Recent diagnosis

[Mark C]

Hello all

After the staff at Specsavers spotted microaneurysms in my eyes on a routine eye test, it was suggested I contacted the GP for blood tests.

On Monday, I was told my 3 month glucose thing was 94 and I'm a type 2 diabetic. Also, my blood pressure of 158/104 is high, and my cholesterol level is way up. A ticking timbomb as they say.

I've been in a daze for two days, to be honest I'm still learning what diabetes is. I didn't even know I was ill and I'm now on metformin, statins and ramopril and worried whether any of my food is good for me or doing me harm. Didn't expect that at 39 years old i'll admit!

Still, I have it now and I have to deal with it. I'm glad I've found this forum as it's clear many of you have been through the same feelings i'm having.

 

[Kaylz]

Hi and welcome to the forum

We have a great amount of knowledge between us so if you have any questions please do feel free to ask them
xx

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome

You are right that the feeling of being shocked and overwhelmed and grief even, is very common and perhaps an important part of the process to becoming a new and healthier you. I think most of us were aware pre diagnosis that our diet and lifestyle was not as healthy as it could be and we were maybe carrying a bit too much weight, but without this shock diagnosis we would have muddled along and not really done anything about it, so perhaps this may be the kick up the pants we needed to get a grip and do something positive about it. There have certainly been some benefits to my diagnosis including weight loss and consequent reduction is joint strain/pain and interestingly for me, no more migraines which were a severe and chronic problem... I can even drink a glass of red wine here and there without problem which was my main, known trigger.

There is a lot of confusing information out there about diabetes and the first thing to grasp is that it is not just about sugar, but carbohydrates in general, so you need to not just cut down on the sugar and sweet stuff but also the starchy carbs like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and breakfast cereals. Even otherwise healthy foods like fruit (in all it's forms... fresh, dried juiced and frozen) and porridge often need to be rationed as they are carbohydrate rich.

My 3 top tips to a newby would be....
1. Take Metformin tablets mid meal with a substantial amount of food to reduce the risk of digestive upset.
2. Get yourself a Blood Glucose Monitor so that you can test your blood at home on a meal by meal basis, so that you can figure out which types of carbs adversely affect you the most and use it to tailor your diet, both food and portion size to your particular body's intolerance of carbs.... it can be highly individual in that some people can cope with a small portion of pasta but another person may find it spikes their BG too high but they can manage 2-3 roast potatoes which would adversely affect another person. Testing your blood before and 2 hours after each meal during the first few months enables you to build up a picture of which foods and in what portion size are OK for you and which you need to avoid or dramatically reduce portion size.
Unfortunately many GPs do not see the benefit of this and will not prescribe BG meters and test strips but the overwhelming experience of the members of this forum is that this system is hugely beneficial in managing their diabetes and in some cases, pushing it into remission.
3. Keeping a food diary. This should be an honest record or everything you eat and drink. Once you have a BG meter, recording your BG readings alongside the meals helps to see what tweaks you need to make for next time you have that meal.

There are lots of tips and tricks for substituting low carb foods for higher ones so that you don't necessarily have to give up favourite foods but it will involve being open to experimenting with new tastes and flavours to some extent.

The 2 BG meters we recommend if you are self funding are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Healthcare Tee2 as these work out the cheapest to self finance. Both are available to purchase online.

Good luck with getting to grips with it all. It takes time to figure out what works for you as an individual and you will make mistakes along the way, but that is part of the learning process.
We are here to support you in any way we can.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

My 3 top tips to a newby would be....
1. Take Metformin tablets mid meal with a substantial amount of food to reduce the risk of digestive upset.

The more you eat with metformin the worse the side effects. This is well documented 🙂

 

[rebrascora]

The more you eat with metformin the worse the side effects

Not in my experience or the experience of others on this forum.

 

[Nishikoi]

Hello all

After the staff at Specsavers spotted microaneurysms in my eyes on a routine eye test, it was suggested I contacted the GP for blood tests.

