2005. But that was only the diagnosis of T2. I had been having symptoms since 1970 - just after the birth of my 2nd son (both sons around the 10 lb mark), so possibly gestational diabetes which was never detected and never went away. Several GPs poo-pooed my symptoms and some even told me that I was a hypochondriac. Eventually in 2005, having read an article about T2, I took a urine sample to a locum GP and asked him "Am I diabetic?" He tested it and confirmed my self-diagnosis.
No HBa1c taken at that time but a fingerprick test gave a reading of 25. Metformin was prescribed and I have been on that, off and on, ever since. After a while, I was referred to the local hospital diabetes clinic where they found HBa1c of 68. Problems with Metformin led to a colonoscopy and to the hospital insisting that, "just for the couple of days in hospital", I had to be put onto an insulin pump. It wasn't just for a couple of days. After the procedure (during which the surgeon found and removed 2 malignant polyps) I was told that I couldn't come off the insulin. That was in 2007. That's when I started putting weight on and size 12 grew into size 26. I didn't know anything about other potential treatments and, in fact, the dietician told me that I would never be able to lose weight once on insulin.
Eventually I found this website and, after a while, started lchf. No agreement from the local medics on that, so I was on my own - apart from you guys on this forum. It worked for a while and, in fact my recent HBa1c was 42, but my weight hasn't stayed down. It did start to drop, but then it started to go up again and I am close to 19stone now, and gross! Bg is still reasonable most of the time though (Libre sensor keeps me informed) but lots of internal issues have led to an odd diet and the whole digestive system is in some kind of trouble. I have been referred, by the medical consultant at the hospital (liver problems) for Mounjaro treatment. It will be a few months down the line before anything is done about it, so that gives me time to think about it. I'm not keen.
