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Hi!

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Pleno

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Diagnosed 12 months ago by a doctor who was unable to interpret the HBa1C result except to say “over x means you’re diabetic” and sent me on a four hour course which didn’t mean a thing.
Fast forward to January this year, caught a cold before flying away for a holiday. First thing at the hotel, many pints of Coca Cola. Neither I nor my wife (a nurse) had any idea why I was so thirsty. Eventually diagnosed and medication started. Now reducing meds to 2 tabs per day.
That’s me!
 
HI @Pleno welcome to the forum! Have you made many changes to your diet/lifestyle? I see you mention reducing your meds, could be interesting for others who hope to do the same to hear about how you’ve managed to get to that point, if you dont mind sharing?
 
Diet changed, breakfast became crushed sawdust with blueberries and cement (sugar free muesli, extra fruit muesli, natural yoghurt). Lunch and dinner, fish, fish, fish, more fish and chicken. Whole meal bread, rice, fruit, little or no carb. Now back to normal diet for lunch & dinner but careful about sugar. Meds, started on Metformin 1000mg x 2 per day plus Glyclicide 160mg x 2 per day. Metformin changed to SR version because of side effects, and discontinued 2 weeks ago. Gliclacide reduced to 80mg x 2 per day. That is now my only med but nurse wants to stop that. I don’t! Blood sugars now 5.0 to 6.5 which I’m told is ‘low’.
 
Bit drastic stopping all the meds in one go; why not halve the dose of Glic instead? and see how that affects your BG first.
 
Hello @Pleno and welcome to the forum.
It's good to hear that you have been able to reduce the medication and also focused on your diet and particularly on reducing sugar.

It can take a while to come to terms with living with Diabetes, and working out what is the best solution for you to keep your blood glucose levels down. We are all different in our reactions to foods and the solution is a very individual thing. - It certainly took me a while to find out what worked for me and is sustainable.

Like many on the forum I used a blood glucose monitor to work out what foods had the worst effect on my blood glucose levels, and ended up with an overview of what was best for me to eat.
As well as cutting out all the sugary things, I cut down on the carbs particularly the ‘white’ ones (white bread and flour,rice,pasta,etc ) and mainly eat fish, poultry, yoghurt, some cheeses, nuts and seeds, and have learned to love vegetables. I also cut out most fruits except for a few berries as I found other fruits really spiked my sugar levels.

You sound as if you are well on the way to finding your own solution, and the readings you have are in a good range, but If you would like any more information on any aspects, then please let us know and we can give more details and links.
 
Pleno said:
Blood sugars now 5.0 to 6.5 which I’m told is ‘low’.
Click to expand...

Those are perfectly in range! But I suspect your nurse is worried about the prospect of hypos since Glic increased the amount of insulin the body produces - pushing your pancreas harder - and can expose you to the risk that it produces more than you need and pushes you into a hypo.

Target BG for people with T2 always used to be stated as 4-7 before meals, and no higher than 8.5 by 2hrs after eating.

Many members here find checking BG immediately before eating, and again 2hrs after taking the first bite helps them tweak, swap and reduce the carb content of meals to improve glucose readings.

Sounds like you are making great progress 🙂
 
Hi @Pleno You seem to be doing OK in managing your T2D by just cutting down sugar - so well done for you.
I'm a little surprised that the nurse took you off the Metformin first, rather than reducing the Glic first - many T2 Diabetics I know of still take Metformin several years after getting (and keeping) their HbA1c back down below the range for even 'pre-diabetes'. If your body tolerates its diarrhoea inducing effects (often avoided by using the slow release version), then it is an extremely safe drug compered with Glic.
 
Hello @Pleno welcome to the forum, you're doing ok just keep on doing it.

Nice to see you responding @ianf0ster, you`ve gone past your 3 month target, well done mate.🙂
 
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