Newly diagnosed type 2 how long does it take for blood sugar to come down?

[taylormade]

Hi I am newly diagnosed with an initial figure of 88. I’ve started on metformin today and been eating healthy and exercising walking 2-3 miles a day this week. My diet previously was full of sugar but downloaded an app and keeping carbs to 130 to start. I ordered a glucose monitor but in the meantime I’ve tried urinalysis test strips. The reading yesterday and today was 3 + glucose and small amount of ketones. I know that the urinalysis is not current or the same as blood glucose but feel really deflated today. Does anyone know how long before I would expect to see actual blood sugar levels to come down.

 

[Leadinglights]

It is better for it to start to come down slowly to avoid vision issues that some people get. Don't forget that the 88mmol/mol is the HbA1C which is an average of the previous 2-3 months so you at the moment have no real indication if your levels are coming down. When you get your monitor, you can then be looking at the changes day to day based on the finger prick so over a period of a few weeks you should see the levels starting to come down if you have made the changes to your diet. Morning (fasting) reading are often the last to come down. You want to look for trends as you can't draw too much from isolated readings. How quickly it will start to come down depends on many factors, how effective the metformin is, dietary changes, exercise and will be different for everybody so very hard to say.

 

[Drummer]

The glucose in your blood, at least after eating, is mainly from the foods you have eaten, so removing the high carb foods or reducing the serving size will lower your glucose levels in a few hours.
The 2 hours after eating testing time seems to be useful in showing how the meal affected you and how you are dealing with the carbs consumed.
Once you get a meter it will be easier to judge things but if your eating healthy involves fewer carbs then you are heading in the right direction.

 

[Cherrelle DUK]

Hi taylormade, welcome to the forum.

It can vary from person to person but I wouldn't expect to see any changes before 3 months. The measurements you're referring to as somewhat immediate snapshots and the HbA1c numbers that you were diagnosed with are based on a 3 months period.

I've found that the best thing to aim for is your daily finger prick readings to be in a healthy range for most of the time. That might sound ambiguous but there are so many things outside of food that can impact our levels that it's best to focus on staying in range.

The page below will provide some insights on what a healthy range may look like for you https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-t...472.274182585.1624276913-340228507.1611583699.

 

[taylormade]

Hi taylormade, welcome to the forum.

It can vary from person to person but I wouldn't expect to see any changes before 3 months. The measurements you're referring to as somewhat immediate snapshots and the HbA1c numbers that you were diagnosed with are based on a 3 months period.

I've found that the best thing to aim for is your daily finger prick readings to be in a healthy range for most of the time. That might sound ambiguous but there are so many things outside of food that can impact our levels that it's best to focus on staying in range.

The page below will provide some insights on what a healthy range may look like for you https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-t...472.274182585.1624276913-340228507.1611583699.

Thanks that’s really helpful I know I’m being unrealistic to expect it to normalise overnight. It’s all just a bit of a shock and thinking about the effects of the high blood sugar.

 

[taylormade]

It is better for it to start to come down slowly to avoid vision issues that some people get. Don't forget that the 88mmol/mol is the HbA1C which is an average of the previous 2-3 months so you at the moment have no real indication if your levels are coming down. When you get your monitor, you can then be looking at the changes day to day based on the finger prick so over a period of a few weeks you should see the levels starting to come down if you have made the changes to your diet. Morning (fasting) reading are often the last to come down. You want to look for trends as you can't draw too much from isolated readings. How quickly it will start to come down depends on many factors, how effective the metformin is, dietary changes, exercise and will be different for everybody so very hard to say.

Thanks much appreciated

 

[taylormade]

The glucose in your blood, at least after eating, is mainly from the foods you have eaten, so removing the high carb foods or reducing the serving size will lower your glucose levels in a few hours.
The 2 hours after eating testing time seems to be useful in showing how the meal affected you and how you are dealing with the carbs consumed.
Once you get a meter it will be easier to judge things but if your eating healthy involves fewer carbs then you are heading in the right direction.

Thanks Drummer

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Try not to panic about your elevated levels. Diabetes is generally a slow moving foe, and while not ideal your high levels are unlikely to cause significant problems in the short term.

Actually, as @Leadinglights points out reducing your average BG in a gentler more sustained way over a period of months is kinder on the fine blood vessels. Lurching rapidly from having been running high for some time to suddenly being in a ‘healthier’ range over a very short time period can actually cause transient damage to eyes (retinopathy) and nerves (treatment induced neuropathy). A slower more gradual ‘taper’ towards in-range numbers will give your body time to adapt, and is a better strategy 🙂

 

[taylormade]

Thank you that’s reassuring Mike