Yes, it is very scary when you are first diagnosed as a diabetic. Your doctor should have you meet with a Registered Dietitian (RD) and make a meal plan. I controlled my diabetes with diet and exercise for over 5 years. You can to. The most important thing is to change your diet, exercise, and get good advice from trusted sites like the American Diabetes Association and your medical team.

Hello All,

I was just diagnosed with Diabetes Type 2 on Wednesday, 12/13/12 . My A1C is 11.1 which I am told is extremely high. This has got me so scared! These last few days I have been on an emotional roaller coaster. I would appreciate any help with my weight loss goals and any information that you all can send my way.

Veronica

I was also recently diagnosed with this, in addition to having a history of high blood pressure. I know I am capable of making changes, and the Dr was very encouraging, but I'm still feeling very defeated/disappointed with myself to have let things get to this point. I would also appreciate any helpful info. Thanks so much.

A diabetes diagnosis is defintely a wakeup call that needs to be taken seriously from the start, but one that, while scary and overwhelming, doesn't have to be as grim as most of us imagine it to be at first. The key is to take it seriously and jump on this disease as soon as you are diagnosed. It is much easier to regain control and reverse symptoms if you attack it right out of the gate.

I know you A1C of 11.1 may seem insurmountable, but I, along with others in this group, are living proof that it is not. When I was diagnosed in September 2011 my A1C was 14.8 - the highest my doctor had ever seen in someone who was still walking around and not hospitalized. With a drastic change in my diet, exercise, and just the starter dosage of Metformin, I brought my A1C down to 5.1 by January 2012, and after another A1C if 5.1 in July was taken off the Metformin and have been doing it on diet and exercise alone ever since. It can definitely be done.

My best advice is to take it seriously, become as informed as you can about this disease, and figure out what works for you. You can find great advice here and on similar forums, you can find OK advice from place like the ADA, but the key is to take all of the information and advice and figure out what works for you through experimentation and testing. This is not a one-size-fits-all disease. While there are certain things that all of us as diabetics need to do and need to avoid, you have to customize your lifestyle to your disease. A certain food may not spike me, but it could send your glucose through the roof. Certain exercises affects one person differently than the next. It's all about figuring out what does and doesn't work for you and sticking to those things that do without fail, especially when you are new at this and are trying to get your glucose down to a healthy level.

Best of luck to you on this journey. It is overwhelming at first, but it does get easier every day. Things that seem like big changes to you now will soon become second nature and life gets easier and more enjoyable.

I agree with what the others have said completely. Very serious, but not impossible to reverse. That is a VERY high A1C.

I initially had gestational diabetes with my first pregnancy, and before I was pregnant with my second child I was a full blown type II. Both pregnancies required a huge amount of insulin. The last I was using viles of insulin a month to keep things in control. They gave me bigger syringes than normal because they weren't big enough, then finally I had to do 2 shots in each sitting because I had to have so much.

When non pregnant I was just metformin dependant. But this fall, with help from the good Lord and a little hard work and careful eating I had my A1C down to 5.3 and went off Metformin. I am now "officially" in remission with diabetes. I am still hypothyroid, but that isn't likely to change.

The term remission is usually preferred since the second we let ourselves regain weight, or quit eating carefully.... there is little doubt the diabetes will return with a vengence. In my case, it took a very small percentage of weight loss for my blood sugars to come into control. I still have a very long way to go on my weight loss.

I found counting calories AND carbs is essential. I don't have to be super low carb, just around a 100 or less and I do fine. Like mentioned above, you have to find what works for YOUR body. I still don't do well with orange juice or even anything too carby of a morning.

With an A1c as high as yours, I highly recommend you low carb as much as you can and get it in control fast. You do not want nerve damage done from such high blood sugars. There are a lot of really bad things that can happen to your body can not recover from. So absolutely take it as "life or death serious" and do EVERYTHING in your power to get it into control as fast as possible.

