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Recently diagnosed and worried

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R

Rammy

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi, I’ve recently been told i’ve got type 2. It was after a sudden bout of peeing lots and being very thirsty. I’ve lost a bit of weight (I wasn’t overweight to start with) and seem to have lost some strength in my muscles.

I have to have another blood test to see whether I have to use meds or just diet control. But wondered, will I gain my weight and strength back? It feels like very scary and confused times.
 
Welcome Rammy. I hope for your sake its diet controlled. Good luck 🙂
 
Hi Rammy and welcome.

I am a few months down the line from you (I was diagnosed in February... the day after my 55th birthday) and started with the same symptoms. The blood test will give you a base reading called an HbA1c and will be a number between 42 and 100+ My starting reading was 112 which is very high and after 5 weeks of following their dietary advice and taking medication it went up instead of down, so I am now on insulin and my most recent reading was 90 so I am at least now heading in the right direction. It is a roller coaster of emotions during the first few months with quite a bit of conflicting info and a lot of frustration. Keep in mind that this is a long term condition and tackle it/pace yourself as for a marathon rather than a sprint. Things will be all over the place in the beginning, so don't worry too much..... slowly you will get to grips with it .... with the support of your healthcare professionals and the wonderfully helpful, kind and experienced people here on this forum.
The weight/muscle loss and weakness/muscle fatigue is concerning I know..... I still look down at my arms and they just don't look like mine anymore and I get the shakes quite a bit, but I am now getting times when I have more power and hopefully that will continue to improve as my HbA1c lowers.
Cutting down on complex carbs (starchy foods) as well as simple sugars has helped me a lot. My first real breakthrough was stopping my morning porridge and replacing it with a mushroom omelette or a fry up and cutting out the bread and toast etc. I now mostly just have a small carb portion (3 potatoes or a little wholemeal pasta) on an evening and eat protein and fat rich foods through the day, like my breakfast omelette/fry up and then a chunk of mature cheddar or some full fat Greek Yoghurt with a few berries at lunchtime and then a proper meal with meat or fish and lots of green veg and a few tatties on an evening. Everyone is different though and some foods affect some people worse than others. It takes time and testing to figure out which foods your body can tolerate and which send your blood glucose through the roof for hours on end. If your HbA1c is very high like mine, your healthcare professionals may supply you with a testing meter. It is worth asking for one when you get your results. The worst they can say is "No"! If they are not able to supply you with one on the NHS then it is worth investing in one yourself if you can afford it. I believe they are about £15 to buy but it is the test strips which make it expensive so shop around for the cheapest brand test strips before buying your meter or take advice from this forum on a model.

Best wishes

Barbara
 
rebrascora said:
Hi Rammy and welcome.

I am a few months down the line from you (I was diagnosed in February... the day after my 55th birthday) and started with the same symptoms. The blood test will give you a base reading called an HbA1c and will be a number between 42 and 100+ My starting reading was 112 which is very high and after 5 weeks of following their dietary advice and taking medication it went up instead of down, so I am now on insulin and my most recent reading was 90 so I am at least now heading in the right direction. It is a roller coaster of emotions during the first few months with quite a bit of conflicting info and a lot of frustration. Keep in mind that this is a long term condition and tackle it/pace yourself as for a marathon rather than a sprint. Things will be all over the place in the beginning, so don't worry too much..... slowly you will get to grips with it .... with the support of your healthcare professionals and the wonderfully helpful, kind and experienced people here on this forum.
The weight/muscle loss and weakness/muscle fatigue is concerning I know..... I still look down at my arms and they just don't look like mine anymore and I get the shakes quite a bit, but I am now getting times when I have more power and hopefully that will continue to improve as my HbA1c lowers.
Cutting down on complex carbs (starchy foods) as well as simple sugars has helped me a lot. My first real breakthrough was stopping my morning porridge and replacing it with a mushroom omelette or a fry up and cutting out the bread and toast etc. I now mostly just have a small carb portion (3 potatoes or a little wholemeal pasta) on an evening and eat protein and fat rich foods through the day, like my breakfast omelette/fry up and then a chunk of mature cheddar or some full fat Greek Yoghurt with a few berries at lunchtime and then a proper meal with meat or fish and lots of green veg and a few tatties on an evening. Everyone is different though and some foods affect some people worse than others. It takes time and testing to figure out which foods your body can tolerate and which send your blood glucose through the roof for hours on end. If your HbA1c is very high like mine, your healthcare professionals may supply you with a testing meter. It is worth asking for one when you get your results. The worst they can say is "No"! If they are not able to supply you with one on the NHS then it is worth investing in one yourself if you can afford it. I believe they are about £15 to buy but it is the test strips which make it expensive so shop around for the cheapest brand test strips before buying your meter or take advice from this forum on a model.

