learning. Even the people with 50+years of diabetes experience. Don't worry about getting it wrong, just learn from the mistakes and accept that they will happen. Managing diabetes is extremely difficult and frustrating and no one meets the target range all the time but it does get much easier with practice.

 

[trophywench]

Sooo! My immediate question is, do you need to start on insulin PDQ because you have actually been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes rather than Type 2? - in which case the Metfartin will be of no use whatever to you - though it can help if you really do have Type 2 diabetes?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Steve Ingleby

Great to have you here.

I think the vast majority of us had that ‘postage stamp of knowledge’ start, so don’t worry at all about that!

Hopefully you will soon have clarification about your diabetes type, which will help you to access the most appropriate treatment options going forwards.

Sounds like you’ve been having a bit of a whirlwind! Well done for weathering the storm 🙂

Hope you find the appointments with the nurse helpful and informative. Let us know how things go!