Recent Content by Grateful

I was handed a prescription for statins some years ago by the diabetes nurse, with no prior discussion. I asked what to do if I refused them. She said, in that case, don't fill the prescription. So I didn't. But it is still listed in my NHS record as a "discontinued medicine". The trigger was a...

Just had my annual blood test. HbA1c has increased to 42, from 36 a year ago. This does not worry me: it is in the fairly narrow range I have been sticking to for many years now, with an A1c somewhere between the mis-30s and the low-40s. I hope this might encourage any recently diagnosed Type 2...

Thanks everyone. For some reason the NHS diabetes nurse now wants to test me every 6 months instead of annually, despite the numbers being unremarkable (and lower than a year ago). Actually I don't mind, it will help to keep me on my toes.

Just had my annual checkup. Over the past year, A1C has dropped from 42 to 36 and I have (deliberately) lost several kilos. This marks 6.5 years of Type 2 controlled through diet only. For four of those years my A1C has been in the 30s, for two of them, in the low 40s. I hope this provides...

That's the trouble. I ask the nurses this question almost annually: "Why is my risk so high simply because there was a time, more than five years ago, when I had uncontrolled T2 diabetes?" As you rightly suggest, this is a big problem with "binary" factors such as this one. I don't have the...

My triglyceride number is 1.0. So the trig/HDL ratio is 0.555. According to the sources you linked to, that number is "IDEAL". Funny you should say that. A year ago, the nurse calculated my QRISK3 as being 12.0% but today she came out with a scary figure of 22.4% based on very similar test...

Today, I had the follow-up NHS consultation one week after the diabetes tests. There was only one non-normal test result and that was for serum cholesterol: Serum cholesterol 5.5 (NHS target is no higher than 5.0 and possibly lower for diabetics) Serum HDL cholesterol 1.8 Serum cholestorol/HDL...

My experience is that it is 99% to do with diet. I have been pushing it a bit during the past two years by drinking some beer, which of course is basically carbs in liquid form. I am almost certain that cutting back moderately on the beer will bring the A1c back below 40. The rest of my diet is...

Greetings, I haven't posted here in a long time. Things have been quite stable although my HbA1c did creep up during the various lockdowns, while still at acceptable levels: 42 according to my annual check earlier this week. More than five years after my Type 2 diagnosis, I feel fortunate to...

I ate (low-sugar) muesli for breakfast three years ago during the entire period when I lowered my A1c from 67 to 34. So I am not worried about it. Besides, I have been drinking a lot of beer over the past year; at least 80g of carbs per day (three or four pints). Lowering the beer intake to zero...

Thanks again for the info everyone. I am persisting with my diet/lifestyle changes, but am dubious as to whether they will budge the cholesterol needle (and I don't think I care if they don't; my cholesterol ratio has been good or excellent for the past 13 years, it's only the total that has...

Thanks! Very interesting.

I've now looked up my medical records for the past 11 years and by cholesterol "ratio" was: --3.9 in September 2009. --4.0 in February 2017 (this is also when my T2 was diagnosed, with an A1c of 67). --2.1 in February 2018. --2.4 in August 2018. --3.6 in January 2020 (i.e. now). According to...

My memory may be defective, but I think that when I was living in America my doctor noticed a high cholesterol number and merely shrugged his shoulders. Anyway today is the day that I start the new regime. --Alcohol. Biggest change (not really related to getting lower cholesterol) is to stop...

Thank you everyone for your advice. I am still researching this. I am willing to have a go at lowering my cholesterol (or improving the ratio) through diet and lifestyle adjustments, although I must admit that the dietary advice seems much more nebulous (and confusing) than the straightforward...