Recently diagnosed

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Jenty

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Hi, I was quite surprised to find I have Type 2 diabetes as I had no symptoms, it was found after a health check.

I find it a bewildering place to be and quite stressful at this time of year. There is a lot to read and learn and I’m sure this forum will be very helpful.

I have been taking one Metformin for a week and just beginning on two a day. It made me a little dizzy the first few days. Now I have energy for a couple of hours and then hit a wall.

The diabetic nurse at our surgery is on maternity leave so the nurse I saw did admit she doesn’t know a lot about it. She found a load of leaflets for me to read. It’s all a bit bewildering at the moment.
 
Welcome to the forum
People are often left high and dry with very little information, handed some pills with no explanation. Were you told what your HbA1C is as that will indicate how far you are into the diabetic zone, anything over 47mmol/mol will give you a diagnosis. Often if not too high then people will be given the opportunity to make some lifestyle changes, dietary and getting more exercise if they are able. Even if people are prescribed metformin they still need to make dietary changes which is often the bit that gets left out. Metformin helps the body use the insulin it produces more effectively but it can only do so much.
High blood glucose can make people feel tired so making efforts to reduce it should help.
Many find a low carbohydrate approach successful at reducing blood glucose and losing weight if you need to and this link may give you some ideas for modifying your diet. There is also good explanation and some do's and don'ts.
https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
Low carb is suggested as being no more than 130g per day carbs not just sugar, it is not NO carbs.
 
Welcome to the forum @Jenty

Goodness that must have come as a real shock. Do be kind to yourself over the coming weeks, as you begin to come to terms with your new diagnosis.

Try not to be disheartened about your diagnosis, many people on the forum later reflect that their diagnosis became a catalyst which prompted them to make positive changes towards a healthier and more active life. Perhaps changes that they had been intending to make for years.

Diabetes is a potentially serious condition, but it’s also one that can usually be managed well with a few changes and adaptations - it’s something that you can learn to live well with, and it shouldn’t stop you doing things you enjoy. And hopefully as you were diagnosed before any symptoms emerged, that will mean that it was hopefully caught early and your glucose levels won’t have been running amok for a while.

Were you told the result of your HbA1c at diagnosis?
 
Welcome to the forum
People are often left high and dry with very little information, handed some pills with no explanation. Were you told what your HbA1C is as that will indicate how far you are into the diabetic zone, anything over 47mmol/mol will give you a diagnosis. Often if not too high then people will be given the opportunity to make some lifestyle changes, dietary and getting more exercise if they are able. Even if people are prescribed metformin they still need to make dietary changes which is often the bit that gets left out. Metformin helps the body use the insulin it produces more effectively but it can only do so much.
High blood glucose can make people feel tired so making efforts to reduce it should help.
Many find a low carbohydrate approach successful at reducing blood glucose and losing weight if you need to and this link may give you some ideas for modifying your diet. There is also good explanation and some do's and don'ts.
https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
Low carb is suggested as being no more than 130g per day carbs not just sugar, it is not NO carbs.
Thank you for your reply, just the sort of information I need. The number I was given is 57 mmol (?) I also have high blood pressure that they will deal with in about three months.
 
Thank you for your reply, just the sort of information I need. The number I was given is 57 mmol (?) I also have high blood pressure that they will deal with in about three months.
Often people find that by reducing carbs and losing some weight their blood pressure does come down anyway so probably a good idea to leave taking any medication for that for a while.
57mmol/mol is a little way into the diabetic zone (anything over 47 will be diabetic) but not desperately high, some people are in 3 figures when diagnosed, but still high enough to need to take action to get it down. That test is used for diagnosis and simply is the average blood glucose over the previous 3 months. Excess glucose sticks to your red blood cells and how much is what the test measures.
That is a different parameter to using a home testing blood glucose monitor which measures the blood glucose at a particular moment in time from a finger prick, that result will be given in mmol/l.
There is no direct comparison but the higher your HbA1C is, the higher finger prick test results are likely to be but as they reduce due to dietary changes and or meds then HbA1C will go down.
 
I can see my results on my patient account (although l don’t understand them all). It is 57 mmol/mol.

I can see my results on my patient account (although l don’t understand
Welcome to the forum @Jenty

Goodness that must have come as a real shock. Do be kind to yourself over the coming weeks, as you begin to come to terms with your new diagnosis.

Try not to be disheartened about your diagnosis, many people on the forum later reflect that their diagnosis became a catalyst which prompted them to make positive changes towards a healthier and more active life. Perhaps changes that they had been intending to make for years.

Diabetes is a potentially serious condition, but it’s also one that can usually be managed well with a few changes and adaptations - it’s something that you can learn to live well with, and it shouldn’t stop you doing things you enjoy. And hopefully as you were diagnosed before any symptoms emerged, that will mean that it was hopefully caught early and your glucose levels won’t have been running amok for a while.

Were you told the result of your HbA1c at diagnosis?
I can see my results on my patient account (although not always easy to understand). It is 57 mmol/mol. Your post is very encouraging and I’m glad I joined to get the help I need. I’ve been having trouble replying so apologies if there are extra replies to you. I feel more encouraged with the good advice I am getting. Thank you
 
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