I gots me some of that type 2 diabetes...

Terry

So what's the deal with this ****?
Anyone got links and stuff while I drink my last bottle of coke?

graflynn

Useful Resources for people with Diabetes.

Websites



www.diabetes.ie Diabetes Federation of Ireland
www.itsmyinsulin.ie Irish educational website
http://www.boards.ie then go to Science drop down menu, and Long Term Illness.
www.diabetes.org.uk UK Diabetes
www.diabetesmine.com Diabetes Blog
www.diabetes.org and http://forecast.diabetes.org/ American Diabetes Association
http://www.diabeteshealth.com/ American
http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/
www.dlife.com and
http://www.dlife.com/diabetes-forum/
http://www.diabetesforums.com/forum
http://www.diabeticconnect.com/
http://www.diabeticlivingonline.com/
http://www.diabeticmommy.com/
http://tcoyd.org/blog/articles/
http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/
www.irishhealth.ie
www.diabetes.ca Canadian Diabetes Website



www.accu-chekteams.co.uk Website for children & teens from Roche Diabetes Care contains some great interactive tools to help you and your family learn more about diabetes and encourage you to get more involved. You can also post messages to other young people with diabetes on our message boards, and we will update you regularly with stories and competitions.
Books

- Diabetes: A Practical Guide to Managing Your Health (Hardcover)
Jill Rodgers (Author), Rosemary Walker (Author)

- 50 Secrets of the Longest Living People with Diabetes (Marlowe Diabetes Library)
Sheri R. Colberg (Author), Steven V. Edelman (Author)

- Diabetes for Dummies by Dr. Sarah Jarvis GP & Alan L Rubin, MD

- Diabetes Living, The Will to be Well
Christina A. Staccia.

- Outsmart Diabetes
Rodale books ISBN 1-4050-9338-2

- Insulin Pump Therapy Demystified (An Essential Guide for Everyone Pumping
Insulin) by Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer

Terry

Thank you very much.

So what's the craic with drinking?
I'm aware that beer is full of sugar, so that's out the window. In a way I'm a bit happy with my diagnosis because I've been drinking 10 or 12 cans a night since last October. This is my excuse to stop and cure my mental health problems.
In saying that, are there any low sugar beers? I don't like wines or spirits (and the effect they have on me), so they are not an option.

joolsveer

I am newly diagnosed too and the dietician in the hospital said that most beer was fine but that cider has too many carbs. She said that if you kept to the usually recommended units per week that you would be fine.

Terry

If I remember correctly, the recommeded intake is 2 pints a day. I tend to do the whole week in one night.
Ahh, sure **** it. I'll just stop, or keep it to one night a week.

CramCycle

On the drinking side of things, Statzenbrau was the recommended one when I was younger as it was a Pilsner but I'm now a Guinness man which my nurses say is fine, although i pry hold have a tad less of it

robinph

Cider is bad, well any cider that you can get in Ireland is bad, dry cider shouldn't be too much of an issue but if Bulmers or any other sweetened stuff is your tipple of choice you want to find something else. Coke Zero is alright and I prefer it to Diet, but it's a long time since I drank the full fat version.

SeaSide

Find yourself an x-pert diabetes course in your area. It's run by the HSE and its free.

Will extensively cover what you can and cannot eat, drink, wear etc

graflynn

SeaSide wrote: »

Find yourself an x-pert diabetes course in your area. It's run by the HSE and its free.

Will extensively cover what you can and cannot eat, drink, wear etc

The HSE also run DESMOND courses, which are the same as X-pert and the Diabetes Federation run CODE courses (same again). I know about 5 people who have done CODE and the rave about how good it was and how much they learned about their diabetes.

joolsveer

I went on the Desmond course recently and found it very informative. I would recommend it.

Terry

I've been doing quite a bit of reading over the past few days. This looks quite manageable. I'm less worried than I was, not that I was really worried to begin with. I'm just pissed off that my gluttony has lead to not being able to eat the crap that I used to eat.

Now, I'm not too well up on things seeing as how I was only diagnosed last Thursday, but the blood sugar level should be about 6 or 7, right?
I don't have a monitoring device yet. Still waiting on the hospital appointment.
Earlier today I thought that I might be a bit low. I was in a friend's house and had about half a glass of coke. 200 ml or thereabouts. Felt ok for about 10 minutes and then felt a bit dizzy and shaky again.
His father came back and has a monitoring thingy. He checked me and I was at 18.1. I know that's fairly high, so I walked for an hour and felt great afterwards.

The only thing I'm worried about is eating too much fruit. I've been milling through apples and oranges over the past few days.
Can I ask how much is too much without breaking the no medical advice rule?
Is there such thing as too much?

I'm doing fine on other foods. I needed to diet anyway. My self imposed obesity is the reason behind my condition. I started eating a bit better when I first suspected I had diabetes, so it's not too much of an adjustment. Down 7 lbs in the last month.

I might give the Satzenbrau a go and see how I feel. Not a big fan of Guinness, although I could acquire a taste.

