# Hello...



## Sharron1 (Aug 10, 2018)

Just learnt that I have Type 2 Diabetes, no real surprise as I both parents were also Type 2. Just wanted to talk to other people in a similar situation. To add to my cup of happiness I also have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome but hopefully that should be sorted in the next few weeks.  Summer 2018 has been a torrid time...


----------



## Mark T (Aug 10, 2018)

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, despite what mass-media often portrays, Type 2 can often have a significant genetic component which is beyond your control.  Do you have any diabetic grandparents?


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 10, 2018)

No as far as I know only my parents - so it was really a given that I would end up with it. Can anyone also help me with the food issue, what on earth can I eat at lunchtime? I have managed to work out breakfast and supper from the various websites etc. Lunch is a bit of an issue. I usually have a piece of wholemeal bread toasted, two or three plain oat cakes and loads of salad. That fills me up for a while. Also a bit of plain cottage cheese. I think for the moment that is ok. i see the Diabetic Dr next week for 15 minutes! Need to get all my questions sorted out.


----------



## Mark T (Aug 10, 2018)

OK, the only reason I asked is if you have lots of family history, sometimes it turns out that it's a different form of diabetes called MODY...

For food, generally it's the carbohydrates that send your blood glucose high.  You find those in bread, potatoes, rice, etc as well as the usual sugary suspects.  I personally try to load my lunch with some form of protein (chicken, ham, beef, eggs, fish, etc) lots of salad and some cheese or nuts.  I'm tending to avoid bread, but many find that low carb bread (such as Burgen) works ok for them.  Standard wholemeal can be as carbohydrate laden as white bread!

Ultimately, it's easiest to figure what works for you by self-testing.  I'm sure someone will be along soon with the appropriate links


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 10, 2018)

Ta, all new for me. Need to get use to it! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!


----------



## Katieb (Aug 10, 2018)

Hi Sharron and welcome. Take a look at the links at the top of the newbies section and have a good read of the posts in the food section for ideas. The more you read, the clearer things will become! I’m 7 years down the line and still learning! This is a great forum full of support and ideas. Great to have you on board Katie


----------



## trophywench (Aug 10, 2018)

Protein is far better at keeping you 'full' for far longer than carbohydrates will, but keep the salad with it.  For that one slice of bread you could have very nearly 3 Ryvitas instead - I can never manage 3 of them though anyway.


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 12, 2018)

Hi,

Yet another question - probably made worse because it is a Sunday... all that thinking time! I have yet to see the dr so am trying out stuff on my own. Not sure about carbs etc, so what I have done after lots of reading the web etc, is had breakfast, whenI


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 12, 2018)

Sorry about earlier half composed question PC froze never to move again! My question was while I have no idea about carbs. I had breakfast and later on when I felt a bit peckish I had a slice of wholemeal toast which seemed to do the job. I made lunch (wholegrain spaghetti, tuna and salad)  and if I want something else later on I thought half a banana would sort out the problem. Most of this is guess work, any ideas.  I am also incorporating portions of lentils and beans in the main meals. Must try out couscous...


----------



## Martin9 (Aug 12, 2018)

Hi @Sharron1 you need to get yourself a carbs & calorie checker either in printed form or electronic form I personally use Nutracheck which you can get free for a week or so, download on iOS or Android, this lets you keep a food diary and also gives calorific values of each and any food you eat.
Your Lunch as described is still a bit heavy with carbs, was it a normal slice of wholemeal as they still carb heavy, wheat pasta is carb heavy too, bananas on top of that is adding more carbs.
Lentils and beans are also carb high so you really need one of these checkers so you can sort out what are high carb foods and which are not...
Cous Cous is wheat again and carb rich..


----------



## Martin9 (Aug 12, 2018)

There is an alternative to wheat pasta can be bought in Aldi described as Soy Bean Spaghetti, or in Tesco described as Soy Bean Noodles, has under 7g carbs per 50g product to wheat pastas 35g carbs per 50g product...


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 12, 2018)

Martin9 said:


> There is an alternative to wheat pasta can be bought in Aldi described as Soy Bean Spaghetti, or in Tesco described as Soy Bean Noodles, has under 7g carbs per 50g product to wheat pastas 35g carbs per 50g product...


Many,many thanks. What a minefield this is, no wonder most of the questions revolve around food intake. I do appreciate your advice. I am sure I will have loads more to ask...


