Thanks Bluetit, I notice you are in remission and you suggest you achieved it with diet only. I am kicking against the meds and have not started them, against my Docs advice. I am aiming to get below Diabetes readings by my next blood test in August but do have the occasional nagging doubt and wonder about the meds. Also I'm not very brave and have not started prodding fingers for blood, play guitar, banjo, mandolin and fiddle and worry about sore fingers, actually that's just an excuse to procrastinate.
Out of interest what level of carbs was/is your daily intake to achieve remission?
My HbA1c test was 48 second one a week later, I cycled to the doctors was 49. BUT I discovered back in 2014 when I had my 65 year old MOT I also had a reading of 48 and was not told then I was diabetic so probably lived with it 5 years already.
There are many members here that have achieved remission without the aid of medication.
A reading of 48 is very borderline, and with a little effort (and finger pricking) there is no reason why you should not achieve remission by August, but of course that is when the hard work really starts - maintaining it.
Cycling to your GP for the blood test will not have caused a rise in your HbA1c - this is a test that looks at the last 2 to 3 months and is a sort of average over that period, so what you do prior to the test is irrelevant.
Personally, I started gradually, reducing my carbs to around 100g a week, and then reducing again over a few months until I was on 30g a week. How many carbs we eat is very individual as we all react differently. Much depends on how insulin resistant we are, other illnesses, the state of our pancreas, and our own unique metabolisms. There is no magic figure, but generally speaking, the lower the better.
I understand your worries about sore fingers with being a musician - but if you are serious about putting yourself in remission there are 2 choices. You either finger prick or you eliminate all the worst culprit carbs and hope for the best. The worst culprits being bread in all forms, rice, pasta, potatoes, breakfast cereals including porridge, anything at all that contains flour, root vegetables, peas and legumes, and fruit (apart from a very few strawberries or raspberries) in addition to sugar.
If you finger prick correctly, and rotate the fingers, there is no reason to have sore fingers that would prevent you playing your instruments. Testing will show you instantly what each meal has done to your levels, and used alongside a food diary will enable you to see patterns and eliminate or reduce portion sizes of the carbs. This will tell you whether your metabolism can cope with certain of the culprits. My body can cope with small portions of potatoes and peas. My meter has told me that.