Type 2 Just been diagnosed

[Olliesmommy]

Hi All....I was told yesterday that I have Type 2 after having some symptoms I contacted the doctors.

Not sure if its sunk in just yet although I have always known I would more than likely go this way with family history, weight and PCOS.

BG levels have been very high I am watching closely what I am eating and making changes.... such a mind field not sure what I should be looking at when reading packets easy to know what the obvious foods to cut out but other stuff wow. Thought Shredded Wheat would be ok but then my BG +10 after easting very small bowl. I am sure it will all start to make more sense soon but if anyone can advise on how to make good choices for things like breakfast would be great.

Been put onto Metformin started taking straight away just 1 tablet for few days then will increase to 2 as prescribed.

Hoping to gain some control on this soon have increased exercise ...Was an over weight girl who needs to loose weight ..now its a must I just know this will give me the push I need to stop making excuses and motivate myself 🙂

 

[Pine Marten]

Hi @Olliesmommy, welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately cereals are not ideal for type 2s, but any combination of bacon, eggs (cooked any way, scrambled/fried/omelette etc.), mushrooms, few tomatoes on one slice of low carb bread, would be better. Some people here prefer Greek yogurt with berries or chopped nuts.

Personally I usually have mushrooms & 2 or 3 tomatoes on a toasted slice of Burgen low carb bread.

How are you doing with lunch and dinner? What was your HbA1c, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Inka]

Welcome @Olliesmommy 🙂 Do you know what number you got on your test when you were diagnosed? That will suggest how far you need to go, so to speak.

When you look at packets, look at the carbs per serving. All carbs put blood sugar up whether they’re sweet or savoury. You’ll find some foods work for you and some don’t. It will be quite an individual thing. If you eat bread, even the type of bread you choose can make quite a difference.

Exercise will help too so you’ve made a good start there. Losing weight should help improve your insulin sensitivity too. So, upsetting as a diabetes diagnosis is, at least there are some things you can do to improve things gradually. A good starting place is to make a food diary of your previous meals and then see where you can make little changes.

 

[Ljc]

Hello,@Olliesmommy , welcome to the forum and to the club that no one wants to join.
What symptoms did you have ?

We are usually fine with protein in all it’s firms.
This may well surprise you, good fats are fine too so long as you don’t have a condition that requires you to reduce them.

It’s carbohydrates we can no longer handle too well esp the starchy ones ie potatoes, rice pasta and bread. Don’t worry about this as their are substitutes that you may well like

Ignore the traffic light system on the front of packs etc as it doesn’t give the info we need, the carb content is in the nutritional label on the back.
You can ignore the sugar content as it is a carbohydrate so it’s already included in the carb content.

Fruit juice though often considered healthy, those of us on insulin often use it to treat hypo’s (low blood glucose).

Fruit can be problematic for some, anything with berry as part of its name is often tolerated better, I usually have some in the freezer.

I hope this helps.

Ask all the questions you need to , we’ll do our best to help based on what worked forus.

 

[Ljc]

I must learn to type faster lol

 

[Olliesmommy]

Hi @Olliesmommy, welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately cereals are not ideal for type 2s, but any combination of bacon, eggs (cooked any way, scrambled/fried/omelette etc.), mushrooms, few tomatoes on one slice of low carb bread, would be better. Some people here prefer Greek yogurt with berries or chopped nuts.

Personally I usually have mushrooms & 2 or 3 tomatoes on a toasted slice of Burgen low carb bread.

How are you doing with lunch and dinner? What was your HbA1c, if you don't mind me asking?

Hi....thank you for the reply and the welcome 🙂

I don't have my results yet waiting for a call back from Diabetic Nurse tomorrow I know these are how they confirm diabetes but she has advised that with my family history and symptoms then she is 99.9% sure that I am type 2. Had full check blood and Ketones and they where 0.1 so she ruled out type 1.

Like the idea of the bacon and egg be fine for the weekend just need to find something work friendly ..I had boiled eggs this morning I made them before I left and had them at work as I start at 7am and not ready for food so early

I have ham sandwich for lunch today using seeded bread from Aldi ...probably no good for me? Also a sugar free jelly

Dinner I am having fish and salad ...would normally have been chips probably but I am going to make the change.

Family are all onboard with me even my 12 year old son ...he's such a thoughtful lad and really wants to help me.

