Newbie

[Christinepat]

Hi, I’ve just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes I’ve to collect my medicine this afternoon I’ve been given metformin the nurse said to diet ! I’ve put on a lot of weight during lockdown and have fibromyalgia, arthritis and anxiety as well as IBS so I’m now panicking because wholemeal products irritates my IBS and of course the dietician is not available because of COVID-19 and the nurse said that was what I had to eat at least I’ll lose weight! I think I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed hopefully once I’ve calmed down I’ll be fine x

 

[Docb]

Hi @Christinepat and welcome to the forum. We have a few members on here with things on top of their diabetes and I am sure that somebody will be along soon with some ideas. In the meantime, don't worry about "wholemeal" products as being a "healthy" alternative. When it comes to diabetes the problem is carbohydrate and as a rule of thumb, wholemeal products have as much carbohydrate as their non-wholemeal counterparts, and changing to them might not make a lot of difference.

 

[cameron]

Welcome to the forum @Christinepat.

Sorry that you're feeling overwhelmed by it all, but it's great that you're reaching out for support. You're not alone!

It probably varies by area, but are you not able to get a phone appointment with a dietitian?

 

[Vonny]

Hi @Christinepat and welcome from another type 2. It is very overwhelming at first, and the best way I coped with it in the early days was to take each day at a time, and not think about the mammoth task of reducing my blood sugar and losing the 4 stone I needed to. In fact I still haven't lost all the weight, but it is coming off slowly and surely and I'm now into my last stone 7 months later. I think that if I'd thought about the whole 4 stones I'd have just given up as it was too much to take in.

Your IBS will no doubt complicate matters, and I'm afraid I have no experience of this. Most of us T2s cut out, or radically reduce, the amount of carbs we eat. That's bread, spuds, pasta and rice as well as nice stuff like cake! Bizarrely, I found by not eating those things, I stopped feeling hungry all the time.

My single best purchase this year was my BG monitoring kit. By checking my blood glucose before a meal and two hours after, and keeping a food diary, I know what suits me. There is no real one-size-fits-all with diabetes, you have to learn what your body can tolerate.

Finally, it's early days yet and you may fall off the wagon occasionally. If so, don't panic! Dust yourself down and just climb right back up there. A couple of people have told me on this forum that with diabetes each day is a new day, which is heartening.

Best wishes

 

[Drummer]

What a strange bit of advice to give you.
It reads as though that is one really unpleasant woman - advising you to eat wholemeal stuff when you have IBS and diabetes when it is never going to do you any good that is just nasty.
Did she mention that the Metformin often causes problems? I don't have IBS but it caused me awful problems and explosive incontinence.

 

[Christinepat]

Thanks everyone I’ve got myself a blood testing machine so I’ll try it out tomorrow morning before I have breakfast, as for the nurse I wasn’t very impressed with what she told me about wholewheat products I said to her I’ll never get out the toilet never mind the house she said well give it 6 weeks and we’ll see how you get on I think I’m going to just try different foods and see how it goes no more crisps, sweets or home baking and try walking round the village when I can.

 

[trophywench]

Good for you @Christinepat ! - deal with your health in spite of her. And to spite her too come to think!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thanks everyone I’ve got myself a blood testing machine so I’ll try it out tomorrow morning before I have breakfast, as for the nurse I wasn’t very impressed with what she told me about wholewheat products I said to her I’ll never get out the toilet never mind the house she said well give it 6 weeks and we’ll see how you get on I think I’m going to just try different foods and see how it goes no more crisps, sweets or home baking and try walking round the village when I can.

Glad to hear you’ve got a BG meter @Christinepat 🙂

It can really help to keep a food diary to begin with - keep eating what suits your IBS and make a note of how many carbs are involved. This should give you a good indication of the meals which are most likely to raise your BG the most, then you can check your BG before, and again 2 hours after eating to see how much the meal raises your levels. Ideally you will eventually want to aim for a rise of no more than 2-3 between the before and after readings.

Then you can gradually tweak and adjust any meals which are giving you a big ‘spike’ to allow your overall levels to come down gradually. 🙂

 

[Christinepat]

Thanks I’m slowly coming to terms with it all I’ve had my lowest reading before I had my evening meal of 5.5 so I’m pleased with that but I know it’ll go up and down until I get it regulated but feeling so much more positive than I was.