I was just diagnosed yesterday. Not all tests are in yet

I found out I have an enlarged heart and high blood pressure also. I’m scared and confused. I don’t know what to eat or what problem to treat first. The Dr said I need to lose weight and exercise more. More tests to come. I need some direction. What to eat? Does anyone take special vitamins? If I have Type II do I need to test my blood daily? Very happy to have found this group,Help Please and Thanks,k

  1. Relax. Breathe Deeply. Everything is going to be okay.

  2. Don’t make a major change in your diet without some advice from a dietician. For now, avoid anything white (bread, pastries, potatoes, rice) and substitute colorful things like apples other fruits and salads and vegetables. You can’t have too much salad, but you can have too many croutons.

  3. Take walks. Lots of them. Drink water.

  4. No matter whether you are Type I or Type II, yeah, you’ll have to test your blood everyday. It’s not bad. Really. Millions of us do it every day all day long. It’s nothing.

  5. You’re not alone. Everything is going to be okay.

  6. You’re not alone. Everything is going to be okay.

  7. Welcome to the club!! Hey, everyone! We have a new member!

Terry

Welcome!

I am going to second everything Terry mentioned. When you find out what type you do have, they will provide you with a little bit of information. We’re here to help you with any questions you may have.

Again, remember you aren’t alone. There’s lots of us here for you!

I live part time in Baja Mx. My Dr is Mexican and doesn’t always explain things to me completely because of language differences. Finding low fat foods or fat free are very difficult to find . Mex. hasn’t caught up with that phase yet. I’m also with out insurance until Sept when I will be on Medicare.Does anyone use the glycemic index diet? Thanks for the welcom and Terry Thanks for the food list I need that. Doesn’t all that fruit and vegetables count as carbs, How many carbs is safe for a day. I only know my glucose was 137 he said it was supposed to be under 110. Does that mean anything to any of you. k

http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/NewlyDiagnosed.htm

Ken:

Welcome, Ken!

Make sure you get referrals for education programs as you can once your medicare kicks in. Especially if your DR has communication problems! This, alone, would cause me to look for another DR. Communication is the A#1 important detail between DR and patient.

I would definitely wait to make major changes until all the details are in. Although you can watch your diet at any time, I would start small and cut out any naughty-naughty items and possibly, frequency of trips to the kitchen.

It sure seems that you are really motivated, which is a great asset for you. It would have taken me many months of shock, denial, reasoning, etc. before I would give in and seek help. You did it on the very first day. I would be proud of myself if I were you!

I can definitely say that you will learn a lot around here. But use caution. If it seems impossible or way out there in outer space, I would proceed with caution. When it comes to making any changes in meds, always clear with your physician. Never add, subtract, cut or change the timing of you meds without your professional caregiver.

I do a bunch of vitamins. Vit E is essential for heart health. As far as I know, there is no vitamin that is for diabetes. Not even the old wive’s tale of using cinnamon.

Keep up the good attitude!!! Avoid complications, start control early!

Lois La Rose
Milwaukee, WI

Dear Keri.

Sorry for your diagnosis. Don’t worry you will not die soon some day for sure but not now. Take vitamin D most of us are deficient not sure it does anything for diabetes but some think it reduces insulin resistance. Yes you will need to test your blood sugar many times per day for the rest of your life. Loosing weight and exercise is always true even though exercise raises the blood sugar on the short term.

Enlarged heart is nothing my father had one for the last 30 years of his life and was still able to build a house in his last years. High blood pressure is not terminal on the short term.

Stress is very bad for daibetics it really raises blood sugar so deep breaths, scotch, beer is high carb avoid it or whatever it takes to cool down and consider.

Cut out carbohydrates until you find out what is happening.

Heads up beats pancreatic cancer or any other cancer.

Best of luck.

Type 2 not testing a really bad idea.

Don’t worry about pricking fingers or injecting insulin these are small patatoes ( don’t eat those). The worst I find is this constant feeling of hopeless fatigue. every diabetic is very different. You may not have this problem and be perfectly fine.

Wilford Brimley says it best “Test your sugar, and test it often” I personally am not the best example but i try to get at least 3 a day in. All about getting good habits formed and sticking to them. :stuck_out_tongue: But it is also great to have people you can get things off your chest with. And a group like this is in my opinion, better than most doctor visits. Dont get me wrong we need our doctors, but they really can’t understand what you are going through, unless themselves have been through it as well. Dont ever hesitate to ask questions, without our health, we are dead.

You’ll test your BG several times a day. 1 in the morning, 1 after breakfast, 1 before lunch, 1 after lunch, 1 before dinner, 1 after dinner, 1 before bed.

Eat clean protein, ie: fish, chicken, egg whites or egg substitue.
Stop drinking Soda (yeah I know) Herbal teas are great. Try celestial seasonings blue berry or similar
Caffein is bad for your HB… nix it. So is salt… nix that too.

