Newly diagnosed with T2

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Pange

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Diagnosed mid May with a HBA1C of 116. Shocked as had no idea and no symptoms. Nurse advised i needed tablets, Metformin, Statins, Vit D and for blood pressure too. Advised to swap to brown rice, wholemeal bread etc. Not happy as i wanted to try diet first. Made to feel wrong about making decisions about my life. I joined this forum and read a lot of posts and then embarked on a low carb diet, 1 hour walk every weekday and the gym of a weekend.
At my 4 week check, HBA1C down to 88. My BG readings are now ranging from 6.0 to 6.8 before meals and up to 8.5 after meals. I'm not there yet, but so happy with my progress.
 
Pange said:
Diagnosed mid May with a HBA1C of 116. Shocked as had no idea and no symptoms. Nurse advised i needed tablets, Metformin, Statins, Vit D and for blood pressure too. Advised to swap to brown rice, wholemeal bread etc. Not happy as i wanted to try diet first. Made to feel wrong about making decisions about my life. I joined this forum and read a lot of posts and then embarked on a low carb diet, 1 hour walk every weekday and the gym of a weekend.
At my 4 week check, HBA1C down to 88. My BG readings are now ranging from 6.0 to 6.8 before meals and up to 8.5 after meals. I'm not there yet, but so happy with my progress.
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With a hba1c of 116 I’d have agreed with the nurse/dr on needing medication. You can always drop the medication in future if you get better control.
 
Lucyr said:
With a hba1c of 116 I’d have agreed with the nurse/dr on needing medication. You can always drop the medication in future if you get better control.
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I have already taken control of my diet and exercise. I have a very legitimate reason for not wanting to take the tablets and have seen first hand the side effects of diabetes medication and the consequences of not managing it correctly. My post was more to highlight that GPs and Nurses just dish out tablets without any real consultation or discussion about what is right for the individual.
 
Pange said:
My post was more to highlight that GPs and Nurses just dish out tablets without any real consultation or discussion about what is right for the individual.
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That was certainly my experience too. You've obviously made progress already in a short period of time and no reason why that shouldn't continue. Like you I started off very high but eventually I got there. Good luck!
 
Hi and well done with your progress so far and much luck in continued good progress. I take it you didn't follow the nurse's dietary advice 🙄 either since you are now getting good results! I mst admit that 116 is well into the red zone where medication would be well advised but you have the right to decide if you want it or not and how much room there is for lifestyle changes which may turn things around.
I was diagnosed with a similar HbA1c but I was symptomatic and I took those medications and went very low carb and my HbA1c had gone up 5 weeks later, so I was started o insulin and subsequently found to be Type 1, so those tablets would not really have helped anyway. Health care professionals have a duty of care and not offering medication at that level would be considered negligent and most people don't know enough to make suitable dietary changes to make a difference at that level, so whilst I understand you being a bit annoyed that medication is the go to treatment, at that level of HbA1c it would be against NICE guidelines not to. Up to you whether you collect the prescription and/or take the tablets. Diabetes is very complex and individual and GPs/nurses simply don't have the time and often don't have the knowledge either to make appropriate dietary suggestions..... as you found out or the confidence that people will follow them sufficiently to keep themselves safe. The truth of the matter is that many people simply do not want to change their diet or have no idea what to change it to.... every day we have people coming here to the forum confused about what they can and can't eat.
 
Pange said:
Diagnosed mid May with a HBA1C of 116. ... At my 4 week check, HBA1C down to 88.
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That's super progress. After a significant change it takes about twelve weeks for the HbA1c to fully reflect the change. I would expect to see another major drop after a further eight weeks of whatever you're doing. If you do get it down you could ask to review the need for medication. I avoided it completely.
 
Hi Pange, welcome to the forum.

Congratulations on your progress so far! No one should be made to feel wrong about their choices especially if you had no symptoms.... how were you to know?!

It's common form medication to be given out when the HbA1c is high to get you back within a safer range though I completely understand the desire to chose where possible so hope that this improvement will be the catalyst for being about to do the route that you prefer.

We've got a new remission section that may be of interest so do feel free to check it out and let us know if we can support you in any way.
 
If you are wanting to go down the low carb route this link may help you. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
I found following those principal I was successful in reducing my HbA1C, not from as high as your admittedly. But found it an easy regime which is sustainable.
 
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