CramCycle

Terry wrote: »

I've been doing quite a bit of reading over the past few days. This looks quite manageable. I'm less worried than I was, not that I was really worried to begin with. I'm just pissed off that my gluttony has lead to not being able to eat the crap that I used to eat.

Now, I'm not too well up on things seeing as how I was only diagnosed last Thursday, but the blood sugar level should be about 6 or 7, right?
I don't have a monitoring device yet. Still waiting on the hospital appointment.
Earlier today I thought that I might be a bit low. I was in a friend's house and had about half a glass of coke. 200 ml or thereabouts. Felt ok for about 10 minutes and then felt a bit dizzy and shaky again.
His father came back and has a monitoring thingy. He checked me and I was at 18.1. I know that's fairly high, so I walked for an hour and felt great afterwards.

The only thing I'm worried about is eating too much fruit. I've been milling through apples and oranges over the past few days.
Can I ask how much is too much without breaking the no medical advice rule?
Is there such thing as too much?

I'm doing fine on other foods. I needed to diet anyway. My self imposed obesity is the reason behind my condition. I started eating a bit better when I first suspected I had diabetes, so it's not too much of an adjustment. Down 7 lbs in the last month.

I might give the Satzenbrau a go and see how I feel. Not a big fan of Guinness, although I could acquire a taste.

What hospital are you with?

No medical advice, so here is just advice from years of experience. Dieticians usually get the least attention and crave it in Diabetic clinics, if you ring yours to arrange a meeting you should get one almost immediately.

Also walk into any hospitals Diabetic day care centre and claim you lost your meter (you get them free once you get you LTI card) and they should give you one there and then. Ask for a Medisense Optimum Plus as these are the most common at the minute and you'll get a few free strips (or find out your mates one and ask for those so you can borrow his strips).

You should aim for less than 7 at all times, it maybe slightly higher after meals, depends on the person and a good bit lower before meals. But like you said No medical advice

Also cut the coke out ASAP its not medical advice, its common knowledge, your a diabetic now, no more sugary fizzy drinks, sorry.

robinph

Terry wrote: »

I don't have a monitoring device yet. Still waiting on the hospital appointment.

CramCycle wrote: »

Also walk into any hospitals Diabetic day care centre and claim you lost your meter (you get them free once you get you LTI card) and they should give you one there and then. Ask for a Medisense Optimum Plus as these are the most common at the minute and you'll get a few free strips (or find out your mates one and ask for those so you can borrow his strips).

Can't think why they wouldn't give someone a meter immediately on diagnosis, but as CramCycle says you should be able to pick one up at any hospital Diabetic centre and the few test strips they come with should tide you over until you get a prescription for them.

Terry

I'm still waiting on my hospital appointment (James's according to the doctor). Like I said, I was only diagnosed on Thursday. I'm not too worried at the moment. I doubt I can do much more damage to myself over the next couple of weeks, than I have done over the past 10 or so years.

I'll just have to wait.
I'm on disability allowance as it is due to anxiety and depression, so I expect the wait to be a bit longer than that of someone who is paying.

CramCycle

James are a good crowd, I know their Dietitian and she takes patients at the drop of a hat as its often the place avoided (Diabetics tend not to like dietitians), she is also excellent and helped me get back on track when i loosened the reins before. l'd ring their secretary and see are you on the system or what their protocol is, if your on the system then there should be no problem arranging a Dieticians appointment immediately.

You also, often (not always have to give blood a bit before your appointment at the out patients clinic, so you could also ask her about that, saying it was mentioned to you.

They are always very busy so you do not want to miss anything, also very helpful people, so don't worry about anything.

Terry

First off, I'd like to thank everyone who has helped me via this thread and via PM.
You have all provided me with some much needed advice.

Right, I got a Freestyle Lite monitoring device and I can't get it to work.
I've read and followed the instructions, but the closest I got to a result was an error message. The rest of the time it just flashes for about a minute and turns off.

Anyone got one and know what the deal is?
I don't want to keep cutting myself. I'm really queasy when it comes to seeing my own blood.

robinph

Not had that meter myself, but what error code are you getting.

Usual procedure for testing should just be put the test strip in the meter, they will then display some type of icon like a picture of a drop of blood, you then prick your finger and apply the drop to the end of the test strip and wait for the result.

Looks like that meter doesn't require a code for each pack of test strips so that removes that complication. Are you putting the strips in the meter the right way up?

Terry

According to the manual, the bit with the writing is the top, so I'm assuming this is the correct way.
I really don't want to waste more of them, because I've already gone through 10. My fingers and my arm are a bit sore too.

The needle has a few different settings, so you don't have to draw just from your finger. I think that I may not be drawing enough blood.
I think I'll root out a tie and go junkie style on my arm.

As for the error code, I only got it once, but I can't remember the code. It only flashed up for a few seconds, and I had left the monitor down while I was in the kitchen.

