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HBA1c - please tell us how quick you reversed your numbers

0110 said:
So exactly two months on 58 days after diagnosis of being a Type 2 with a A1c at 82 mmol, I was fearfull and worried and my world was rocked.

Now after a private consultation and another A1c, shy of the 60 day mark I am 30 mmol :):)

No tablets, no medication, all turned around by myself. God bless all the folks on this forum who gave me advice.
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Well done
 
I was diagnosed with type two in February 2022 hba1c 60. End of March 2022 hba1c 49 on low carb diet and intermittent fasting, no medication. September 2022 hba1c 43.It remained at 43 in December 2022. I have lost 1 1/2 stone and kept it off since. Now I watch the carbs but am less strict. I do test blood glucose levels most days and it seems okay. I have stopped intermittent fasting following some severe migraine episodes which is possibly linked.
 
Reducing my A1c from 82 to 30 in 2 months, that is a drop off 52 MMOL in 60 days. Honestly two days latter i'm in shock. Shock in the sense of what I was putting in my body prior to Mid March this year, I thought it was ok and normal :( to eat and drink like that...
Now I need to think of the future as I want to maintain this. With an A1c at 30 I guess I have some room for movement and the fact that its been two months only I guess from what I have learnt from this forum the full benefit from cell renewel is a 3 month period. So what I'm getting at is this, and again this is for the folks who have put theres in remission, did you gusy loosen up a little? Is a occasional high carb meal once a week ok? Is my theory of 30MMOL and 2 months only mean I have some room for movement?
 
Frannielo said:
This is really interesting, I was diagnosed type 2 in Jan 23 hba1c @53, prescribed Atorvastatin, bloods came back yesterday at 64! I've reduced carbs, I don't eat sugar and limit my salt intake. I wan't aware that statins can have an impact.
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They can in some cases but they still get prescribed whether they are needed or no regardless of the side effects. Like you I thought I was eating correctly etc and was surprised that my hba1c had increased by so much - I mentioned to my DN that there was a correlation between statins and increased BS and was told ‘not to believe everything you read in the Daily Mail’. Her face was a picture when I told her it was from the manufacturer of Pravostatins own website! I used to have to endure the ‘you should be on statins’ talk every 6 months, which I ignored, until a new GP in the practice annotated my notes with ‘statin intolerant’ as he didn’t want to risk it happening again. Ultimately it is your decision what you do but I was surprised how quickly my BS came back to normal levels after stopping them but that may have been helped by the fact that I was just diabetic when I started taking them.
 
Mine at DX was HBA1C 55, 147 lb. BMI 26.9 Lost17% of my weight and in 6 months was 122lb hba1c 40, Low calorie diet only. No drugs. No low carb.
Now 122lb BMI 22.3 HBA1c 38; total chol 4.3; hdl 1.3 ratio 3.3; LDL 2.6 Trigs 0.81
 
Bad paw said:
Sadly, losing 15% of your weight will only work for some. Mainly those who have been diagnosed in the previous 4 to 6 years. If you have been diagnosed with diabetes for longer than that when you start to lose weight, many or even most of your beta cells may already have actually died rather than just being damaged. That is why it is so important for newbies to know about it as soon after diagnosis as possible, while there is a much higher chance of it working for them.
Also many of us don't know how long we had T2 before we were diagnosed, so we can only tell approximately for whom the low cal diet will bring results. However many congratulations on losing so much weight. It will have lowered your risk a number of horrid health issues and also 12 types of cancer.
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In my case, I had my HbA1c checked the year before because I was worried about possible diabetes. At that time, it was 40, so within normal range. Following diagnosis with an HbA1c in the seventies 10 months later, I've lost 17.5% of my body weight following a low-carb, high-fat diet in the last year. Switching to a regime with increased fats and reduced carbs actually reduced my daily calorie intake. I remain sensitive to carbs but now eat around 50g a day following a vegetarian diet. This still keeps my blood sugars controlled. The various hypotheses surrounding the cause(s) of type 2 are still not really settled science. I've chosen to follow a sustainable approach - following a strict calorie-controlled diet isn't for me.
 
Lobsang Tsultim said:
In my case, I had my HbA1c checked the year before because I was worried about possible diabetes. At that time, it was 40, so within normal range. Following diagnosis with an HbA1c in the seventies 10 months later, I've lost 17.5% of my body weight following a low-carb, high-fat diet in the last year. Switching to a regime with increased fats and reduced carbs actually reduced my daily calorie intake. I remain sensitive to carbs but now eat around 50g a day following a vegetarian diet. This still keeps my blood sugars controlled. The various hypotheses surrounding the cause(s) of type 2 are still not really settled science. I've chosen to follow a sustainable approach - following a strict calorie-controlled diet isn't for me.
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You done very well kudos to you, so for a newbie for me it seems like going low carb has a pleasant side effect of loosing weight. Hopefully the weight is in the right places, my trouser waist has gone from size 39inch to now 36inch trousers (12KG in 2 months). So this is a nice effect of going low carb. On the weekend I did some testing and went back to my old way on Sunday and see a dramatic rise in my BG due to eating a few magnum ice creams, crisps and chocolates etc..

However I want to make myself the best I can with my body, so if I keep lossing weight I am hoping I get less insulin resistant. Any tips guys? Losing weight is one, any supplements guys? I have been looking into Chromium tablets, apparently they control blood sugar levels.,..Anyone tried these?

Getting fat off my liver and pancreas can't do any harm? Any tips/pointers or things to take for this...
 
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HSSS said:
Mine was 20%. I did it immediately on diagnosis and I was not far over the diagnostic level, so at worst had been prediabetic for a while as some random glucose tests over the years were a bit raised (and I was not informed!) but nothing horrific. I lost most of it within 3 months and the rest in the few that followed.

Crucially as you identify it will only work for some and that doesn’t include some ideal candidates like me. And the stats aren’t great for how many it does work long term for. Less that 50% at one year, down to just 7% at 5 yrs on an ideally structured trial with motivated well supported participants.

You also assume all type 2 have a single cause (and that one is not yet proven, still a working hypothesis) which they very much don’t. It’s a catch all diagnosis encompassing all diabetes that doesn’t fall into another type. (1,LADA, mody, 3c etc).

Yes for a few it’s a useful tool. It’s importantly shows that diet is a powerful tool and medication isn’t the only route. But your initial comment was way too generalising and assumptive.
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I love that you highlighted this.

A simple lose x amount of body weight and you won’t be diabetic isn’t helpful. I’m labelled as type 2 when actually I’m steroid induced. I’ve lost 20% of my body weight, and been low carb - but my numbers(last HbA1c 82, now on insulin to sort it out) are still very high because I can’t stop the steroids.

Unfortunately, we all can’t fit in one box and you sum it up perfectly by saying type 2 is a catch all term
 
The concept of fat being the problem is a little confused. Body fat, ie subcutaneous, is not actually a problem as such, it causes strain on joints, and the cardiovascular system if there is enough of it. It has no bearing on diabetes, the problem there is Ectopic fat. The fat around and within the organs. Once this Ectopic fat has gone, the rest has no effect on diabetes. so an individual could be carrying 120lb of excess fat, but only perhaps 10 to 12lb is having an effect. this is why remission figures are reached long before any substantial weight loss is achieved.
This explains very fat non diabetics, the fat is subcutaneous, and not causing a diabetic problem.
The very low calorie shake approach has 2 goals, first and probably least, is to get patients into remission. The second and most likely, most important, is to make money, so if patients keep returning again is a big plus.
 
ajbod said:
The concept of fat being the problem is a little confused. Body fat, ie subcutaneous, is not actually a problem as such, it causes strain on joints, and the cardiovascular system if there is enough of it. It has no bearing on diabetes, the problem there is Ectopic fat. The fat around and within the organs. Once this Ectopic fat has gone, the rest has no effect on diabetes. so an individual could be carrying 120lb of excess fat, but only perhaps 10 to 12lb is having an effect. this is why remission figures are reached long before any substantial weight loss is achieved.
This explains very fat non diabetics, the fat is subcutaneous, and not causing a diabetic problem.
The very low calorie shake approach has 2 goals, first and probably least, is to get patients into remission. The second and most likely, most important, is to make money, so if patients keep returning again is a big plus.
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Ectopic fat - how do you reduce this? Weird how pharma drugs have not invented a pill to reduce and burn this...
 
No money in a cure. If you lose weight, generally the first to go is the Ectopic fat, it's the easiest for the liver to deal with.
That's why most peoples blood sugar improves, long before most of the weight has gone.
 
ajbod said:
No money in a cure. If you lose weight, generally the first to go is the Ectopic fat, it's the easiest for the liver to deal with.
That's why most peoples blood sugar improves, long before most of the weight has gone.
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So low carbing has enabled me to loose 12KG in two months, the morning dawn phenom nos are coming down to from 7-8 to 5-6s. Is this indicating fat loss is taking place (Etopic Fat)?
 
The numbers coming down should mean yes. But the reduction from low carbing, means you couldn't definetively say yes. But there again as the Ectopic is the easiest to shift, and with the weight loss, you would assume it must be.
 
ajbod said:
The numbers coming down should mean yes. But the reduction from low carbing, means you couldn't definetively say yes. But there again as the Ectopic is the easiest to shift, and with the weight loss, you would assume it must be.
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I have more to loose, always been over weight. I should focus on this to make myself better in this situation.
 
Technically i'm not in remission, as in i've never been told, and if truly pedantic i do take Metformin. Not for the diabetic advantages, but to help with circulation. I have been at mid 30s Hba1c for 2 years now. BUT i was happy with my weight at diagnosis having previously lost 25kg prior to a prediabetic diagnosis. As a result i DIDN'T lose any weight after full diagnosis, but by reducing my carbs, dropped my Hba1c by 15 mmol.
 
ajbod said:
Technically i'm not in remission, as in i've never been told, and if truly pedantic i do take Metformin. Not for the diabetic advantages, but to help with circulation. I have been at mid 30s Hba1c for 2 years now. BUT i was happy with my weight at diagnosis having previously lost 25kg prior to a prediabetic diagnosis. As a result i DIDN'T lose any weight after full diagnosis, but by reducing my carbs, dropped my Hba1c by 15 mmol.
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What are the advantages of taking Metformin if you A1c is below 42MMOL? I'm just wondering...Maybe I need to do the same, you take one or two a day?
 
0110 said:
What are the advantages of taking Metformin if you A1c is below 42MMOL? I'm just wondering...Maybe I need to do the same, you take one or two a day?
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There is a belief it can help with cardiovascular health as well as helping maintain blood glucose control. Every drug has its benefits and side effects. Metformin most notably has the digestive side effects it’s well known for. But also it can inhibit b12 absorption which should always be monitored (ideally before treatment and during aiming for optimal top end levels not bouncing around the low end of range) and in rare cases contribute to lactic acidosis. Do some wide spreading reading before deciding either way. Most nhs drs wouldn’t prescribe it with hba1c below diagnosis levels and possibly even not a little higher.
 
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