How long for blood sugars to lower?

[Joeypritch]

Hi all,

I suspect I have diabetes type 2, I had gestational and now sugars are higher than they were when I was pregnant.... Meeting with the Dr on Monday, but out of interest I have a few questions for the experienced....

1. Does eating low carb work for everyone??

2. How long did it take for blood sugars to return to 'normal levels'??

My sugars are always around 7 on waking up and stay around this level all day, higher obviously if I eat any carbs. But I've cut them drastically in the last week, I know it's soon but I'd hoped to see them retuning to normal levels during the day!

Any experience appriciated I'm really keen to control it with diet and am worried Dr will want to put me on something! I know fasting numbers my never really come down properly!

 

[LaoDan]

1, seems to, working out wonderfully for me.
2, morning numbers took about a year, pre/post meal numbers came down within a couple weeks

 

[Mr_Pot]

1. I don't know everyone so I can't say but it worked for me and still works nearly 6 years later.

2. I had an HbA1c 3 months after diagnosis and starting a moderately low carb diet and I was at non-diabetic level. It took longer to reduce my fasting level and it is now always about 5.9 but I am happy with that.

 

[TriciaWs]

It worked for me, but I've seen evidence that suggests the sooner you go low carb the better chance of getting into remission. Even for those who don't they often manage to reduce the dosage of drugs and avoid complications. Which is very good as T2 had been seen as a progressive disease for many patients.

It took less than 2 weeks to see improvements in my post meal spikes, and after dropping my carb limit slightly took 4 months to get rid of the morning spike. My HbA1c was already down into the normal range at 3 months.

 

[JanetWykes]

Hi, I've been type 2 for over 20 years. I started on Ozempic and a low carb diet in May (with a HbA1C of 77) and by mid July I have dropped 10kg and HbA1C dropped to 46 (I was also taken off insulin). My carb intake averages around 50g a day. My daily sugars have responded very quickly and are generally below 7.5 one hour after a meal and 6 after 2 hours. My morning sugars are much slower to respond and after my morning exercise (dog walk) they always spike to at least 7. They are usually mid 5's upon waking but I have started to see a downward trend and 4.6-5.2 in the last week or so.

 

[NicoleC1971]

I think everyone has different levels of insulin resistance. Dropping carbs and eating more protein/fat seems the most effective in the experience of my type 2 walkers but other tactics are walking after a meal or other low intensity exercise, building some muscles to make you more insulin sensitive and metformin seems to be a safe drug that doesn't make things worse.
It is great that you are testing as this will give you useful information. Could be worth looking at fasting bg but also at 2 and 4 hours after some typical meals. Avoiding fruit and carb snacks will help you not to spike your insulin too (more insulin leads to more insulin resistance)>
You are likely to be offered metformin if the diagnosis is confirmed but deploying the other tactics (a low carb/low insulin strategy) should help you turn things around for the longer term.
Note that if you're heading into perimenopause territory you will also become more insulin resistant (sorry!).

 

[randymyers]

Hi all,

I suspect I have diabetes type 2, I had gestational and now sugars are higher than they were when I was pregnant.... Meeting with the Dr on Monday, but out of interest I have a few questions for the experienced....

1. Does eating low carb work for everyone??

2. How long did it take for blood sugars to return to 'normal levels'??

My sugars are always around 7 on waking up and stay around this level all day, higher obviously if I eat any carbs. But I've cut them drastically in the last week, I know it's soon but I'd hoped to see them retuning to normal levels during the day!

Any experience appriciated I'm really keen to control it with diet and am worried Dr will want to put me on something! I know fasting numbers my never really come down properly!

Going low carb\keto, ~20 grams of carbs a day, works for me. I have seen FBS of 5.7 to 6.4 after 36 hours. After around two weeks of low carb\keto, typically my FBS is 5.2 to 5.5 and I will be markedly less hungry. After 6 months my Hb-A1c is the 4.3 to 4.7 That is without exercise or medications.

I have read that the longer a person has had diabetes affects how long it takes to recover.

My experience says keep at it and I have seen Doctor's eye raising results. Around 6 months after I started low carb\keto I had blood work done and got a call from the lab. The tech wanted to me to come and provide more blood because my Hb-A1c results were 4.5 and "that had to have been a lab error because you are a diabetic". It wasn't a lab error.

 

[AnnM99]

Going low carb\keto, ~20 grams of carbs a day, works for me. I have seen FBS of 5.7 to 6.4 after 36 hours. After around two weeks of low carb\keto, typically my FBS is 5.2 to 5.5 and I will be markedly less hungry. After 6 months my Hb-A1c is the 4.3 to 4.7 That is without exercise or medications.

I have read that the longer a person has had diabetes affects how long it takes to recover.

My experience says keep at it and I have seen Doctor's eye raising results. Around 6 months after I started low carb\keto I had blood work done and got a call from the lab. The tech wanted to me to come and provide more blood because my Hb-A1c results were 4.5 and "that had to have been a lab error because you are a diabetic". It wasn't a lab error.

Hi,
I'm reading your post and it's giving me hope.
I'm T2 now for 10 weeks and started at 86, after 6 weeks of lchf diet.... 60 and no meds.
At this point I'm persuaded to try metformin. I do wish I had done another 6 weeks of diet now. Wondering if people can stop taking metformin.
Not sure if you achieved this with diet alone.
Hope you don't mind me asking.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi,
I'm reading your post and it's giving me hope.
I'm T2 now for 10 weeks and started at 86, after 6 weeks of lchf diet.... 60 and no meds.
At this point I'm persuaded to try metformin. I do wish I had done another 6 weeks of diet now. Wondering if people can stop taking metformin.
Not sure if you achieved this with diet alone.
Hope you don't mind me asking.

You do know that taking Metformin doesn't prevent you eating Low Carb - don't you?
Though some do eat more carbs when on Metformin because of unfortunate digestive issues.

 

[AnnM99]

You do know that taking Metformin doesn't prevent you eating Low Carb - don't you?
Though some do eat more carbs when on Metformin because of unfortunate digestive issues.

I'm lchf too.

 

[AnnM99]

I've had no advice from my gp.... Just lots of my own research.

 

[MrsA2]

Eating lchf needs to become a way of eating for life for most type 2s. Often a short sharp low calorie or low carb is recommended as an initial kick to start weight loss, but we have to maintain this way of eating to keep bg low., for life

 

[KennyA]

Never had any medication. Using only LCHF went from A1c of 50 when diagnosed to A1c of 36 in four months.