----------



## Drummer (Aug 12, 2018)

Many problems are caused by the concept of cheap to produce foods - usually high in carbs and similar to the foods used to fatten up farmyard animals. We are told that they are healthy.
As a type two I avoid bread pasta pizza, breakfast cereals, oats, rice, beans and most legumes, potatoes and other high carb vegetables and high carb fruits such as bananas.
By doing that I can keep my BG levels normal and don't need any medication - which can leave some people feeling very ill. I was suicidal after 5 weeks on Metformin and a statin.
Dropping your blood glucose can help with carpel tunnel - I know a lot of musicians and they can avoid problems which can cause them loss of income by watching what they eat and how it affects blood glucose.


----------



## Martin9 (Aug 12, 2018)

Drummer said:


> Many problems are caused by the concept of cheap to produce foods - usually high in carbs and similar to the foods used to fatten up farmyard animals. We are told that they are healthy.
> As a type two I avoid bread pasta pizza, breakfast cereals, oats, rice, beans and most legumes, potatoes and other high carb vegetables and high carb fruits such as bananas.
> By doing that I can keep my BG levels normal and don't need any medication - which can leave some people feeling very ill. I was suicidal after 5 weeks on Metformin and a statin.
> Dropping your blood glucose can help with carpel tunnel - I know a lot of musicians and they can avoid problems which can cause them loss of income by watching what they eat and how it affects blood glucose.


Interesting , is carpal tunnel linked to diabetes..?.


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 12, 2018)

Martin9 said:


> Interesting , is carpal tunnel linked to diabetes..?.


Who knows, in fact there is very little known about CT but loads of people have it. Not too comforting to me but hey.


----------



## Robin (Aug 12, 2018)

Martin9 said:


> Interesting , is carpal tunnel linked to diabetes..?.


Apparently so. (But neither of these links explain why)
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/carpal-tunnel-syndrome/
https://www.arthritisresearchuk.org...conditions/carpal-tunnel-syndrome/causes.aspx


----------



## Drummer (Aug 12, 2018)

When I have discussed it with carpel tunnel sufferers I have had several look rather thoughtful and decide to go to see their doctor for bloodtests - the symptoms of type 2 seem familiar, and the equator rather than waistline seems to feature too. I do suspect that there is a link.
If the fluid in the eyes becomes highly sugary, the fluid which exists between the tendon and sheath could be similarly changed - I have noticed that the pains in my knee joints which had troubled me for a long time have now reduced to almost nothing. It was put down to my weight, my cycling, dancing etc  -  but sugar crystals are now high on my list of suspects.


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 12, 2018)

Drummer said:


> Many problems are caused by the concept of cheap to produce foods - usually high in carbs and similar to the foods used to fatten up farmyard animals. We are told that they are healthy.
> As a type two I avoid bread pasta pizza, breakfast cereals, oats, rice, beans and most legumes, potatoes and other high carb vegetables and high carb fruits such as bananas.
> By doing that I can keep my BG levels normal and don't need any medication - which can leave some people feeling very ill. I was suicidal after 5 weeks on Metformin and a statin.
> Dropping your blood glucose can help with carpel tunnel - I know a lot of musicians and they can avoid problems which can cause them loss of income by watching what they eat and how it affects blood glucose.


 Hi, thanks for this - am fascinated to know what do you actually eat? While I understand the carbs thing surely it is about portion size and counting the carbs?


----------



## Martin9 (Aug 12, 2018)

It's an interesting discussiion about CTS, but


Sharron1 said:


> Hi, thanks for this - am fascinated to know what do you actually eat? While I understand the carbs thing surely it is about portion size and counting the carbs?


ok meats , fish, cheese are good so have a chicken salad, have bacon & eggfor brekkie, if you do need carbs find very low carb bread, it's a totally different diet to what has been said to be healthy before, try get your head around itxx