I am only 36 and really hoping that I can make enough of a difference to reverse this my mom was type 2 but with weight loss is no longer diabetic so I know it possible

How long have you had type 2? How did you find it when you first found out?

 

[Pine Marten]

Hi @Olliesmommy, I'm glad you're getting family support, that's a great help! And it sounds like you are on the way already with boiled eggs, fish and salad Bread can be awkward, and you'll have to check the listed carbs on the back - I know some people can do without bread but I'm afraid I can't! Burgen is a large soya & linseed loaf, with about 11 carbs per large slice, but it often goes AWOL from supermarkets. I buy Hovis Nimble too, which is ok but a bit thin. We don't have an Aldi so I don't know about their seeded bread, but it might be ok for you.

There are lots of tasty substitutes for carby foods - even a low carb pizza recipe called Fathead - I've no idea why! Cauliflower is very versatile, and at home recently we've been roasting swede or making 'chips' out of it.

I was diagnosed in 2007 after a routine blood test. At that time all I got were some diet sheets from my now retired-GP and no other info at all - the sheets advised eating starchy carbs at every meal, and low fat options! Result: I put on weight and ended up taking Metformin. Around 2013 I stumbled upon this forum, discovered low carb foods, followed the advice here, lost a bit of weight and stopped taking Metformin at my GP's suggestion, and have stabilised my HbA1c. It's a great place, full of friendly folk, and a huge treasure trove of information!

 

[Cherrelle DUK]

Hi Olliesmommy, welcome to the forum.

It sounds like you’re off to a good start. Reducing carbs and testing the impact your meals have on you can be very insightful and help to plan your meals.

You can then find substitutes/ alternatives that work for you.

 

[Olliesmommy]

Hi @Ljc ,

than you for the reply. the symptoms that prompted me to get in touch with the docs was constant thirst....vision blurry and really tiered (more than usual lol) My mom tested my BG levels and they where 28.7mmol/L she made me call docs there and then!!

Not been able to get my levels down any lower that 19 despite cutting out as much obvious carbs as possible. Not sure if it is diet alone that will lower them also how quickly it happens?

Woke this morning and my BG was 21.1 mmol/L I am pretty sure I'm not sleep eating hehe

Feels a bit overwhelming I am feeling a little lightheaded at times and its probably the Metformin but quite queasy as well. I have a very demanding job and I am struggling to focus properly at the moment so making me feel a bit stressed...nothing is ever simple

I have been drinking a lot of water but sometimes fancy a bit of flavour is no added sugar squash ok or is that a no no? Also do you drink cows milk or is there a better alternative for my cuppas?

Also would love some recommendations on what's best to have with a salad I like salad cream but I am sure that's probably not good? I would struggle to eat it completely plain I am swapping out my carbs for salad on my evening meals don't want to get bored of it too soon lol

 

[Ljc]

Yes it is overwhelming at first. And Metformin is well known fir causing upset tums for a while , that’s why they increase the rise gradually.

Your levels were very high on diagnosis Did you lose any weight without trying ?

I love salad cream on my salad personally I don’t like anything else .
Till you find something else you like, reduce the amount of salad cream a bit .

Now as to ideas on what to eat as salad does become boring after a while, so to give you a few ideas have a look through this long running thread.

What did you eat yesterday?

It can be helpful sometimes to know what sort of things people are eating, as it might give some ideas for a more varied diet. So, I'll start off with what I ate yesterday: Breakfast - 1 slice buttered Burgen toast (my breakfast every day, I don't like to run with too much in my stomach)...

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[rebrascora]

I have a big dollop of cheese coleslaw or creamy coleslaw (none of this reduced fat rubbish!!) on my salads with or without a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar.
Whole milk in tea is better than skimmed or semi-skimmed as it has less carbs. Double cream goes in my coffee as it has less carbs than milk and tastes so good I no longer miss my 2 spoons of sugar and actually enjoy it more.

