Don't panic (Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes)

Member Name: pixwix

Product:	Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes
Date:	10/10/08 (52 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Few - other than there are worse things to suffer from.

Disadvantages: Not a club we actually wanted to join.

I'd better start with the usual disclaimer - I'm not a physician and nothing here should be taken as formal medical advice.

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a couple of years ago - or as my doctor put it 'only' type 2 diabetes.

At the time of diagnosis, I'd been attending the doctor for several years on other health matters and was feeling worse and worse. It wasn't until I banged on my doctor's desk and used the word 'diabetic' that he stirred himself to confirm I'd probably been so for at least a couple of years. I was passed onto a diabetic clinic nurse, and quickly learned that the condition is regarded as a self-inflicted injury by the NHS. I was also astonished to learn the epidemic levels of a condition the NHS (or certainly my local NHS) doesn't seem to take particularly seriously.

I was soon to reach the inescapable conclusion that - in my case at least - the medics don't know quite as much about this condition as they claim to know. It became clear that if I wanted to control the condition, I'd better start learning about it - and not necessarily from the medical profession.

Diet was the first thing - the diet sheet I got from the NHS went into the bucket - I quickly learned that there's one main difference between sugar and carbohydrate - and that's about an hour. Low carbs were the answer for me, plus regular blood glucose testing. With that approach I quickly had some measure of control.

Self-testing is these days being comprehensively dissed by the NHS. They're wrong. Intelligent *after meals* measurement of blood glucose is vital - certainly in the beginning, less so later when you have a handle on things (though it's never ever totally unnecessary). I say intelligent because the meter isn't a magic wand or a cure in itself - ignore the results and you might as well not bother. Trying to establish a working diet without a meter may well be possible - I certainly wouldn't care to try it. These days I test a couple of times a week, especially if I'm eating something new. As I have other (actually more serious) disabilities, I often test simply to establish that diabetes isn't the problem on that occasion.

I'm also now well convinced - both from information received and my own experience - that it's the 'spikes' in glucose levels that are dangerous. The yearly HBA1C test may provide vital information on your condition, but it's an average over a long period. Rather like doing 100mph in your car for part of your journey, then 30mph for the rest of the trip, and claiming you never speeded. Those temporary spikes matter!

I quickly had my glucose levels down to a degree that impressed my diabetic nurse, so - as the chap said as he fell from the skyscraper - so far so good.

The best website I've found to date is http://jennifer.flyingrat.net/ - it only takes a minute to read, and is the best first-stop advice I know for new (and possibly frightened) Type2 sufferers.

To end, a comment that isn't original but I find important...

The bad news is that you're diabetic.
The good news is that ... you're diabetic.

There are worse things, and I speak from experience.

PS - I'm not sure about the Dooyoo star system in this context. I'd as soon give no stars at all - know what I mean?

Summary: You're going to be OK - but take your life into your own hands and take the condition seriously.