But know this, you can TOTALLY do it! :-)

I was diagnose with an A1c of 11.2 in August of this year. I reduced my carbs (20-30mg per meal) and my A1c was checked in October and went down to 6.2. I am aiming to go even lower. I know it is scary, but believe me making the changes are worth it. I feel so much better now. I didnt even realize how many diabetic symptoms I was having until they started to clear. Stick with it and you will do fine.

Your vision improvement is normal. Pressure in the eyes goes way up when your sugar is high, my eyes were really tender in the morning, they woud throb if I rubbed them. Once I was diagnosed and made major changes, that pressure went down, tenderness went away, and my vision improved. You can do this! I posted this a couple months back for another newbie, maybe it will help:

These are some of my go-to sites for recipes and ideas. Many of them include the nutrition info in the recipe.

http://www.skinnytaste.com/ Look at the right navigation panel for the Low Carb recipes. I can vouch for the Chicken Pesto Bake, Filipino Pork Adobo, the Chicken Enchilada and Sausage Stuffed Zucchini boats, Flank Steak with black beans and corn, and the chicken kebab salad…I’ve probably made at least half a dozen of her other recipes as well.

http://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/recipe-index She is also a diabetic, and has celiac. She has a remarkable collection of diabetic-friendly baked goods – but watch out for the fat content if you are concerned about weight since she heavily uses almond flour. She also has non baked goods recipes. I love the Sesame Garlic Eggplant.

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/ cuz some days you can’t live without chocolate…her chocolate, chocolate, chocolate mousse is extremely satisfying and feels very decadent…plus it’s very easy.

http://yourlighterside.com/ is a good general site for low carb recipe ideas. Try the jalapeno bacon stuffed chicken.

http://paleomg.com/ she’s very funny, but the language can be a little over the top. Paleo is a high protein, no refined carbs. The idea is to eat the way cavemen did. Ok, so it’s got WAY too much fat in some of the recipes, and they don’t allow dairy or beans, so no cheese…I can’t live that way. But she has a lot of good recipes that are good and easy, especially some of the crockpot recipes. But check these carefully, she does not list nutrition count and many are VERY high carb using whole grains and natural sweeteners. I’d kill to try her pumpkin granola, but it would be way too many carbs for me. Her Pumpkin Cashew Coconut Curry over Coconut Rice is making my mouth water. And don’t be fooled by the word “rice” since it’s actually grated or food processored cauliflower.

Some favorite products: Turkey Hill sugar free Moose Tracks ice cream. It’s got calories, but very satisfying when you need it. And I use a lot of Dreamfields pasta. I’ll mostly make a very veggie-filled sauce (start with heart-healthy jarred sauce to avoid added sugar) and add browned turkey sausage. With that much bulk I don’t really need all that much pasta in the bowl. It’s more a bowl of chunky sauce with a little pasta at the bottom. The Barilla white protein pasta is very similar. Remember, you can subtract the fiber from the carb count to figure out your “net” carbs. Fiber is non-digestible carbs.

I don’t care for maple syrup, but if I want a sugar syrup either for coffee or in a baked good DaVinci sugar free syrups are great. I especially like the caramel. Wegmans carries it around here, but Netrition.com is a good site to order it if you can’t get a flavor that you want in the store. They also carry CarbQuick which is like bisquick for making pancakes and biscuits. Warning: CarbQuick really expensive. I use it VERY sparingly.

Hi Cherie,
I've been a type two diabetic for 4 years. My last two A1C's were over 8. I had a pointed discussion with my Dr. She said sometimes as diabetes progresses things change and diet and exercise can't do it alone. She also told me It is not my fault and not feel like a failure. I've been on metformin and glimeperide and now I am going on insulin. I sure hope it helps. I'm with you on this. We will make it.

Unfortunately the reality is that Diabetes is a progressive disease. What we are doing to keep control today may not work next week, month, or year. But we have to keep working at it and can never give up! Sounds like to have a good doc who does not make you feel guilty for the progression of the disease.