Best wishes

Barbara
Click to expand...


Thanks so much for taking the time to reply and the fantastic food advice. Good job I like cheese 😉 I’ll let you know how I get on. I hope things level out for you soon.
 
Since diagnosis I have gone back to work as I can now do the lifting required to move knitting machines around. I have been eating a low carb high fat diet since diagnosis.
 
Anitram said:
Hi, Tammy and welcome.
I had the same symptoms. My HbA1C was 104 when I was diagnosed back in March and my fasting test was 20.5, but both my fasting and post-prandial readings are now bumping along just either side of 6.0, and that's with diet and exercise and no meds.
I ditched everything sugary and switched to wholegrain (not wholemeal) bread, cereal and pasta, made sure I eat plenty of salads, vegetables, fish and chicken and cut my carbs intake to around half of what it was before.
Weight down from 90kg to 79kg so I may have gone too far too fast trying to get my BG down so am looking to try and put two or three kgs back on if I safely can.
Click to expand...

Very encouraging. Thank you.
 
Hi @Rammy and welcome 🙂

Was your weight loss unexpected (ie you weren't trying to lose weight)? - if so, have you been tested for type 1? Sudden weight loss is a common sign of type 1, and contrary to popular belief (even among the medical profession) type 1 can develop at any age (I was 44, and we have several people here who developed it in their 40s and 50s).

Hopefully it will be type 2 and you will be able to control it by diet - as others have said, cut down on carbs (not just sugary ones, but starchy ones too), but please do ask your GP if they've tested you for type 1, given your weight loss. GPs often don't know much about type 1 as it's a more specialist area, so they may not have thought of it, or may be under the false impression that only children get it. And if you start to feel very ill, please go to A&E rather than waiting to go back to your surgery for more tests.

I don't want to make you any more scared! - even if it is type 1, it's treatable, you can live a perfectly normal life with it, and once on insulin you'll feel very much better very quickly indeed - I just want to make sure you are aware of the possibility.

Either way, this is a good place to learn more about diabetes, and the more you know the more you can take control of it and not let it control you. As @rebrascora says, getting a test meter is a very good idea, as it helps you to know how different foods effect you (this is different for different people - eg some can eat porridge with no problems, others find it sends their blood sugar sky high). If your surgery don't supply you with one, this is the one people on here recommend (because the test strips are cheaper than other brands), and these are the test strips for it.

You may also find some of the links on this page helpful.
 
So sorry for the late reply Juliet. The weight loss was a slowish thing. I wasn’t trying to lose weight but was trying to eat what I thought was more healthily.

I have to confess that whilst not over weight I was completely addicted to chocolate bars. Since reading up about diet, I’m starting to fell healthier and have put some weight back on.

I’ll definitely ask about type 1. I have my first appointment with the diabetic nurse in a weeks time with the results to my latest blood test. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. It’s much appreciated.
 
If the weight loss was slowish and you've put some of it back on it's less likely to be type 1, but still no harm in asking about it, to be sure.

I'm glad you're feeling healthier now - hope things continue to improve.
 
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