----------



## Drummer (Aug 12, 2018)

The basic foods are any meat or fish, shellfish, eggs or cheese - and a limit of 10 percent carbs on what I add to them - so foods which are less than that I can eat quite freely as it is difficult to over eat. I also only eat twice a day, early and late - that makes going out for the day very simple as I don't need to worry about packing foods or finding them when out. A fast breakfast is scrambled eggs with grated cheese added when almost cooked, then thinly sliced tomato on top, I put the plate over the top of the mini wok I cook it in, and the tomato is just lightly warmed up - I do mushroom omelettes too, sausages with a high meat content, a mushroom sweet pepper and courgette stirfry - sometimes cooked meat from the dinner the evening before, or maybe a tuna salad, or eggs and cheese in a salad.
For dinner there are so many choices - I do cauliflower quite a lot, but also aubergine, celeriac, courgette, some already prepared stirfry stuff is low enough, it is just a matter of going through all the veges you can think of and checking the carb content. For dessert I usually have frozen berries and cream, but I do need to be firm about using a small bowl.
I have just - almost 2 years after diagnosis, begun to experiment with making bread adding in low carb fillers as normal bread is just so high carb. I would advise getting normal blood glucose levels and Hba1c before trying anything high carb, particularly if you need to lose weight as well. 
When checking the carb content do take into account that the US sites include the fibre in the carb count, so it has to be deducted, but the UK ones do not, they list the net carbs, the digestible ones. There are also sugar alcohols, which we can't digest but our gut flora and fauna can - I avoid those, as my insides took some time to recover from the party that went on in there - I thought I was going to become geography I was so inflated from the gas they produced.


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 13, 2018)

Drummer said:


> The basic foods are any meat or fish, shellfish, eggs or cheese - and a limit of 10 percent carbs on what I add to them - so foods which are less than that I can eat quite freely as it is difficult to over eat. I also only eat twice a day, early and late - that makes going out for the day very simple as I don't need to worry about packing foods or finding them when out. A fast breakfast is scrambled eggs with grated cheese added when almost cooked, then thinly sliced tomato on top, I put the plate over the top of the mini wok I cook it in, and the tomato is just lightly warmed up - I do mushroom omelettes too, sausages with a high meat content, a mushroom sweet pepper and courgette stirfry - sometimes cooked meat from the dinner the evening before, or maybe a tuna salad, or eggs and cheese in a salad.
> For dinner there are so many choices - I do cauliflower quite a lot, but also aubergine, celeriac, courgette, some already prepared stirfry stuff is low enough, it is just a matter of going through all the veges you can think of and checking the carb content. For dessert I usually have frozen berries and cream, but I do need to be firm about using a small bowl.
> I have just - almost 2 years after diagnosis, begun to experiment with making bread adding in low carb fillers as normal bread is just so high carb. I would advise getting normal blood glucose levels and Hba1c before trying anything high carb, particularly if you need to lose weight as well.
> When checking the carb content do take into account that the US sites include the fibre in the carb count, so it has to be deducted, but the UK ones do not, they list the net carbs, the digestible ones. There are also sugar alcohols, which we can't digest but our gut flora and fauna can - I avoid those, as my insides took some time to recover from the party that went on in there - I thought I was going to become geography I was so inflated from the gas they produced.


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 13, 2018)

Dear Drummer,

Thanks for this - it sounds doable for me, although I am seeing the doctor this week, have read so much about my new status I will have to keep my mouth shut. I am now off to make a lunch for myself - probably tuna salad. I am also learning how to cook stuff - but your ideas are really helpful. I wonder when I can stop being a newbie and just handle the entire gig. PC keeps  on freezing so will post this before it all goes.


----------



## Martin9 (Aug 13, 2018)

@Sharron1 , it's all a bit annoying to have to change your diet, but was diagnosed about 3 months ago with an HbA1c of 77, doing the low carb, higher/healthy fat diet as suggested by this forum I'm now at HbA1c of 35, so it can work.
However as we're all different , what works for 1, might not work for another, so best of luck & take care xx


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 13, 2018)

Hi,

Ta for all the advice and kind thoughts. And so the journey begins...LCHF here I am! Am intrigued to learn why green leaves are also a limited food. Who knew carbs in leaves. Am reading re all the tabs on offer - why isn't slow releasing Metformin offered - is it to do with cost?


----------



## silentsquirrel (Aug 14, 2018)

Sharron1 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Ta for all the advice and kind thoughts. And so the journey begins...LCHF here I am! Am intrigued to learn why green leaves are also a limited food. Who knew carbs in leaves. Am reading re all the tabs on offer - why isn't slow releasing Metformin offered - is it to do with cost?


Green leaves are fine!  Although they do contain carbs (so a carb-free diet is not really possible), the amounts are so small that you can safely eat unlimited green veg.

Yes, standard metformin is a bit cheaper than slow release, and not everyone has a bad reaction to the standard version.


