Welcome to Know Diabetes

The shocking reality is that your beliefs and daily activities are likely to have more of an influence on your health than the care you receive from your GP or specialist. In a sense, you are the professional. You live with your condition 24/7.

That’s right. There are 525,600 minutes in a year and you probably spend less than 120 (2 hours) of those with a health professional, so it’s actually less than 1/1000th of your time that you spend with a professional.

In this blog, I’m going to share some stories of people that have taken action, made changes and improved their health and wellbeing, as well as some programmes we are running to help support you do this. I’ll also tell you about some of the Know Diabetes features that will help you be kind to yourself.

Read on if you want to find out more. Go on, be kind to yourself.

You can find information about:

• Losing weight
• Type 2 diabetes
• Achieving remission
• Low carbohydrate 
• Getting more active
• Type 1 diabetes
• Non-diabetic hyperglycaemia
• Gestational diabetes
• Access to my records
• Email support

If language is a barrier, we’ve put in place a special feature on the website – it’s called ReachDeck and will automatically translate text on any page you visit. You can find this feature by clicking on the orange ReachDeck icon at the bottom right of the screen.

Weight Loss

We’ve asked our site users what they are most interested in finding out more about. The number one topic for most people with Type 2 Diabetes is weight loss. This is no surprise. Carrying excess weight affects more than just diabetes. It affects your overall wellbeing, your sleep, your mood and risk of heart disease and cancer. We’ve put together a whole section of the website to help you with weight loss, and programmes to help with this.

If you have type 2 diabetes, there are a number of programmes available to you in North West London. Find the right programme for you here

If you have prediabetes or non-diabetic hyperglycaemia (its medical name), losing weight will help prevent you from progressing to Type 2 Diabetes. The NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme is a 9-month programme designed to help you avoid developing Type 2. Take action by finding out more here.

Type 2 Diabetes

Remission

Surinder is 74 and has Type 2 diabetes, but has managed to come off diabetes medication and keep his blood sugar normal. He did this by improving his diet and getting active. Watch his story and others by visiting the Get Inspired page.

Nearly 90% of people with Type 2 Diabetes who lose 15kg or more in weight within 6 years of diagnosis will get into remission, which means normal blood sugars and no diabetes medication.

DiRECT (Diabetes REmission Clinical Trial) completely changed our understanding of Type 2 Diabetes. Type 2 doesn’t have to be a one-way journey of increasing medication and developing complications. In the study, people followed a 12-week total diet replacement programme and at one year people on the programme remained 10kg (just over 1.5 stone) lighter. Nearly half of people who’d been diagnosed less than 6 years went into remission.

You can learn more about remission and how to achieve it, on the Type 2 Diabetes Remission course.

Low Carbohydrate (Low Carb)

Mavis is 58 and has Type 2 diabetes. 4 years ago, she weighed 155kg (over 24 stone). All her life she’d struggled with her weight. But something happened one day. Some unkind words from school children were the final thing that made her take action on her weight. She remembered the things that her GP had been telling her that she could do. 4 years later, 77kg (12 stone) lighter, she walks without a stick, feels amazing and her smile is infectious.

What did she do? She cut down on starchy carbohydrates (or carbs) - bread, rice, potatoes and pasta - and started walking a little bit more, just a few more steps to being with. Check out our low carb learning centre, video or menu planners to learn how to do this yourself.

But it’s not all easy, and having a clear goal you want to achieve and a plan of action to get there helps hugely. Download the SMART goals sheet or action planner to get going.

"A study in the British Journal of Health Psychology found that 91% of people who planned their intention to exercise by writing down when and where they would exercise each week ended up following through." James Clear, Author, 'Atomic Habits'

Getting more active

Getting more active will have a dramatic effect on your health, not just your diabetes. We’ve put together a bunch of resources to help you.

Be inspired by Mindu and others.

eLearning

You can learn more by joining the fantastic Type 2 Diabetes online course, available through our eLearning hub.

Type 1 Diabetes

John is a 32-year-old. He’s had Type 1 diabetes since 2004 and was struggling with hypos and high blood sugars. With the help of his specialist team, he’s now changed to using an insulin pump as well as using flash glucose testing (Freestyle Libre). The difference to his overall health has been huge, and he can now sleep with less anxiety.

This site provides a wealth of information if you have Type 1 diabetes. From introductory information to more detailed information about technology options available, we try and ensure that we link you up with the latest information.

Even though many people with Type 1 diabetes are experts in managing their condition, many health professionals recommend refreshing your understanding of Type 1 diabetes every few years – there are lots of different courses available: Bertie Online, Understanding Type 1, My insulin pump, Considering an insulin pump?, and Growing up with Type 1.

If you’re unsure what care you should be receiving, check out the 15 healthcare essentials.

Your journey with Type 1 diabetes will almost certainly have its up and downs. It can be a real challenge to remain on top mentally. There’s help available though, whether through the mental health resources on our website or through your specialist team or GP. Don’t struggle alone.

Non-Diabetic Hyperglycaemia (NDH) / Prediabetes

You may have been diagnosed with prediabetes or non-diabetic hyperglycaemia (NDH) as we call it (meaning high blood sugar that isn’t quite diabetes). The good news is that you don’t have to fight the battle to avoid developing diabetes on your own. Help is available.

Over 10,000 people locally have now joined the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme and have improved their health. The programme runs for 9 months and you can now take part by phone or online. If you are eligible (confirmation from your GP that you have NDH or prediabetes and a latest HbA1c reading between 42-47 mmol/mol), why not take action today and ask your GP practice to refer you?

Most of the advice for people with Type 2 diabetes on this site is still relevant to you – reducing weight, getting more active and cutting down your carbohydrate intake will all make a difference. You’ll also find that the information in our series of Type 2 diabetes remission videos is of help. Most of the actions that you’d take to lose weight and get into remission (getting off diabetes medication with normal blood sugar readings) are equally valid if you want to avoid getting Type 2 diabetes to begin with.

Gestational Diabetes

You may have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, which means diabetes during your pregnancy. Although for many people this disappears after pregnancy, the risk of developing diabetes again in the next pregnancy is high. You’re also at much higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in the next few years. You can read more about gestational diabetes here.

If you want to cut down your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in the future, reducing weight, getting more active and cutting down your carbohydrate intake will all make a difference. You’ll also find that the information in our series of Type 2 diabetes remission videos is of help.

Access to Health Records

Having access to your clinical records and having some explanation about this makes a real difference to your ability to look after your health.

The health record section requires you to have confirmed your ID, which is now much easier with NHS login.

Your Health Record includes:

• My Lifestyle - weight, waist circumference, body mass index (BMI, which is weight against height)
• My Test Results - blood glucose, HbA1c, cholesterol, blood pressure, kidney function (eGFR) and kidney protein (urine ACR)
• Medications you are prescribed
• Managing your condition
• Goal setting – setting ideal goals for various health measures will help you track progress and improve your health

We know that life can get busy, and the stresses of work, family, housing or other issues can get in the way of health. It can be easy to lose focus.

That’s why we’ve designed Know Diabetes to be there to support you with regular emails into your inbox. If you haven't got a login yet, register now to get your account, join our mailing list and receive regular updates and advice.

That’s all for now.

Make sure you check back as we’re constantly updating the website.