thanks Simon
he's prettty much 'got a handle' on it. but he is after more information...
Plenty of that - you just have to sift through an awful lot of crap to get to the good stuff. Don'tcha just love the web? There are discussion forums, of course, but I found them to be of widely varying degrees of usefulness.
Anyway, some stuff which might help:
When I was first diagnosed, my GP hooked me up with a support group, which was basically a bunch of people in a room with someone talking about the condition in general and how to keep it under control. If something like this is available where you are, it's worth looking into - although diabetes is more common than a lot of people think, it's easy to feel that you're the only one who has it and meeting and talking with people in the same boat helped a lot.
Your father should be getting reviews with the GP every three months - in my case it involves blood tests (HBA1c, cholesterol etc.) and then a GPs appointment when the tests come in and adjustment of medication if appropriate. Once your GP feels that everything's under control, the testing period may be increased to every 6 months.
He should get his blood pressure checked on a regular basis too.
He should also have annual retina scans - this is basically to check whether or not he's suffering from retinal neuropathy and/or glaucoma. Even if he doesn't wear glasses he should get his eyes tested regularly via a regular optician (eye tests are free for diabetics) and if there's anything amiss then tell your GP.
If he normally pays for prescriptions, tell him to get a prescription exemption card if he doesn't already have one - it'll involve getting a form from the GP surgery and filling it it. Return it to the GP and he'll take care of the rest - the card will arrive in the post. Diabetics on diabetes-related medication are entitled to free prescriptions, but the exemption will cover *all* prescriptions charges, not just those for the diabetes-related meds.
In terms of diet: I was basically told to cut down on sugar and fat - it helped. I still eat pretty much what I like, just less of it. Controlling portion size was the biggest problem for me - took a while to get the hang of it. Your dad could ask for a referral to a dietician if this is an issue. Of course, the up-side of all this is that I'm losing weight (not a bad thing in my case
)
In terms of exercise: In my case, it was just a matter of 'keep riding the bike' but take care to carry some food with me in case I had a hypo. I normally keep a tube of glucose tablets in my saddlebag but rarely have to use them - it's pretty easy to tell when your blood sugar gets too low! If he's on insulin, then he should go easy on the exercise until he gets the dosages sorted out - running/walking, swimming, cycling, it's all good.
If he has a blood-glucose monitor then don't obsess over the numbers - keep a record by all means (I use a simple spreadsheet) but don't fret if you stray outside of any guidelines laid down by your GP. It'll take a few months to get everything under control.
Like everything else, it's a bit of a chore to start with but you get used to it.
