In remission

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Genieman

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Type 2
Hi! I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at the end of April with an HbA1c of 96. I was put on dapagliflozin. Since then I have lost nearly 3.5 stone and got my level down to 34!! The doctor has said I’m in remission and I came off the tablets 2 weeks ago - Yay!!

However, since coming off the tablets this last week my IBS has been awful. The doctor thought my worsening IBS earlier in the year could have been a side affect of diabetes.

Could my bad IBS be that my BSs after eating are still high or a reaction to coming off the tablets.

I feel like I have so many questions!!

If I will always have diabetes, surely my pancreas is broken so my meal to meal blood sugars could still be high? Are would they be for anyone anyway?!

I’m so pleased to be off the tablets but also confused

Any help very much appreciated
 
Hi.
Firstly, many congratulations on your fantastic weight loss and HbA1c reduction. That is a really massive achievement, so well done!

Can I ask if you are home testing with a BG meter?
The wording of your post suggests that you are and are seeing high readings after meals, but perhaps you mean that you suspect this might be happening but are not testing.
If you are testing, what sort of 2hour post meal levels are you seeing?
 
rebrascora said:
Hi.
Firstly, many congratulations on your fantastic weight loss and HbA1c reduction. That is a really massive achievement, so well done!

Can I ask if you are home testing with a BG meter?
The wording of your post suggests that you are and are seeing high readings after meals, but perhaps you mean that you suspect this might be happening but are not testing.
If you are testing, what sort of 2hour post meal levels are you seeing?
Click to expand...
rebrascora said:
Hi.
Firstly, many congratulations on your fantastic weight loss and HbA1c reduction. That is a really massive achievement, so well done!

Can I ask if you are home testing with a BG meter?
The wording of your post suggests that you are and are seeing high readings after meals, but perhaps you mean that you suspect this might be happening but are not testing.
If you are testing, what sort of 2hour post meal levels are you seeing?
Click to expand...
Thank you!

No I don’t test more how I feel after eating and now my IBS has kicked in again despite not really changing my diet ‍♀️
 
Can I ask how you changed your diet to achieve "remission"?

Home testing is something that many people here on the forum find invaluable in managing their diabetes, particularly through dietary changes so that they can see in numbers how particular foods impact their levels and then tailor their diet to what their particular body can tolerate and it can be quite variable from one person to the next. If you are coming off meds it might be very useful to see how you are managing without it and what extra tweaks to your diet you might need to make now that the medication is not assisting your body.
 
Genieman said:
Hi! I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at the end of April with an HbA1c of 96. I was put on dapagliflozin. Since then I have lost nearly 3.5 stone and got my level down to 34!! The doctor has said I’m in remission and I came off the tablets 2 weeks ago - Yay!!

However, since coming off the tablets this last week my IBS has been awful. The doctor thought my worsening IBS earlier in the year could have been a side affect of diabetes.

Could my bad IBS be that my BSs after eating are still high or a reaction to coming off the tablets.

I feel like I have so many questions!!

If I will always have diabetes, surely my pancreas is broken so my meal to meal blood sugars could still be high? Are would they be for anyone anyway?!

I’m so pleased to be off the tablets but also confused

Any help very much appreciated
Click to expand...

Well done on getting it down and losing weight!

I'd get a meter and test if you are concerned about blood sugar levels.

Regarding pancreas: some research has shown that in some people its functionality returns after losing weight, but the condition can come back if weight is regained.

The drug might have helped a little, but won't have been behind such a huge reduction in hba1c - I think it's effect are quite modest, maybe bringing it down by 10.
 
Genieman said:
Could my bad IBS be that my BSs after eating are still high or a reaction to coming off the tablets.
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I've been meds-free for over 4 years and also have IBS but I haven't seen any increases in my post-meal BG. My IBS is also much improved since I adopted a low carb diet. As @rebrascora says, get a meter and test if you're concerned about blood sugar levels as that's the only way you'll get an idea of where you are, otherwise you won't know until your next HbA1c.

