# Needing help....eeek!!!



## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

Hey , I was diagnosed on Wednesday. So confused with everything I have read on various sites. Since the time I my GP did my blood. I cut all rubbish out of my diet. Been having lots of episodes of trembling, vagueness, forgetting what I want to say and generally forgetting things like my home phone number, feeling generally dreadful. At the moment slightly trembly, headache and light headed. Couldn't even tell hubby what had just happened there in Big Brother! Had a really bad one 2 weeks ago and thought i was going to pass out.Are these hypos?

My appointment with the nurse to discuss my diagnosis is Wednesday afternoon. I don't even know if she's a diabetic nurse though I have a feeling she's not.

Just need help just now haven't a clue what to do for me to feel good and I haven't felt good for days. No clue what to or what not to eat or drink apart from the obvious.......sugar! And I miss sugar in my coffee too.....lol. Right at the moment not happy and feeling miserable about all this.

Please help x


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## am64 (Jan 25, 2013)

hey its so tough when first dx  but you found a good place here do you know what your dx results were and what meds are you on ?
firstly as you are doing try and cut out all obvious sugars and then its about moderation 
..no question is regarded silly so ask away


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## Mark T (Jan 25, 2013)

Hi Cat1964, first of all, welcome to the forum 

There is lots of useful information in the newbies useful links thread (http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=10406) that is worth reading.

Personally, I found Alan S's advice very helpful - here is what he says for Getting Started & Diagnosis Day


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## Northerner (Jan 25, 2013)

Hi Cat1964, welcome to the forum  Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I think that what you may be experiencing are not hypos, but you may be getting the symptoms of a hypo because your the changes you have made to your diet mean that your blood sugar levels are lower than you have been used to. This should settle before too long if you stick with things. If you are not on any medication for your diabetes then your levels will not fall dangerously low, it will just be unpleasant for a while. I'm presuming you haven't been given a blood sugar meter so you know what your levels are when you feel this way?

Don't panic! Although diabetes is a serious condition it can be managed well with the right knowledge and a bit of work. Many people find that they end up feeling fitter, healthier and happier than they did before they were diagnosed as they start to bring things under control and make the necessary adaptations to their diet and activity levels 

I would suggest you read Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter as a quick introduction. I would also highly recommend getting a copy of Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker - many of our members have found it invaluable. There are lots of other resources in our Useful links thread.

I would also recommend getting a book about the GL (Glycaemic Load) diet. You can have a healthy, varied diet, it just takes planning and a bit of compromise here and there. Nothing is forbidden, but common sense needs to be applied for 'treats'! A good introduction is The GL Diet for Dummies.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. Nothing is 'silly', so if it is troubling or confusing you, please ask and we will try to help


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

Hi, I have no idea what a dx is. My first blood test was 7.9, they didn't tell me what the 2nd one was. My diagnosis was given to me over the phone by GP's receptionist. I have no medication yet. Until I see this nurse on Wednesday to discuss my 'diagnosis'.


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## Northerner (Jan 25, 2013)

Cat1964 said:


> Hi, I have no idea what a dx is. My first blood test was 7.9, they didn't tell me what the 2nd one was. My diagnosis was given to me over the phone by GP's receptionist. I have no medication yet. Until I see this nurse on Wednesday to discuss my 'diagnosis'.



dx is just shorthand for diagnosis Cat


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

You can tell I am new to all this....lol.


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## am64 (Jan 25, 2013)

Cat1964 said:


> Hi, I have no idea what a dx is. My first blood test was 7.9, they didn't tell me what the 2nd one was. My diagnosis was given to me over the phone by GP's receptionist. I have no medication yet. Until I see this nurse on Wednesday to discuss my 'diagnosis'.



mine was the same on Diagnosis (Dx sorry i hate jargon ) you maybe put on meds and given a diet sheet ...what you need to try and work out what it is that you are eating that causes you to have high Blood sugars difficult if they dont suggest you test ..but the main thing is to cut out all obvious sugars firstly x


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

This sounds really stupid...but I need to ask. Am I doing right cutting all chocolate, sweets, crisps, junk food out of my diet? Also are potatoes REALLY bad for me. Is rice a good substitute or am I not allowed to have that either?


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## trophywench (Jan 25, 2013)

Hiya - welcome to the club no-one wanted to join.

And {{{Hugs}}} to start off with.

'Dx' is only the word 'Diagnosis' to prevent us having to keep typing the word.  There are various other abbreviatons which I promise you you'll soon get the hang of - most of us use a thing actually called a Glucometer - a machine that you stick a little strip into, apply a drop of blood from a fingerprick to the end of the strip and it electronically reads your Blood Glucose level.  In practice we just say 'meter' and abbreviate Blood Glucose to BG.

