• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

T2 and Heart Failure

P

p4ul

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hello everyone,

Glad to have found you all. 53yo male.

I was diagnosed T2 in 2022, which wasn't too much of a surprise once the dust had settled. I've been quite overweight for many years and my sedentary, poor diet, alcohol-laden lifestyle was beginning to take its toll. Even then, with 2g Metformin a day and various other drugs to control blood pressure and cholesterol, I found that I hadn't really taken the diagnosis seriously.

That changed at the beginning of April this year when I was diagnosed with LV Heart Failure. I'm under the care of a brilliant cardiologist who, amongst other things, has directed an immediate change in lifestyle that I have adopted with aplomb.

So I'm now 14kg down, exercising 6-7 hours a week (daily walking, swimming and/or cycling), maintaining a fastidious calorie deficit and have stopped drinking completely. My cardiologist is really happy with progress, to my blessed relief.

My last HbA1c was 41, prior to these lifestyle changes. I do a weekly finger prick (fasting, first thing on a Tuesday am) which has recently been 6.61, 6.33, 6.22, 5.66 and this week 5.77.

I'm pretty happy with these results. I'd like to get my T2 into remission, but will pretty soon be under the weight threshold for the NHS pathway. I also need to try to understand the interaction between diabetes and heart disease.

I guess I'm asking for a bit of general advice. Anyone else in this general boat and how are you faring? Would anyone with medical expertise like to suggest what I should be asking my cardiologist/DSN? How else can I monitor my BG between annual blood tests?

Thanks for reading. I hope to be very engaged with this forum.
 
Welcome to the forum. My hba1c was 44 in December having been diagnosed in July. I think remission is usually below 42 with no medication. I was put on an SGLT2 in September which I was told was good for cardio vascular health aside had high blood pressure but was also useful for diabetes. Given your heart health you may have been prescribed it already. There is a place on the forum with lots of info re remission. Seems to me you are doing all the right things. Good luck.
 
@p4ul, welcome to forums, there is a lot of information available on many of the topics that arise relating to diabetes and the Learning Zone if also a great source of information and recipes for healthy meals.

I'm type 2, diagnosed October 2024 with HbA1c of 86 and weighed just over 13 stone which for my height (6'3") and age (63) was considered healthy. The issue of weight loss has not been a material one for me but I did go on a low carb diet and upped my exercise from 1x5k per week to 3 and I also made sure I walked more. I retired early at the end of December and my last HbA1c from January was 47 and my weight was down to about 12st. 8lbs and is now around 12 stone 4lbs. I took Metformin for 3 months from November to February and will hopefully get a my next HbA1c next week.

My DSN is concerned about my cholesterol and triglycerides to the point that in March she tried to put me on statins and cholesterol medication which I rejected. I have made some further changes to my diet, now eating 0% Greek Yoghurt for breakfast to reduce cholesterol as well as drinking Benecol and I'm running 2x6k and 1x10k per week plus two to three weights sessions at the gym and at least on 9 hole game of golf, if not 18. My objective is to be in remission by the end of next week as I have been off all medication since mid Feb.

For monitoring your BG either test just before and 2 hours after every meal as that will show you how you have reacted to whatever you have eaten. That is quite an expensive approach but as you already have a meter the cost would just be the test strips. Alternatively, and this is what I do, use a CGM (£51/sensor) to review how things are every now and then for 14/15 days. I am using one now in the two weeks before my check in with the DSN. I use looking to use one about 4 times year. This may not be an option for everyone however, due to costs.
 
Welcome to the forum @p4ul

And huge congratulations on the weight you’ve lost so far, and especially on giving booze the boot. So many health benefits right there!

If you are doing well with your current system there may not be any need to try the 800 calorie soup/shake ‘Newcastle’ approach. Taylor’s research, on which the ‘Path to Remission’ project was based concluded that it didn’t really matter how you lost the weight, provided you got down below your personal fat threshold, and cleared out the visceral fat from around the liver and pancreas.

Well done on your HbA1c reduction - has your GP/nurse spoken to you about reducing any of the meds you may be taking as your transformation continues?

For monitoring between annual appointments, many T2s here find it helpful to self-fund a Blood Glucose monitor. One with relatively affordable strips such as the Contour Blue is a popular choice.

The recommendations for people with T2 diabetes are
4-7mmol/L before meals, and
No higher than 8.5mmol/L by 2hrs after meals.

T2s here also sometimes look at the difference between before meal and 2hr after checks to see the ‘meal rise’ aiming for 2-3mmol/L. Keeping the rises from meals relatively low can help reduce glucose variability (max-min) and glucose instability (frequency and severity of ‘wobbles’).

Good luck, and let us know how you get on 🙂
 
Welcome from me too @p4ul and well done on what you've achieved so far. It's always good to read someone's success story.

Remission is currently defined as an HbA1c below 48 for 3 months or more without taking any diabetes medication, and many of us have been successful. You can read all about it here:-

What is type 2 diabetes remission?

Jump to: What is remission?
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk

You've already had some good advice regarding self-testing your BG so all I'll add is that if you adopt a regime of testing on waking every morning, and pre- and post-meals as described, and log your results, you'll start to get an idea of how your BG is trending. For my part I'm on the lookout for any upward trend that might suggest things are going awry rather than get a nasty surprise at my next HbA1c.
 
A quick thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply to my initial post, and for the warm welcome.

There's much to think about and I've spent some time perusing this forum. I'm pretty clear in my own mind that I need a period of continuous monitoring so have ordered a device. Other pointers have been really helpful as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top