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Newly diagnosed and determined to reverse! advice appreciated

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
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Mgfg1rl

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Type 2
Hi everyone, I’m 53 and overweight, and determined to reverse my diagnosis. If anyone has any hints and tips I’d really appreciate you sharing them. For the past week I’ve cut out all carbohydrates and have lost 3kg but I’m scared I will give into temptation and fail! Thank you Also a bit confused about my blood test results as the units are different. ( I’m in France) is there anywhere useful online that explains this? the doctor has put me on metmorfine 500 twice a day.is that an appropriate initial does? Many thanks
 
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Hi and welcome! Sounds like you have made a great start as carbohydrates are the enemy 😱 There is loads of information and support here so do read as much as you can and ask questions whenever you need to. Remember it’s a marathon not a sprint so be patient and be kind to yourself along the way. Like you I was scared of slipping back so the way I approach the food issue is to look at it as part of my ‘treatment’, just like taking the metformin, my diet is a necessity not a choice. I am now just over a year in and about to be taken off my metformin so I will be diet controlled only......if I can do it, so can you 😉
 
Thank you Cathy . I seem to have an endless list of questions.... I guess the language barrier here doesn’t help! I will definitely read as much as I can and try my hardest. Congratulations on your achievement!!!
 
My advice is to get a blood glucose monitor from your Doctor if possible but otherwise buy one for yourself .If available in France the codefree or the Tee 2 are the cheapest for the test strips .Then test before a meal and 2hours after that way you know how what you have eaten affects your blood sugar levels y
Carol
 
hba1c-chart.jpg


To get back to your question about units. What units are used in France and do they appear on the convertion chart above? The top scale compares the units - mmol/ml and % - used for HbA1c measurements and the lower scale matches it to mmol/l used for spot checking blood glucose. I believe there are other units in use but those are the common ones in the UK. Metformin(e) is the standard starting medication - its function is to boost the effectiveness of your natural insulin. If it works then great, if it makes you nauseous then not so great, and if it does not work then other approaches are available. There is a standard protocol in UK but I have no idea if such a thing exists in France. Either way up, getting your weight down so you are not overweight is a good thing. There is a lot of evidence that doing that alone will give you a better control of your blood glucose as well as having other benefits.
 
Thank you everyone so much for your help. My first ‘glycemie a jean’ was 1.91g/L the second test two weeks later was 1.50g/L which in mol/L was 10.6 down to 8,3 and the initial HbA1c was 7,9% or 63mmol/ mol . I’ve been back today and he’s given me a prescription for another blood test in 3 months.. told me to take metaformine 500 mg three times a day and said see you in three months. Also told me to go and see an ophthalmologist for a retina scan?
 
Docb said:
hba1c-chart.jpg


To get back to your question about units. What units are used in France and do they appear on the convertion chart above? The top scale compares the units - mmol/ml and % - used for HbA1c measurements and the lower scale matches it to mmol/l used for spot checking blood glucose. I believe there are other units in use but those are the common ones in the UK. Metformin(e) is the standard starting medication - its function is to boost the effectiveness of your natural insulin. If it works then great, if it makes you nauseous then not so great, and if it does not work then other approaches are available. There is a standard protocol in UK but I have no idea if such a thing exists in France. Either way up, getting your weight down so you are not overweight is a good thing. There is a lot of evidence that doing that alone will give you a better control of your blood glucose as well as having other benefits.
Click to expand...
Thank you thisscale is very helpful
 
Mgfg1rl said:
Also told me to go and see an ophthalmologist for a retina scan?
Click to expand...

That's a normal part of the D process. Diabetes can screw up the little blood vessels in yr retina causing "retinopathy". If left completely uncontrolled this can lead to blindness, but don't worry - it won't, if you get it checked out and keep yr BG under reasonable control. But it is IMO the scariest diabetes complication so no surprise if it's a standard fixture on the regular check-up list.
 
chaoticcar said:
My advice is to get a blood glucose monitor from your Doctor if possible but otherwise buy one for yourself .If available in France the codefree or the Tee 2 are the cheapest for the test strips .Then test before a meal and 2hours after that way you know how what you have eaten affects your blood sugar levels y
Carol
Click to expand...
Hi thank you bought a machine and did a test this morning with a result of 6.8 mmol will follow advice and keep a food diary and test after meals . Going to take dogs for long walk first. Many thanks
 
I’ve downloaded carb manager - is there a good app for monitoring blood sugars thank you
 
Hello and welcome. 🙂
 
France, much like the whole of Europe and USA, measures fingerprick BG readings on a meter in mg/dL not mmol/L as we do in the UK and I think, Australia.

1 mmol/L = 18 mg/dL

I don't know how your HbA1c numbers compare to either %age or IDCC units, sorry.
 
Mgfg1rl said:
Hi everyone, I’m 53 and overweight, and determined to reverse my diagnosis. If anyone has any hints and tips I’d really appreciate you sharing them. For the past week I’ve cut out all carbohydrates and have lost 3kg but I’m scared I will give into temptation and fail! Thank you Also a bit confused about my blood test results as the units are different. ( I’m in France) is there anywhere useful online that explains this? the doctor has put me on metmorfine 500 twice a day.is that an appropriate initial does? Many thanks
Click to expand...
Superb Name ! Go 4 it. Good luck & carbs do harm unless you are doing a Marathon.
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
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