Zaph

I have that meter Terry. The procedure is as follows:

- Wash your hands, just in case there's anything on them that may cause an inaccurate reading
- Take a testing strip and insert it into the meter. It should go in wide end first, and with the butterfly logo facing up.
- When the strip is in the meter two icons will flash, one a drop of blood and the other a testing strip
- Prick your finger
- Hold the testing strip to the drop of blood. It should touch the blood at either of the two black patches

It doesn't need very much blood to work, but on a couple of occasions I didn't get enough and had to prick myself again using a deeper setting.

Hope that helps a bit, but if not you should go back to the clinic or your GP and ask for assistance with it.

Travel is good

I have just completed the Expert course that other posters have mentioned. It was really very good, it's run by the HSE. I'd really advise you to ask about it. I have type 2 for 9 years now & thought I knew a lot about diabetes. However the course was really an eye opener & could help you with all your questions.

When you are first diagnosed, it's so hard. You have to spend a lot of time reading up about it. I find the diabetic day centre in the Mater very helpful, they have nurses, nutritionists etc. I guess there is a DDC in James too.

I agree with the other posters, stop the Coke!!! Also don't have so much fruit/fruit juice. I find it raises the glucose levels.

CramCycle

Should have said this earlier but if your in Dublin PM your number and I'll arrange to meet up with you. I have a spare meter and can give you a few boxes of sticks for testing, more importantly show you face to face how to use it. It is a medisense optium plus. Might be easier than trying to read instructions.

Terry

I finally got the meter working.
I was given two different types of strips. One lot were the same width the whole way along and the others had a narrow part at the bottom. The narrow ones worked.

As with any new toy, I've been testing it over the past 18 hours.

Results as follows:

Thursday 26/08/10
7.3 @ 19:10 Two cans drank. Reading at 16:00 was 6.4.
8.8 @ 20:00 4 cans and one Glucophage 500mg. I should probably stop drinking, but let's see where this goes.

7.9 @ 22:00 after 8 cans. My little finger hurts. Note to self; taking readings from the top side of the little finger is sore. Stick to the fingers that have endured years of lime burns. Glucophage has obviously made a difference. Remember not to abuse it, or face having to increase the dose.

5.2 @ 23:40 Ten cans down and about to eat a curry.
5.6 @ 00:30 Five minutes after home made curry with wholegrain rice and a pint and a half of water. I'll be ****ed if I know how that works. Time for bed.

Friday 27/08/10

07:00 6.0.

12:30 5.6 after two ham and cheese on wholewheat toast sandwiches, a pint of coke and one glucophage.

Anyone know the optimal time to take measurements after eating and popping pills?

robinph

Not sure if there is any variation for T2's, but I was told when doing some carbohydrate counting to test two hours after eating and the numbers should be back to what they were before if I'd got the numbers right.

SeaSide

It apparently differs by hospital.

Beaumont is before meals while Mater is two hours after eating

robinph

I would have been testing before and two hours after and trying to get the same numbers based on relating the insulin dose to carbs eaten. For T2 I believe you would be told different things as far as when to test in general and guess that also depends on if it's just diet alone that your are controlling the diabetes with, or any pills, or more as to when it would be relevant to see the BG numbers from as far as making treatment decisions goes.

Terry

Had my first hospital* appointment today and now I'm scared.

Not because they told me that I'm a high risk for heart attack and/or stroke. Not because of the possible foot or leg amputations (although the blood flow is good there), not because of the increased risk of infections (cold, flu and the like) and not the risk of my sugar levels being too high.

No, I'm scared because my doctor has a firm belief in intelligent design.
How do I know this?
She asked if she could ask me a personal question during my physial exam. No problem, says I.

"Are you Catholic?", she asked.
I told her that I'm not, but that I was raised as Catholic.

What followed was 20 minutes of fairly deep discussion on how the Universe was created, God's part or lack thereof, morality and the Human condition.

I quite enjoy this kind of discussion. It's rare that I partake in it as it's usually with my friends, and they're not really interested, so it ends up being one sided with them agreeing with my arguments in order to shut me up.

Heh. Just flicking around and there's a documentary on something similar on RTÉ2 now (mostly Darwin).

Anyway, it was all going well until she tried to equate rape and murder to someone stealing food in order to stay alive on the grounds that we are a selfish species. Her point was that everything we do is for our own benefit, therefore a person gaining sexual gratification through rape is no different to someone stealing a loaf of bread to sate their hunger.

I argued that they are completely different actions, and have nothing at all in common, but she countered this by asking me where I got my morals from. I said that I got them when I was growing up, and she retorted by saying that this was because of my Catholic upbringing.

This went back and forth for another few minutes, and I think this is more suited to AH, so I'll finish here by saying Beer lowers your blood sugars over a few hours. WTF is up with that?


Edit: Oh yeah, my point was that people of science who believe in intelligent design scare me.

*It wasn't James's hospital. Turns out that was just for bloods for the proper appointment in a hospital I won't name.

robinph

Hope that you don't encounter them again. A fun argument to have elsewhere I'm sure, but would not want to then be getting my treatment from them. :mad: