diagnosis of pre-diabetes

From my son's experience, a lot of practice nurses have excellent knowledge, but some nurses and quite a few doctors too are sadly quite ignorant.

Aka the point I was trying to make, but obviously failed, is that there is
no excuse for health professionals like Gill's DH's practice nurse to adopt a bullying, blaming attitude towards patients.

And the whole point of science is to question what people regard as 'certainty'.
Withouth that, progress would never be made.

I doubt there is any 'uncertainty' that the rise in type 2 diabetes is linked to the rise in obesity, which in turn is linked to a change in eating habits and lifestyle.

That said there will always be a small proportion of people who develop this condition who are normal weight, eat well and exercise.

As Gill points our there is emerging evidence that a change in lifestyle can halt the progress of this condition. Some of these practice nurses are not up to the job. I had a similar interview with one when Mr Aka was diagnosed as pre diabetic. It soon became obvious that my knowledge of the condition was far greater than hers. So go for it Gill there's too much to lose otherwise.

silverfish You say you have a phobia of hospitals, clinics, doctors etc.

My son has been a type 1 diabetic since age 13. He is 40 now, and is losing his sight.
He has monthly injections in his eye, and regular lasering too.

Surely the thought that the same could possibly happen to you is a pretty good incentive to modify your diet?

Good luck to all of you who are pre-diabetic, it is not easy.

durhamjen thank you for your very helpful comments and information, and yes DH certainly wont be seeing that particular practice nurse again. He was furious; when he said we were going to tackle this diagnosis with diet and exercise changes, she said it was irreversible, and although I am not an endocrinologist I beg to differ. DH has had a warning and plans on listening to it. As we eat very little meat, no red, just chicken a few times a week, we are probably eating too much refined white flour ( pasta) and we eat lots of basmati rice. I have found lots of helpful links and websites and we will make changes. Bullying and patronising attitudes from health professionals are not the way to motivate people, especially when you go to them asking for help, and ironically she was rather overweight herself!

I wouldn't presume to have an opinion Aka, since I am not an endocrinologist.
I just put the link up to show that there is uncertainty about the whole thing. A case of the more you know, the more you realise you don't know, and things are a bit more complicated than they might first appear.
This is what makes it difficult for public health bodies to give accurate advice to the general public.

So what in your opinion is causing the horrendous rise in type 2 diabetes then janeainsworth?

Mamie I've posted this link before, but you might find it interesting - how a doctor's personal experience led him to question the current wisdom that obesity causes type 2 diabetes
www.ted.com/talks/peter_attia_what_if_we_re_wrong_about_diabetes

Michael Mosley was pre diabetic before he started the 5:2 diet, actually it was being pre diabetic that kick started him into trying fasting. It worked for him.

Mamie, interesting and helpful! I fear my OH is heading for problems caused by his sweet tooth.

I had to at the thought of the doctor's reaction when handed a spreadsheet of what you eat, bet he/she was as impressed as I am.

Silverfish, don't give up and let something over which you have control, defeat you.

We are doing this too. My OH has levels on the H1AC test that have been slowly creeping up over the last couple of years. He doesn't have a sweet tooth and has never eaten cakes, biscuits or pudding apart from on special occasions. He has had high BP and cholesterol and has been on medication for those for over ten years. He gets a lot of exercise, but still carries stubborn abdominal fat, that won't shift. He saw the cardiologist this week, who said that he has the heart of an athlete.
So it is all a bit difficult to know what to do.
Our doctor tends to hand out leaflets telling us not to eat things that we don't eat anyway. My OH gives her a spreadsheet of what we eat and she agrees there is nothing to change. We have a large vegetable garden and consequently eat a lot of veg. We don't eat processed food apart from tinned tomatoes.
We have always eaten brown bread (OH makes it), but we have swapped white rice for brown, made (waxy) potatoes a once or twice weekly treat, eat plenty of oats (oatcakes for a mid-morning snack) use pearl barley for risotto and bulgar wheat instead of couscous. We have cut out fruit juice completely. We think we have cut sugar to less than two teaspoons a day (bit of marmalade and dried fruit in muesli).
We found this quite helpful.
www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-replace-highglycemic-grains-with-lowglycemi.html
We have both lost a bit of weight and are waiting to see what happens at the next blood test.
I hope this helps. I agree that the patronising attitudes are infuriating.
If this doesn't work it will be the medication.

Silverfish it must seem so much easier to graze through the day than to 'breakfast like a King, lunch like a Queen and eat tea like a Princess' when living alone. Fortunately My husband needs a cooked meal but still I can graze and graze and graze as evidenced by my waistline (what waistline?)

When my daughter was pregnant she too had pregnancy diabetes so we found a number of diabetic cook books and there were many interesting and varied recipes. It is just a case of building up the energy and enthusiasm.

