You almost certainly have Type 2 (adult onset or obesity related are older terms for this). This is because at present there are no diabetes pills which can replace insulin (which all Type 1s require). The usual diabetic pills (the sulfonylureas, -- there are maybe a dozen variants) merely turn up the 'insulin thermostat', so that your pancreas' beta cells turn out more insulin at a given blood glucose level than they used to. The rest of the pills now available affect food absorption (delay or prevent), make body cells more sensitive to insulin (in Type 2 about 2/3 of your body cells have stopped listening to insulin and aren't absorbing glucose from the blood properly), adjust the timing of liver release of stored glucose into the blood, or get your pancreas to produce more insulin via a different effect than the sulfonylureas.
By your account, you were being treated by a doctor whose last update on diabetes was about 1980 or earlier. Not good, because there's a lot we've learned about how it all works since then, and a good bit of that has clinical implications out on the street. Be glad you've transferred to a new doc.
You can tell how much glucose is in your blood just now using one of the little testers (typically prick your finger, apply a drop of blood, to the strip, and wait for the number). Your glucose level changes with food, with stress (just escaped being eaten by that lion, did you?), with exercise, and with the effects of medication, so the glucose reading just now will be different in half an hour, and was different an hour ago. One of your problems as a new diabetic is to understand how this stuff interacts so you can do something sensible. It's a pain. Welcome to one of Groucho's clubs -- I I get in I wouldn't want to be there.
But there's another test, generally done only at doctor's offices or clinics, which tests for the average blood glucose level in the past 9approx) 90 days or so. It looks at a steady, and permanent, reaction between hemoglobin and glucose. The test measures the amount of that reaction product (Hb1ac or something similar there are several names) which can be converted, more or less, to an average blood glucose level. You've had that test since you report highish numbers (eg, the 8.9). .
The importance of the blood glucose level is that glucose, while necessary, is also somewhat toxic. Think of it as rocket fuel, and consider that you wouldn't want any more of it hanging around that is absolutely needed. glucose isn't rocket fuel of course, but it does react strongly with stuff (like proteins). Too much causes problems (probably due to reactions with assorted proteins around the body). Those are the complications of diabetes and include circulation trouble, slow wound healing, nerve damage, eye damage, kidney damage, ... Each and every one of these has been shown, in large and definitive trials (not all those medical trials are definitive, but these were) that diabetics who keep their blood glucose at or near normal have complication rates which are just about the same as the non-diabetic population. That is to say, a LOT lower than diabetics who don't control their glucose very well. It's worth the effort to track your blood glucose levels and do what's necessary (eg, more food, less food, different food, different eating times, more medication, different medication, different timing of medication, more exercise, less exercise, ...) to keep your blood glucose levels more or less normal.
It generally takes a while (months is reasonable) for you to learn enough about diabetes (there are lots of urban legends, ignore 'em vigorously, even if held by the near and dear) and about your particular diabetes for you to do this. It's like learning how to tie your shoes many years ago -- success took a while and the technique was slightly different depending on the style of hte shoe and the kind of laces. Now it's almost automatic, but it took a while to get there.
There are interactions we don't understand. for instance, some people have blood glucose spikes after drinking skim milk, but not after drinking whole milk. Some kind of food sensitivity that interacts with he glucose / insulin control system probably. You may have one or more of these, and you'll just have to watch and learn for a while.
Your doctor almost certainly can't take the time to explain all this to you. Insurance companies forbid. So you will have to pick it up yourself, though Answers is too fragmented to be a really good choice. The American Diabetes Association puts out a lot of pamphlets and other stuff, some of which is pretty useful. Beware the cookbooks (there are no special foods for diabetics, nor foods which are particularly problematic for diabetics) and be aware that the standard reader assumed in diabetic literature, especially that for newcomers, is appallingly low which accounts for the pretty watercolor illustrations and the lack of content. Beware the deliberately dumbed down stuff; that which isn't merely maddeningly content-free is too likely to be misleading one way or another. I'd suggest you read the Wikipedia articles on Diabetes, and Diabetes Type 2, at least. The insulin article is very good as well -- it's got much more pervasive effects than most anyone realizes. They're pretty good sources of information. There are several doctors worldwide who patrol them regularly.
Beware the large amount of quackery and deliberate misinformation which surrounds diabetes. There is currently no cure (though the stem cell people have made good progress in mice) and any claim of stunning new progress will be a crock. so will claims that ancient (Chinese, Indian, Irish, Finnish, ...) medicine had a cure modern medicine is ignoring from jealousy or some other such nonsense. There aren't any, and there aren't any curing diets either.
Especially if someone is selling special (herbs, algae, exercise, spinal adjustment, mystic attitude adjustment, ...) to effect the miraculous results.
The only thing on the horizon for Type 2 is a recent discovery in rats, now confirmed by a small trial in people, that there's something in the upper small intestine that's seems to cause the insulin insensitivity which is characteristic of Type 2. So, if you surgically remove the first foot or so of it, the Type 2 goes away. At least so far; it's new surgery just reported in the journals in January 08. What's happening is unclear and it will be a while before this becomes routinely sensible for the average patient. Lot so f promise, though.