Type 2 , just diagnosed

[Curly grandma]

Hi all, I viewed with great interest all the comments regarding testing. I did ask my Diabetes nurse if I could test and was told no, it can be managed with diet and exercise.
However, I feel a bit lost and would like to know what I should cut out, apart from cakes and biscuits, which I did straight away. (It may be something else that raises my blood glucose levels) ?????

 

[Northerner]

Hi Curly Grandma, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, how did you come to be diagnosed? I'm also sorry to hear that your nurse does not support testing Experience with other members, and many more people the world over, shows that, yes, diabetes can be managed with diet and exercise - but also by using the tools we have available to discover what foods we tolerate well and those we need to either reduce or exclude from our diets. Without testing, you are simply guessing - if you have another HbA1c in 3 or 6 months time and things have not improved you cannot possibly know what it might have been that you thought you were doing right, but getting wrong. It's simple logic to me, and the notion that you 'don't need to do it' is based almost purely on the short-term savings made by not providing you with the test strips, education and support that would constitute proper and useful care

So yes, I would encourage you to test your levels, before and after eating, so you can build up a picture of what items raise your blood glucose levels a lot and what you can eat without problems. Human beings are complex creatures, and diabetes is a very individual condition. Telling you to 'eat healthily' is of little practical use. For example, you may think a glass of fresh fruit juice in the mornings might be healthy, but if you are diabetic it's possibly one of the worst things you could have as it would send you blood glucose levels through the roof! 😱 Diabetes is not just about the sweet stuff, all carbohydrates - bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, cakes, biscuits, sweets (sugar is just another form of carbohydrate) - will raise you levels, so it is this group that you need to concentrate on. I would recommend getting a copy of
The GL Diet for Dummies, which describes how to select food combinations that will have a slow and steady release of their energy rather than 'spiking' it up then dropping it rapidly back down again (often called a 'sugar rush', which can leave you feeling drained and unwell).


Have a read of
Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S to understand how testing can help to tailor your diet to retain flexibility (you don't want to unnecessarily restrict things that you are fine with!) and improve you levels. If you have to buy your own meter and strips it is worth doing as often, when presented with the results and evidence it is improving things for you, the GP or nurse will (often grudgingly!) prescribe some strips for you. In my opinion, no person who is motivated to test should be denied the facility. The cheapest option we have come across here is the SD Codefree Meter with test strips at around £8 for 50. This compares with £25-£30 for 50 strips in your local Boots.

I would recommend reading
Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter, and also getting a copy of
Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker - equipped with these you will then be in the best possible position to take control of your diabetes and improve your health. Diabetes isn't a great thing to be diagnosed with, it does require some work to get it under control, but for those who succeed (and there is no reason why you shouldn't be one of them!) the adjustments made often lead to greater energy, well-being and zest for life, so there is everything to gain! 🙂

Please let us know if you have any questions, you'll find lots of friendly, experienced people here who understand exactly how you are feeling, and will be happy to help - no question is considered 'silly', so if it is bothering or confusing you - ask away! 🙂

 

[Andy HB]

Welcome to the forum.

I agree with everything Northerner just said.

Without the knowledge that testing gives you you are driving blind all the time except for the infrequent Hba1c tests. Even then, the Hba1c tests don't say that much because they are averages weighted to the most recent weeks. Your levels could have been yo-yoing up and down all over the place and you'd be none the wiser.

It is like driving a car blindfold and taking the blindfold off every six months. Even going on a straight road, you are unlikely to have stayed on course.

If you can test, I'd recommend doing so. It doesn't have to mean using more than one strip a day either. I managed with that and have been diet and exercise only for five and a half years now with my best Hba1c since diagnosis. I also haven't tested much in the last two years (my last pot of strips expired with about ten left in it, much to my chagrin!).

Good luck,

Andy 🙂

 

[Amigo]

Welcome curly grandma!

I also absolutely agree with the advice from northerner and Andy (who seems as evangelical about testing as me!). Like your analogy Andy;

<It is like driving a car blindfold and taking the blindfold off every six months. Even going in a straight road, you are unlikely to have stayed on course.>

I was diagnosed with type 2 in Feb and I spent days/weeks learning everything I could about the condition. It's really worth doing so take some time and read the links. But get yourself a glucose monitor and initially test your morning levels before eating, after meals and if you're feeling yucky. You'll soon get an idea of what your unique tolerances are and then you won't need to test so much. And they may surprise you but without knowing you'll keep eating them without knowing there are better choices. We are all different.

