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recently diagnosed and very confused.

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Dear davie533, I am a newbie diagnosed three weeks ago, got myself a monitor and read all the information I could on the diabeties website and forum. Got to grips quickly and have been able to reduce blood sugar from 19.6 to average of 8.1 morning reading to 6.5 to 7.5 two hours after meals, the monitoring has enabled me to find out what foods I was eating that were causing the spikes. I hope this is helpful. I think the price of a good night out is worth knowing how you can take personal control of the diabeties. 🙂
 
I don't agree with not testing either - to me - that's like driving up the motorway and not bothering to look through the windscreen or the mirrors after you pull off your drive at home.

Don't be at all surprise if the nurse advises against testing, Davie. If they prescribe test strips - they are expensive - so an awful lot of the NHS have come up with 'reasons NOT to test' - you see, it actually is absolutely no good whatever, merely testing.

What you have to do actually, is learn to Test, then Review that reading and work out why it was that number, then if it was too high or too low, Adjust your food intake and/or your behaviour to try and avoid the same thing happening time after time after time. So it's no good whatsoever, only doing the 'Test' bit, without doing the second bit and then if it's necessary, the third bit. It is explained perfectly simply here - http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.co.uk/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html
- written by a perfectly normal ordinary Australian Type 2 chap, years ago.
 
PS Diabetes Nerd - you don't appear to have introduced yourself anywhere, so we have no idea of your background in diabetes though we know you are not diabetic yourself this does not disbar you of course, however it's useful to know in what way you have come by whatever knowledge in the subject you have. Why on earth do you not agree with T2s testing for instance? What would make you think that? You clearly haven't seen the value of it wherever you've been prior to this - we have !
 
[RANT]Testing, no matter what type you are is one of the most important weapons in the diabetic arsenal. It's vital that every diabetic should understand how different foods and activities affect their BG levels and the ONLY way to learn that is to test and note the results. Time and again we've helped members in here do this and seen the marked improvements they've been able to make in their control. Not allowing proper testing is short sighted in the extreme. That way very likely leads to unpleasant complications that will prove far more expensive in the long run, as well as shortened lives and much suffering for those affected. Proper training in how to test and interpret the results would be far more cost effective as well as giving folk more control over their own destiny. The evidence for this is all through this forum. My advice to anyone who thinks testing has no value is to read what's here and think on.[/RANT]
 
Thanks for all the comments.The diabetes nurse did say not to test only need to do that when and if I go on tablets.I have ordered a tester anyway so will see how I get on with it when it arrives.
 
davie533 said:
Hi there,my name is Davie I am 56 and I am type 2 and I am looking forward to be part of this forum as you are all so helpful when questions are asked and hopefully you will keep me right as since being diagnosed its all been very daunting and I am struggling with it all and very unsure where I go from here.
At the moment I don't need tablets and I am trying to lose weight and do more exercise to see if it can be controlled that way and I have another test in three months so we will see what happens then.
Thanks for reading this and any advice given would be much appreciated.I do have lots of questions which will be asked on the general message board.thanks.
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Welcome davie. I am 4yrs younger than you & coming up to 50yrs T1. You are miles better keeping active & when you have the chance walk/use stairs etc. Good luck
 
Thanks Hobie. Fifty years that's a long time just shows people like myself that once you get over the shock of the initial diagnosis this is an illness that can be managed and its not the end of the world.Due to spondylosis problems in my neck the only exercise I can do is walking and being two minutes from the countryside its a nice walk even better if the rain would stop though.Take care mate.
 
I know what you mean about the rain. One end of my road is closed because of the water. I also live near the country On a nice day brill 🙂
 
davie533 said:
Hi there,my name is Davie I am 56 and I am type 2 and I am looking forward to be part of this forum as you are all so helpful when questions are asked and hopefully you will keep me right as since being diagnosed its all been very daunting and I am struggling with it all and very unsure where I go from here.
At the moment I don't need tablets and I am trying to lose weight and do more exercise to see if it can be controlled that way and I have another test in three months so we will see what happens then.
Thanks for reading this and any advice given would be much appreciated.I do have lots of questions which will be asked on the general message board.thanks.
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Hi Davie-yes,i find it all a bit daunting as well.think the forum will be a great help
 
Hi Carolg,welcome to this wonderful forum,I have been a member for only a few days and have learned so much already so the forum will be a great help for you as it is for everyone else.good luck.
 
trophywench said:
PS Diabetes Nerd - you don't appear to have introduced yourself anywhere, so we have no idea of your background in diabetes though we know you are not diabetic yourself this does not disbar you of course, however it's useful to know in what way you have come by whatever knowledge in the subject you have. Why on earth do you not agree with T2s testing for instance? What would make you think that? You clearly haven't seen the value of it wherever you've been prior to this - we have !
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Well, without coming across wrong, the diabetes nurse gave the same advice as I did it seems. I do agree with other comments that its up to the individual and that's fine. Each to their own!
 
So - you still don't tell us anything about you - I wouldn't hold any confidence in ANYTHING said by someone whose background I wasn't are of. eg on a 'car' forum if I had engine problems, I would listen to the advice of a person who has said he's a mechanic and may have evidenced this before based on the correct advice about something else engine-oriented which I knew to be correct but I wouldn't listen to my advice since I admit freely to knowing sweet FA about engines, have never worked with them or done anything whatsoever to do with the motor trade except typed estimates and invoices for someone who was involved in it.

We have already explained - as we always do - why WE individually regard testing as essential - however you disagree with that - you need to explain exactly why you say that, which explanation needs to be sufficiently persuasive to change our minds completely, to have a snowball's chance in hell of anyone doing that volte face. If you are not prepared to say in what way YOU were persuaded it was 100% correct - how can you expect us to even contemplate changing our minds?

