# My First Diabetic Christmas



## KennyA (Dec 24, 2019)

Hi everyone.

I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes less than two weeks ago. I have had what I now realise are diabetic symptoms - foot problems, lethargy etc. for a few years but my HbA1c has only just reached 50. My first appointment with the DSN is in January. 

I've started on a low-carb diet straight away (have done low-carb a few times over the years) and there has been an immediate improvement although I've no idea if that's going to be reflected in the numbers. To be honest I'm relieved to have a diagnosis rather than going on with this jumble of symptoms, and I'm feeling pretty optimistic about dealing with this. Any and all advice welcome, including  "you don't know what you're getting into..." !


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## CathyB (Dec 24, 2019)

Hi Kenny, welcome!  I dont think any of us really knew what we were getting into   The one thing I do know is that its not been anywhere near as bad/hard as I anticipated it would be.  The best advice i got was that this is a marathon not a sprint, whatever you choose to do to manage your diabetes is for life so it needs to be sustainable or you will get bored with it.  I chose the low carb route and for me it has been life changing, not always easy but definitely life changing for the better.  It took time to work out what foods worked for me, we are all different, for example many can tolerate some raspberries or blueberries but they spike my numbers, yet I can now tolerate a couple of small apples a day where others can’t touch them.  I used a food diary to track my meals against my blood glucose readings, that helped me work things out quite quickly.  I also lurked in the background on the forum and read as much as I could to understand my options, then asked questions. The people here are amazing and we all ‘get it’ so feel free to ask whatever you want


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## NotWorriedAtAll (Dec 24, 2019)

Hello Kenny 

I was diagnosed in January so this is also my first Christmas knowing I am diabetic but I've been lucky to have had a year to learn all sorts of new ways of cooking and eating and I am looking forward to tomorrow as an opportunity to experiment with all my new recipes.

I was like you - very glad to have the information and went straight onto low-carb because it seemed the logical thing to do.

I was put on Metformin straight away but I had reduced my carb levels so much it was making me feel ill when I took it so I came off it and have done without it since.

Pretty soon I went full keto and I've done my best to stay on a very low carb high fat diet ever since.
It suited me and I've been having fun with new recipes rather than finding myself limited.

I feel a million times better than I felt before knowing about carbs and blood sugar levels and I'm off meds and keeping my levels under control by sticking to a keto diet.

My numbers started improving as soon as I cut the carbs and my blood tests reflected this:

In January when I was diagnosed my blood test was 67 mmols

Then the next one in March was 55 mmols

And my July one was 42 mmols - which is exactly on the cusp between upper normal and beginning pre-diabetes.

I'm hoping when they take my next one in January I'll have got it lower again.

I hope you find dealing with diabetes as straightforward as I have been lucky to have found it.
Merry Christmas to you, it is well worth the adjustments necessary to be able to look forward to a healthier future.


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## Ralph-YK (Dec 24, 2019)

Welcome to the forum Kenny, from a fellow T2. I was diagnosed in December too, 5 years ago.


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## Felinia (Dec 24, 2019)

Hi Kenny and welcome.  I'm 4 months into my journey and have learned so much from this Forum.  Reduced carb is the way to go, and as your HbA1c was only 50 I would be hopeful you could could quickly get below 48 and even below 42 with the right food choices.  CathyB suggested a food diary and I keep one by NutraCheck on my PC.  It has a downloadable app for your Smartphone - good for shopping.  It keeps running totals and you can check your cals, carbs, sugars, fats, protein etc at a glance.  I experimented with my carb levels and have settled on 75gm +- 15gm per day.  Too low and I started to feel ill.  But others do go lower, or higher.
Also many of us get a monitor to check our blood glucose levels before and 2 hours after each meal.  That way I learned what foods did and did not affect me.  I don't monitor all the time now, as I am not on any medication, just when trying out a new food.  Some people do have to monitor all the time though.  We are all different and react differently to foods.  I can take a little low carb bread, but apples are lethal in me.
I don't know what your weight and fitness levels are like but if necessary, you should try and lose weight.  I now go to the swimming pool 4 days a week so get in around 4 hours exercise that way.  If you still work full time fitting in the exercise might be a bit more tricky.  But walking is also good, and I have a mini exercise bike at home.  Best wishes, and for one day only, please enjoy your Christmas dinner.


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## Ralph-YK (Dec 24, 2019)

Christmas dinner:
You can eat all the meats and a lot of vegetables (as in fill your plate with them) without it affecting your blood glucose (BG). It's carbs in particular that raises your BG. That's  things like  bread, rice, potatoes. And all the cakes. You may very well be ok with some potatoes. Cream doesn't have the sugar that custard does. So you could try having some cream.


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## Ditto (Dec 24, 2019)

Hello and welcome to the forum.  Merry Christmas.


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## CathyB (Dec 30, 2019)

@KennyA how was Christmas for you?


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## Neens (Dec 30, 2019)

KennyA said:


> Hi everyone.
> 
> I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes less than two weeks ago. I have had what I now realise are diabetic symptoms - foot problems, lethargy etc. for a few years but my HbA1c has only just reached 50. My first appointment with the DSN is in January.
> 
> I've started on a low-carb diet straight away (have done low-carb a few times over the years) and there has been an immediate improvement although I've no idea if that's going to be reflected in the numbers. To be honest I'm relieved to have a diagnosis rather than going on with this jumble of symptoms, and I'm feeling pretty optimistic about dealing with this. Any and all advice welcome, including  "you don't know what you're getting into..." !