I loathe this paternalistic attitude from the medics where we are denied partnership in our own healthcare and it's pure ignorance and finance that motivates it. I'm fortunate that my surgery supports my wish to take control of this myself with diet and exercise.

Best wishes curly grandma! 🙂

 

[Curly grandma]

Hi all, I viewed with great interest all the comments regarding testing. I did ask my Diabetes nurse if I could test and was told no, it can be managed with diet and exercise.
However, I feel a bit lost and would like to know what I should cut out, apart from cakes and biscuits, which I did straight away. (It may be something else that raises my blood glucose levels) ?????

Hi Curly Grandma, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, how did you come to be diagnosed? I'm also sorry to hear that your nurse does not support testing Experience with other members, and many more people the world over, shows that, yes, diabetes can be managed with diet and exercise - but also by using the tools we have available to discover what foods we tolerate well and those we need to either reduce or exclude from our diets. Without testing, you are simply guessing - if you have another HbA1c in 3 or 6 months time and things have not improved you cannot possibly know what it might have been that you thought you were doing right, but getting wrong. It's simple logic to me, and the notion that you 'don't need to do it' is based almost purely on the short-term savings made by not providing you with the test strips, education and support that would constitute proper and useful care

So yes, I would encourage you to test your levels, before and after eating, so you can build up a picture of what items raise your blood glucose levels a lot and what you can eat without problems. Human beings are complex creatures, and diabetes is a very individual condition. Telling you to 'eat healthily' is of little practical use. For example, you may think a glass of fresh fruit juice in the mornings might be healthy, but if you are diabetic it's possibly one of the worst things you could have as it would send you blood glucose levels through the roof! 😱 Diabetes is not just about the sweet stuff, all carbohydrates - bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, cakes, biscuits, sweets (sugar is just another form of carbohydrate) - will raise you levels, so it is this group that you need to concentrate on. I would recommend getting a copy of
The GL Diet for Dummies, which describes how to select food combinations that will have a slow and steady release of their energy rather than 'spiking' it up then dropping it rapidly back down again (often called a 'sugar rush', which can leave you feeling drained and unwell).


Have a read of
Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S to understand how testing can help to tailor your diet to retain flexibility (you don't want to unnecessarily restrict things that you are fine with!) and improve you levels. If you have to buy your own meter and strips it is worth doing as often, when presented with the results and evidence it is improving things for you, the GP or nurse will (often grudgingly!) prescribe some strips for you. In my opinion, no person who is motivated to test should be denied the facility. The cheapest option we have come across here is the SD Codefree Meter with test strips at around £8 for 50. This compares with £25-£30 for 50 strips in your local Boots.

I would recommend reading
Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter, and also getting a copy of
Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker - equipped with these you will then be in the best possible position to take control of your diabetes and improve your health. Diabetes isn't a great thing to be diagnosed with, it does require some work to get it under control, but for those who succeed (and there is no reason why you shouldn't be one of them!) the adjustments made often lead to greater energy, well-being and zest for life, so there is everything to gain! 🙂

Please let us know if you have any questions, you'll find lots of friendly, experienced people here who understand exactly how you are feeling, and will be happy to help - no question is considered 'silly', so if it is bothering or confusing you - ask away! 🙂

Hi Curly Grandma, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, how did you come to be diagnosed? I'm also sorry to hear that your nurse does not support testing Experience with other members, and many more people the world over, shows that, yes, diabetes can be managed with diet and exercise - but also by using the tools we have available to discover what foods we tolerate well and those we need to either reduce or exclude from our diets. Without testing, you are simply guessing - if you have another HbA1c in 3 or 6 months time and things have not improved you cannot possibly know what it might have been that you thought you were doing right, but getting wrong. It's simple logic to me, and the notion that you 'don't need to do it' is based almost purely on the short-term savings made by not providing you with the test strips, education and support that would constitute proper and useful care

So yes, I would encourage you to test your levels, before and after eating, so you can build up a picture of what items raise your blood glucose levels a lot and what you can eat without problems. Human beings are complex creatures, and diabetes is a very individual condition. Telling you to 'eat healthily' is of little practical use. For example, you may think a glass of fresh fruit juice in the mornings might be healthy, but if you are diabetic it's possibly one of the worst things you could have as it would send you blood glucose levels through the roof! 😱 Diabetes is not just about the sweet stuff, all carbohydrates - bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, cakes, biscuits, sweets (sugar is just another form of carbohydrate) - will raise you levels, so it is this group that you need to concentrate on. I would recommend getting a copy of
The GL Diet for Dummies, which describes how to select food combinations that will have a slow and steady release of their energy rather than 'spiking' it up then dropping it rapidly back down again (often called a 'sugar rush', which can leave you feeling drained and unwell).