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 14, 2018)

Ta, that all makes a bit more sense to me. I thought the amounts in green leaves would be small which a few a day should suffice. I am beginning to realise that carb free is not that easy.


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 14, 2018)

Hi (me again)

Just purchased_ Carbs & Calorie Counte_r (Diabetes UK). Having a skim read through it and it appears to be so helpful in food portions and carb numbers - should make life a lot easier than it currently is. Even has a chocolate eclair (and as I decided to ignore my birthday and make up for it whenl I felt better I now know that I can indulge... well small size and one only. Happy Birthday to me...) Good book. Does anyone else have a thought re this tome?


----------



## Drummer (Aug 14, 2018)

You don't need to be eating no carbs, just the amount of carbs which you can cope with - for me that would amount to as many bags of leaves - or mixed salad stuff as I could eat, as 40 to 50 gm of carbs as salad is rather a lot, and I'd still have carb allowance left over for other foods, once I could face them.


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 17, 2018)

Question ... saw the dr today and put on tabs as expected. She suggested that I ditch the slice of toast - wholemeal bread - because it contains sugar (0.6 gram per slice) and also ditch the shreaded wheat - bite size whole grain (0.3g sugar) per 50g which is what I eat (ie 10 of the things!). Am stumped what to do for breakfast, do I need to see a dietitian to find out or was the dr just reading the generic guidelines? Look forward to responses. Don't need to go back for 6 months.


----------



## Martin9 (Aug 17, 2018)

Sharron1 said:


> Question ... saw the dr today and put on tabs as expected. She suggested that I ditch the slice of toast - wholemeal bread - because it contains sugar (0.6 gram per slice) and also ditch the shreaded wheat - bite size whole grain (0.3g sugar) per 50g which is what I eat (ie 10 of the things!). Am stumped what to do for breakfast, do I need to see a dietitian to find out or was the dr just reading the generic guidelines? Look forward to responses. Don't need to go back for 6 months.


Hi @Sharron1 ..has any one spoken to you about the Burgen soya & linseed loaf it's one of the lowest carb loafs around and some find it doesn't spike their bloods too much, you're  still talking about the amount of sugar in foods, you need to look at carbs in any food, the body readily changes them into sugars,  so shredded wheat is not a good option as it's relatively high in carbs as made from wheat, as is pasta.
So for breakfast you could have a cheese & ham omelette,or  bacon /egg, or  Fage Yogurt with a few berries  small peice of Burgen toast or Hovis Nimble with any of the above or cheese spread, peanut butter, but you need to watch carbs in foods not just sugars...


----------



## Martin9 (Aug 17, 2018)

as you can see shredded wheat portion is quite high in carbs, by the time you add milk it is going to be over 30g carbs...!


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 17, 2018)

Martin9 said:


> Hi @Sharron1 ..has any one spoken to you about the Burgen soya & linseed loaf it's one of the lowest carb loafs around and some find it doesn't spike their bloods too much, you're  still talking about the amount of sugar in foods, you need to look at carbs in any food, the body readily changes them into sugars,  so shredded wheat is not a good option as it's relatively high in carbs as made from wheat, as is pasta.
> So for breakfast you could have a cheese & ham omelette,or  bacon /egg, or  Fage Yogurt with a few berries  small peice of Burgen toast or Hovis Nimble with any of the above or cheese spread, peanut butter, but you need to watch carbs in foods not just sugars...



Hi,
Have Hovis nimble that should be ok. It was the GP who introduced sugar into the conversation, she didn't mention carbs.  I have got my head around the carbs and low carbs. I am seeing the dietician  (sp?)next week. Thank goodness lunch and supper are almost sorted. Rang the helpline and the woman I spoke to was great. I was told as a Type 2 I shouldn't carb count - but keep an eye on portion size. Think I will get an idea of carb numbers, I can do portion size.


----------



## SB2015 (Aug 21, 2018)

Hi Sharron

It is easy for people to think that it is the sugar that is the important issue in our diets.  The newspapers feed this misconception with their headlines.   However everyone’s body will convert any carbohydrates into glucose once it is in our stomachs.  It doesn’t care whether it is from sugar, fruit, flour, bread, rice, ...  they will all become glucose once our stomach has sorted it out.  On the back of packets it gives info about carbs and then of which sugar.  Ignore the last bit and just look at the amount of carbs.

There is already lots of ideas for you to try.


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 21, 2018)

Many thanks - will try the Fage yogurt and nimble bread -which is already in the house. Have a good day.