There's another Blood Test we all have periodically (blood taken from a vein by a nurse, sent off to a lab for testing) which is actually called the Glycosulated Haemoglobin test.  Yep we want to keep typing that one NOT - so it gets shortened to it's shortest form of HbA1c.  Hb = Haemoglobin though and we knew it tested that bit of our blood, so why bother with the Hb? - so it gets shortened further to just 'A1c'.

Don't worry!  You'll get there - and asking EVERY question you want to ask is VERY important.  You'll get a sensible answer to every one here - I promise.


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## am64 (Jan 25, 2013)

Cat1964 said:


> This sounds really stupid...but I need to ask. Am I doing right cutting all chocolate, sweets, crisps, junk food out of my diet? Also are potatoes REALLY bad for me. Is rice a good substitute or am I not allowed to have that either?



yes if you can cut out the junk ...however its about moderation ...by cutting out all obvious sugars you immediately start to help , however this is a lifestyle change and it will take a while to adjust ...i only for example have the very darkest quality chocolate a small bit at a time ...umm i savour it ...a mars bar etc now tastes just tooo sweet ....


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

Thank you so much everyone I appreciate all you are telling me.  I know I sound really really thick. But I've been left on my own to deal with this till Wednesday and no clue what I should be doing. I feel mega stressed. You all probably think what a wimp...get over it. I am probably panicking over nothing. I mean for example how often should I be eating a day. Is it stick to 3 meals a day or should there be snacks too????? What about drinking, I still have incredible thirsts. I drink lots of water to try and sort that out but find the thirst only gets worse. I'm just clueless


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

....and right now if someone offered me a Mars Bar I'd eat it all!!!!!!!


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## trophywench (Jan 25, 2013)

You can eat what you want to, as long as it doesn't have too much of a bad effect on your Blood Glucose.  

Yes cut out overly sweetened stuff, the cakes the sweeties etc as you mention if possible - sugar added to drinks, do try to manage without or use a sweetener if you can't - I had already stopped sugar in coffee before I was diagnosed but hated tea without.  After diagnosis, by the second cup of tea without sugar - I suddenly realised it's FAR better at quenching my thirst without sugar!

Both taste like poison now sweetened with anything!  How unbelievable is that?

Spuds, Rice, Pastry, anything with carbohydrate in it eg flour, cornflour etc - even some fruits and other veg - bananas and grapes and oranges have shedloads, as do parsnips - can and will affect our Blood Glucose - ie will increase it.  So that's not a good thing.  But the thing is, we all have our different tolerances for these things.

Be very careful at first, but cutting ALL carbohydrate out at once will probably make you feel absolutely dreadful to begin with so it may be better to say to yourself, I'll cut it by half or a quarter, and work downwards from there a bit more gradually.  

Once your BG returns to 'good' levels, you may be able to gradually add a bit back here or there without you BG going berserk.

But the only way to know this, is to get one of those meters, and test - as explained in the 'links' others have already given you.


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## LeeLee (Jan 25, 2013)

Cat1964 said:


> ....and right now if someone offered me a Mars Bar I'd eat it all!!!!!!!


You mean there's an option to NOT eat a whole one???

Sorry to be flippant, but I know how I was pre-diabetes.  The good news is that once everything is back under control, not only will you feel better but you will know what treats your body will tolerate.  I'm about to make a cup of cocoa (Tesco Lighter Options instant hot chocolate with a dash of milk).


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## am64 (Jan 25, 2013)

no worrys lovely thing about this place is its a support forum ..we all wear a similar badge... 'been there' ...not a wimp at all ...i cried for days ... my prob was that i thought i was a 'Healthy' eater loads of fruit only natural juices to drink... museli etc... i now find grazing through the morning is good ...but thats cos im busy running a charity shop and have to 'graze'  you will find your balance


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## trophywench (Jan 25, 2013)

You are not stupid, you are not thick, you are not a wimp.

So there.

The insatiable thirst is your body telling you it has too much glucose and the only way it can get rid of it is to convert it into extra urine, which makes you need to pee. A Lot.  And there was you thinking it was just all the water you feel compelled to drink, didn't you?

Keep on drinking and peeing!  You can have diet pop and No Added Sugar cordials to make a change if you want, or tea/coffee without sugar as already mentioned.

Couple of questions, how old are you if you don't mind me asking, AND - are you suddenly losing weight by any chance?


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## Mark T (Jan 25, 2013)

I'd definitely agree with Trophywench!

The thirst is often because your blood glucose levels are high and your body is trying to flush them through your system.

One way that some of us use to get the levels down is to go for a brisk walk (vigorous exercise will actually temporarily put your levels up) for a while.

