Chemist tested me for diabetes - sent me to the Dr TODAY urgently...please come and talk to me...

[MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot]

These are my questions

1: The reading the chemist got was 20 - can anyone tell me what this means (ie how 'serious' it is) and if they think it could be controlled and/or preferably gotten rid of through diet and exercise.

2: What will the Dr do today.

The rest is whittering background.

Also, I just wanted to say that I'll have to go in about an hour and wont be able to get back on line until tomorrow afternoon, but I haven't done a runner and will be grateful for any help/advice.

[I'm a regular - I've namechanged because I'm not sure yet if I want to tell anyone or not and I have a few RL friends on MN. It's not that I mind people knowing as such it's just that I don't want it to turn into A Big Deal]

I have been wondering for quite some time if I might have diabetes. A few things have made me wonder about it such as

• Excessive thirst (always having to have a bottle of water on me)
  

• Eyes a bit blurry at night (been blaming the overhead light and the small tv screen with tivo bright red background and only a problem at night and spending too much time looking at screens)
  

• Occasional 'shakes'
  

• I am overweight and struggle with feeling like my 'blood sugars' aren't right
  

...but what made me 'man up' to getting tested was that last week & yesterday I had a couple of episodes of light headedness/feeling faint when doing things such as changing a lightbulb, I had also been having them in the shower, but put that down to it being hot/steamy etc

I called the chemist about a year ago to see if they did the tests, but ended up not going

I also went to my Dr about 3-4 years ago with constant tiredness and no real reason for it.... he put it down to my weight (which although I'm overweight was not stopping me doing anything, being reasonably fit etc), he really wasn't interested in looking further. I haven't been back, but am and have been pretty much constantly tired since before then. I know I should have seen another Dr but it's hard when you are overweight and they don't seem interested in seeing past that and accept their might be something other excess weight causing the problem.

I wonder now how long I might have had it for and thus how much damage I might have done already to my body, especially my eyes, that's pretty scary.

I was already overweight, but I was pretty fit - then something quite lifechanging happened and I've put on more weight, stopped exercising and I am not unfit. I'm certainly not can't move off the couch unfit - I could still easily walk 4 miles, run for the bus (i'd be panting but I could do it and would recover pretty quickly) - but something else I've noticed (just yesterday I really 'thought' about it) is that I have been putting off doing stuff like walking places (now I take the car), running up the stairs (now only ever walk), kicking the ball about with the kids etc and I realised yesterday it's because when I do I feel awful - not just tired/worn out but light headed and a bit pukey - it's been a gradual thing.

I am totally committed to exercising - a minimum of 30 minutes every day without fail (have just been for an hours walk - about 3 miles) and to improving my diet (which I fully accept hasn't been great for a while, since this 'thing' happened and for a wee bit before then).

I'm not looking for any magic cure - I just want to know if I can get rid of the diabetes through diet and exercise.

Thank you if you made it this far - or even if you didn't wade through it all but can help.

[MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot]

Bollocks - just wrote a reply to BIWI and MN ate it, all but the half link?!

Well done for making it through that long post :) Not surprised you are exhausted BIWI!

I have always said that I have a feeling that 'cholesterol' is going to be one of those medical things we look back on and think WTAF were we thinking? Andreas Eendfeldt has a very interesting seminar on it here It's long, but very interesting.

I have read the stuff Biffa wrote - but a few months ago, I'll go and have another read, as well as the links - thanks!

[MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot]

BIWI - I'm not sure how accurate the measurements would be just self testing for a few days rather than a 3 month fasting blood test - it's one of the things I need to try to find out.

[MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot]

LMR - thank you for your concern :) I would dispute the fact that the nurse is actually terribly well qualified in the treatment of diabetes and the only medial history she has is what I have told her. The people on blogs/MN etc may not all be medically qualified but many of them are and those who aren't are generally living with the condition themselves and know what helps them and what doesn't. I believe the NHS has its own agenda with regards to our health - their pocket comes first. They aren't interested in us individually and generally aren't interested in research if it goes against the old fashioned food pyramid.