----------



## CathyB (Aug 22, 2018)

There is a great thread where people share meal ideas (sorry, I’m not techy enough to give a link) but to give you an idea, today I had:
Breakfast = Burgen bread toast
Lunch = scrambled egg
Dinner = stir fry pork with a little onion and green pepper with asparagus and. A little cauliflower/ broccoli cheese 
Snacks = an apple / handfuls of almonds


----------



## Drummer (Aug 22, 2018)

The sugar is the least of the problems - and your doctor should know that. Starches are just sugar that is not yet digested, so your bread is going to raise your blood glucose because it is a thumping great amount of starch, and the breakfast cereal too - it will be at least 2/3rds carbohydrate by weight - far too high. 
Suggesting that you avoid them because of the sugar content - what a numpty.


----------



## Diabetes UK (Aug 23, 2018)

CathyB said:


> There is a great thread where people share meal ideas (sorry, I’m not techy enough to give a link) but to give you an idea, today I had:
> Breakfast = Burgen bread toast
> Lunch = scrambled egg
> Dinner = stir fry pork with a little onion and green pepper with asparagus and. A little cauliflower/ broccoli cheese
> Snacks = an apple / handfuls of almonds



It is a great thread, full of meal inspiration. Here it is @Sharron1 - might give you some good breakfast ideas 

What did you eat yesterday?​


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 27, 2018)

Hannah DUK said:


> It is a great thread, full of meal inspiration. Here it is @Sharron1 - might give you some good breakfast ideas
> 
> What did you eat yesterday?​


Hi,

Just looked at Forum. Big day yesterday - did my very first BG test. No advice from GP so looked at forum and decided that I needed to have some idea what works. Next appointment with GP in Feb 2019 for a blood test... The BG was high - 8, so am now starting to have a good look at diet.  Burgen bread lovely - 1 slice with a scraping of peanut butter, black coffee and the 'evil' mini bites shreaded wheat... that could be the cause. So am looking at other stuff. Am a non- meat eater which slightly complicates stuff. The GP suggested Museli... will look carefully at that. Seeing as the egg allowance is now 4 a week - breakfast will use at least 50%. How on earth do you manage on a slice of toast only for breakfast???!!!


----------



## HOBIE (Aug 27, 2018)

Welcome Sharron 2. You will get used to it Low Carbs are best


----------



## Drummer (Aug 28, 2018)

Sharron1 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Just looked at Forum. Big day yesterday - did my very first BG test. No advice from GP so looked at forum and decided that I needed to have some idea what works. Next appointment with GP in Feb 2019 for a blood test... The BG was high - 8, so am now starting to have a good look at diet.  Burgen bread lovely - 1 slice with a scraping of peanut butter, black coffee and the 'evil' mini bites shreaded wheat... that could be the cause. So am looking at other stuff. Am a non- meat eater which slightly complicates stuff. The GP suggested Museli... will look carefully at that. Seeing as the egg allowance is now 4 a week - breakfast will use at least 50%. How on earth do you manage on a slice of toast only for breakfast???!!!


bread - still rather high carb even if a reduced carb one - shredded wheat - high carb museli - high carb. 
Egg allowance? Eggs are an excellent food, and there is no restriction on how many to eat - the idea that eating foods which contain cholesterol will somehow do you damage was just something someone made up without any evidence.


----------



## Sharron1 (Aug 28, 2018)

Many thanks - I think a  big problem for me is that I don't really enjoy cooking! Still I have to and am not adverse to learning...


----------



## Drummer (Aug 28, 2018)

Sharron1 said:


> Many thanks - I think a  big problem for me is that I don't really enjoy cooking! Still I have to and am not adverse to learning...


Maybe so - but there are very few people who don't enjoy eating what they cook once they get into low carbing.
 do have some 'toys' in the kitchen - a Tefal actifry - with timer, a halogen oven with timer and temperature setting, a temperature sensing grill, a slow cooker - they all make it easy to put things in to cook and then go and do something else - which reminds me, I need to clear the space for the dishwasher so I can have it in the kitchen next to the sink rather than out with the washing machine.