Hi Kenny, 
Can't advise as I was only diagnosed just about 3 weeks ago - but wanted to say Hi and well done for Christmas (having just managed my first diabetic christmas too)... 
I use a food diary and have started low carb and tried to exercise more regularly. 

There are lots of helpful posts in this part of the forum - you may have found them already. 

We can do this! We've survived the biggest eating festival of all already for another 360+ days!


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## KennyA (Dec 31, 2019)

CathyB said:


> @KennyA how was Christmas for you?


Thanks for asking - it went OK. I reduced root veg etc to almost nothing; stayed off beer, apart from a couple of Marston's Resolution; no bread. None of this was a problem, although the only thing I missed was beer. Big error was in having Xmas day "off" - Xmas pudding etc. Without a BG reading it's hard to be sure but I really felt the sugar, and after nearly three weeks on 0-20g carbs a day it wasn't pleasant. Overall not too bad but I did learn something. 

Neens - how was yours?

Since then back to 0-20g/day without effort. I'm lucky in that I like low-carb, and if I can't eat what I like I need to like what I eat.


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## everydayupsanddowns (Dec 31, 2019)

Welcome to the forum @KennyA 

Loving your can-do attitude. And glad the low carb approach seems to be working well for you.


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## CathyB (Dec 31, 2019)

KennyA said:


> Thanks for asking - it went OK. I reduced root veg etc to almost nothing; stayed off beer, apart from a couple of Marston's Resolution; no bread. None of this was a problem, although the only thing I missed was beer. Big error was in having Xmas day "off" - Xmas pudding etc. Without a BG reading it's hard to be sure but I really felt the sugar, and after nearly three weeks on 0-20g carbs a day it wasn't pleasant. Overall not too bad but I did learn something.
> 
> Neens - how was yours?
> 
> Since then back to 0-20g/day without effort. I'm lucky in that I like low-carb, and if I can't eat what I like I need to like what I eat.


Sounds like you did great Kenny, well done!  I love your attitude, liking what you eat is crucial to sticking with it, as others will tell you this is a marathon not a race.  It probably took me around 6 months to work out a good range of meals I could look forward to eating, fitting in with a busy work routine with lots of travel, but now I can honestly say i just cant imagine going back to carbs, just doesn’t appeal to me anymore.  I still have odd moments when i ‘think’ i want cake and i cant get it out of my head, but i know it will pass so i deal with it, just not worth ruining what i have achieved for a minute of guilty sugar rush


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## Neens (Jan 8, 2020)

KennyA said:


> Neens - how was yours?.


I ate a lot less than I would had I not been diagnosed just before Christmas. Have to say I asked advice in my clinic session and counted carbs on the day but allowed myself a bit of the things I would not normally (now) eat. About 100 carbs more than most days and compensated a bit by driving low carb food diary for days around the party/seasonal days. It's all balance and is a life long plan after all and at the moment haven't been given dietary advice and levels are still unknown - on meds but not using the strips or testing. Blood tests/results etc still happening. So just making adjustments.


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## KennyA (Jan 10, 2020)

Neens said:


> I ate a lot less than I would had I not been diagnosed just before Christmas. Have to say I asked advice in my clinic session and counted carbs on the day but allowed myself a bit of the things I would not normally (now) eat. About 100 carbs more than most days and compensated a bit by driving low carb food diary for days around the party/seasonal days. It's all balance and is a life long plan after all and at the moment haven't been given dietary advice and levels are still unknown - on meds but not using the strips or testing. Blood tests/results etc still happening. So just making adjustments.


I have had very little advice from the NHS. I've been seen by the DSN, and had a retinopathy check (all clear). And I am enrolled on a DiCE course, which is what we have here instead of DESMOND. Nobody seems to know anything about it, including when and where it happens. But it looks like I am mainly being left to get on with it myself.  So I've bought a BG monitor (today) and had a long meds chat with the pharmacist - really, really helpful - and had LO-CARB 4 LIFE tattooed on my forehead. One of those isn't true.


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## Eddy Edson (Jan 11, 2020)

KennyA said:


> I have had very little advice from the NHS. I've been seen by the DSN, and had a retinopathy check (all clear). And I am enrolled on a DiCE course, which is what we have here instead of DESMOND. Nobody seems to know anything about it, including when and where it happens. But it looks like I am mainly being left to get on with it myself.  So I've bought a BG monitor (today) and had a long meds chat with the pharmacist - really, really helpful - and had LO-CARB 4 LIFE tattooed on my forehead. One of those isn't true.



Helpful pharmacist - as if! 

(Kidding - the ones in the UK do seem to be pretty helpful - where I am in Oz all they know about is lipstick 

T2D is often pretty much a get-on-with-it-yself condition, if only because everybody is so different ....


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## Ralph-YK (Jan 11, 2020)

KennyA said:


> I have had very little advice from the NHS. .... I am enrolled on a DiCE course, which is what we have here instead of DESMOND. Nobody seems to know anything about it, including when and where it happens. But it looks like I am mainly being left to get on with it myself.


That's the way it as for many I'm afraid. Not even any support for the idea of managing our condition.


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## Docb (Jan 11, 2020)

Eddy, in the UK the pharmacist is formally responsible for the medication issued on prescription being appropriate.  If a doctor prescribes something which turns out to be inappropriate or harmful, then it is the pharmacist who ultimately carries the can for the mistake. My niece is a pharmacist and reckons she has saved more than one patient from early demise through incompetent pill pushing.


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