I agree that Diabetes is a chronic illness and I agree it can be managed with the help of medical professionals, however, I don't think that those employed by the NHS (on the whole) are given the information, budget or anything else to help regarding diet etc. and are often, actually, told very clearly to stick to the outdated 'guidelines' even if they think otherwise!

Plenty of diabetics have proven that high starchy carbs & low fat have made their condition worse, not better and it makes sense.

Would you let a group of strangers in the pub convince you to go against a doctors advice?

Yes - if those people were medical professionals & people living with diabetes :)

[MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot]

Whippoorwhill It was frustrating in that she was totally unprepared to 'allow' me to try to do this with diet/exercise/weightloss first. I would have been prepared to go as often as needed and do whatever urine/bloods etc she wanted to monitor it. So I just accepted the prescription. She can't actually make me take it.

The side effects are charming aren't they - she told me about them and said that if they don't clear up within a month or 6 weeks to let her know.... so she thinks it's fine to have excessive wind and diorreah for 4-6 weeks?? I know I might not get that, but it was just the attitude that went with it.

What made your MIL feel sure the diet was working??

Thank you for asking her what she would advise - tell her thank you very much. She's strengthening my resolve to see if I can sort this without meds. If I have had it for years, I can't see that a couple of weeks, or months more is going to make that big a difference really.

I will get a monitor and do some testing. Even if I do start the Metformin, I wouldn't until next week as I have a couple of things on this weekend & I do not want to run the risk of starting up with the side effects miles away from home in a very public place!

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

It's the first I've heard of the Mark's Daily Apple website - I'll go and have a look at that too. (I have read lots of Biffa/Taubes and will go back and read more). As well as the Bootcamp of course!

[MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot]

MyNewMoniker - that's pretty much my thoughts on it too.

Don't get me wrong, I think there are lots of good Drs out there, but they are outnumbered by the 'not good' ones. They have their hands tied by the NHS to hand out outdated information and I suspect most, if not all, of them would offer different advice if they had the time, resources and energy to fight the NHS take on things :(

Patients don't get the best care, they get affordable care - which varies from postcode to postcode.

[Mynewmoniker]

Interesting youtube post MyHead... I follow the low carb but use low cal butter/spread and yoghurt.

Lots of people seem to follow this LCHF diet successfuly.

It was an interesting piece about the Atkins cookies...much like Weight Watchers ready made meals having more calories than 'normal' foods and tons of additives.

[BerthaTheBogCleaner]

A slightly different take on the metformin. It may be worth considering taking it for a while to kick-start things, and then getting off it again. At the moment you are very very resistant to insulin because high blood sugar makes you more resistant (vicious circle). If you get it down (both blood glucose and resistance) it will be easier to keep it down. So taking metformin for a bit can fast-track that. And then when you're getting good results you can lower the dose down to nothing.

Testing - silly doctor. But you do have to test a lot to be able to tell what foods have what effect, and there is a lot of randomness involved. Insanity is apparently "doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results" - well that's diabetes as well!

You can get a free meter here - www.abbottdiabetescare.co.uk/free-meter-signup although it is buying the pots of strips that really costs, not the meter.

There is an awful lot of really rubbish advice peddled about how to treat Type 2, and a lot of it is given by the NHS. My very thin FIL was told to eat low-fat high-carb and that he could eat as much fruit as he liked because fruit sugar was "good". (After a while they worked out he is actually Type 1 and he got to see the docs who know what they're talking about).

[Mynewmoniker]

OK, Bertha, can you tell me if that's the time you begin to get free prescriptions once you are prescribed Metformin?

[Mynewmoniker]

"
If you are a registered with diabetes and have been instructed to test at least once a day by your healthcare professional
"

MyHead has not been told this. Could she still apply, Bertha?

[MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot]

MyNew - did you manage to listen to the whole thing? I was surprised when I clicked on it (someone here gave me the link - thank you!) that it was an hour long, I was expecting it to be about 10 mins, but it was so interesting it didn't seem like an hour!

[MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot]

MNM - it's as soon as you are diagnosed as being diabetic, all your prescriptions are free (yay me - not). So yes, the Metformin I got today was free, but it doesn't mean I can get strips or a meter just because I want one - unfortunately :(

[MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot]

Oh and of course, that wasn't even straight forward.

I took my prescription to the chemist and the girl asked if I needed to pay - I said 'No, I've been diagnosed as being diabetic so my prescriptions are free'. The Pharmacist (who was the one who did the initial finger prick) was there and she asked if I'd filled out the form, I said 'No' she said that it was OK but that I needed to check that the surgery were doing one, or I could get a fine if they check...

So I called the surgery and the snipey receptionist said 'Well, did you fill a form out you would know that wouldn't you??' (in a very snipey tone) so I said I didn't but I was told the nurse would have done it (I presumed in the same way she's referred me for the eye test!?) so I have to go back and fill out a form.

If I hadn't already known about the exemption for diabetics who knows how long I'd have been paying for prescriptions for?

[MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot]

Bertha - I had considered the help that metformin might be to losing a bit of weight (the flip side of the coin!) but I didn't realise If you get it down (both blood glucose and resistance) it will be easier to keep it down. So taking metformin for a bit can fast-track that and that's certainly worth considering - thank you.

When you say there's a lot of randomness involved - can you try to explain that a little bit more? I just figured that if I ate oats for breakfast and my bg shot up and did it another day and my bg shot up - then avoiding oats would be a good idea? No?

Thanks for the link to the meter. I'm going to see which test strips are a 'good price' and I'm going to see how much the strips are for the Accucheck fast clix lancet' one that I was recommended as being a good lancet to use. I'll look at the one you've linked to as well.

How is your FIL doing now?

As for the diet. I think if I was already a good weight then it would be easier to just look at what's best for my sugar/glucose level, but the fact is I need to lose weight, a lot of weight, so I'm trying to both 'quickly diet' and 'find a diet for life' - which should be similar I know, but a shorter term more drastic cut back would be fine... this afternoon I stood in the supermarket looking around and beyond 'watery' vegetables had no bloody idea what so ever, what to buy. I could have cried. THIS IS FOR LIFE keeps rattling around in my head. I'm surrounded by 'normal people' food and I just want to be part of that world again. Sigh.

[BIWI]

MyHead - chin up! It's going to take you time to adjust.

Why not try Bootcamp? The first two weeks are pretty strict and you could see a quick/big loss in that time. And as it's about low carbing, that should also help your blood sugar levels.

[Mynewmoniker]

I'm going to look at boot camp as well

[BIWI]

[BIWI]

[Mynewmoniker]

BIWI I ony said I'd have a look

[BIWI]

Yeah, yeah ...

[Mynewmoniker]

OK BIWI Got the rules.

1. When does week one of the next camp start.
   
2. What's with the carrots twice? Old or new? Which ones which number.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Marking my place as DH has just been diagnosed with Type 2 - he had a reading of 21.7. I am sure I should get myself checked as I am overweight and have other symptoms.

Printing this thread off so that DH can read all the dietary advice - and hopefully bloody well take heed.

[Mynewmoniker]

It would be interesting to have his experience EPBAB. Please share.

[toomuchpoo]

please please if people are not going to go to the doctors, at least get them to home test as this is a step in the right direction

[BIWI]

Mynewmoniker - no idea when the next one is going to start. Just pile in and join us on this one. Lots of people are still doing Bootcamp.

Re the carrots - I have no idea what makes a carrot young or old (!), so I always assume they are the higher carb count. (Frankly I avoid them pretty much)

[Mynewmoniker]

I'll just finish this jar of Nutella