On Monday, I was told my 3 month glucose thing was 94 and I'm a type 2 diabetic. Also, my blood pressure of 158/104 is high, and my cholesterol level is way up. A ticking timbomb as they say.

I've been in a daze for two days, to be honest I'm still learning what diabetes is. I didn't even know I was ill and I'm now on metformin, statins and ramopril and worried whether any of my food is good for me or doing me harm. Didn't expect that at 39 years old i'll admit!

Still, I have it now and I have to deal with it. I'm glad I've found this forum as it's clear many of you have been through the same feelings i'm having.

I've been diagnosed since December and I found a bg monitor invaluable.
I switched a few things like white bread to pumpernickel or sourdough I cut out the obvious high sugar things. I found that at first everything seemed to cause a spike but now 6 months on my readings are settling. Different ways of cooking carbs can also make a difference. I can't have chips but I can have jacket potato. I switched cereals to bran flakes and wheaties. Different brands of beans can also give different results. At first I felt I got hypos in the morning but this was not the case when checked with a meter metformin can give false hypo initially. The food diary alongside your readings is great idea. My biggest advice is don't panic the body needs time to get used to your new diet and medication. Bg readings will be irratic at first but as you learn and adjust it will all come together

 

[Deleted member 27171]

Hi @Mark C

Welcome to the forum - sorry you’ve found yourself with an unexpected diagnosis, but you’ve definitely come to the right place. I can see you’ve had some great advice already, if you can fund the home monitor (or better still if your GP will - though sadly this might not happen) and use it as suggested that could be a real help in understanding how your bgl reacts to what foods and help you make the most useful adjustments to your diet.
Do come by and ask any questions whenever you need, there are no silly questions, there is a lot to learn And if you find it overwhelming come here an share that too, we’ll all do our best to help you get to grips with it. 🙂

 

[Junglegirl]

Hi and welcome Marc,
We are all diabetics but we are all different, so always feel free to ask any question no matter how trivial you think it may be.

 

[Mark C]

Thank you all for the welcome.

I will certainly get a blood monitor, I specifically asked the nurse whether I had to test and she said no. However, reading this forum I don't understand why she would. Checking what works and what doesn't for me would be difficult without one.

 

[zuludog]

Hello MARK C and welcome to the forum

No-one wants to have diabetes, but it need not be a disaster as there are lots of things you can do to help yourself

You can live well with diabetes. You will no doubt be prescribed medication, but the main way to control diabetes is by adjusting your diet

Diabetes is the inability of the body to control the carbohydrates we consume
Normally carbs are broken down into glucose in the gut, which then pass into the bloodstream and on into the cells for further use
The hormone insulin is produced in the pancreas and enables the glucose to pass from the blood into the cells
If we do not make enough insulin the glucose accumulates in the blood and causes the problems we call diabetes
In this case we can take medication to make the pancreas produce more insulin or take in extra insulin by injection

But the most important and effective way to reduce these high levels of glucose is not to eat the stuff in the first place
An important thing to realise is that all carbs are broken down into glucose, so we must limit starchy food like bread, pasta, spuds, rice, and breakfast cereals, and not just the obvious things like sweets, cakes, and biscuits
One you've grasped that, all the changes and restrictions are easier to understand, and just fall into place

There is a lot of advice on diet on this forum. Have a look through old Threads, especially in the Newbies section, and follow the links and suggestions

You will have to do most of the work yourself - reading and understanding the information, controlling your own diet & medication, monitoring BG, following a diet and probably giving up some foods
However, you soon get used to that; learn what you can & cannot do, and also your taste changes, and you can manage without very sweet food

Many people take a diagnosis as the opportunity and motivation to live more healthily - more exercise, give up booze & fags, highly processed & junk food, reduce salt, and so on
Nothing in the body happens in isolation, and things like diabetes, high blood pressure, overweight, cardiovascular problems are all related
You may well find that as you treat diabetes the others improve as well

 

[Mark C]

You're all a really friendly bunch, thanks for the support!