Well done on what you've managed so far. That's some achievement.
 
rebrascora said:
Can I ask how you changed your diet to achieve "remission"?

Home testing is something that many people here on the forum find invaluable in managing their diabetes, particularly through dietary changes so that they can see in numbers how particular foods impact their levels and then tailor their diet to what their particular body can tolerate and it can be quite variable from one person to the next. If you are coming off meds it might be very useful to see how you are managing without it and what extra tweaks to your diet you might need to make now that the medication is not assisting your body.
Click to expand...
I went to the diabetes education which included healthy eating. I had always done Slimming World but had started going off that and after my diagnosis and their advocating eating as much pasta and meat as you wanted decided that definitely wasn't the way to go! This being so I cut sugar out of my diet completely and only had 15g of pasta/rice with a meal as I didn't want to deprive myself of anything. I also cut down on my cheese intake - diabetes education states a matchbox size of cheese a day. I now have porridge in the morning, usually a sandwich for lunch - found a Warburtons small loaf wholemeal bread which is 55cals a slice, and then either a mince style or mainly chicken dish for dinner. Pinch of Nom has some pretty good recipes. Diabetes Ed states you can have 300 cals as a treat food so have a small packet of salted popcorn (and add some sweetener) and a Hula Hoop puffs. I also have some Marmite Graze. I cut my calories down to 1200 a day (I did get sugar flu and was hungry for a few weeks until my stomach presumably reduced in size) and wrote everything down in my Fitbit app. I also upped my exercise. Having been too poorly to walk the dogs before my diagnosis I then ensured I DID walk them to bring my BS down. After the first couple of months I did then start going out for lunch so don't feel deprived. Having been without sugar for over 6 months I don't miss it and think if I ate chocolate it would feel really sickly. Having said that sugar is addictive so I am determined to cut it out for good as I feel knowing me, one slip and it would be the thin end of the edge. I am dreading Christmas a little bit with all the temptations. Fortunately, everyone knows I 'can't' eat sugar so no one buys it for me.

Diabetes education and the doctor advised me not to do the home testing but it might be worth doing so so I have some idea of what my levels are on a day to day basis 🙂
 
Martin.A said:
I've been meds-free for over 4 years and also have IBS but I haven't seen any increases in my post-meal BG. My IBS is also much improved since I adopted a low carb diet. As @rebrascora says, get a meter and test if you're concerned about blood sugar levels as that's the only way you'll get an idea of where you are, otherwise you won't know until your next HbA1c.

Well done on what you've managed so far. That's some achievement.
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Yes my IBS really improved on a low carb diet but now I'm off the medication and having not really changed my diet it's come back - which is weird!

Yes, will look into getting a tester kit.

Thank you. The doctor did wonder if my original reading was a false reading but I felt so ill and had plenty of symptoms that I really don't think it was. After 3 months I had got it down to 44 and after 6 months, 34, very happy with that. BP has come down significantly too - definitely feel better for it!
 
Genieman said:
After 3 months I had got it down to 44 and after 6 months, 34, very happy with that. BP has come down significantly too - definitely feel better for it!
Click to expand...

Well done on your terrific results @Genieman

And glad to hear you are feeling the better for it too.

Hope your IBS settles down for you, and you get some helpful information from your BG meter if you decide to go for that.
 
Genieman said:
Yes my IBS really improved on a low carb diet but now I'm off the medication and having not really changed my diet it's come back - which is weird!

Yes, will look into getting a tester kit.

Thank you. The doctor did wonder if my original reading was a false reading but I felt so ill and had plenty of symptoms that I really don't think it was. After 3 months I had got it down to 44 and after 6 months, 34, very happy with that. BP has come down significantly too - definitely feel better for it!
Click to expand...
Well done on such a turn-around with your BS. Sounds like the changes you've made have benefitted your overall health and although your IBS has flared up, I've never really heard of that happening because of coming off diabetes medications. Might be worth asking the GP more about the cause for the flare-up considering you haven't changed your diet since coming off the meds. Have you managed to get a meter now to test your sugar levels at home? Hope you feel better as the days go by. 🙂
 
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