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Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
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- Thread starter 3rdcherry
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Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi 3rdcherry, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but it's good that you have come looking for support straight away. There's lots of information in our 'Useful Links' thread - but try not to get too overwhelmed with everything. Probably the best things to start you off are Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter, plus Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker is highly recommended by many of our members.
Diabetes is, thankfully, a condition that can be managed well and doesn't have to affect your life for the worse - indeed many people find that the diagnosis makes them re-evaluate their diet and activity levels and become much healthier for it! 🙂 Please ask anything that is confusing or concerning you and we will do our best to help out. Great news that you are being sent on a course so soon too - do you know what it is called? It can be a great help to meet others in the same boat.
Diabetes is, thankfully, a condition that can be managed well and doesn't have to affect your life for the worse - indeed many people find that the diagnosis makes them re-evaluate their diet and activity levels and become much healthier for it! 🙂 Please ask anything that is confusing or concerning you and we will do our best to help out. Great news that you are being sent on a course so soon too - do you know what it is called? It can be a great help to meet others in the same boat.
I am so pleased to find this board. Thanks for your advice - I will certainly read these.
The course is being run by our local health authority (Cambridgeshire) and I hope it will help. I am so confused. The practice nurse does not want to see me until November and her advice is lose weight and read the infor on diabetes uk which has been very helpful. I'm sure this forum will help
The course is being run by our local health authority (Cambridgeshire) and I hope it will help. I am so confused. The practice nurse does not want to see me until November and her advice is lose weight and read the infor on diabetes uk which has been very helpful. I'm sure this forum will help
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Really not much help from the practice nurse 
Hopefully the course (and here!) will make up for her sub-standard advice! The main thing to bear in mind is that diabetes is all about carbohydrates and your body's ability to respond and cope with them. Many people find that following a low GI/GL diet is a good way of selecting food that will release energy slowly and steadily and not have too big an impact on your blood glucose levels. I am guessing that you have not been given a home-testing meter so that you can assess the effect of different foods on your levels? It really would be useful to get one, and ideally your doctor should prescribe you some test strips so that you can learn how to manage your diabetes well. Keeping a food diary is also a good idea, noting down the amount of carbohydrates in all your meals and drink so that you can look for ways of replacing or reducing them in your diet. Diabetes can be a very individual thing - one person may be fine with porridge, for example, yet others might find they need to avoid it. Some fruits, although generally seen as healthy, can also contain a lot of sugar, as can many 'low-fat' foods, where the fat is replaced by extra sugar, so don't be fooled into buying what may appear to be healthy options as they may not be healthy for your diabetes. Learning to read labels is something you will bet very good at! 🙂
Hopefully the course (and here!) will make up for her sub-standard advice! The main thing to bear in mind is that diabetes is all about carbohydrates and your body's ability to respond and cope with them. Many people find that following a low GI/GL diet is a good way of selecting food that will release energy slowly and steadily and not have too big an impact on your blood glucose levels. I am guessing that you have not been given a home-testing meter so that you can assess the effect of different foods on your levels? It really would be useful to get one, and ideally your doctor should prescribe you some test strips so that you can learn how to manage your diabetes well. Keeping a food diary is also a good idea, noting down the amount of carbohydrates in all your meals and drink so that you can look for ways of replacing or reducing them in your diet. Diabetes can be a very individual thing - one person may be fine with porridge, for example, yet others might find they need to avoid it. Some fruits, although generally seen as healthy, can also contain a lot of sugar, as can many 'low-fat' foods, where the fat is replaced by extra sugar, so don't be fooled into buying what may appear to be healthy options as they may not be healthy for your diabetes. Learning to read labels is something you will bet very good at! 🙂
jalapino
Chilli Man
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
[QUOTE The practice nurse does not want to see me until November.......
To be honest im shocked at your nurse!!!...november is a long way off ...very odd!! it has now been just over 2 months since i found out i had t2 and they want to see me every month, i asume you will be going on the desmond course? mine is booked for july so a bit of a wait!! but the db nurse should be seeing you every month i would have thought to ease you in and reasure you, and most important to help you along your journey which willl be with you for the rest of your life 🙂 every one on here are very VERY helpfull, made me feel better
To be honest im shocked at your nurse!!!...november is a long way off ...very odd!! it has now been just over 2 months since i found out i had t2 and they want to see me every month, i asume you will be going on the desmond course? mine is booked for july so a bit of a wait!! but the db nurse should be seeing you every month i would have thought to ease you in and reasure you, and most important to help you along your journey which willl be with you for the rest of your life 🙂 every one on here are very VERY helpfull, made me feel better
[QUOTE The practice nurse does not want to see me until November.......
To be honest im shocked at your nurse!!!...november is a long way off ...very odd!! it has now been just over 2 months since i found out i had t2 and they want to see me every month, i asume you will be going on the desmond course? mine is booked for july so a bit of a wait!! but the db nurse should be seeing you every month i would have thought to ease you in and reasure you, and most important to help you along your journey which willl be with you for the rest of your life 🙂 every one on here are very VERY helpfull, made me feel better
I was a bit surprised when the nurse said November. My husband thinks I should make an appointment and go and see her again as I am getting more confused with what I should and should not eat. Breakfast is my worse time. People tell me to test but she says "If I want you to have a meter I will give you one" One month before my course
Steff
Little Miss Chatterbox
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi Ch3rry I certainly think your hubby is right on this one, November is like miles away, her attitude over the meter situation unfortunetly is not uncommon well from what we see on this forum anyway,for her to say if i want you to have a meter its not about what she wants and dont want its about you and what you need which is a meter and test strips IMOH.
O say "pester power" works a treat 🙂
jalapino
Chilli Man
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Exactly....this really upsets me because surely if you test before and after food then you no how you react to foods etc and what is best for that individual, and in the long run this surely is a good thing rather guess what to eat! and lets face it we all react to different to types of food that we eat, come on NHS this could in the long run save them money because it surely helps any complications in the future which they keep banging on about? 🙂
daisymoo84
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi 3rdcherry, welcome to the boards. Everyone is really friendly here so feel free to ask lots of questions. I promise it does get easier! I'd def recommend testing as much as you can to begin with. 🙂
welcome
Hi, welcome....I found this site two weeks ago when i was diagnosed...I cant tell you how much I have valued everyone here...I log in most days just to read the inspiring stories and to know I am not alone in this change to my life and its been so inspirational for me...My nurse told me nothing and everything I have learnt is from this site,,,my family ( three sisters and one brother ) are no support so this site is a lifeline....You are not alone with these nurses they make u feel you are taking up their time so i as well am on a mission wheni finally get to see her to ask for a meter as until I joined this site I never knew foods affect each person differently, I left her surgery with a leaflet and a suggestion to lose weight..:
Hi, welcome....I found this site two weeks ago when i was diagnosed...I cant tell you how much I have valued everyone here...I log in most days just to read the inspiring stories and to know I am not alone in this change to my life and its been so inspirational for me...My nurse told me nothing and everything I have learnt is from this site,,,my family ( three sisters and one brother ) are no support so this site is a lifeline....You are not alone with these nurses they make u feel you are taking up their time so i as well am on a mission wheni finally get to see her to ask for a meter as until I joined this site I never knew foods affect each person differently, I left her surgery with a leaflet and a suggestion to lose weight..:
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