Also know that All carbs are not bad… You just want to make sure your carbs are coming from whole foods, veg, fruit, etc.

Learn to read those lables and if it says serving size is 1 cup… get your “dry measure cups out” and measure exactly 1 cup or less.

You can do this…

Sylvia

Hi Keri–dont worry too much! some lifestyle changes will have to happen but we all go through it =^…^= take care–were all in this together!!

Hi Keri,

Welcome! Great that you found us & we’re all glad you’re here.

Very scary, very confusing. We’ve all been there & still are:) Awesome people here to share with & learn from. Tons of excellent info when you have time to search the many discussions. Ask anything you like & don’t be shy.

Great advice from Terry. Breathe, one step at a time.

Please check out Jenny’s http://www.bloodsugar101.com. It’s wonderfully informative!

Losing weight & exercise will help your high blood pressure & your blood glucose control. You can work on them together.

Testing is critical. Ask your doctor for an Rx to test 8-10 times a day, so you’ll have enough. Test first thing in the morning, before meals, two hours after meals & before bed. Pretty soon this will become habit. As important as testing is, it’s equally important to log your numbers. Having a record to show your doctor is needed to show patterns & what meds you’ll need.

As for food, keeping a lid on carbs is paramount. This means what you eat & the portions. I’m Type 1 & don’t eat any grains (or beans), except for high fiber crackers. Grains send me way high. My diet is protein (fish, chicken, lean meat, eggs & cheese), nuts & veggies. My carbs come from low carb veggies (asparagus, summer squashes, spaghetti squash, zucchini, broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, string beans, spinach & other leafy greens, sprouts, cucumbers, mushrooms, celery, avocado & turnips, to name some) & nuts. There are
on-line carb counters to figure out carbs.

I bought an EatSmart scale & it’s the best investment I made. It gives you carb counts, calories, fat, sodium & a lot of other nutritional info for 999 pre programmed foods. If you go to the link at the right “Discounts For Members” you can get info about the EatSmart scale & get a discount by ordering through Tu D. And, Tu D gets a donation.

Only dairy products I eat are cheese & heavy cream, which are very low carb. Milk has a lot of lactose (sugar) as does sour cream, cottage cheese & some yogurts, As a milk replacement, I use unsweetened almond milk. For baking, I use almond meal, coconut flour & golden flaxseed meal. These have healthy Omega 3 fats & lots of fiber.

The oils I use are olive oil, butter & virgin coconut oil.

When I’m rushed, I drink protein shakes with whey isolate protein powder with almond milk & flavoring. Very filling & easy.

Try to eat on a regular schedule, if you can.

Except for small amounts of berries, I can’t eat other fruit or drink fruit juice.

There are great recipes on the food forum here & there are wonderful low carb recipes sites. Two sites I like are Linda’s Low Carb Menus & Recipes & The Low Carb Cafe.

You can eat eggs. They’re very healthy. Egg substitutes are usually full of chemicals.

I don’t eat soy products because I have thyroid problems, which is pretty common in diabetics. Soy isn’t good for the thyroid.

Supplements–fish oil capsules are important for Omega 3 fats. If you take D vitamins, D3 is the type you want in softgel form. Some people find chromium helps. A balanced Vit B complex in 50 mg. dose. Calcium & magnesium is always good for women, of course. Be wary of supplements that claim a magical way to lower BG.

Green tea has lots of antioxidants. Some find that caffeine raises their BG.

Hope to hear from you often!

I second the scotch.

Hi Keri,

The scariness and confusion will subside as you learn how to deal with this. Sit down, relax, and read some of what I’ve learned. Click this: Craig’s diabetes info page. It appears that you have type two like 90% of us here do. There’s a lot to learn, but there’s plenty of time to do it. You’ll be fine. You should test your blood a few times a day. You may find, in time, that you can go a long time without testing as long as you stick firmly to a daily regimen. I’ve managed to do just that. My glucose numbers have become quite stable. Read some of my posts here at tudiabetes as well: my posts.

Craig

Keri-

Hello! Terry made great points! I don’t have anything to add. You did find a great community. If you have any questions, need to vent or need to chat you can do so. Continue to ask questions, someone will answer. You aren’t alone.

Cherise

Keri:

Ok, well relaxing is the best thing but here are some proactive steps to follow. First, When you see the doctor ask about a meter. Sometimes the doc has meters they can give you and I suggest getting one. If not double check your insurance for what sort of meter they may specify. Doing that tomorrow will be a good start to get going.

Next call a local hospital and ask about a diabetic education class. I suspect they will have one and likely your doc can suggest some. This is important, because it can help with the weight loss and the next steps.

Now, breath deeply, you will need to take some baby steps and get to where you are going. Weight is number one, work on that, that helps everything. second, be sure and watch the meds. Once they get prescribed take them and do what the doc says.

Oh one more thing, keep in touch we will heolp as we can.

Rick