Anxious HbA1c 3 month review

[Cazzablanca]

🙂
No need to apologise, sorry to hear you have been unwell @Tee G - glad you're all fixed now and home? I have been a little absent from the forum myself due to work schedule (which now very grateful for as the future months look unsettled and I am unsure what if any income may come).
I am still a little in shock. But thoroughly enjoyed phone calls to family - in complete contrast to the calls I struggled to make back in December!
I come from a family that fights back so I think it was natural instinct to want to do this but wasn't convinced I could. I have learnt a lot, there is still more to learn. My education course was cancelled (due next week) because of Coronavirus - makes sense to me but will have to wait longer for access to learning.

I am over the moon, I am struggling to find the words.

Also slightly happy to discover that a small banana one day and another the next day didn't affect my BG badly, although I may limit to 1 a week as they are sugary I have REALLY missed them and it would be lovely to have them back in my meal plan. I look forward to discovering what I can tolerate, but as still losing a little weight still saying no to cake and know I have to maintain this level of sensible to attempt staying beneath the threshold.
But yes, despite all that is happening in the world around me, I feel like I'm walking on air!

Hope you are recovering well. x

Hi Neens
I see from your footer you have achieved remission with A1C of 43 while on Metformin. I have a question. Can it be considered remission while someone is on diabetes medication. The reason I ask is because although Jan 19 I had A1C of 98, by December 2019 I had reduced my A1C to 41 by losing 4 stone on a low carb fasting diet. I am still on my original medication of 2g Metformin daily as my review not due until April. My GP did say that we will leave it until then and if all still well (I think it) we will reduce it then. I just didn't consider myself in remission until I could maintain that result without medication. It would be great if you are correct.

 

[grovesy]

As remission in Type 2 has been fairly recently been acknowledged, I believe there is no universal definition of it.

 

[Neens]

Hi Neens
I see from your footer you have achieved remission with A1C of 43 while on Metformin. I have a question. Can it be considered remission while someone is on diabetes medication. The reason I ask is because although Jan 19 I had A1C of 98, by December 2019 I had reduced my A1C to 41 by losing 4 stone on a low carb fasting diet. I am still on my original medication of 2g Metformin daily as my review not due until April. My GP did say that we will leave it until then and if all still well (I think it) we will reduce it then. I just didn't consider myself in remission until I could maintain that result without medication. It would be great if you are correct.

I have no idea beyond what I have read, once you are in pre-diabetic levels you have managed remission according to sources however, this is not remission as we would understand the term. It doesn't mean you have got rid of it - from what I have read, you never really do - as we age and our organs age the pancreas may find it can't manage the extra stress and pack up completely, many people will find themselves back in a place of higher numbers over the years, or if they are not careful months.

I am aware I need to keep on doing what I am doing. My medication is being reassessed in 3 months as long as I am able to access the NHS for a blood test at that point with an eye on reducing it. My DN explained that the reduced meds means that if/when it comes back we can tackle it with an increase of metaformin rather than insulin plus.
I am no expert, I was diagnosed 15 weeks ago and have only what I have learnt since then to back me up. I am still waiting for the actual education course as it was cancelled due to coronavirus.

I guess this means I do still have diabetes, the medication is reduced and I imagine has to be reduced gradually as it is when you start it - and it is a combination of LC eating/weight loss and meds that helped reduce the numbers in the first place.
Perhaps someone with a better medical understanding can shed some light.
Whatever the label for me is currently - I am still going to be happy. I know it may not last - but whilst it does....

My DN used the term remission as well as pre-diabetic, I have just looked here and DUK state remission is when the numbers are 48 or below without medication.
Amending signature to reflect this. 🙂 It was nice to have thought myself in remission for a few days! 😉

 

[Neens]

Yes, and things can change. There was a phase a few years ago where it was being reported that they were finding new differnt genes related to Type 2 alone.
There is also research pointing to gut microbiome playing apart in conditions. That differnt people responses can be down to the individuals gut make up.

During my first round of research when I was still very green and reading lots of international sites and watching videos and then landing on the page ... for only $79.99 we can, blah, blah, blah - I read something about this gut theory and why certain cultures had very low diabetic numbers. I chalked it up to a landing page site but obviously there is more to it. The first few weeks of reading up and not really knowing or understanding was a whirlwind and I am glad that once I got my DN apt. 2 weeks after dx and got the Diabetes.org.uk pack I started using the learning zone and reading the forum. I had found the website in the first day of research but was reading all sorts of medical thesis/scientific articles alongside. Never really knowing what was true and what wasn't/isn't.

