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Newly Diagnosed in December 2020

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
karelizco

karelizco

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I had an initial diagnosis at the end of November my HbA1c was 61, they redid it and just before Christmas it was the same. They were slightly confused at the surgery because my BMI and my weight was in good range, I have been on a low carb healthy diet for about 18 months and I am fairly fit. They questioned the type 2 and then did a test for LADA which came back negative. From November until now I have really tightened up my diet with very low carb, reduced alcohol to one glass of wine of a Friday and Saturday night. Changed milk to almond milk etc but then following another blood test my results this last week came back at 68.
I was on 500mg of metformin from beginning of January and they have now increased that to slow released 1000mg for a week and then next week to 2000mg.
They want to see me again in 2 months to see if the results have changed.

I am so confused as I am struggling to know what foods are raising my sugar levels. MY nurse told me now to buy a testing maching but I see on here that many people have.
What do you think?
Thank you all

Karin
 
Hello @karelizco and welcome to the forum.
Many thanks for telling us about yourself.
It sounds as if you are following many of the routes that can lead to lowering of glucose levels, so it may need more help from your medical team to find a solution.

Many of us on the forum do use a glucose monitor. As well as keeping an eye on general sugar levels, I initially used mine to test the effects of different foods and eventually arrived at a list of foods that spiked my blood sugar levels,- and there were some surprises.
It takes a while to arrive at this, but it may be that it would give you some clues regarding the food types that are effecting your levels.
If your nurse has advised against this though, she may have a good reason for doing this.

If you do decide to get a meter, then this link test-review-adjust describes a testing plan.
 
Thank you so much, I think the nurses reasoning was it wont show you much change on a day to day basis. Which I suppose is true but what I want to focus on is what foods spike my sugar more than others. I will definitely check these meters out.
 
Martin, I so appreciate this, and I think I am more anxious not knowing than finding out and doing something about it. I intend to see this condition kicked into touch with adhering to medication, fitness and good eating. I see you have significantly reduced your HbA1c thats amazing and thats what I want too.
 
Hi karelizco, welcome to the forum!

The things about diabetes is that everyone is different so it's really important to understand how different foods respond to you personally.

Getting a meter is a great way to monitor this as you test 2 hours after a meal to see its impact on your BS levels.

It's also worth noting that other factors such as stress and lack of sleep can have an impact on you too so do keep an eye out for you general well-being as you test.

Let us know how you get on and if you have any questions we can help with. 🙂
 
Cherrelle DUK said:
Hi karelizco, welcome to the forum!

The things about diabetes is that everyone is different so it's really important to understand how different foods respond to you personally.

Getting a meter is a great way to monitor this as you test 2 hours after a meal to see its impact on your BS levels.

It's also worth noting that other factors such as stress and lack of sleep can have an impact on you too so do keep an eye out for you general well-being as you test.

Let us know how you get on and if you have any questions we can help with. 🙂
Click to expand...
What meter would you recommend?
 
The ones which many members here have found reliable with about the cheapest strips to buy on an ongoing basis are either the SD Gluco Navii (that's not a keyboard stutter, there really are 2 'i's) or the Spirit Healthcare Tee2, both only available online.
 
Hi @karelizco and welcome from a fellow T2. The testing regime that @Anitram has suggested may seem a bit daunting at first with testing before and after meals - it did to me! But you will soon start to identify what you can, and can't tolerate, food wise and the portions that you are OK with. These days I only bother if I'm cooking with a new ingredient.
 
Hi @karelizco, welcome to the forum.

I don't test much now either, and I have an SD Codefree meter from Home Health, which has been upgraded to the Gluco Navii mentioned upthread. My surgery didn't want me to test either, but by showing them my printouts of results they realised it was a good thing - they're much more enlightened now!

I found it very interesting to see which foods spiked and which didn't, and you'll only know this by testing. So it's a voyage of discovery for you now 😉. Let us know how you get on, and ask any questions you like!
 
karelizco said:
Martin, I so appreciate this, and I think I am more anxious not knowing than finding out and doing something about it. I intend to see this condition kicked into touch with adhering to medication, fitness and good eating. I see you have significantly reduced your HbA1c thats amazing and thats what I want too.
Click to expand...
I'd put those in the opposite importance - eating and seeing normal levels of glucose was the key for me. When diagnosed I felt about 80 at least, the medication caused dreadful problems, but I went low carb as it had always been a good idea for me, and was no longer diabetic in 80 days, normal at 6 months.
Testing is a really good idea - when you see that your levels have spiked you can try different things to deduce the culprit. We all digest differently - when I ate beans it was as though I had eaten almost twice as much as listed for them - I seem to be able to digest them more than most - but others have reported the same thing. It means beans and peas are off the menu for me, but at least I know.
With my diet sorted, I lost weight and had so much more energy, felt so much younger too.
I had such an awful reaction to Metformin and Atorvastatin which took a long time to recover from - so I would do anything rather than need to take anything again - it makes sticking to low carb so easy, along with it being really good to eat that way.
 
thank you all so much, this is really helpful. I have now bought a meter and am one day in using it and am already so encouraged by my results. They are consistently much lower than when I last had it checked at the surgery at the beginning of January. I am definitely going to carry on testing and showing the nurse the next time I visit in 7 weeks time
 
Here's to you baffling/impressing your nurse at the next review - I shall drink to you in the cold coffee which I seem to have forgotten to drink after breakfast.
Tastes just as good cold as hot - probably the extra thick cream.
 
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