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Hi Everybody

M

MarkStAlbans

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Pronouns
He/Him
Hello All,

Im a T2 recently diagnosed, after a procedure for something totally unrelated.

Getting used to everything and not finding it too stressful at the moment.

Main complaint: not able to eat biscuits and drink beer as I once did

Had a bad experience with the L&D initially but things are looking better with my new specialist and GP.

Hows everybody doing?
 
Hi @MarkStAlbans and welcome to the forum

Are you having another blood test to confirm diagnosis or has that been done, if so what was your hba1c score as this will give members an idea how best to help or advise.
The learning zone above in red is a good place to start and help you understand Diabetes in general.

Alan 😉
 
Hi Alan44,

So diagnosis and treatment plan was confirmed around a month ago.

Initial a1c :110, current as measured by cgm 38.

I had what looked like HHS bg of 33.4 keytones of 0.6

Started on injection pens but was off them in 2 weeks. Metformin working really well, side effects eased significantly.

I consider myself very lucky as have had no hypos and bg numbers range from 4.5 to 7. Also was between work contracts when it happened so have had time to absorb the shock and lear

I come from an engineering/science background so found the learning curve steep but ok.
 
Welcome to the forum @MarkStAlbans

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Were you feeling pretty rough at those levels?

Congratulations on your great start so far. Looks like you’ve hit the ground running and have found ways to use data to support your diabetes management and menu changes.

Keep going!
 
Hey everyday,


The funny thing is mate, I felt absolutely fine!

The A&E people didnt know how to deal with it tbh. I was chatting and felt 100%.

I am pretty fit and have a muscular frame. I did karate and weight lifting as a youngster for a lot of years so maybe this provided some protection??
 
Hi @MarkStAlbans. If my memory serves me well, we have other members who have had HbA1c's in three figures without any obvious symptoms. All goes to show that this thing called T2 Diabetes can be more than a bit fuzzy round the edges.

One thought for you...the CGM offers you a "current" HbA1c but it is very much a best estimate, probably better described as a good guess. Read around the forum and you will find threads about the correlation of CGM HbA1c's predictions with lab results. So, if your next test gives a higher value than predicted then do not be disappointed. One thing for sure is that it should be way down from your 110 on diagnosis.
 
Thanks docb

For sure these things are not like gravity despite the medicos best effiorts to say they are 🙂

Im trying to take the long term view. All models and measurements can be wrong due to tolerances in the tech equipment and expertise of the practitioners. Also no model can possibly incorporate the multiplicity of parameters and variation of nature. They are an approximation at best.

I think the trending is much more important than any specific measurement, and Ive been lucky that my overall numbers have stabilised at tge lower end of the normal range after only 1 month of metformin
 
MarkStAlbans said:
Im a T2 recently diagnosed, after a procedure for something totally unrelated.
Click to expand...
Hi and welcome to the forum from me too.

Would it be too intrusive of me to enquire what that procedure was? Just wondering if it was gall bladder related? Feel free to ignore this question if you are not comfortable disclosing the procedure.

Your high HbA1c at diagnosis suggests that things were significantly out of kilter but it sounds like you are doing really well in bringing them down although most of us find that CGM gives us a more optimistic predicted HbA1c than we actually get and after only a month from diagnosis your HbA1c will still be influenced by the previous 2 months high levels so please don't be too disappointed if your next blood test comes back a bit higher than the CGM is telling you. Nevertheless, many congratulations on your fantastic progress so far.
 
rebrascora said:
Hi and welcome to the forum from me too.

Would it be too intrusive of me to enquire what that procedure was? Just wondering if it was gall bladder related? Feel free to ignore this question if you are not comfortable disclosing the procedure.

Your high HbA1c at diagnosis suggests that things were significantly out of kilter but it sounds like you are doing really well in bringing them down although most of us find that CGM gives us a more optimistic predicted HbA1c than we actually get and after only a month from diagnosis your HbA1c will still be influenced by the previous 2 months high levels so please don't be too disappointed if your next blood test comes back a bit higher than the CGM is telling you. Nevertheless, many congratulations on your fantastic progress so far.
Click to expand...
Hey,

It was a cystoscopy, not gall bladder related. I believe (and so does my endo specialist) that it was the anasthetic drugs that preciptated the issue.

Youre right of course as I said earlier I prefer to focus on the overall trend and stability rather than a specific situation.

As a general rule the more data there is rhe better the approximation so I have another 2 montths to go and a blood test before I have reasonable certainty but the fact that I started at 6.3% and am down to 5.7% is a positive indication at least
 
MarkStAlbans said:
Hey,

It was a cystoscopy, not gall bladder related. I believe (and so does my endo specialist) that it was the anasthetic drugs that preciptated the issue.

Youre right of course as I said earlier I prefer to focus on the overall trend and stability rather than a specific situation.

As a general rule the more data there is rhe better the approximation so I have another 2 montths to go and a blood test before I have reasonable certainty but the fact that I started at 6.3% and am down to 5.7% is a positive indication at least
Click to expand...
It looks as if something had been going on for a while without you being aware.
Just be clear on the units used for the various test, HbA1C is in mmol/mol so yours would have been 110mmol/mol but readings from a CGM or finger prick blood glucose monitor are mmol/l not %.

I assume you have also made some dietary changes to have got such a reduction but slow and steady is often kinder on the body minimising issues with eyes and nerves and changes need to be sustainable.
This link may help you with some meal ideas as many find adopting a low carb regime successful in reducing blood glucose.
lowcarbfreshwell.com

Freshwell Low Carb Project - Home

lowcarbfreshwell.com lowcarbfreshwell.com
 
Leadinglights said:
Just be clear on the units used for the various test, HbA1C is in mmol/mol so yours would have been 110mmol/mol but readings from a CGM or finger prick blood glucose monitor are mmol/l not %.
Click to expand...
CGMs also give a predicted HbA1c and I believe the 38 the OP is referring to is the predicted HbA1c result.
 
Leadinglights said:
The predicted HbA1C from the CGM would be mmol/mol surely not %
Click to expand...
This isn’t true, I’d suggest it’s not wise to assume things you don’t know anything about
 
Thanks for the info.

I was on a reduced carbs diet as I was losing weight as to reduce my bp and triglycerides. My father had T2 as well so I do have a family predisposition towards it.

Ive just cut out the biscuits chocolate and beer which is a bit miserable but sustainable for me. 🙂

I also live part time in Holland and so cycle to work and have a more euro/mediterranean diet when Im there

my a1c mm is currently 38 as estimated.

Im want to make sure that diabetes fits into my life rather than me fitting into it ;-))
 
MarkStAlbans said:
For the avoidance of doubt
Click to expand...
I don’t think we know which cgm it is. Dexcom only shows the % whilst libre shows the giant % basis and tiny mmol/mol basis as per your screenshot.
 
One question I would like to ask is what everyones experience with dapagaflozin is?

My gp is pushing me to have it with metformin but having read the side effects Im reluctant to do it at the moment. Thoughts?????
 
Hi @MarkStAlbans - I take dapaglafozin and it does exactly what it says on the label. It brought my blood glucose down a bit without any side effects whatsoever. Like you I look for trends in the numbers and now have quite an extensive database of my data. You can only see the effect of the dapaglaflozin in my data by looking at the few weeks before and the few weeks after I started taking it.
 
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