I've got the glucose meter on order, but I'm curious. How do I get rid of the lancets? Do I need a yellow bin? And what do i do when they're full? Sorry if it's a silly question.

 

[rebrascora]

Technically the lancets should be disposed of in a sharp safe (yellow bin). I believe you would have to self fund both the box and more importantly the disposal of it's contents, since you are not prescribed sharps by your GP.
Whilst not strictly legal, people used to dispose of them in an empty bleach bottle as this is made of robust plastic and not generally tampered with if found discarded and of course has a child proof safety lid.

Whilst it is recommended that you change the lancet after every finger prick, many of us do not change it anywhere near as frequently as that and in fact we joke (with some seriousness) that it is changed annually on St Swithin's Day, so you may find that you don't have a great number to dispose of, depending upon how fastidious you are.

 

[Snoopyj]

Hi @Mark C
I thought the same thing a couple of weeks ago, been testing since June. I asked at the chemist, bought a sharps box for £2.30 (good size) and they said take it back when full, which could take a long time

 

[grovesy]

Not all areas will do this, there is no one system for disposing of sharps bins. It varies around the country.

 

[silentsquirrel]

My pharmacy will not accept them, but the dispensary at the GP Surgery will If no luck with these, the Local Authority should have arrangements in place, but you may have to pay for this.

 

[Mark C]

Just received my SD Gluco navii. Will start testing properly tomorrow but couldn't resist a go with it. My reading was 16.4...😱

Guess it's very early days, 5 days after diagnosis, but hoping this improves soon!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I've got the glucose meter on order, but I'm curious. How do I get rid of the lancets? Do I need a yellow bin? And what do i do when they're full? Sorry if it's a silly question.

Sorry to hear about your abrupt diagnosis Mark, but you seem to be coping brilliantly with it.

Your local authority has the legal duty to dispose of sharps, so check your council website to find out what the arrangement is in your area.

I just make a request on the council website, they collect one box and deliver another. 🙂

However a straw poll we ran here a while back does suggest that for around half of members the arrangement is via GP, pharmacy or hospital clinic

Sharps Bins? Easy or impossible.

For members who create ‘sharps’ as part of their diabetes management, I am interested in how easy or difficult the local authority in your area makes it to gather and dispose of these properly. I recently did a straw poll on Twitter and 42% of respondents either had no system in their area, or...

forum.diabetes.org.uk

 

[Junglegirl]

Technically the lancets should be disposed of in a sharp safe (yellow bin). I believe you would have to self fund both the box and more importantly the disposal of it's contents, since you are not prescribed sharps by your GP.
Whilst not strictly legal, people used to dispose of them in an empty bleach bottle as this is made of robust plastic and not generally tampered with if found discarded and of course has a child proof safety lid.

Whilst it is recommended that you change the lancet after every finger prick, many of us do not change it anywhere near as frequently as that and in fact we joke (with some seriousness) that it is changed annually on St Swithin's Day, so you may find that you don't have a great number to dispose of, depending upon how fastidious you are.

Had me laughing at St Swithin’s how bad are we ....lol....glad it’s not just me

 

[rebrascora]

Had me laughing at St Swithin’s how bad are we ....lol....glad it’s not just me

I actually change mine twice a year.... New years day and St Swithin's.... but I didn't want to come across as too much of a swat. 😉

 

[SB2015]

Welcome to the forum @Mark C

I also don’t change my lancet after every finger prick. Mine gets changed on ‘ouch day’.
My bins are taken by the Local Authority, and I don’t remember them asking about prescriptions, they just told me what day to leave it out and a new one is left in its place. Your Practice should be able to tell you what the local arrangements are.

As you have found many on here find that testing really helps them to manage their Diabetes effectively. Keep the questions coming and someone will come up with a suggestions for you, sometimes very different as what works for one doesn’t work for another person. That is the way with Diabetes.