----------



## Sharron1 (Sep 7, 2018)

Hi,

I wonder if someone can advise me - my GP is rather absent. Diagnoised in July 2018 and am taking 3 Metformin daily - have been checking my BGLs regularly. My pre breakfast reading is 6.3 and then the post breakfast and supper (ie at least two hours later) is usually around the 6.4 or 6.6 reading. I am assuming that the diet and pills are now kicking in? Not due to see GP until Feb 2019. Also do I need to get my eye screening - the GP didn't mention anything, just simply told me I was diabetic and gave me the Metformin and a diet sheet that told me to eat pork and shellfish... I am vegetarian..ho hum


----------



## Eddy Edson (Sep 7, 2018)

Sharron1 said:


> Hi,
> 
> I wonder if someone can advise me - my GP is rather absent. Diagnoised in July 2018 and am taking 3 Metformin daily - have been checking my BGLs regularly. My pre breakfast reading is 6.3 and then the post breakfast and supper (ie at least two hours later) is usually around the 6.4 or 6.6 reading. I am assuming that the diet and pills are now kicking in? Not due to see GP until Feb 2019. Also do I need to get my eye screening - the GP didn't mention anything, just simply told me I was diabetic and gave me the Metformin and a diet sheet that told me to eat pork and shellfish... I am vegetarian..ho hum



Great readings - you've got that sorted from the look of it. I guess it'd would be due to diet mainly, plus some assist from the Metformin.

I would have expected the doc or nurse to arrange eye & foot checks? Seems like the standard thing - I'd harass them about it.


----------



## Pine Marten (Sep 7, 2018)

Seconded about the eye & foot checks - they should sort you out appointments, @Sharron1, and not leave you to it! Retinal screening of eyes is very important, so make a nuisance of yourself and hassle them


----------



## Sharron1 (Sep 7, 2018)

Eddy Edson said:


> Great readings - you've got that sorted from the look of it. I guess it'd would be due to diet mainly, plus some assist from the Metformin.
> 
> I would have expected the doc or nurse to arrange eye & foot checks? Seems like the standard thing - I'd harass them about it.



Thanks for the comment about the readings - I am not due to see the Dr until Feb 2019 for any review - seems a long time to me. I suspect once  I have done three months I will make an appointment to see her and have a chat.  In the meantime I have just returned from the surgery - food check took place a couple of weeks ago not a word about eye check - I mentioned it today and the Dr is going to ring me sometime on Wednesday to talk about it as I need a referal from her. I rang the retinal screening place and the guy told me if he receives the referral by next week he can book me an appointment in two weeks. But because the surgery is so... I don't trust them to do it or they will simply leave the referal letter  in an out-tray. I have found a local optician that does retinal screening and although I will have to pay for it - I will probably go there and have the thing done and dusted by next week.It is enough to make BGL shoot up!


----------



## Eddy Edson (Sep 7, 2018)

Sharron1 said:


> Thanks for the comment about the readings - I am not due to see the Dr until Feb 2019 for any review - seems a long time to me. I suspect once  I have done three months I will make an appointment to see her and have a chat.  In the meantime I have just returned from the surgery - food check took place a couple of weeks ago not a word about eye check - I mentioned it today and the Dr is going to ring me sometime on Wednesday to talk about it as I need a referal from her. I rang the retinal screening place and the guy told me if he receives the referral by next week he can book me an appointment in two weeks. But because the surgery is so... I don't trust them to do it or they will simply leave the referal letter  in an out-tray. I have found a local optician that does retinal screening and although I will have to pay for it - I will probably go there and have the thing done and dusted by next week.It is enough to make BGL shoot up!



Strange - 3 monthly reviews are the usual thing post-diagnosis, as far as I know. Can you find a better surgery? And make a complaint to whoever's best to complain to, if the current one doesn't shape up.

On eyes: I'm in Oz, where the eye racket might be structured a bit differently, but I'd just point out that it won't be just a one-off check, probably. I think the standard is to have at least 6 monthly checks for a period, annual ever-after. So you'll want to make sure of continuity with whoever's doing it. Also, the eye risk is for me anyway the scariest thing about diabetes, so I'd want to be dealing with whoever is the most qualified practitioner available.

Having said that, my diabetes diagnosis came via the guy checking me out for new glasses, who had a new magic eye-camera thing and was eager to use it. He detected some early signs of retinopathy and slapped me around into going to a doctor, for the first time in 30+ years, for a diabetes check. So good on him.

EDIT: Re-reading this, I guess I'd also say that it's probably not something which won't wait for a few weeks. The chances are you don't have retinopathy at all & if you do have some early signs, it seems to be something which good BG and BP control will usually keep in check. But somebody else with more experience might have more valuable comments.


----------

