Hi Yasmin, welcome to the forum
🙂 I moved your post to its own thread so it wouldn't get overlooked.
Try not to worry, although diabetes is a serious condition, with the right knowledge and effort it can be controlled well so that you can live a happy, healthy and long life. It's not uncommon to have higher than normal levels of protein in your urine at diagnosis, but this doesn't automatically mean you have done them any damage, and there is every possibility that, once you have learned how to get things under control, future tests will prove clear
🙂
As I mentioned, knowledge is important, and you have come to the right place for any questions you may have, so please ask away - nothing is considered 'silly', if it bothers or worries you, let us know. I would recommend having a read of
Jennifer's Advice and
Maggie Davey's letter, and would also highly recommend getting a copy of
Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker. These will give you a good grounding in how to approach things. Have you been given a blood glucose monitor and a prescription for test strips so that you can monitor the effect of different foods on your blood glucose levels? If not, then I would recommend asking for them as this is the best way of quickly learning what items you can tolerate well and what things you should remove from your diet or reduce portions of. Diabetes is mainly about carbohydrates - bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sweet things - so it can be useful to start a food diary, writing down the amounts of carbs in everything you eat and drink each day. This will help you build a picture of your current intake, and allow you to look for areas where you might improve things whilst still retaining flexibility in your diet.
If your GP says you don't need to test, it is most probably because he is trying to save money, as the test strips are expensive. However, this is a short-term saving and testing is the only real way you have to know whether the things you are eating and the changes you are making are having the desired effect. If you cannot persuade the GP, then you may wish to buy a monitor and strips yourself - often a GP will relent when faced with the evidence from tests you have done yourself showing how testing is helping you improve your blood glucose control. The cheapest option we have come across here is the
SD Codefree Meter with
test strips at around £7 for 50. Have a read of
Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S for a guide to efficient testing.
Exercise is also important, so it's good to try and get some regular exercise each day, if possible. A brisk walk is fine - no need to go joining a gym or anything!
Good luck, and let us know if we can help further
🙂
