Newbie saying hello!

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Picasso Girl

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi, I've just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It was (and still is) a bit of a shock, even though I perhaps should have expected it, my weight has been too high for a number of years. In early December my vision changed and at the same time I had a very dry mouth and was constantly thirsty. I had been to the optician as I wanted glasses that enabled me to see a computer monitor, without leaning forward wearing my reading glasses! The prescription glasses did not work for me so I returned to the optician twice more until we both decided that I needed my blood sugar checking. I had a blood test during the week after Christmas. The results showed that my blood sugar was 12.4%. This week I went to my appointment with the diabetes nurse. At the start of the visit my blood sugar was 9.7% but as I had eaten a pear just before I left home, it was decided that I should have another test at the end of my appointment. That was down to 8.7%. Because I had already started using Michael Mosley's book 'The 8-week blood sugar diet' and had lost 12lbs. in weight since Christmas the nurse decided that I didn't need to be prescribed insulin or a tablet. The nurse (lovely lady) was very pleased with me, and I will be returning for my second visit in early March. My diet has changed considerably, thanks to this book. It has become my bible, but I will now be investigating the Diabetes UK website for whatever help I can get!
 
Congratulations on your progress.... It takes a little effort but many people can control their D...

However, I would suggest self-testing so you can fine-tune your lifestyle, the cheapest self-funded option is the SD Codefree from Amazon
 
Hi Picasso girl. One of the things you all have to get to grips with are the numbers and what they mean and the first step is to get the units right so that when you quote them (a good thing) everybody knows which measurement you are referring to. If your blood glucose tests were done with a finger prick and a test strip plugged into a small meter, then the number gives blood glucose as mmol/mol and is usually quoted that way. So your first result was 12.4 mmol/mol or just 12.4. There are some measurements and conventions that do quote results as percentages and so quoting your British finger prick blood glucose as12.4% might cause confusion if somebody reading it is used to the other conventions. Hope that makes sense.

Anyway, looks like you are on the way way to getting sorted so congrats from me as well!
 
Thank you for putting me right. I was relating what the nurse told me. She didn't explain about HbA1c results as she probably thought it was too confusing! It was definitely easier to understand that the World Health Organisation state that someone with above 6.5% sugar in their blood was considered to be diabetic, and I was 12.4%. Looking at the sheet she gave me I see now that my Mmols/mol was 112 (on 8th January 2019) and my target is 58. This reading was from a blood test done at the hospital. My readings with the diabetic nurse, taken on 4th February at the end of my appointment, with a finger prick and test strip, was 8.7%. When looking at the Diabetes UK website, converting % tom mol/mol this means it was 72.

One thing I don't understand, is what symptoms I could be experiencing, for example, I occasionally feel light-headed and a bit dizzy/jittery, is this normal? What should I do about it?

Also, my eyesight is worrying me, my old reading glasses now help me to see long distances, which is a bit weird. At what stage should I re-visit the optician to sort out new glasses?

Thanks for your help.
 
Welcome @Picasso Girl. The reason you feel a bit “ jittery” and light headed is you are probably suffering from false hypos. This is the result of your blood glucose been very high and is now quite a bit lower. They will pass as lower becomes the norm. Leave your visit to your opticians for a wee while yet as your eyes will gradually adjust as your levels come down. As has been suggested get yourself a meter and you can see for yourself what is happening. Well done for getting down from 112 to 72. That is absolutely amazing! Keep up the good work. Elaine. 🙂
 
Thank you Elaine, the nurse gave me a testing kit (finger prick) that I can use ten times so I will do that. Fingers crossed that my vision will stabilise soon.
 
The 8.7 was a finger prick test, so I'm afraid you can't use the converter - 8.7% is an HbA1c. Some hospitals and possibly a few GPs are able to take an HbA1c from a fingerprick, but if that was what your nurse was doing, the pear would have made no difference at all. Have another look at the links!
 
Silent squirrel, your posts make the point that I tried to. The real problem is quoting something as a percentage (I'd ban it if I was in charge) because it tells you nothing about what is being measured making comparisons with other results impossible. Also, finger prick testing and HBa1c measure different things.
 
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