newly diagnosed

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onelife

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Type 2
Hi All,
I am newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Went to the doctors after having a raging thirst for a few weeks and losing weight without trying.
I had just returned from a holiday in Canada and the US. I had been drinking lots of Fizzy drinks Coke etc which I would not normally do. After a Blood test my blood sugars were in the 30s.

I am now on Metaormine and have to go back to the docs in 4 weeks.

Can anyone tell me if they regularly check their blood sugars and do urine testing and if so how often is necessary. I expected my Doctor to recommend testing so I can control my diet but he has not. I feel a bit in the dark as various web sites opinions vary so much.

Thanks.
 
Hi onelife and a warm welcome to the forum, personally I test my blood sugars three times a day morning noon and night some do more some do less, as for urine testing i only get mine checked when i go to the doctors, i rarely have to test for ketones there are more prevelent with type 1's.
 
Hi onelife and welcome to the forum doctors in general do not like to prescribe
test strips to type 2 as they are expensive. Are you sure it is Metaormine and not Metformin. We have a wealth of knowledge here and very friendly others will be here shortly and together we will help you out.
 
Hi onelife, welcome to the forum🙂 There is a lot of controversy about the prescribing of test strips - actually, it's not controversy but a desire by many GPs to save money. Some people perfer not to test, but others like to build a picture of how their diet and lifestyle modifications are affecting their blood sugar levels. We are given targets for post meal blood usgar levels, but if we don't test how do we know if we are meeting them? Some people have managed to persuade their GPs by buying some strips themselves initially and making a record of the tests and action taken and showing it to their GP. When the doctor can see how you are making use of the information to improve your diabetes management, sometimes they relent.

Read the following links, they will give you a good start:

Maggie Davey's letter to newly diagnosed Type 2s:

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=5836

and also Jennifer's good advice:

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=5835

Plus, a highly recommended book: Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker (amazon link)

Please ask anything you are unsue of, or if you want to let off steam - go right ahead! 🙂
 
Hello onelife. Welcome to the forum. 🙂

In addition to the good advice already given, can I suggest that you look into getting onto a course the the NHS runs (well used to run, hopefully it still will despite all these 'austerity' cuts). It's called Diabetes Xpert and runs for an afternoon a week for six weeks. I found it very useful in giving me a grounding as to what Diabetes is, what I could expect and how to control it. Talk to your GP or DSN (diabetic specialist nurse) to see if a course is running near you.

Then, once you've got the basics, you can then get a better grip of all the advice given here (to test or not to test for example - I'm an advocate of daily testing initially, but as soon as the testing isn't saying anything new, I reduced it to once a week or less. But it all depends on how your diabetes is controlled. That approach may not be suitable for you too).

Andy 🙂
 
Hi Onelife

Welcome to the forum 🙂
 
Hi Onelife, welcome to the forum :D
 
Hello Onelife...welcome to the Forum....and ask away...there's lots of experience of all kinds on here 😉

Bernie x
 
Thanks for all the advice regarding testing. I made a spelling error. I am on Metformin.

Onelife x
 
onelife said:
Thanks for all the advice regarding testing. I made a spelling error. I am on Metformin.

Onelife x
Click to expand...

You're not the first! Don't worry about it, I'll try not to be the spelling police...but...it's .....soooooo....hard!!!! 😉
 
Hi onelife, just wanted to say hello and welcome to the forum. Shirl
 
Hi and welcome to the forum.
 
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