Type 2 reversal

[happycat]

My employer has been very sympathetic about my type 2 diabetes. I now have an HbA1c of 46. When she asked me how I am getting on I told her this and she said does this mean that you have reversed your diabetes? I did not know the answer so I said I think it means I am gaining control. (It was 85.) This got me thinking when is diabetes 2 considered to be reversed? Do your readings have to be those of a non-diabetic person and is there a qualifying period, say a year, before diabetes may be considered to be reversed? I'm confused can anyone help? Thank you. :?

 

[CollieBoy]

I would say that you are starting to be reversed when you can eat all the carb laden cr&p and return normal (non diabetic)FBG /OGTT responses/carb BG spikes , and can maintain that state for 12 months ie can reverse ALL the symptoms
e.g the following data Taken from a OGTT test might pass a OGTT ( 2hrs <7.8 ,FBG<6.1 mmol/l: but the response to the glucose is distictly lacking in phase1 insulin response so still diabetic.

Time
Elapsed Time HbA1c
00:00 09:17 5.3
00:14 09:31 6.7
00:29 09:46 9.7
00:45 10:02 10.2
01:03 10:20 10.1
01:18 10:35 7.8
01:36 10:53 6.6
01:55 11:12 5
02:11 11:28 4.4

 

[lindisfel]

Perhaps we should have been educated properly in diet and all been issued with blood glucose meters and to make sure we were below the hba1c magical 48 before we were given that particular 'lifestyle' test!

I would say that you are starting to be reversed when you caneat all the carb laden cr&p and return normal (non diabetic)FBG /OGTT responses/carb BG spikes , and can maintain that state for 12 months

 

[lrw60]

Hi Happycat,

I will be having my fasting blood test on Thursday. The results will be interesting to say the least! I 'reversed' my diabetes and I have been meds free since last July. I hope I now have it under control. I can eat normal meals of high carb foods with no side effects. I say I can, but on the whole I don't. Two years ago if I went to my favourite pub and had a vegi meal followed by a wicked rice pud with cream and jam I could feel the effects on my blood pressure and my reaction to so much sugar. It was worth it though! Now I can have the same meal with no effect but enjoyment. I do wonder how much weight I would have to put on to get the old diabetic me back again. My year of being diabetes free will be at the end of July. One and a half weeks after my 60th birthday.
Thursday is waiting for me........
Lee
PS. Will a diabetic who no longer has the symptoms ever be called cured?

 

[EFL 43]

Very interesting, I would also like to know if a person can really be called cured. I understand it to be that it is fully controlled but a person is still diabetic. I was only on insulin for a number of weeks then because I followed the advice about what to eat and exercise (at that point I hadn't read much on the subject) and my Educator and Dr. gradually reduced injections until I now only take Metformin.
I like to think I am cured (even if it's not true) and the Metformin is only a percursion. I have had diabetes for 3 months. :crazy:

 

[Anonymous]

Very interesting, I would also like to know if a person can really be called cured. I understand it to be that it is fully controlled but a person is still diabetic. I was only on insulin for a number of weeks then because I followed the advice about what to eat and exercise (at that point I hadn't read much on the subject) and my Educator and Dr. gradually reduced injections until I now only take Metformin.
I like to think I am cured (even if it's not true) and the Metformin is only a percursion. I have had diabetes for 3 months. :crazy:

I think the only way to prove if you are 'cured' is a glucose tolerance test, maybe a few times over a period. Maybe the Newcastle Diet paper explains how it deemed 7 out of 10 guniea pigs cured after 3 months or so. Haven't read it in detail yet.

 

[BeccaJaneStClair]

The Diabetic clinic nurse at the hospital (Lincoln) told me that you are considered cured if for five straight years your HBA1c tests are all in the normal range. I asked her for clarification because my GP (who is not the diabetic specialist GP) was trying to tell me I'd be cured after having diabetes for a year because I've gotten it under control.

 

[Mongoose39uk]

I am not a diabetic............. I have diabetes, it does not define me

However I have a friend who had got to the stage with her type 2 that she was on insulin. Lost some weight and then had a gastric bypass or band thing whichever. There is now a lot less of her and she can eat pretty much anything she likes, just a lot less of it.

I don't hink most people ever get to cured but get to a level that their body can live with.

 

[Anonymous]

I am not a diabetic............. I have diabetes, it does not define me

However I have a friend who had got to the stage with her type 2 that she was on insulin. Lost some weight and then had a gastric bypass or band thing whichever. There is now a lot less of her and she can eat pretty much anything she likes, just a lot less of it.

I don't think most people ever get to cured but get to a level that their body can live with.

Yes, and equally, people who are currently non-diabetic, could become so any time. At least we know.

The Newcastle Diet tested the 'reversed' people either with an HbA1C test, or a glucose tolerance test, but not both. The HbA1C test would probably reflect peoples' improved bG levels, but for me it would be the tolerance test taken periodically afterwards that would convince me.