I have diabetes. Now what?

My doctor told me i have diabetes. I'm screwed for life. Now what do i do? I know how to treat but how long will it take>?

You're not screwed for life, but you've been handed a big challenge. You can handle it, but you'll need to reach out for help. Ask your doc for a referral to a diabetes educator. These are specialized nurses who can take the time to sit down with you, help you analyze your blood glucose patterns, and advise you in general. The problem with doctors is they just don't have more than a few minutes to work with you. A diabetes educator will help you get it under control.

No, your not "screwed for life" as you say. This just means that your eating and exercise habits have to change.

Depending on what sort of diabetes you have you may require on-going insulin injections combined with regular exercise and healthy eating habits or maybe just one of the two.

Anyway it is important to never snack, always eat healthy, exercise regularly and see your doctor regularly to have a check-up.

There are many websites out there that help diabetics. The government run a few and some are run by diabetics themselves.

To answer your question it may take your whole life to treat it, it may be curable. But remember never skip medicine, it could save your life. Always eat healthy. If you are overweight work out ways to burn it off as this MAY get rid or the diabetes.

But no matter what stay healthy and look after yourself.

If you want more info, give me a shout. I'm always happy to help.

If you actually have diabetes,then unfortunately you are screwed for life because there is no cure for it. You can only compensate for the symptoms that will catch up with you as you age. I studied alot on diabetes. All you can do is maintain a controlled diet, you must exercise, if its just walking, take vitamin supplements to keep your body's system in balance and invest in a glucose meter which will be your life line to monitoring your blood sugar. good luck and god bless.

The rest of your life how well you do depends on you. If you go through denial then it will take you a while. The longer you take to accept your illness the more damage you will do to your body.Just because you know the treatment does not mean you know how to deal with all the changes you WILL have to make. You can listen to all the advice and talk to the dietitians, listen to everybody around you who are "experts" in this area, even those who've have been diabetics for most of their lives (such as myself), the hardest thing about this disease is learning to embrace it as you own. The symptoms, the damage it will do, and the foods you learn to do without are all general. The disease is personal. But it can be managed, you can and will live with it, and NO it does not have to bet you. Not the end of the world just a different avenue. Best of Luck

You aren't screwed for life. It isn't a death sentence. You can still live a very long life. However, you will be screwed if you don't do what your doctor tells you. You have to watch your diet and take insulin if that is what is required. You need to check your blood sugar often with a monitor. My daughter's friend was diagnosed with it and it probably took her between one and two months to get it stable.

I know exactly how you feel. I was diagnosed a month ago. Changing my diet wasn't as hard as it sounded, but then my diet was very healthy to start with. It may seem sad, but the meal I am missing most is rice and beans. Today the diabetes educator told me to just add ground chicken and eat the beans and rice as just an appetizer--that would equal about 2/3 a cup combined. I about wanted to cry--the point of eating beans and rice was to reduce the animal protien/fat in my diet--adding ground chicken totally misses the boat. The fact that I really enjoy things like beans and rice, lentils/onions & rice. tofu and rice--and now those meals are now kinda out of bounds. Well maybe not the tofu and rice--but you understand. I hate having to "find" more low fat protien to round out my diet, to make up for not eating as many carbs. I am always hungry and totally grossed out by what I can still eat--so I wander around my kitchen unable to find things I want to eat. Worse, when I don't eat exactly on time I start getting sick. Now just so you don't think my diet was perfect--it wasn't, lol--I miss frappaccinos so much. This was my main junk food. We have a policy in my house by never bringing in more junk food than for one evening--and then no more than once ever week or two, but we did go out a couple times a week for frapps. Now that is just gone. And for birthdays and special times we'd go for frapps and a pastry, again that is just over. So I understand the feeling that all the joy and pleasures in life are simply gone. I feel like I will never be happy again. All that is left is to work like a dog so my 11 year old son can have all the things in his life that he deserves. It is the only reason I can come up with to stay healthy--but it is a good one, for now.

As for what to do now, take your meds, eat no white bread, white flour products, potatos, white rice, processed grains--possible no grain carbs at all until you get everything under control. Once your blood sugars come down you can work torwards 30-45 g carb per meal and 15 g per snack. 30-45 g carb isn't much--about 3/4 cup of rice or pasta. Eat lot's of vegtables and low fat protien. Remember to count milk, yogurt, and fruit against your allowed carbs.

As for how long it takes to treat--the rest of your life. It is an ongoing process. How well you take care of yourself will control how much treatment needs doing. And remember at this point even if you do everything right--things may still go wrong! Don't let the world make you think it is your fault!

There are two types of Diabetes Mellitus. One requires life-long insulin injections or an insulin pump. One doesn't necessarily. I'd need more information to give you the specifics.

You'll need to get check-ups for your eyes, your feet, etc. regularly b/c of some of the potential long-term complications.

Try googling diabetes for a patient-centered web site that will give you the basics.

Being diagnosed with a chronic illness is a real life changing day! I know how I felt when I was told I had a disease that "won't kill you if you take care of yourself"! At that moment, all you hear is the word disease!! You will have to go thru a grieving process, including anger, denial, and finally acceptance and growth. You will learn how to make it part of your life and not let it BECOME your entire life.
And it will take a lifetime. Your life is not ruined, it is just changed.
good luck,and hang in there. it gets better, I promise.

Treatment lasts until the day you die. How soon you die depends on how seroiusly you take it and how well you take care of yourself.

There are some books recommendations and links here -

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-NbDgUzQhf...

Start reading...

many people have diabetes, it is life long, you have watch what you eat, regular exercise, and take medication.

It can take a lifetime. Diabetes is a disease that will never go away. Low carbohydrate diets help this. You might have to use medicine.

It is all up to you. Follow the diet, test as often as your doctor has suggested and listen to you body.

Check out WebMD.com and click on Diabetes. It has a lot of articles on it.

:)
Good Luck.