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Some basic help please

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Boaters

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi all I am newly diagnosed as Type 2 diabetic however, all I have had was a phone call from my doctor saying I was type 2 and that he had prescribed me some medication which i am now taking.

I was told I would receive a call from the diabetes nurse within a week, which was 9 weeks ago. I have literally no information as to my own results, would they should be normally or what to look for. I now have a monitor which I had to phone and ask for but have no idea what readings are good bad, or when to take them. Any advise whilst I await a call would be great, thanks Neill
 
Welcome to the forum. what a dreadful introduction to your diagnosis. I'm afraid people have to be proactive in taking control over their condition.
You will find plenty of information here, you may find starting by looking at the Learning Zone (orange tab at the top).
It will help people to give you appropriate advice if you could answer a couple of questions. If you have what your HbA1C is that gave you your diagnosis that will indicate how much work you need to do, it will be a number above 47mmol/mol as that is the diagnostic threshold. Also if you have been given medication then I assume you are quite a way into the diabetes zone. What medication is that?

The other important thing is making dietary changes in reducing carbohydrates in your meals that is not just cakes, biscuits, sugary drinks but foods like potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, breakfast cereals, pastry, tropical fruits which are all high carb foods and it is carbs that convert to glucose.
You are lucky to be given a monitor as many people who are Type 2 have to self fund.
Using your monitor to test the effect of your meals on your blood glucose levels is what many people find a useful way to start to get their levels down. Testing before you eat and after 2 hours to check that the increase is no more than 2-3 mmol/l , if so then the meal is too carb heavy.
Basing meals on meat, fish, eggs, cheese, dairy, vegetables, salads and fruits like berries with only small portions of high carb foods will still give options for tasty meals.
There are a number of approaches that people try but many find a low carbohydrate approach is successful, low carb being less than 130g per day Total carbs.
Just to add this link which you may find helpful https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/

Also many people find keeping a food diary noting everything they eat and drink with an estimate of the TOTAL carbs as it gives you a starting point as to where you can start to make some savings.
 
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Thank you so much for your quick reply. That's brilliant I now have an idea of what to look for.
 
Hi Boaters, welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear that you've not had much info from your GP, it's unfortunately quite a common situation to be in.

Along with the super helpful info above, it might be worth having a look at the following pages which help to understand what to eat and how to test/ what to look for.



If there's anything else we can do to help, just give us a shout.
 
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