They must be constantly researching and developing evidence on T2 cause and treatment.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Can it be considered remission while someone is on diabetes medication.

I think it depends on who is making the definition.

The diagnostic criteria define ‘at risk of diabetes’ (sometimes called prediabetes) and non-diabetes levels of HbA1c...

While Prof Taylor in DIRECT classes remission as lower than 48mmol/mol while on no medication.

 

[Neens]

I agree with @grovesy , also some people dx with T2 turn out not to be , over the few years I’ve been on here we’ve spotted many

Yes, I couldn't believe there was more than T1 and T2 and was a little worried that I may have been diagnosed and later find I was something else. Then those thoughts did my head in a bit and as what I was doing seemed to be working, I decided not to think about it. 😉

 

[Cazzablanca]

I have no idea beyond what I have read, once you are in pre-diabetic levels you have managed remission according to sources however, this is not remission as we would understand the term. It doesn't mean you have got rid of it - from what I have read, you never really do - as we age and our organs age the pancreas may find it can't manage the extra stress and pack up completely, many people will find themselves back in a place of higher numbers over the years, or if they are not careful months.

I am aware I need to keep on doing what I am doing. My medication is being reassessed in 3 months as long as I am able to access the NHS for a blood test at that point with an eye on reducing it. My DN explained that the reduced meds means that if/when it comes back we can tackle it with an increase of metaformin rather than insulin plus.
I am no expert, I was diagnosed 15 weeks ago and have only what I have learnt since then to back me up. I am still waiting for the actual education course as it was cancelled due to coronavirus.

I guess this means I do still have diabetes, the medication is reduced and I imagine has to be reduced gradually as it is when you start it - and it is a combination of LC eating/weight loss and meds that helped reduce the numbers in the first place.
Perhaps someone with a better medical understanding can shed some light.
Whatever the label for me is currently - I am still going to be happy. I know it may not last - but whilst it does....

My DN used the term remission as well as pre-diabetic, I have just looked here and DUK state remission is when the numbers are 48 or below without medication.
Amending signature to reflect this. 🙂 It was nice to have thought myself in remission for a few days! 😉

Ah sorry to wreck that for you. I wasn't sure. I hope you get there. I've been following Michael Mosley's blood sugar and fast 800 diet. He has twice reversed his diabetes by his methods. He says that it is possible for some to reverse it. It seems that provided the weight stays off it doesn't necessarily come back. Good luck. Thanks for your reply.

 

[Neens]

Ah sorry to wreck that for you. I wasn't sure. I hope you get there. I've been following Michael Mosley's blood sugar and fast 800 diet. He has twice reversed his diabetes by his methods. He says that it is possible for some to reverse it. It seems that provided the weight stays off it doesn't necessarily come back. Good luck. Thanks for your reply.

No worries (wrecked 😛), have read about the Moseley//800 but as I started with low carb and that seems to have worked that is what I have stuck with. May have a read up in the future. I am aware at some point I won't need to lose weight (I have about half a stone to go) and at that point will need to readjust eating habits anyway. I have no idea of my calorie intake as I have been counting carbs and keeping a check on the sugar content of those carbs and it seems to have worked. I have lost over 1.5 stone so far.

 

[Cazzablanca]

Sounds like you've done great. Michael Mosleys is also low carb. I got into it purely to try and reverse. It's pretty much low carb, full fat, Mediterranean way of eating, except you have to have 12hr overnight fast to give your pancreas a rest. I have completely given up potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, pastry etc. I find I don't get too hungry. If I eat bread I get ravenous so I have cut it out completely.

 

[grovesy]

Some prefer the term controlled , rather than remission or reversed. I would suggest if Micheal Mosley has reveresed his twice, that implies it is still there if you are not careful.
Even the term Pre-Diabetes is a more recent term, used to be know as impaired glucose tolerance was diagnosed using a glucose tolerance test.

 

[Cazzablanca]

Some prefer the term controlled , rather than remission or reversed. I would suggest if Micheal Mosley has reveresed his twice, that implies it is still there if you are not careful.
Even the term Pre-Diabetes is a more recent term, used to be know as impaired glucose tolerance was diagnosed using a glucose tolerance test.

Yes he says that it can stay reversed as long as you don't put on your weight. He gained weight intentionally to show that and then lost and reversed it again.

 

[grovesy]

Yes he says that it can stay reversed as long as you don't put on your weight. He gained weight intentionally to show that and then lost and reversed it again.

Is that I his book?

 

[Cazzablanca]

Is that I his book?

Yes