New Diabetic--what to Expect

I was just diagnosed with diabetes in March of this year. When I first went to the doctor, I was having symptoms of diabetes (my father and cousin both have it) so went in specifically to get checked. Was actually over 500 (don't know exact number because the meter doesn't read higher than that!) and it took two insulin shots to get it down below 500. That was a scary night.

However, I actually did not get much information or instruction from my doctor and wasn't even scheduled to see the nutritionist, doctor, or eye doctor for about two more weeks after that. The doctor did prescribe medication and a glucometer but did not really give any instruction or description of what they did or how they worked; not even anything about diet really except no sugar, avoid carbs.

Basically, you should go online and go to the library and pick up as much information on diabetes and diabetic diets as you can and do your own research. You do want your blood sugar levels to be around 90, definitely below 100 for your fasting reading (12 hours of fasting so you would take this number in the morning). Your after meal readings would be best to stay around 120 or even 130, for some it could even be higher but you should ask your doctor what he would want yours to be at ideally. My doctor has had me (from the beginning) testing twice a day, but I did it maybe 4 or 5 times a day for the first month just to get a good handle on what my readings were throughout the day and how what I ate affected them. Since then, I've just tested radomly when I think I should or if I haven't checked it at least once that day.

The best thing you can do as far as immediate changes are just to start getting some kind of exercise (about half an hour a day of walking would really do the job), cut out all sugar and watch your carbs. Simple switches like whole wheat bread instead of white bread, being aware of portion sizes (especially with things like milk and juice which have a lot of sugar in them), making sure you are having breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as snacks in between to keep your blood sugar levels balanced (because letting your sugar drop to low is dangerous too), and even avoiding certain things at certain times of days i.e. try to have fruit in the afternoon instead of the morning...oh and always look for high fiber foods and add protein to your meals/snacks.

I was diagnosed in March, was placed on medications, complete diet change, and new exercise routine. It's been about 5 months now and I've been off the medication for about a month and controlling my blood sugar with diet and exercise! It's definitely hard at first figuring out what you could have and not being able to have things you want, but you'll get through it and I know you'll be healthier and feel better, too. Your new diet would also be beneficial to your family (especially kids) and could prevent any possible health problems for them-and worse health problems for you-in the future. Good luck!!

Welcome to our world. First and foremost you need to start seeing an Endocrinologist. He deals with Diabetic. He will be the best one to get you started and to stay with him. Yes you will most likely be on meds. Both pills and injections until he can get you regulated. Yes you need to get a meter, if you have insurance, your insurance should cover a lot of stuff for free. The insulin is a little high even with insurance ours is around 25 bucks a month. The meter we use is one touch, we get the needles and strips for free from the pharmacy. Ask your pharmacist what he carry and what your insurance will cover. The other meds we have to take are only 4 dollars a month. He has already taken my husband off one of them. The injection you want if he puts you on it, is the novalog (?) spelling sucks... You do not have to keep that one refridgerated. real easy to use. It does require needles for that one too, but most insurance will not charge you for those either. The biggest change was the food. It is not that it is just sugar free stuff and boy or boy they do have a lot of good sugar free things these days. But it is the carbs.... They will set you on a carb watching, carbs have sugar... This is the secret to getting you sugar down along with excerise. There is a rule of thumb, If it's white it aint right... No sugar, no flour, no white bread, no rice, no pasta or anything made with these items... You will get it. Please note they do make low carb pasta, so good. There is a lot of information on the web about this. Reading the labels on products will become second nature to you. But just remember, it the product say 15 carbs, you must look at the amount of servings. So a label may say 15 carbs per serving, and the serving size says 1/4 cup, that will equal 1 unit, and that does not mean you can have a full cup. You would max out for that meal on carbs, just with that one item. what they told us was, every 15 carbs is 1 unit, you can have 3 units per meal. So if I say have 1/2 cup of green beans, and the can says 2 carbs per serving and the serving size is a half cup. Then really this carb does not count. But if I have two pieces of whole wheat bread for lunch and the serving size say 2 slices and the carbs total 26, Then i would count that as 2 units and only alllowed one more unit for this meal. They will give you how many units or carbs aday you should have. also fruit is good for us, but has a lot of sugar. All of this is found on the web, how much carbs, how much you can have etc... Now regarding checking your blood sugar as a newbie, 4 times a day is standard, but talk to an endo doctor. He will do better testing on you. Also research foods that can make your sugar go down naturally, like bitter melon, cinnamon, and other products. Please you really need an endo doctor. I can not stress this enough. One other note, you feet are very important, you endo doctor will always check your feet, wounds are the feet are very serious for a diabetic. He will explain why, Good luck and you will find after the first six months, it will all just become part of you life style. May God bless you. Take care.

Was the blood sugar test done after fasting for 12 hours? If not had you recently eaten? This one test is not enough to know if you are diabetic.

Whether or not you take meds depends on a couple of factors. How high your fasting blood glucose level/glucose tolerance level is and whether or not you can control it with diet and exercise. I doubt that you'd start with injections but there's no way to know until after the doctor does an evaluation.

The doctor will tell you if you should get a monitor and how often to check bg level. It varies with each individual. Your insurance may pay for it if you need one. Do NOT buy anything until after you take the test and see the doctor.

You will be offered/prescribed a class on diet and nutrition. The class I took as a prediabetic focused on limiting carbs. How much of a change your diet will be depends on how healthy your diet is now.

Not much is going to change in a day and a half, your primary dr will fill you in on it all. Good luck, I had gestational diabetes w/both of my pregnancies, it wasn't as bad as some people make it out to be.

Depending on what your glucose testing shows (they will probably do a more in-depth test), they will likely start you with changes in diet/dietary review and strongly encourage you to start or renew an exercise regimen (I'm not talking about marathon training--just the 20-30 min per day that is the standard recommended for every person).

Depending on the test, they may start with diet/exercise/lifestyle changes first, and reevaluate in a month or 3 (if its low and you're committed to the changes in diet and exercise, you can control it via diet & exercise). Or, they may put on you on medication that can make your insulin more effective. Or, if your blood sugars are way out of control, they may put you on insulin. They will also want to find out if your body is making enough insulin (it might not be), and/or if your body is resistant to the insulin you're making.

Getting a glucose monitor now is a really good idea. Most insurance covers them and the testing strips. There are a lot of glucose monitors out there, so do some reading on them (ie, reviews and costs) and call your insurance company to find out what they do cover.

If you get the chance, either at the suggestion of your doc, or if you have to prompt your doc to order it for you, do go and meet with a nutritionist. It is worth it.

All of these questions need to be answered by your doctor. No doubt you will need to educate yourself about food and nutrition at least.

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Updated

paleoplan.com (paleo diet)

ask your dietician about this.

best wishes-