Newbie in denial on board!

[zebrajoanne]

Hi everyone. I am a very anxious newbie, somewhat in denial about my diagnosis. Stoll at the stage of "it will never happen to me".
I hope every one is keeping safe in this rubbish time.
I look forward to connecting to some of you soon.

 

[Paulbreen]

Hey @zebrajoanne, welcome a long, I wouldn't worry too much about the denial phase, it gets much easier, I have the odd denial phase still after 40 odd years of T1 diabetes.
You should share your story so far, how you were diagnosed and what you are doing to help your condition, there's lots of great people here to help, advise and generally support you along the way

 

[zebrajoanne]

Thank you, Paul.
I had gone to my GP for a routine pill check, and my BP had spiked quite badly. It was always very good and always the same.
They took blood tests and BP over the space of about 3 months and the results came back as type 2. It was a shock. I have no symptoms whatsoever.
They said I could try to manage it with diet and exercise, which I did, and I entered the pre-diabetic category.
I slipped back into old habits and with the whole lockdown and my weight has crept up again, I am scared of getting my next check up.
I am also quite an anxious person, and have so far avoided my eye scan as I am scared to have drops in my eyes.

I have, over the last two weeks, tried to get back in the habit of exercising and getting my diet back on track. Not that my diet is that unhealthy it's just that portion sizes need to be adjusted. I am also trying the one meal a day diet which has helped me in the past.

 

[Pine Marten]

Hi @zebrajoanne, welcome to the forum - I didn't have any symptoms either!

Do you know what your HbA1c is? If you have already gone back to pre-D category it shouldn't take much to tweak back again. However, I shouldn't avoid your eye scan, as it's important to look after your vision. I dislike the drops too, and usually flinch so much the drops dribble down my chin - although it's not as bad as trying to put eye cream on a cat! 😱

Do you have any questions which we can help with, or foodie recipes you'd like to know about? We are here to support and encourage each other, and I know how easy it can be to fall off the wagon now and again...

 

[trophywench]

Portion sizes is usually the bulk of the problem - cos however saintly we intend to be, the road to hell is as they say, paved with good intentions and what has been nicknamed 'Carb creep' happens to everyone at times in their life. Just sneaks up on you while you're busy doing something else and - wham.

I don't like eye drops either, but there again I'm far far more scared of going blind so I'd rather have someone checking on my eyes properly and regularly once a year even though I have to have drops in for them to do it.

Many things aren't as pleasant as they could be - eg periods, cervical screening, mammograms, blood tests, learning to drive, childbirth or crossing a busy road but if you want a good outcome thereafter - you just have to get on and do it best way you can!

 

[Paulbreen]

Hi Joanne, I think the best advice I could share with you is to relax a little, I know its easy for me to say and more difficult for you to do, but i see only positives in your message
It sounds like you are able to get the better of this condition so I would share with you that everyone has their ups and downs with how well they are doing with diabetes, it just goes with the territory.
I would go for the eye scan and unless you have some other underlying eye condition you should be fine, its better to know what you have to do and get on with it rather than be wondering all the time. I have not had any drops in my eyes before during an eye scan at the eye doctor, they can pretty much see everything going on with their equipment just by looking inside, for me thought the worst test was going to be the pressure test when they send a little puff of air onto your eye surface but you dont even feel it.
The one meal a day idea may be pushing yourself and your body too hard, have a look for a carb counting book or app, I use Carbs & Cals book, its recommended by Diabetes UK and I think they have a phone app, its a great help to having some good food.

 

[Drummer]

My glucose levels were definitely better when I started to eat at 12 hour intervals - which reminds me that I have not eaten yet and I should have had breakfast hours ago.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @zebrajoanne

Please do go for your eye screening when you are called. You may be surprised how much of a ‘weight off’ it will feel once you've had it done and though they smart a little, the eye drops aren’t as bad as all that and are no worse than getting a splinter, stubbing your toe or a hundred other ‘normal’ things.

Sounds like you’ve had some previous success in reducing your HbA1c, so there is every reason to believe you can do it again.

Like others I’m not sure you need to go to the extremes of only eating once a day - you aren’t looking for a quick fix, but more for a slightly adapted way of eating that you can maintain long-term, and which your body can cope with without your BGs running away with you. Mostly this will involve moderating your carb intake to a greater or lesser extent, but everyone is different, and everyone it starting from a different starting point, so what’s important is working out just how far you need to go from here, rather than plunging all-in to something which isn’t sustainable long-term 🙂