21 for a fasting reading is very high, especially if you didn't have any significant carbs the evening before but it will take a few days for the residual glucose to be removed from your blood stream and your liver will still be trickling out glucose, so hopefully it will show improvement over the next few days. The Metformin takes a couple of weeks to build up to full activity so again early days to see any improvement from that. If your levels don't start to come down in the next few days on a reduced carb diet then I suspect you may be another misdiagnosed Type 1. Low carb eating is by far the most powerful means of reducing levels short of injecting insulin, so unless you are consuming foods which you hadn't realised were quite high in carbs, you would want to see improvement in the next few days. Are you keeping a food diary along with your readings as that will be very helpful and test before eating and then 2 hours after that meal to see how your levels responded to the food that you ate in that meal?

As regards flavouring your water, look at the nutritional info on the label. Some squashes are made with real fruit so they will still contain the sugars from that fruit even though they have "No Added Sugar".
What worked for me was to have the odd glass of diet cola and instead of a whole glass, I would have 3/4 cola and 1/4 water in the glass. Gradually as my taste buds got used to less sweetness, I cut it to half and then a quarter of a glass of cola and topped up with water. Now I have an inch in the bottom of the glass of diet cola and top it up and I am happy with that and zero carbs.

 

[Olliesmommy]

Thanks @rebrascora some ideas to try for sure spoke to diabetic nurse again today she had my results from blood test my HbA1c is 100 so officially diabetic even though she was pretty sure anyway she has been really helpful and keen to get my medication to the level it needs to be as soon as possible with me being young

good new is all other test came back good so everything else functioning as it should be and cholesterol is slightly lower than average

also gave me some guidelines for my carb intake so feeling more focused now

 

[Ljc]

It’s good to hear all the other results were fine. Yes your Hb1ac is high but many of us were higher , me included, so please don’t panic ok. I’m betting your next Hb1ac I assume in three months time will be very much lower.

 

[Colleenmarie]

Hi All....I was told yesterday that I have Type 2 after having some symptoms I contacted the doctors.

Not sure if its sunk in just yet although I have always known I would more than likely go this way with family history, weight and PCOS.

BG levels have been very high I am watching closely what I am eating and making changes.... such a mind field not sure what I should be looking at when reading packets easy to know what the obvious foods to cut out but other stuff wow. Thought Shredded Wheat would be ok but then my BG +10 after easting very small bowl. I am sure it will all start to make more sense soon but if anyone can advise on how to make good choices for things like breakfast would be great.

Been put onto Metformin started taking straight away just 1 tablet for few days then will increase to 2 as prescribed.

Hoping to gain some control on this soon have increased exercise ...Was an over weight girl who needs to loose weight ..now its a must I just know this will give me the push I need to stop making excuses and motivate myself 🙂

Hi hun. I to have just been diagnosed and have pcos and take metfirmin for it. Xxx

 

[Olliesmommy]

Hi hun. I to have just been diagnosed and have pcos and take metfirmin for it. Xxx

Hi...I was given metformin when I was diagnosed with PCOS in my late teens is really good for helping with weight loss although never took it properly which is why I’m still over weigh but I was taking it regularly when I conceived with my son and pretty sure it was what helped I would love another so it may even help me again who knows but my main focus is obviously getting this under control first

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Olliesmommy

Sounds like you are off to a flying start. Even though your BGs are being a bit stubborn, don’t push too hard to reduce them all at once. It’s much better for the body to reduce them gradually over weeks and months as it puts much less pressure on your fine blood vessels. Your eyes and nerve endings will thank you for your patience!

Try not to be disheartened about your diagnosis, just as you have suggested, 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.

Often you don’t realise how weary, worn down and lethargic you have been feeling. Erratic and elevated blood glucose levels can be exhausting and are linked with low mood, but this may have come on quite gradually. Making a few positive changes can give you more energy, a clearer mind, and a brighter outlook. Plus the regular checks you get after a diagnosis with diabetes mean that any potential problems may be spotted earlier, and can be sorted out sooner.

Hope you begin to see a gradual reduction in your BG levels soon.

 

[Olliesmommy]

Thank you for the welcome @everydayupsanddowns

Your right have been so down in the dumps for a few months and all is clear now.

Feel more settled now I know why and have woken today feeling better than I have in a long time

Also already seeing a drop in my BG woke to a 14.8 today lowest in 2 weeks and even got a 12.2 last night so really happy. Not going to lie I am not loving the change in food but I know that this is how it must be and finding it easier to keep on track ...when dieting before I was terrible and would likely have broken the diet by the end of the first week lol

Everyone on here seems so friendly and I am looking forward to getting to know everyone more