I’m not over weight and eat a sensible diet. Because of this result, I have an appointment with the Diabetic Clinic in a months time. I’m a little concerned that I should be seen earlier for a change in medication. Am I over reacting?
Hmm, it's not ideal (it's pretty poor really) but if you are genuinely T2 it won't kill you. It will be doing (slow) damage to your system, which would eventually lead to some nasty complications, but it won't send you to A&E (though watch out for cuts which might heal slowly or get infected, and don't buy any expensive glasses).
As a T2, you can't metabolise carbohydrate properly - too many carbs and your sugar levels go up. Metformin helps a little, because it inhibits normal sugar release by your liver but if your carb intake is too high it won't do much for you. Generally T2s produce lots of insulin in order to try to get their sugar levels down - they are insulin resistant so this does not work that well. Most treatments after metformin encourage the T2's body to produce yet more insulin. This does not address the actual issue (too many carbs) and the only treatment is to keep increasing the medication until the poor T2 ends up on insulin injections of (large) quantities of insulin.
The real question is, what is the sensible diet you are following? I am guessing you have given up sweet drinks and cakes, but you are probably still eating wholemeal bread and pasta.... The carbs in your diet are the problem. The NHS won't give T2s a blood testing meter until they are put on more serious medication than metformin, so at the moment you are in the dark as to how your body is coping with your
sensible diet, other than that the high hba1c means it's not coping well. Reducing your carb intake allows most T2s to control their blood sugar levels without progressing to more severe medications , and often allows them to come off medication altogether.
One more point. There is a (very small) chance that you have LADA (slow onset T1 diabetes) rather than T2. In this case the issue is lack of insulin production and the delay could kill you - as high blood sugars combined with lack of insulin lead to a condition called diabetic ketoacidosis which kills pretty quickly without treatment (insulin injections). Really, you need a blood testing meter and some ketones testing strips (you can buy urine testing strips from the chemist) so as to rule this out - if you start getting high ketones go to A&E or ring 111 for advice. (We know your sugar levels are high because of the hba1c).
Good luck. Hopefully some T2s will post soon to advise on the low carb options, and also recommend cheap blood testing meters if you want to go that route.