[deleted a few sentences which were effectively the same as what trophywench wrote]

Just to be annoying   please try to avoid getting stressed over it, since that will put your levels up too


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

Thanks. I eat she'd loads of fruit but it seems I probably have to curb that a bit. Right now I feel the best thing for me to do is just stay off the rubbish and junk food till I speak to the nurse on Wednesday. I really miss sugar in my coffee, but yesterday was only the first day without sugar in my coffee....lol. The sweeteners didnt taste too bad today, but I still didn't finish the coffee!! Just as well I hate tea! I will thoroughly read the links over the next few days and absorb every piece of info. Just thinking Wednesday shouldn't come quick enough. My worry is the nurse may not be a diabetic nurse and may not be able to tell me all I need to know or have time to answer whatever questions i need to ask.


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

I am *whispers* 48.....ouch!   I haven't been losing weight so it will be nice if by cutting out rubbish that I do lose weight. I initially went to my GP because I thought I was anaemic again. Last transfusion I got 6 units. So as I was displaying some of my anaemic symptoms I went to GP for a blood test. My FBC was normal but showed a fasting blood of 7.9. Just what I need huh...to be an anaemic diabetic!!!!


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## Mark T (Jan 25, 2013)

Cat1964 said:


> ...The sweeteners didnt taste too bad today, but I still didn't finish the coffee!! Just as well I hate tea!...


You get used to it in the end.  My father was diagnosed diabetic about 20 years ago and the first thing my mother did was to remove sugar from everything!  The sweeteners in those days were pretty horrible so all us children just gave up on sugar in our drinks (and other things)

These days I couldn't bare sugar in my coffee or tea... well the exception is my Costa coffee, which I like the sugar free Hazlenut (sugar-alcohol! eeep)

But your palate does adjust and it doesn't take all that long.


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## am64 (Jan 25, 2013)

Cat1964 said:


> o. Just thinking Wednesday shouldn't come quick enough. My worry is the nurse may not be a diabetic nurse and may not be able to tell me all I need to know or have time to answer whatever questions i need to ask.



thats what we are here for   ask away and  someone will be here to help or just listen ...RANTING is fine  im off to bed now ...got a shop to open tomorrow but my fellow forum members will be here ..take care x


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## LeeLee (Jan 25, 2013)

A quick suggestion re: nursie.  Write down all your questions, and take the notepad with you (that's the bit I forgot).  Write down the answers you get, then compare them to what you've read on this site.  No two diabetics are exactly the same, much as the medical profession would like us to be to make their lives simple!


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## Mark T (Jan 25, 2013)

Cat1964 said:


> ...My FBC was normal but showed a fasting blood of 7.9. Just what I need huh...to be an anaemic diabetic!!!!


Btw, at some point they might try to do a HbA1c test on you (another blood test).  The technique is to count the glucose molecules that are attached to the iron on the red blood cells.  But if you are anaemic then that test is impacted because you have less iron.

Might be worth you reading this: http://www.diabetes.org.uk/en/Guide-to-diabetes/Monitoring/Blood_Glucose/Glycated_haemoglobin_HbA1c_and_fructosamine/ and particularly the bottom paragraph about the Fructosamine test


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## am64 (Jan 25, 2013)

Cat1964 said:


> I am *whispers* 48.....ouch!   I haven't been losing weight so it will be nice if by cutting out rubbish that I do lose weight. I initially went to my GP because I thought I was anaemic again. Last transfusion I got 6 units. So as I was displaying some of my anaemic symptoms I went to GP for a blood test. My FBC was normal but showed a fasting blood of 7.9. Just what I need huh...to be an anaemic diabetic!!!!



are you generally anaemic ? get them to check your B12 levels ....the diabetic drugs can apparently cause problems with B12  ... Im not sure about this but somewhere i seem to remember a thread about this issue ...maybe someone will find it for you


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

Nite nite and thanks for your help. Hope you have a good day x


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

Lee lee I thought the same and figured I really should take a notepad.


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## Northerner (Jan 25, 2013)

Cat1964 said:


> Nite nite and thanks for your help. Hope you have a good day x



You too! Sleep well and try not to worry, you've already made a great start


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

My FBC showed my haemoglobin sitting at 151, that's really good as I got as low as 51. But that's only sitting at normal because I take iron daily. Without the iron my blood would come down.


