Saying Hello, A New to messageboard and Type 2

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Graeme

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Type 2
Hi

I've been lurking for a few weeks, thought I'd register & say Hello! 🙂

I'm Graeme, I'm 37. I was diagnosed at the start of October after blood tests on the back of a longer than expected viral illness, with a HbA1C of 8.2.

After a few days of denial, anger, confusion, self-pity, I've been dealing with it okay. Still overwhelming at times. Had a clinic appt with the Practice nurse a few weeks ago, to talk about diet, medication (I'm on 2 x 500mg Metformin daily) etc, and going back for foot, eye checks soon. High blood pressure another thing for me (hereditary!) but look like meds to control that as well 😡 ..

Anyway, I get another HbA1c test in a couple of days time, I am eating more healthily and not had to change what I eat drastically, in the last few weeks I have dropped 10lbs (this is a good thing, I have a lot to lose!) and after investing in a BG meter, over the last 4 -5 days since I got it, my morning, pre & post meal reading have been between 4.9 and 6.8 (most seem around the 5 mark) From what i've read this isn't too bad

Sorry for the long ramble but Hello anyway!

Cheers

Graeme
 
Welcome to the forums Graeme 🙂
 
Greame hi and a warm welcome to the forum,pleased you have finally said hi x 🙂
 
Hi Graeme, welcome to the forum 🙂 It sounds like you are doing pretty well so far - congratulations on your weight loss, this will help improve your insulin sensitivity and therefore help to stabilise your blood sugar levels. Your readings sound pretty good too so it does sound like your diet is not too far off the mark. As you build up experience you will learn which things in your diet are to be avoided, or perhaps just reduced in quantity - using your meter will help you determine this. Have a look at Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S for a useful guide to a methodical way of achieving this. There are lots of other links in our 'Useful Links' thread that will help in understanding diabetes and how best to manage it. Hopefully, you will also be able to persuade your GP to prescribe the test strips for you by showing them how you are using the information to manage things well. The Diabetes UK's position statement on self-monitoring is useful reading on this subject.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have and we will do our best to help. I look forward to hearing more from you - good luck with the HbA1c test, let us know what happens! 🙂
 
Welcome to the forum!

It's looking like you are responding well to the medication there. Also your weight loss will be working wonders.

Keep it up!

Andy 🙂
 
Hello Graeme,

Welcome to the Forum, and it's good you finally decided to stop lurking and join us.

As you 've already found out I'm sure, they are a great lot on here, full of support and lots of well-wishers.

It sounds as if you have decided to approach Diabetes with just the right positive attitude and you should find the medication help too. Especially well done on the weight loss, which can only be a good thing if it was needed as you say.

All the best for now, looking forward to hearing more of you as the months go by.
 
Hi All

Thanks. Some useful links there.

In terms of self testing BG levels, the doctor never mentioned it, and the nurse when I went for my initial review, casually dismissed it and said I shouldn't worry about testing. When I go back to discuss my HbA1C results in a few weeks, I'll ask again now that I know more about it.

Cheers

Graeme
 
Graeme said:
Hi All

Thanks. Some useful links there.

In terms of self testing BG levels, the doctor never mentioned it, and the nurse when I went for my initial review, casually dismissed it and said I shouldn't worry about testing. When I go back to discuss my HbA1C results in a few weeks, I'll ask again now that I know more about it.

Cheers

Graeme
Click to expand...

Testing is the best tool we have to learn how to manage our diabetes properly. Some health care professionals say that a 3 or 6 monthly check is sufficient, but if the result is not good how can you determine what the problem might be months after the event? Unless you are on insulin or medication that can potentially cause low blood sugars (hypoglycaemia) then you can begin reducing the amount of testing you do as you become familiar with your reactions to frequently eaten items - but in the early stages it will really help enormously 🙂 The other argument is that you might become depressed if you get high readings, but the counter argument is that many people prefer to have the information so they can act on it rather than be kept in the dark - so don't be fobbed off! 🙂
 
Welcome to the forum Graeme and best of luck with the next HbA1c 🙂
 
Welcome to the boards Graeme. I don't know where I'd be without my monitor at the moment! It's test test test but I'm learning loads so hope you do too 🙂
 
Graeme said:
Hi

I've been lurking for a few weeks, thought I'd register & say Hello! 🙂

I'm Graeme, I'm 37. I was diagnosed at the start of October after blood tests on the back of a longer than expected viral illness, with a HbA1C of 8.2.

After a few days of denial, anger, confusion, self-pity, I've been dealing with it okay. Still overwhelming at times. Had a clinic appt with the Practice nurse a few weeks ago, to talk about diet, medication (I'm on 2 x 500mg Metformin daily) etc, and going back for foot, eye checks soon. High blood pressure another thing for me (hereditary!) but look like meds to control that as well 😡 ..

