How long before I can forget about Diabetes?

[Jamrox]

Hi I was diagnosed 4 years ago .
After trial and error I went lower carb and increased my activity ( sorry a lot of people know that).
Anyway since I went low carb etc 3 1/2 years ago my HbA1c have always been 39 and lower .
I always say that I'm controlling my glucose levels but today I'm wondering if I can say that I don't have diabetes .
I'd welcome the opinion of the people I trust on here ie you

 

[Freema]

Hi I was diagnosed 4 years ago .
After trial and error I went lower carb and increased my activity ( sorry a lot of people know that).
Anyway since I went low carb etc 3 1/2 years ago my HbA1c have always been 39 and lower .
I always say that I'm controlling my glucose levels but today I'm wondering if I can say that I don't have diabetes .
I'd welcome the opinion of the people I trust on here ie you

well I don´t think you can ever... because if you relax your effort a lot then your diabetes will probably come returning big time... very few have really reversed their diabetes like forever

 

[Bluetit1802]

You may be one of the lucky ones that have truly reversed it, but you may not!

An OGT test may show you.

I do worry though that none of us knows our future, and what can happen if our glucose control regimes have to be set aside for one reason or another. A sprained ankle, broken wrist, whatever, and that is a virtual goodbye to normal exercise for a period. Aging is also another consideration, and then times of real stress, anxiety, illness, injury, when our blood glucose levels can shoot up.

I really don't know the answer.

 

[walnut_face]

Do you have good 1st response insulin @Jamrox I have my HbA1c down to 40, but i am still a raging diabetic. Eating an apple puts my BS into double digets for quite a while

 

[Bluetit1802]

Do you have good 1st response insulin @Jamrox I have my HbA1c down to 40, but i am still a raging diabetic. Eating an apple puts my BS into double digets for quite a while

I think the first response is also my downfall. My second response works well. A Libre sensor is an excellent way of finding this out.

 

[lessci]

Rather than "Cured" I would say that you're "In remission" but if you go back to old habits it could return

 

[Freema]

well I ate a pear today before blood glucose 5.4 . 1 hour later my number was still 5.4 ...... ....so am I cured , I don´t think so cause if I relax a couple of day and eat very much carb my morning numbers and basal rate over the day again creeps up...
and if I quit my metformin already 1 day later I can read a raise on my morning number

 

[Pipp]

Well done @Jamrox

You continue to inspire, and I certainly believe that your exercise regimes help.
Some people will already be aware of my story. Briefly: 12 years since I was diagnosed T2; have other co-morbidities, including spinal injury, need to use wheelchair; was offered bariatric surgery 7 years ago, refused and chose to used emerging Newcastle diet, which brought BG to non-diabetic levels; subsequent surgical operations and immobility saw a regain of some half the 49 kg lost; had almost 6 years consistently able to eat anything without apparent BG or HbA1c increase. This last year has seen increase to pre-diabetes levels though. Still using low carb, but have had lots of medication, including steroids. Not been able to exercise as much as I like. Or in fact very much at all.

What I am trying to say, (and not wishing to take anything from your achievement) is do not drop your guard. You have possibly 'reversed' your diabetes through your own efforts, but beware as it is possible to reverse a reversal.

Wishing you luck, and please stick around to motivate those who think exercise is impossible.

 

[kittypoker]

Hi I was diagnosed 4 years ago .
After trial and error I went lower carb and increased my activity ( sorry a lot of people know that).
Anyway since I went low carb etc 3 1/2 years ago my HbA1c have always been 39 and lower .
I always say that I'm controlling my glucose levels but today I'm wondering if I can say that I don't have diabetes .
I'd welcome the opinion of the people I trust on here ie you

Well done! Your achievement is fantastic.

Purely semantically, T2 can't be 'cured' in medical terms. It's a chronic, incurable condition. But you, and many others here, have it so under control that it no longer impacts your quality of life. I agree with @Freema and @Pipp that you'll always have to be aware that a slice of birthday cake or Xmas pudding can be dealt with comfortably but going back to a carb-heavy diet may reverse the reversal.

 

[Brunneria]

My first insulin response is dreadful (technical term ) and i don't anticipate that will ever change. So I think i'll always identify as 'well controlled'. Assuming i stay well controlled, of course.

But there are those who can reach a point where they have restored their 1st response can eat plenty of carbs and have normal glucose levels.

