A bit of celebrating success

[carrievarrie]

Hi all,
I wanted to post something positive, partly to celebrate my success and partly hopefully to encourage other people who are going through the same.

I was diagnosed Type 2 in February after I'd been having some blurred vision that wasn't fixed with my new prescription and asked my GP for a blood test as I suspected what the problem was. Sure enough my HbA1c came back at a whopping 97 and I was put on metformin and glicazide to help bring it down.

Since then I've been sticking to a low-carb diet (less than 100g a day so not crazy low but much lower than it was), keeping up gently walking exercise (about what I'd been doing before) and in general trying to eat fewer processed foods and be mindful of getting lots of variety of fruit and veg.

I've been feeling much better - no blurred vision, more energy, losing weight as I dropped several dress sizes in clothes and I hoped that meant that I was making progress with my blood sugar levels overall. I was mainly just hoping that they'd at least be lower than before so that I could be confident that that work was doing some good and pushing things in the right direction.

Well I had my blood test this week and my nurse rang to congratulate me and give me the good news. My HbA1c has come down all the way to 36! Which is so so much better than I'd imagined that it had or that it could! It was so high before I had never thought I'd be able to get it down this far. I'm so so happy and glad that this feels like even though my pancreas isn't great at blood sugar regulation, I've given it a helping hand.

So glicazide is reducing immediately and full medication review is next week. If you've just had a diagnosis or your targets are feeling insurmountable right now, or you're just feeling crappy at having to deal with restrictions and lifestyle changes that are hard, please know that it is possible. I've still got a long way to go but I'm really encouraged that I was able to get this far.

 

[s'nic]

Congratulations, that's an awesome result

 

[Martin.A]

Great result @carrievarrie - well done. Next step on the path to remission, if that's your goal, is to come off the meds, so let us know how you get on at your medication review next week. I have my fingers crossed for you.

 

[carrievarrie]

Great result @carrievarrie - well done. Next step on the path to remission, if that's your goal, is to come off the meds, so let us know how you get on at your medication review next week. I have my fingers crossed for you.

Thanks! Coming off the meds would be great but given that autoimmune disorders (including but not limited to both Type 1 and 2 diabetes) are in my genetic makeup, my pancreas may need an assist from meds to keep things where they need to be. I'd love to be in remission and off all meds so I'll see how far I can get on that path, but as I keep telling myself, it's no moral failure that my pancreas is crap at blood sugar control, so whatever cocktail of drugs and lifestyle changes can achieve that in a sustainable way for me is all good!

 

[BobbleHat]

Hi all,
I wanted to post something positive, partly to celebrate my success and partly hopefully to encourage other people who are going through the same.

I was diagnosed Type 2 in February after I'd been having some blurred vision that wasn't fixed with my new prescription and asked my GP for a blood test as I suspected what the problem was. Sure enough my HbA1c came back at a whopping 97 and I was put on metformin and glicazide to help bring it down.

Since then I've been sticking to a low-carb diet (less than 100g a day so not crazy low but much lower than it was), keeping up gently walking exercise (about what I'd been doing before) and in general trying to eat fewer processed foods and be mindful of getting lots of variety of fruit and veg.

I've been feeling much better - no blurred vision, more energy, losing weight as I dropped several dress sizes in clothes and I hoped that meant that I was making progress with my blood sugar levels overall. I was mainly just hoping that they'd at least be lower than before so that I could be confident that that work was doing some good and pushing things in the right direction.

Well I had my blood test this week and my nurse rang to congratulate me and give me the good news. My HbA1c has come down all the way to 36! Which is so so much better than I'd imagined that it had or that it could! It was so high before I had never thought I'd be able to get it down this far. I'm so so happy and glad that this feels like even though my pancreas isn't great at blood sugar regulation, I've given it a helping hand.

So glicazide is reducing immediately and full medication review is next week. If you've just had a diagnosis or your targets are feeling insurmountable right now, or you're just feeling crappy at having to deal with restrictions and lifestyle changes that are hard, please know that it is possible. I've still got a long way to go but I'm really encouraged that I was able to

Thanks! Coming off the meds would be great but given that autoimmune disorders (including but not limited to both Type 1 and 2 diabetes) are in my genetic makeup, my pancreas may need an assist from meds to keep things where they need to be. I'd love to be in remission and off all meds so I'll see how far I can get on that path, but as I keep telling myself, it's no moral failure that my pancreas is crap at blood sugar control, so whatever cocktail of drugs and lifestyle changes can achieve that in a sustainable way for me is all good!

Well done. That's an amazing result!