Newbie

[Corrina]

Hi, I am new to this website,but I was diagnosed about 16 months ago,I just can’t get my head around it,I’m trying to understand what I need to be doing but I just feel lost,I have a good medical background but this just won’t stick,I really need to buckle down and get to grips with it,I am 55 and have a serious back problem along with some other health issue,I take a lot of medication and I am active but not greatly,so now I am trying to find out everything I can.
just wanted to say hi and introduce myself and try and get involved with the foru,looking forward to speaking to people who are in the same situatio.
Thanks
corrina

 

[Drummer]

Hi, I am new to this website,but I was diagnosed about 16 months ago,I just can’t get my head around it,I’m trying to understand what I need to be doing but I just feel lost,I have a good medical background but this just won’t stick,I really need to buckle down and get to grips with it,I am 55 and have a serious back problem along with some other health issue,I take a lot of medication and I am active but not greatly,so now I am trying to find out everything I can.
just wanted to say hi and introduce myself and try and get involved with the foru,looking forward to speaking to people who are in the same situatio.
Thanks
corrina

Hello @Corrina and welcome.
If you are a plain and uncomplicated type 2 then reducing the carbohydrate in your diet ought to have a significant impact on your blood glucose levels. Quite a few people have managed to reverse their levels into the normal range, or very close to normal, even without medication.
I'm afraid that we get reports of medical people handing out some pretty dire information about the do's and don'ts of treating diabetes, so perhaps that is part of the problem.
Do you have a glucose meter to check your levels after eating? That really shows up just what someone can and can't eat.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Corrina

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis

Diabetes can be a confusing thing to get your head around, and it’s not uncommon to feel a little bewildered and overwhelmed to begin with - partly because every other thing your read seems to say the opposite to the last!

But try not to panic. Diabetes is generally a slow moving foe, and you have some time to find your feet, adjust and adapt, and see just how your own diabetes responds to different things for you as an individual.

You might like to register for the Learning Zone (the orange tab in the main menu) which is packed full of bite-sized modules you can work through at your own pace.

Alternatively, for a more personal introduction, you might like Maggie Davey’s Letter to the Newly Diagnosed or Gretchen Becker’s book T2 Diabetes, the first year, which forum members often recommend.

Good luck, and keep asking questions. We have lots of different experiences and approaches on the forum that you can tap into. 🙂

 

[Corrina]

Hi,thank you both for commenting,yes I do have a meter and today is going to be a new day an new star,I have just had my breakfast which I never have,so that’s a new thing for me,let’s see how I get through today and take it from there,this is what I have struggled with as I don’t normally eat until tea-time,so this is what I have to get right.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @Corrina. I used to eat breakfast before I was diagnosed. Once I cut down on carbohydrates in order to lower my Blood Glucose and put my Type 2 into remission, I was no longer hungry in a morning. So I now eat only 1 or 2 meals per day (and very rarely have a snack) and my T2 D is in remission.

Unless you are taking medication which requires you to eat before/with it, there is no point in eating when you aren't hungry in fact that just means that your insulin gets a boost when your body actually needs as long a gap as possible between getting another flush of insulin!

Most modern breakfasts are not good for diabetics, instead it's better to eat things like kippers, eggs, bacon or even cheese. Yes, a full English minus the potato, toast, baked beans, fruit juice is actually better for a Type 2 than even unsweetened porridge oats! Your BG meter should confirm this measure just before eating and the 2hrs after first bite. a difference of 3.0 mmol means too many carbs in the meal best is less than a rise of 2.0 mmol.
The same applies to other meals, meat, fish, eggs, cheese and low carb veg is good, potato, grains, fruit juice, tropical fruit not so good- some like me can't even eat carrots!

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Corrina and welcome from me too.

You have a couple of main, tried and tested, options but before I outline those perhaps you can tell us a bit more about you and your diabetes....

Things like....

How did your diagnosis come about? ie. Were you symptomatic and if so which symptoms or was it discovered via a routine blood test?

Do you know what your HbA1c result was at diagnosis and have you had one since then and if so that result too. HbA1c is the blood test used to diagnose and monitor your management of diabetes and will usually be a number in excess of 47 in the first instance but many people here manage to push it back into the prediabetic or normal range here with the right dietary approach and perhaps some medication..... which brings me on to the next question....

What, if any, medication have you been prescribed for your diabetes ?

Do you have much/any weight to lose?