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A bit worried

C

Chesterlad

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hello all,
I was diagnosed with T2 3 months ago with an HbA1c reading of 74mmol/mol. I was offered medication but rejected it as I wanted to reverse my figures naturally. So, I reduced my carbs and sugar, walked a minimum of 10K steps per day, did a 36 hour dry fast weekly. I was tested my BG daily, sometime twice or thrice daily. My average BG reading over the 3 month period has been 5.8mmol/L. Primarily, I was taking the readings before bed (9.30pm) and before breakfast around (9am)

3 months on, I have received my HbA1c and it's dropped to 52. Although, I acknowledge the drop I am disappointed not to have reduced below the 42 mark. What more can I do? Did my daily readings lead me into a false place? Am I checking the BG at the wrong times, is there something else at play?

Sorry for dumping my feelings but any advice will be welcome.
Thanks
 
Chesterlad said:
Hello all,
I was diagnosed with T2 3 months ago with an HbA1c reading of 74mmol/mol. I was offered medication but rejected it as I wanted to reverse my figures naturally. So, I reduced my carbs and sugar, walked a minimum of 10K steps per day, did a 36 hour dry fast weekly. I was tested my BG daily, sometime twice or thrice daily. My average BG reading over the 3 month period has been 5.8mmol/L. Primarily, I was taking the readings before bed (9.30pm) and before breakfast around (9am)

3 months on, I have received my HbA1c and it's dropped to 52. Although, I acknowledge the drop I am disappointed not to have reduced below the 42 mark. What more can I do? Did my daily readings lead me into a false place? Am I checking the BG at the wrong times, is there something else at play?

Sorry for dumping my feelings but any advice will be welcome.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum, that is actually good progress in 3 months, many refer to managing blood glucose as a marathon not a sprint and finding a sustainable regime is better than a quick fix.
You may find that testing some of your meals will reveal some foods which your body doesn't cope too well with so testing before you eat and after 2 hours looking for no more than 8-8.5mmol/l or an increase of no more than 2-3mmol/l.
Trouble with averages is they can hide the high and low readings and it is those highs which is when excess glucose is sticking to your red blood cells.
I would continue with what you are doing and I expect another 3 months will see you below that threshold you desire.0
 
Hello there and welcome to the forum. The above advice is good and I would add that you’ve made great progress in just three months; take time to give yourself a slap on the back for beginning to turn things around. I’m in a similar situation to you in that I was diagnosed in April with an even higher HbA1c. I wanted to run as fast as I could and get that down within days but, unfortunately, that’s not the way diabetes works. It took me years to get myself into this situation and I soon worked out (if I’ve worked anything out) that it will take me more than a few months to get myself out of it. So your feelings are perfectly natural and shared by many. But you need to be kind to yourself, keep executing your plan and the numbers will come down in time.
 
You don't say anything about your weight. Weight loss should help, if you have surplus body fat. 15Kg is a figure that is suggested.
 
That's good progress in 3 months but I agree with @Leadinglights - your self-testing regime might need adjusting. The usual regime is to test on waking (I've usually tested within 5 minutes of getting up), and pre-meal and post-meal. Pre-meal would be immediately before eating, post-meal 2 hours later.

For the record I went from 114 to 56 after 3 months, and down to normal numbers 2 months later, so don't be disappointed with what you've managed to do so far.
 
Just to add to the comment from @Leadinglights about being a marathon not a sprint, you may have inadvertently done the right thing - some people experience issues when they bring their BG down too fast like blurred vision and retinopathy.
So, don't beat yourself up. Be pleased with your great achievement. You are not at the end of your journey yet.
 
I eat at 12 hour intervals as that gives me low blood glucose, under 8mmol/l at the 2 hour mark.
Fasting wasn't as effective as I thought.
 
You have done great, slow and steady and in the right direction. Keep it up and keep the chin up!
 
Chesterlad said:
Hello all,
I was diagnosed with T2 3 months ago with an HbA1c reading of 74mmol/mol. I was offered medication but rejected it as I wanted to reverse my figures naturally. So, I reduced my carbs and sugar, walked a minimum of 10K steps per day, did a 36 hour dry fast weekly. I was tested my BG daily, sometime twice or thrice daily. My average BG reading over the 3 month period has been 5.8mmol/L. Primarily, I was taking the readings before bed (9.30pm) and before breakfast around (9am)

3 months on, I have received my HbA1c and it's dropped to 52. Although, I acknowledge the drop I am disappointed not to have reduced below the 42 mark. What more can I do? Did my daily readings lead me into a false place? Am I checking the BG at the wrong times, is there something else at play?

Sorry for dumping my feelings but any advice will be welcome.
Thanks
Click to expand...
What was your weight at diagnosis and what is it now? I had to lose about 10-15kg to get to the pre-diabetic range, and 18kg to get to normal.
 
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