You can join Weight Watchers Online and they have some good recipes too including one delicious low calorie soup which can help 'the grazies' there are weight watchers ready cooked meals but if you choose these do add plenty of extra vegetables to fill in the gaps.

So really all that remains for me to do is 'practise what I preach' - and wish you well in your endeavours.

If I understand the 5:2 diet correctly, which I probably don't, surely the fast days could prove dangerous for anyone suffering from diabetes?

The good thing is, GillT, that they can test for prediabetes these days, and therefore your husband can try to help himself to not become diabetic. I am hoping that, because all my family have seen what happens to diabetics that they will take care of themselves and make sure they do not end up on insulin.

see page 12

Interesting facts on blindness and amputation.

Silverfish, no diet is boring. It can be a challenge. All my married life I have had to read labels. If you have to graze, just eat the right foods.
You cannot seriously want to give yourself injections every day and test your blood. If you do become diabetic, it will be far worse than having to look after the foods you eat. In fact I've never heard anything so ridiculous.
When my husband was dying of cancer, I had to give him injections, test his blood and feed him. It was horrible.

By the way, not many diabetics go blind or lose limbs. Just make sure you do not see that nurse again.

My husband was diabetic type 1 from the age of 11, and we were married for over 45 years, so I have had a lot of experience with diabetic diets. My mother was type 2.
The low GI diet was developed by Diabetes UK for diabetics, so that's the one to go for. We were also vegetarians, which stabilised his blood sugar.
At the moment there is research going on at Newcastle University about pre-diabetes and a low calorie diet. Details are online .

flowerofthewest, thank you for your post. I have to admit that since DH's diagnosis I have been examining my own health, and I feel that tempering our food a bit and taking more exercise will do us both good. I am happy to share anything that I pick up from the book. The pedometer is a good idea.

I was diagnosed just before Christmas 2013. (Pre-diabetes) it has terrified me. I have managed to lose a stone but still have a couple to go. My GP has given me forms for a Glucose Tolerance test for the end of April to see how it is going. You could purchase a diet plate and bowl. These give portion sizes on the plate etc and I have found these very helpful. Who would have thought that just one sausage filled the protein section (My GP was surprised too)

There is also Nutracheck - an online calorie site to assist in losing weight. Exercise is good also. My DH and I try to walk at least 35 minutes a day for 5 days a week. I have a pedometer on my mobile which give me the motivation to aim for my 10,000 steps a day. I don't always manage these but its something to aim for.

I am still scared and your post has given me a kick up the backside as I find I am slipping a little.

Silverfish, from the stuff I have read so far, it is not looking for food that is low fat/low salt/low sugar, they are all fake foods as far as I am concerned and of no nutritional benefit whatsoever. The important thing is to avoid the rebound of a sugar spike from eating processed carbohydrates such as white flour, white sugar, white rice and foods made with them. I seriously recommend you take medical advise, it is not a good plan to eat yourself into full blown diabetes, that is why we are trying to sort it for my DH now before it gets that far. If the stuff isn't in the house you cant eat it! Have read that exercise is also necessary, and that is in hand, it will do us both good, and the dog to walk a bit more often. I have gleaned quite a lot from going online, why not have a look too? The books are on their way, and I will report on our progress.

Have you thought of a slimming club like Slimming World? They have a huge success rate and a lot of diabetics recommend it for losing weight. You can do it online if you don't want to go to the meetings but I think the mutual support is valuable.

I can understand someone saying they are 'living for today' if they have terminal cancer but your friend is only 62 and people can live with diabetes for many years if they look after their health and diet.

Don't buy anything sweet. If you haven't got cake, biscuits, desserts and sweet spreads in the house you are a lot less likely to consume them...
Eat fruit if you want something sweet.

My friend just eats as normal but ups her insulin dose to combat it, shes 62 and has a good life she says she just wants to live for today

What kind of help can I get, I don't like going to the doctor. I have a phobia of anyone in the nhs, hospitals, clinics etc. Would be happy to go online though if anyone can suggest any sites

DH managed to get himself out of the pre-diabetes bracket by losing a stone in weight and following a low GI diet. Thankfully, our practice nurse was very encouraging and is thrilled with his progress. He does have a sweet tooth though and left to his own devices would probably be tempted. I just don't buy anything he can't have and hide anything I want to use in a recipe that I know he'll sneak out of the cupboard if he gets a chance.

Silverfish. You really need to get help to control your food cravings instead of hoping you'll eventually be put on medication. I wouldn't want to have to inject myself with insulin if I could prevent developing Type 1 diabetes in the first place. Yes, dieting is incredibly boring but it's worth it if it improves your health.