Have a read of
Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S to understand how testing can help to tailor your diet to retain flexibility (you don't want to unnecessarily restrict things that you are fine with!) and improve you levels. If you have to buy your own meter and strips it is worth doing as often, when presented with the results and evidence it is improving things for you, the GP or nurse will (often grudgingly!) prescribe some strips for you. In my opinion, no person who is motivated to test should be denied the facility. The cheapest option we have come across here is the SD Codefree Meter with test strips at around £8 for 50. This compares with £25-£30 for 50 strips in your local Boots.

I would recommend reading
Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter, and also getting a copy of
Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker - equipped with these you will then be in the best possible position to take control of your diabetes and improve your health. Diabetes isn't a great thing to be diagnosed with, it does require some work to get it under control, but for those who succeed (and there is no reason why you shouldn't be one of them!) the adjustments made often lead to greater energy, well-being and zest for life, so there is everything to gain! 🙂

Please let us know if you have any questions, you'll find lots of friendly, experienced people here who understand exactly how you are feeling, and will be happy to help - no question is considered 'silly', so if it is bothering or confusing you - ask away! 🙂

Thank you so much everybody for the prompt replies, I never expected this. All of you are of the same opinion regarding testing. How come my Diabetic Nurse is not???
I feel I am going to be in control of my condition, rather than having to wait till April to find out that I may not be.
So, I have ordered the SD code free meter kit, also a book, Blood Sugar 101. Please let me know if u think this book is going to be helpful, all the reviews say it will be.
So, here we go on a new and not so depressing part of my life. Thank you again. Now I better get off the sofa and go for a walk!

 

[Northerner]

Thank you so much everybody for the prompt replies, I never expected this. All of you are of the same opinion regarding testing. How come my Diabetic Nurse is not???
I feel I am going to be in control of my condition, rather than having to wait till April to find out that I may not be.
So, I have ordered the SD code free meter kit, also a book, Blood Sugar 101. Please let me know if u think this book is going to be helpful, all the reviews say it will be.
So, here we go on a new and not so depressing part of my life. Thank you again. Now I better get off the sofa and go for a walk!

Blood Sugar 101 is a good book, so a good buy 🙂 Jenny Ruhl also has a website http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/index.php 🙂 The nurse is probably used to people accepting her 'no testing necessary' mantra - pricking your finger to get drops of blood several times a week (or day) is probably something that many people would be happy to hear they don't need to do, plus the nurse probably thinks that she is saving money as she may not fully understand the benefits it can bring. This would not be unusual, by the way - you will find that through your investigations and experience you will become far more knowledgeable than many healthcare professionals who don't have diabetes, and probably many who do! This is something that is 99.999% managed by you, each day - your nurse or doctor will see you just a couple of times a year, so the more you understand, the better equipped you will be to get things under control.

I would also mention the importance of regular daily exercise, whatever you can manage. This will make your body's cells more sensitive to the insulin you are producing meaning you use it much more efficiently to help with blood glucose control. At the same time, of course, it will be highly beneficial to your health!

Good luck, and don't forget we are always here should you be unsure about anything 🙂

 

[Mark T]

Welcome to the forum Curly grandma 🙂

 

[grovesy]

I can highly recommend the Gretchen Becker First year with type 2. She explains everything well, and that different things affect us all differently. The UK version has also been Anglicised with the measurements we use here, as opposed to the USA.

 

[Pine Marten]

Welcome, Curly grandma! I use the Codefree meter and oh! how I wish I had found this forum when I was first diagnosed about 8 years ago - I was given the usual rubbish about eating starchy food at every meal and more or less left to get on with it. So of course I scoffed spuds, pasta, bread and the rest, put on weight and ended up a couple of years ago taking Metformin (though I have managed to reduce the dose now).

