Newly diagnosed & confused

[Kelbow]

Hello all.

2 readings of 55 and 56 respectively. GP has immediately prescribed medication and I have an appointment with the practice diabetic nurse next Wednesday.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Docb]

Both above 48 so you are officially diabetic, will be presumed to be type 2 and put into the system with your meeting next Wednesday being the start.

If your DN (diabetic nurse, you will soon get used to the jargon) is any good then she will poke you, prod you, weigh you, BP you, might even fingerprick you and together you will work out a plan to get your HbA1C results (the 55 and 56 numbers) get back down to below the diabetic threshold. Unless you are "skinny", don't be surprised if she recommends losing a bit of weight, its normal. With those levels there is no need to panic so spend the time between now and next Wednesday dipping into this forum so that you are better informed about things and can think about any questions you might want to ask her. My guess is that you have been started on metformin at the starting dose and if that is the case then it's the standard approach.

Welcome aboard the roller coaster!!!

 

[Kelbow]

Both above 48 so you are officially diabetic, will be presumed to be type 2 and put into the system with your meeting next Wednesday being the start.

If your DN (diabetic nurse, you will soon get used to the jargon) is any good then she will poke you, prod you, weigh you, BP you, might even fingerprick you and together you will work out a plan to get your HbA1C results (the 55 and 56 numbers) get back down to below the diabetic threshold. Unless you are "skinny", don't be surprised if she recommends losing a bit of weight, its normal. With those levels there is no need to panic so spend the time between now and next Wednesday dipping into this forum so that you are better informed about things and can think about any questions you might want to ask her. My guess is that you have been started on metformin at the starting dose and if that is the case then it's the standard approach.

Welcome aboard the roller coaster!!!

Thank you so much for the quick reply. It won't come as a shock being told to lose weight TBH (probs about 3 stone overweight). Feeling a little upset as I think I've inflicted this on myself. High BP should have been warning enough. Yes Metformin 1 a day for a week.

 

[Drummer]

Diabetes is not self inflicted - the diet laid out in stone by the NHS and most of those involved in nutrition, diet, food processing etc. is one which is pretty much going to railroad the susceptible into weight gain and eventually diabetes.
To reverse the trend of ever higher blood glucose and Hba1c tests eating far less carbohydrate seems to be the winning strategy for many people. It can be quite shocking, eating protein and fat rather than starches and sugars - but it is a quick and effective fix.
It often leads to weightloss - I lost 3 stone easily, without even thinking about it.
There is some debate about what state those of us who have got rid of the high glucose are in - various descriptions such as in remission are used - I am just happy that I don't need to worry about it.

 

[Eddy Edson]

Thank you so much for the quick reply. It won't come as a shock being told to lose weight TBH (probs about 3 stone overweight). Feeling a little upset as I think I've inflicted this on myself. High BP should have been warning enough. Yes Metformin 1 a day for a week.

The Metformin at that dose & over that time won't have much effect on yr BG. At this stage, it's more to test yr tolerance to it - it's common to get some temporary gastro effects; a minority have more severe gastro probs and so sometimes different meds get swapped in.

I found this pic very useful when I was getting my D show on the road:



You can see your 55 and 56 HbA1c readings (top line) are in the not-very-scary greeny-yellow bit. Congrats! You've caught it early. Your excess risk for diabetes-related complications at these levels is just about sod-all.

Many (or at least I) failed to see a doc & get diagnosed until they were well into the scary orangey-red bits. Even so, it's always a hassle but not necessarily vastly difficult to get things back into the green and from your levels, hopefully it should be pretty straightforward.

I would guess that the main things will be:

- Cutting out the obvious c**p from yr diet to the extent that it's there at the moment.
- Losing some weight.
- Getting to know a bit about carbohydrates but ignoring most of the extreme dietary changes that people will recommend, at least until to you've had the time to work things out for yourself.

And in terms of processing various recommendations: the most important thing to remember is that everybody's different and what may be true for one person may be completely wrong for you, particularly in terms of food.

Anyway, you're not *very* diabetic at current levels - you've got plenty of time to work things out and zero reason to panic. Good luck!

 

[Kelbow]

Thankyou so much for the replies. Made me feel a lot better and positive.