Thing is if you only try one way, and then in 20 years time your legs drop off and your kidneys fail - it's a bit bloomin late to see if a change in regime might help, isn't it?
 
jacfburcham said:
Dear davie533, I am a newbie diagnosed three weeks ago, got myself a monitor and read all the information I could on the diabeties website and forum. Got to grips quickly and have been able to reduce blood sugar from 19.6 to average of 8.1 morning reading to 6.5 to 7.5 two hours after meals, the monitoring has enabled me to find out what foods I was eating that were causing the spikes. I hope this is helpful. I think the price of a good night out is worth knowing how you can take personal control of the diabeties. 🙂
Click to expand...
jacfburcham said:
Dear davie533, I am a newbie diagnosed three weeks ago, got myself a monitor and read all the information I could on the diabeties website and forum. Got to grips quickly and have been able to reduce blood sugar from 19.6 to average of 8.1 morning reading to 6.5 to 7.5 two hours after meals, the monitoring has enabled me to find out what foods I was eating that were causing the spikes. I hope this is helpful. I think the price of a good night out is worth knowing how you can take personal control of the diabeties. 🙂
Click to expand...
Hi.i wasn't advised to test although prescribed metformin. Having read lots of these posts, ive ordered a monitor to try to take control and quite agree that tying the results with what you eat is the way forward rather than going "blind".carol
 
trophywench said:
So - you still don't tell us anything about you - I wouldn't hold any confidence in ANYTHING said by someone whose background I wasn't are of. eg on a 'car' forum if I had engine problems, I would listen to the advice of a person who has said he's a mechanic and may have evidenced this before based on the correct advice about something else engine-oriented which I knew to be correct but I wouldn't listen to my advice since I admit freely to knowing sweet FA about engines, have never worked with them or done anything whatsoever to do with the motor trade except typed estimates and invoices for someone who was involved in it.

We have already explained - as we always do - why WE individually regard testing as essential - however you disagree with that - you need to explain exactly why you say that, which explanation needs to be sufficiently persuasive to change our minds completely, to have a snowball's chance in hell of anyone doing that volte face. If you are not prepared to say in what way YOU were persuaded it was 100% correct - how can you expect us to even contemplate changing our minds?

Thing is if you only try one way, and then in 20 years time your legs drop off and your kidneys fail - it's a bit bloomin late to see if a change in regime might help, isn't it?
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Trophy wench the advice I gave which Davie found very helpful, was supported by the specialist he went to see and is also supported by 2015 nice guidance, unfortunately the advice you gave wasn't supported by either. Good night
 
I know some of the medical profession use the arguments that T2s shouldn't test because the results may cause worry or confusion. I would be more worried if I wasn't in possession of the data I needed to manage my condition, especially if that data was easy to obtain. As for causing confusion, what an insult to the intelligence.
 
Care and advice is supposed to be decided on an individual basis. This is a highly complex condition and needs input from both patient and healthcare professional, if at all possible. Self-management comprises 99.999% of a person's experience of diabetes, the HCP's input is the remainder of that time...🙄 Studies and guidelines should simply be a starting point and cannot successfully be applied to everyone and anyone.
 
I'm not sure that the NICE 2015 guidelines do in any way support a refusal by HCPs to facilitate self testing. The wording is not to 'routinely' offer self-monitoring, and is modified by the opening paragraph of the guidelines,
'Adopt an individualised approach to diabetes care that is tailored to the needs and circumstances of adults with type 2 diabetes, taking into account their personal preferences,'
A blanket refusal is not an individualised approach. If the person with diabetes decides testing is the right approach for them, then they should be supported to do so.
 
Diabetes Nerd said:
Trophy wench the advice I gave which Davie found very helpful, was supported by the specialist he went to see and is also supported by 2015 nice guidance, unfortunately the advice you gave wasn't supported by either. Good night
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Hi Diabetes Nerd, I have no wish to embark on a confrontational exchange with you. Life is too short and this is meant to be a friendly, supportive environment. However I do share certain concerns expressed that you like to assert certain advice and quote policy guidelines like NICE without reference to how or why you hold those views. Rightly or wrongly I thought that this was an experiential site with diabetics and their carers supporting and advising each other to maintain good health and symptom free futures. I think that if a 'professional' seeks to join the site purely in an advisory capacity or to debate issues, then a declaration of their position should be made. Reading your posts I have the sense that you are perhaps a nurse or 'academic' with an interest in the subject. If this is the case, would you have any difficulty in saying so and why?

If you are a diabetic or a carer, I do think your position would be strengthened by sharing that information because otherwise members like myself start to feel that there are 'floating contributors' using the site simply as a debating society.

Surely it's not unreasonable to ask what your interest in diabetes is?
 
I firmly believe that HCP's contribution to my own care, is as advisers (and we can choose to take or ignore advice from anyone, there's no need for an argument and most certainly shouldn't be one. If I have a difference of opinion with any of mine, I enquire these days (hadn't used to! what makes them so firmly believe that whatever is a Good Idea for me? One can then assess reasonably quickly if they don't actually hold very form views on the subject, can't one? LOL) and that part is essential when one is first diagnosed - but mainly for myself now really - as facilitators to enable ME to treat MY diabetes.
 
Amigo said:
Surely it's not unreasonable to ask what your interest in diabetes is?
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This is mainly a helpful and friendly forum, but we have over the past year or so had at least three Afrezza spammers who failed to declare their vested interests. 🙄 I don't use the Ignore feature (so far), but am sorely tempted to make one exception. 🙄
 
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