I have had type 2 diabetes for about 6 years. It's never been brilliantly controlled basically because I find it impossible to stick to a diet. Got a right old telling off by the consultant today. Diabetes not under control, no choice about treatment etc etc.

His view is that with an average blood count of 13% there is no choice other than insulin injections.

Whilst in th back of my mind I always knew this was an inevitable outcome I have told him I want a couple of months to work real hard at getting the level down by diet and existing drugs. If that doesn't work then fair enough, but my problem is that I really hate the thought of it.

I suppose my plea here is to hear that injecting twice a day with one of those special pens isn't the end of the world?

Feeling rather low about it to be honest.

My current drug regime is 2000mg modified release Metformin, which I take in the morning. It did take a while to get used to it and the first time I tried I gave up.

Then 4 x 80mg Gliclazide. I have been taking 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening. I had missed that they should be 20 mins before food but I am going to stick to that from now on. Actually, to be fair I think I knew that but I hadn't appreciated how critical it is.

I do recognise the head in the sand approach. I have really just assummed that I could take the pills and carry on as before.

I don't have any of the consiquential effects...yet....but the quack has told me that the levels are so high that any illness that i fall prey to will be worsened.

I have never tried injecting, and with my doctors I don't get prescribed testing equipment very often. I hate doing it anyway and I'm not sure how I will deal with injecting if it comes to it.

I faced diabetes 22years ago.

Was then 25 1/2 stone and not very tall. And smoking 60 a day.

Consultant confirmed I had two choices. Lose weight or die. Give up smoking or die. Shortly.

Over the next year I lost some 10 stones. And stopped smoking completely.

Never been over 15 stones since. Never had a fag since.

It can be done. It is not easy but it is purely a lifestyle choice.

Unless you want to lose limbs and die young face it.

My sugar was up to 23 when diagnosed. Dropped over a year with the weight loss and dietary changes required to achieve it, with one 40mg Gliclizide a day, to between 5 and 9.

Stayed there ever since until this year when I had to start two tablets a day.

I take a great many tablets for heart, spinal and dietary disorders but I am very fortunate because my constitution is unaffected by any of the medication I take.

Just lucky in that respect.

I can take 800mg of Tramadol a day and function perfectly well.

Most unusual I am told by every doctor I see.

Entirely your choice. You have had the gypsies warning. I would suggest you do not ignore it.

Face facts or face the consequences.

It worked for me it could work for you.

Good luck anyway.

I`ve had type 2 diabetes for the last 6.5 years.

Had it sorted perfectly for the first 3 years on metformin tablets, then had a really bad reaction to the fillers in the tablets and never got it sorted from that point onwards.

Ended up on insulin, Levemir injections once a day, Novorapid injections every time I eat, and 2 x 500mg Glucophage tablets twice a day (also Pravastatin for cholesterol, 5.1 was high apparently!).

If I could do it again I would do absolutely everything I possibly could to avoid insulin, the main side effect being weight gain (I put on 6 stone in less than a year!).

I have managed to lose 1.5 stones recently and am keeping the levels under better control, but it is stupidly hard to do so (next to no carbs at all, ever!)

I absolutely hate it, and it does get me down. I too had a bit of a head in the sand approach and wish now I hadn`t

Do everything you can now mate, trust me you really really don`t want insulin. I begged and begged with them not to put me on it and they gave me a year of trying everything before there was no choice. I realise now I did not try everything, just everything that wasn`t too hard!

Get yourself on a really strict diet, and cut out as many carbs as you possibly can, especially at night, eat less, move more. I am now eating a lot of fruit, it works, before I had more or less cut it out completely due to the fructose sugars, however these are no-where near as bad for you as regular sugars and help cut the weight which helps over all.

Best of luck, and if you need any help at all or want to ask any questions, just give me a shout.

Cheers
Dave

I don't know much about diabetes but I do hear that low carb diets are the ones to follow. I only mention this because in my personal experience, it's very easy to follow such a diet, and that is coming from a former crisp monster.

Poor little bugger.

I'm glad to hear she's coping well though, Tracey.

This is by far the most frustrating thing to deal with. I spoke to my consultant who kindly wrote a letter to my GP and I still have an issue getting the test strips. My GP blames the pharmacy and the pharmacy blames my GP...

You could go for the annoying approach - go to the surgery 4 times a day for a couple of days saying "I've come for my blood test" when they get bored tell them its their fault.

and yes I am ssaying the above as tongue in cheek. Just keep pushing - I reckon its the surgery not the pharmacist. The pharmacist would only care if the prescription was potentially harmful or could be sold on.

I lived in a nursing home for 9 months in 2008.

When I arrived the next youngest person there after me was Dennis, he was 68.

Dennis was there because after a good few years of wildly out-of-control diabetes, which took from him his job as a trucker and then his driving license altogether, he'd eventually lost both legs just below the hip, all his eyesight, and most of the feeling in his fingers. He'd also had a couple of serious heart attacks, just for good measure.

You are at a fork in the road, one path of which leads you to ending up like Dennis.

It's bad enough having severe, life-shortening disability that you know you could never possibly have avoided - can't imagine what it would be like knowing you'd brought it all on yourself.

Comparitively speaking, a few insulin jabs a day (the needles really are TINY) is trivial.