Anyway, I get another HbA1c test in a couple of days time, I am eating more healthily and not had to change what I eat drastically, in the last few weeks I have dropped 10lbs (this is a good thing, I have a lot to lose!) and after investing in a BG meter, over the last 4 -5 days since I got it, my morning, pre & post meal reading have been between 4.9 and 6.8 (most seem around the 5 mark) From what i've read this isn't too bad

Sorry for the long ramble but Hello anyway!

Cheers

Graeme
Click to expand...

Hi Graeme and welcome to the forum. best wshes Sheena
 
Hi Graeme. Welcome 🙂

Rob
 
Hi Graeme and welcome aboard. I'm glad you decided to come out of the shadows at last. Well done on your weight loss and those great numbers so far. XXXXX
 
Again, thanks for the hellos & kind words and welcoming etc. Had a post dinner reading last night of 7.2 my highest so far, but I did have some oven chips! :D

Was feeling a bit down this morning, but had a nice healthy breakfast & sorted my meals for today so I don't deviate, gave myself the kick up the behind I needed.

It's nice to come on here to know you're not alone.

Have a great day & thanks

G
 
Graeme said:
Again, thanks for the hellos & kind words and welcoming etc. Had a post dinner reading last night of 7.2 my highest so far, but I did have some oven chips! :D

Was feeling a bit down this morning, but had a nice healthy breakfast & sorted my meals for today so I don't deviate, gave myself the kick up the behind I needed.

It's nice to come on here to know you're not alone.

Have a great day & thanks

G
Click to expand...

7.2 is well within acceptable range for a post-meal reading Graeme - the 'ideal' upper limit is 8.5 mmol/l two hours after eating. How long after eating are you taking your readings? It's important to try and discover the 'peak' of your glucose levels after eating by testing at one hour and two hours - the one-hour reading may be higher than the two hour one if the carbs in the meal have converted quickly to glucose, so it's important to discover if this is the case. It's a lengthy process finding how all your different meals affect you, but it can also be surprising how quickly you learn what to avoid, what is fine, and what might be better in reduced quantities. Hope you have a good day too! 🙂
 
Yes, the test was round about the 2 hour mark. I was quite surprised by it, thought it would be higher based on what I ate.

I have been testing myself before meal, then 2 hours after the meal. Slowly getting to grips with it. I like the idea of understanding what my peak glucose levels are so will try this when testing. Will the readings after hour be significantly higher?


Cheers
G
 
Graeme said:
Yes, the test was round about the 2 hour mark. I was quite surprised by it, thought it would be higher based on what I ate.

I have been testing myself before meal, then 2 hours after the meal. Slowly getting to grips with it. I like the idea of understanding what my peak glucose levels are so will try this when testing. Will the readings after hour be significantly higher?


Cheers
G
Click to expand...

A lot depends on what you are eating. Following something like the GI or GL diet principles (see The GL Diet for Dummies for example), the food should gradually convert to glucose in a nice steady rise and fall, hopefully peaking no higher than 8.5 mmo/l (in an ideal world - things can be a lot more complex than that, but we are trying as much as possible to match what would happen naturally in a person without diabetes). However, some foods may peak very quickly - in an hour or less - so it is only by testing more than once that you can tell if the levels are rising or falling and trying to pinpoint the peak. For example, if you were at 5.0 before eating, 6.5 after one hour and 7.5 two hours after eating you would see that the two hour was a higher peak than the one hour. If however you started at 5.0 and 8.5 one hour later, then dropping to 7.5 you would see that you peaked at one hour! Of course, the one hour boundaries are artificial - you might also peak after 30 minutes, so some fine tuning may be necessary if you don't trust the readings you are getting.

It can be a tedious process, but worth it! 🙂
 
Thanks Northerner. It's making sense. Cheers for that.
 
Northerner said:
A lot depends on what you are eating. Following something like the GI or GL diet principles (see The GL Diet for Dummies for example), the food should gradually convert to glucose in a nice steady rise and fall, hopefully peaking no higher than 8.5 mmo/l (in an ideal world - things can be a lot more complex than that, but we are trying as much as possible to match what would happen naturally in a person without diabetes). However, some foods may peak very quickly - in an hour or less - so it is only by testing more than once that you can tell if the levels are rising or falling and trying to pinpoint the peak. For example, if you were at 5.0 before eating, 6.5 after one hour and 7.5 two hours after eating you would see that the two hour was a higher peak than the one hour. If however you started at 5.0 and 8.5 one hour later, then dropping to 7.5 you would see that you peaked at one hour! Of course, the one hour boundaries are artificial - you might also peak after 30 minutes, so some fine tuning may be necessary if you don't trust the readings you are getting.

It can be a tedious process, but worth it! 🙂
Click to expand...

Also, your regular HbA1c tests will confirm (or otherwise!) whether your spot readings are reliable or not.

Andy 🙂
 
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