What to expect when you have just been diagnosed

If your diabetes is treated by insulin your care should also include:

• contact (face-to-face, telephone, email or text messages) with your healthcare team. This will be frequent at first, as you learn how to inject, look after your insulin, syringes, insulin pen, or insulin pump and how to dispose of needles (sharps)
• being shown how to test your blood glucose and test for ketones (if appropriate) and be informed what the results mean and what to do about them
• being given supplies of, or a prescription for, the medication and equipment you need (see box overleaf about ‘prescriptions’)
• a discussion about hypoglycaemia episodes (often referred to as hypos), when and why they may happen and how to deal with them
• an examination of your injection sites to check insulin can be absorbed properly.

If your diabetes is treated by other medication or by healthy eating and physical activity, your care should include:

• information about testing your blood or urine glucose at home and a discussion of what the results mean and what to do about them
• supplies of, or a prescription for, the medication and equipment you need (see below for more information about prescriptions)
• a discussion about hypoglycaemia (hypos) episodes if relevant to your treatment, when and why they may happen and how to deal with them.