[christineanne]

I was diagnosed around May,what a shock it is

,I attended my first clinic, but the real help came from a diabetic in the family.I found the clinic sort of ok, but could be better

.My Dr told me over the phone,then only because I needed to know about holiday insurance.

So here I am struggling to control by diet, < no monitor to help > other than the one on loan by a friend, only to find the strips to use in the monitor are very expensive. and a Dr who says how I feel is the best monitor, and any way the pills can be prescribed if my next blood test is increasing.So NO you cannot get them on prescription.

WITH DIABETES IT SEEMS PREVENTION VIA A BLOOD MONITOR IS NOT CONSIDERED THE CURE.

So here I am, trying to, lose wieght, not fall asleep,exercise, not get depressed,drink more water,give up spaggetti in tomatoe sauce,reduce acholic consumption,keep my sense of humour,
may all your sugar levels be low, < well within goverment guide line at least >
Christineanne

[princesslinda]

Hey Christine, welcome! First off, your doc is WRONG!!!! How you feel is in no way the best indicator of how your blood sugar is doing. If you've had high blood sugars for awhile your body is use to high feeling normal, as they go back to normal, your body feels its going low, as its not used to normal #s. If you were in the US, i'd say find another doctor who will allow you to learn to help yourself by providing what you need, monitor and information-wise, but i'm not sure how it works in the UK.

You're probably feeling sleepy because your blood sugars are high. I was tired all the time at diagnosis. Fortunately, after your numbers normalize, you won't believe how much better you will feel.

I'd encourage you to watch your carbs (esp. potatoes, rice, pasta, bread-white foods) and get as much exercise as you can. T2s often have insulin resistance, meaning we are making lots of insulin, but our bodies aren't using it effectively. Exercise helps with this.

I hate that you don't have a monitor of your own. Its so important to test, otherwise, you have no idea of how different foods affect your blood sugars, so you can't make really smart food choices. We're all different in how different foods affect us, so you have to test to see what works for you.

If you have limited strips, i'd encourage you to pick a different meal each day, test before, then 2 hrs after your first bite. Your blood sugar should be 7.78 or less at these times.

There's a great book for T2s that we recommend often "The First Year, Type 2 Diabetes," by Gretchen Becker. Its full of easy to read good information.

Hope you post often and read a lot of the posts here..you can learn a great deal from the experiences of others.

[christineanne]

Thankyou so much for the advise,
I was so cross,I had only just started monitoring my blood sugar CORRECTLY, how to do this took months of research on the net, via an American site.

TO BE TOLD I COULD GO ON MEDICATION, just blew me away, when i new the monitor was a fantastic tool,helping me too see how I react to food.I will probably buy on ebay.
This site looks really fantastic, such a joy.
The tiredness drives me mad,raw veg seems to be good,but I have to learn about CARBS,I understand fat calories,but sugar and carbs are quite confusing.
The clinic said eat items with sugar under 5,carrots are 7.5 per 100 grms,low calorie or fat does not mean low sugar,finding a yogurt below 8grms is very difficult,My DR TOLD ME TO JUST EAT LOW CALORIE/FAT ITEMS,WRONG ADVISE, does not work.
I had a low calorie day 993cals blood sug was 12.1 at fasting,pretty sure it was spaggetti in tom sauce,low cal, low fat, BUT NOT LOW SUGAR,
TAKE CARE Christineanne