Diagnosed with type-2 or non-insulin dependent diabetes in 1996, Gretchen Becker educated herself on every aspect of this chronic condition by reading medical books, talking with doctors, listening to her own body and using the Internet to communicate daily with other people with diabetes. Now, as a patient-expert, she guides all those newly diagnosed through everything they need to learn and do in the crucial first year after diagnosis.

This indispensable guide simplifies but never patronises and offers a wider approach than any so far adhered to by doctors. It answers all the questions that assail the newly diagnosed: How to cope with daily maintenance? How to make sense of the terminology about measurement of blood-glucose levels? How to build self-knowledge and confidence? How, overall, best to adjust to life with diabetes.