If you are one of those @Jamrox then i am delighted for you! But i don't like the usual descriptors that are used. Maybe 'diabetes in remission'?

I don't see the HBA1c as a useful gauge, because it is so easily manipulated by low carbing.

 

[Bluetit1802]

I don't see the HBA1c as a useful gauge, because it is so easily manipulated by low carbing.

and also not a reliable marker for many other reasons. https://chriskresser.com/why-hemoglobin-a1c-is-not-a-reliable-marker/
which is why I have learned not to put a great deal of emphasis on it, as I know it isn't reliable in my case.

 

[Jamrox]

You may be one of the lucky ones that have truly reversed it, but you may not!

An OGT test may show you.

I do worry though that none of us knows our future, and what can happen if our glucose control regimes have to be set aside for one reason or another. A sprained ankle, broken wrist, whatever, and that is a virtual goodbye to normal exercise for a period. Aging is also another consideration, and then times of real stress, anxiety, illness, injury, when our blood glucose levels can shoot up.

I really don't know the answer.

I hurt my knee about this time last year and was terrified so I was very very strict .

 

[Jamrox]

Thanks everyone , I don't seem to have the same spikes as I used to but them if I go way over the carbs I move more .
To be honest I don't want to say I'm non diabetic ( sorry for repeating Pipp lol ) , I know me and I think if I was classed as non diabetic then I'd go back to really bad habits .
Anyway yet again I'm delighted that another year has passed with no diabetes medication. . Here's to keeping up the fight for another year .
If I'm honest I think the activity is the best benefit x

 

[ickihun]

I have to agree. Movement is the key to longevity, for diabetics too!

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

You're cured. However, if you go off low carb, you might get it again.

 

[yiannis_]

Purely semantically, T2 can't be 'cured' in medical terms. It's a chronic, incurable condition.

This is still the view of the bulk of the medical profession but I think it's likely to change quite significantly over the next few years. The signs from Professor Taylor's work are that many are able to reverse it and if his personal fat threshold theory is correct, there would be no reason to keep a diagnosis in place after a period of time with normal glucose levels on a normal diet. He advises two years post reversal follow up to GP's.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

If you want to know if your cured try eating a couple of potato waffles in a thick white bread sandwich and wash it down with 500ml of an energy drink of your choosing and test your bg levels 2 hours later, thats if your not fast asleep by then

Congratulations on your great control, you may be able to eat a few more carbs than you have been eating for the last few years but I would advise against going back to your old eating habits pre diabetes...

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

If you want to know if your cured try eating a couple of potato waffles in a thick white bread sandwich and wash it down with 500ml of an energy drink of your choosing and test your bg levels 2 hours later, thats if your not fast asleep by then

Congratulations on your great control, you may be able to eat a few more carbs than you have been eating for the last few years but I would advise against going back to your old eating habits pre diabetes...

On a low carb diet, even someone that's never had diabetes can become "physiologically insulin resistant" (i.e. temporarily insulin resistant due the body not being exposed to much insulin for a long time). It can take some time after switching back to eating carbs before that goes away. That's why people on a low carb diet who are going to take a glucose tolerance test are asked to consume a minimum of 150 gm of carbohydrate on each of three days preceding the OGTT. I suspect that this may not be enough time for many people.

 

[ab.clay]

Since joining "Diabetes UK" and rigidly following advice regarding LCHF on this site I have "reversed" my T2. I will forever continue to follow a very low/no carb diet, which I find easy to do. I don't have a sweet tooth and apart from coffee and tea I only have the occasional red wine (250ml). I am off Glicklazide and down to 1 Metformin 500ml a day!

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

Since joining "Diabetes UK" and rigidly following advice regarding LCHF on this site I have "reversed" my T2. I will forever continue to follow a very low/no carb diet, which I find easy to do. I don't have a sweet tooth and apart from coffee and tea I only have the occasional red wine (250ml). I am off Glicklazide and down to 1 Metformin 500ml a day!

That's excellent. Don't take this the wrong way, but T2 is only considered reversed/cured if you're off all diabetes meds and have normal blood glucose levels (i.e. below "prediabetic" levels). Is there a reason you're still on the metformin? A while ago I ran out of metformin and went to see a doctor to get a new prescription. He looked at my A1c results and said I should try going without the metformin. I did and there was no difference in my levels, so am now still not taking it.