Even now, when my surgery is so much better than it was, and the D nurse is supportive, the GP (also supportive ) says they can't prescribe a meter and strips for type 2s... If it wasn't frustrating and daft you'd have to laugh! As the others all say, how on earth are we to improve if we are not given the tools to do so??

All the best to you - let us know how you get on 🙂

 

[Curly grandma]

Hi all, got my testing kit today. Shopping, lunch out (baked potatoe) and 3 hrs later I got a reading of 6.0, wow !! However after a small chocolate mouse for dessert this evening , 2 hrs later it was 9.7 , scary!!!!!
Thank you for advising me to test, without doing so I would be unaware all this was going on.

 

[Northerner]

Hi all, got my testing kit today. Shopping, lunch out (baked potatoe) and 3 hrs later I got a reading of 6.0, wow !! However after a small chocolate mouse for dessert this evening , 2 hrs later it was 9.7 , scary!!!!!
Thank you for advising me to test, without doing so I would be unaware all this was going on.

Good to hear 🙂 Are you testing before eating? That way you can see what the actual rise caused by the food is.

 

[Curly grandma]

The first one was 4.30pm, the next 8.00pm, so I suppose it shows what a huge rise it was. Tomorrow will do it differently, will let you know. Thanks so much.

 

[Curly grandma]

Help!!!!!! Have read most of Jenny Ruhls book, so trying to cut my carbs to under 100 g.
Now reading Diabetes UK Cookbook, which recommends I eat MORE starchy foods, (high in carbs).
Ime really floundering, the last few days my tester tells me (washed hands) that I can't get any lower than 7.0.
Maybe Ime just reading too many books.

 

[Northerner]

Help!!!!!! Have read most of Jenny Ruhls book, so trying to cut my carbs to under 100 g.
Now reading Diabetes UK Cookbook, which recommends I eat MORE starchy foods, (high in carbs).
Ime really floundering, the last few days my tester tells me (washed hands) that I can't get any lower than 7.0.
Maybe Ime just reading too many books.

Unfortunately, the Diabetes UK cookbook is outdated in its advice 😱 Try not to focus too much on numbers, the amount of carbs you can eat should be dictated by what your meter is telling you you can tolerate, not some 'ideal' number - less carbohydrate will have less impact, and more carbs will have greater impact. It takes time to build up experience of what works for you and what doesn't. Also, don't be alarmed at the readings you are getting - these things take time, and if you are getting levels around 7.0 then you are doing well! The main thing to consider is the number you are at before eating, and the number you reach one or two hours after eating - it is this difference that you are looking for at this stage as it indicates how well (or otherwise) you are tolerating the food. If the rise is more than 3 mmol/l then you would probably need to look at the content of the meal and see if there are some adjustments you could make so that next time the rise is smaller 🙂

 

[Pine Marten]

Curly grandma, we have found the two recipe books by Robin Ellis (the actor) to be very good. He is type 2, and his mother type 1, so he writes from experience! I'm not much of a cook but his recipes are easy to follow, have lots of herbs and things like white wine, and I have found that they scarcely put my readings up at all. The titles are Delicious Dishes for Diabetics and Healthy Eating for Life. I got mine from Amazon. Good luck!

 

[Curly grandma]

Thanks for putting it all in perspective everybody. Off we go again.

 

[HOBIE]

If you were out shopping & got good results. Don't sit still to long 🙂 I always like to get out & about after meals etc. Good luck with testing & you have joined a good site for support from lots of nice people. 🙂

 

[Curly grandma]

You are absolutely right of course, lovely in daylight, but this evening after our meal all I want to do is sleep. Think Ime going to try and change my main meal time to lunchtime. An exercise bike maybe???? For the dark evenings at home.

 

[Lucy77]

Hi Everyone,

I've just been diagnosed with type 2 this morning. Had gestational diabetes with my 4th child, it went away straight after. Had impaired tolerance test in April this year, then had fasting bloods done this week, even though I didn't fast were 12.4. Gp says its type 2 diabetes and make appointment with diabetic nurse.

I have a fair load of weight to shift and have joined slimming world last week.

What a great way to start the day, and being a nurse doesn't help either!!!

 

[Curly grandma]

Hi all, have been trying to keep carbs down. Got a brilliant book for this called Carbs and Cals. Can't find how many grams of carbs we are supposed to have per meal. Would welcome yr advice please.