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## am64 (Jan 25, 2013)

Northerner said:


> You too! Sleep well and try not to worry, you've already made a great start



i think Cat was referring to me going to bed northe ...im surprised you still be up with your trip to oxford tomorrow !! ( soz Cat to go off thread !! )


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## am64 (Jan 25, 2013)

Cat1964 said:


> My FBC showed my haemoglobin sitting at 151, that's really good as I got as low as 51. But that's only sitting at normal because I take iron daily. Without the iron my blood would come down.



i was that low whilst pregnant many moons ago  make sure your diabetic special nurse is aware of that x


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

Wish you had a 'like' button on here....lol. All your comments are so helpful x


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## am64 (Jan 25, 2013)

hehheeeee LIKE button !! i MUSt go to bed take care and maybe we will catch up later in week


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

Yes am64 I was referring to you with the goodnight post. I just forgot your name.....that's another thing I don't like about this diabetes lark!! I can't remember diddly sometimes from minute to minute. Twice today I was asked for my home phone number and couldn't remember it!!!


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

Thanks am64 I will let you know how the nurse appointment goes x


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## Cat1964 (Jan 25, 2013)

Okay going to get off this for now. Thank you for all of your input. I feel a lot calmer than I did. You're all superstars. I can sleep a lot better now without a million questions rattling through my brain as has been since Wednesday. Good night all and thank you once again xx


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## trophywench (Jan 26, 2013)

Good morning!  Did you sleep?

Yes, it's correct, anaemia can affect the results of your blood tests AND Metformin, the number-one tablet for T2 diabetes taken over a period (ie it won't happen immediately but no-one can tell you exactly if it will or when it will) CAN reduce your B12 levels.  So if they stick anybody on Metformin, they will need to test for B12 periodically.  It's a different test to the normal FBC.


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## Cat1964 (Jan 26, 2013)

Good afternoon Trophywench . I did sleep. In fact when I got up at 10am I actually commented that was the best sleep I've had in ages. I never sleep well. Normally I wake on a Saturday and know how tired I feel and sometimes will go back to bed, but nope today I got up and watched my Saturday Kitchen and The Good Chef. All that lovely food.....why do I do it to myself?!!  When I went for my blood test and was suspicious about being anaemic again, I asked my GP to check for B12 as lack of B12 is pernicious anaemia. The results came back and were fine for that. As I said last night my FBC was absolutely fine. The only abnormality was the BG one which was 7.9. Can I ask, being new to all this, is 7.9 high?


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## LeeLee (Jan 26, 2013)

Hi Cat, assuming that the 7.9 is your HbA1c (the 3-month average), there have been worse ones posted on this forum.  To put it into context though, under 6.0 is the non-diabetic range.  There's more to it than that, so I'll leave a more complete answer to others.  

Do bear in mind that if weight is a factor for you, like it is for me, just tackling that can be a big help.  It doesn't happen overnight, but each small step in the right direction will start to show before long.


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## Cat1964 (Jan 26, 2013)

Thanks LeeLee, I was wondering. It's just with all this being new I don't know what's right and wrong. I know I need to get it all sorted and do things sensibly rather than my erratic ways. I've been up since 10am and haven't eaten yet....I know not good. Smacked wrists for me!! I am though in the middle of boiling an egg....what to have with it??? Lol. Yes LeeLee the weight is an issue for me. I have been 'good' this past few weeks as I said before and cut all the rubbish and junk food from my diet. As you say small steps but these matter too.


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## LeeLee (Jan 26, 2013)

The odd skipped breakfast won't kill you, though it isn't a good idea.  I do know how you feel - I'm not ready for food for a while after rising, but because I'm on Metformin I have to eat with my morning dose.  I usually have a banana or a Mullerlight yogurt with my tablets.

As for weight loss, there are lots of methods out there and each has its merits.  If you want to know what did it for me, I've put plenty of posts in the Weight Loss forum.  If you want the potted version, I can send via private message so as to not bore the rest who've heard it all before!


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## Cat1964 (Jan 26, 2013)

It's not the odd skipped breakfast, it's every breakfast!! I can't stand eating in the mornings when I get up. I know I need to change this. I realised that when I was going into the fridge for something there and my hands were shaking ...yet again......I need to get it right with this. I think I am still at that stage that I know my diabetes has been diagnosed but see because I haven't spoken to anyone official yet, it doesn't seem real. 

When I go to work I usually have a slice of toast or a couple of crackers with cheese. I have high blood pressure too and also take painkillers for my knee and heel, so in order that I don't throw up as I am prone to do if I take these tablets on an empty stomach, I have my crackers and usually around 11am will have some weetabix.

I would be interested if you want to message me on your diet tips.....any help is good help


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## LeeLee (Jan 26, 2013)

Message will be with you when granddaughter lets me get on with typing it!


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## Cat1964 (Jan 26, 2013)

Thanks for your message LeeLee I was going to reply but can't figure out how to do it. You have an interesting story and I thank you for sharing it with me x


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## LeeLee (Jan 26, 2013)

Not to worry Cat.  There's nothing secret in there - I've shared the whole lot with the forum.


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