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Confused by GP over reversal

Shelley71

Member
Messages
7
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
I was diagnosed with T2 Diabetes in December 2010. I had gained over 6 stones in weight and was 20 stones at diagnosis. I was prescribed 500mg Metformin daily and advised to lose weight. From the first few days of taking the medication I had awful diarrhea and it got to the point where I was afraid to go too far from the house for fear of having an accident (sorry - too much info I'm sure!). This went on every day for the next 3 years.

I managed to lose a lot of weight and in April 2013 I asked my GP to let me have a month trial using diet only. I was desperate to come off Metformin. Up till this point my 6 monthly blood tests had been very good (around 6.5). I had a blood test after 6 weeks and my blood sugar level was around 6.1. I had been testing with strips during the 6 week trial and I was confident I was eating sensibly.

In September last year we moved house and my new GP told me that he was really impressed that I have lost so much weight - 6 stones - and I had reversed my Diabetes. My blood test had come back at 6.1 again and he said that he wished all his Diabetic patients were so careful.

Here is the problem. My dad had a heart attack in December and I ended up having to go home for a few weeks. I didn't stick to my healthy eating and started eating food that I know isn't healthy. I've gained 9lbs since then and have completely gone off track. I think I got confused when my GP said I had reversed my Diabetes and thought I could tolerate the foods that I couldn't anymore. I feel so poorly. I'm having all the symptoms that caused me to see my doctor in 2010 when I was diagnosed.

Could I have brought my Diabetes back again? Did it never really go away? I've read that it can go into remission but never go away. I have my blood test tomorrow and I'm worried. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
 
You probably have poor glucose metabolism so need to be careful of carbs. And you don't want to return to the state you were in at diagnosis?

I don't think your GP meant you were cured forever. You know what to do now when symptoms return, as you have done it before.

I find LCHF works wonderful for me. No hunger and very good bg readings. I aim for a HbA1c at 30.
 
Ah fat! Ok. I shall look into a big diet overhaul again. I feel so stupid that I thought I was cured. Should have known it wasn't going to be that easy.
 
There are a lot of different ways to control diabetes.
And while 30 is a good target for hb1ac, it has to be pointed out that a normal non diabetic can be in the range of 20 to 41.
What diet were you on before?
 
I did Weight Watchers. I cut out all sugar, cake, sweets, crisps etc but didn't cut out bread. I did stop pasta and rice and cereals.
 
Hi Shelley - don't you just love Drs! Unfortunately you can't cure diabetes. You can control it - which is what you were doing by losing 6 stone and eating healthily - very well done by the way - I am impressed The diabetes didn't go away - you just had it under control

I hope your dad is on the road to recovery.

Good luck for your blood test tomorrow - I am sure you will be fine - we all slip up every now and again.
 
hi, the ""cure" word worries me for this exact reason, technically im cured too, but i dont want that to turn into a reason to turn back to my old ways and be uncured which im sure i would, youve done so well, dont let it all go now, i do LCHF and im not saying dont look into it, but id say you "cured" yourself before, do the same thing again, get back to the healthy eating and ignore the cured label as nonsense, be happy to be well controlled

best of luck
 
Hi. Yes, do control the carbs to get the weight back down and also reduce the insulin resistance that may be causing blood sugar to rise again. Were you on Metformin SR, the Slow release version? If not you should find it much kinder than the vanilla version and it does help with insulin resistance.
 
If you afe diagnosed diabetic.. That diagnosis will never go away. You had just learnt (well done to you) to find the correct balance of food to control the symptoms from coming back....


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Most bread is as bad as sugar. White rice is pretty bad too. Pasta, especially wholewheat pasta is not too bad, just don't eat a lot. Parboiled brown rice is good, low carb and low calorie.

White bread has nearly the same glycaemic response curve as glucose and the same as table sugar. It is definitely to be avoided.

You can reverse diabetes in so far as you can stop the progression if you lose enough weight, but you never know how much damage you have to your insulin producing beta cells, so it is always wise to be careful. The odd meal won't matter but you can't go back to the way things were.

That's what gave you diabetes in the first place anyway. Just keep aiming at losing weight or, if you have lost enough, ensuring you stay there. You've already seen the beneficial effects on your sugar levels. You already know it is worth it.
 
You are all right. I do know what to do to eat healthily. I just needed to hear that you are never cured of Diabetes. I was daft to think it was gone but I misunderstood my GP. Oh well, onwards and upwards
 
Shelley71 said:
I was daft to think it was gone but I misunderstood my GP.
Click to expand...

Well the term 'reverse' is used by the researchers and it was observed that people who underwent bariatric surgery appeared to be cured of their diabetes, but it needs qualifying.

It is the so called 'inevitable profession of the disease' that is reversed or rather 'halted'. The medical profession were full of doom merchants more or less telling you that you couldn't do anything about it and that inevitably you would need to get stronger and stronger medication to control it. It is this progression that is now seen as avoidable, if the individual is motivated enough to to lose a large amount of weight. It is possible to get back to normal levels and it is possible to stay at those normal levels but, you have to be careful and it is vey easy to slip back into bad old habits.

If you have lost say 40% of your beta cell mass, you won't recover that. You will stay at 60% plus, get back some of the other 40%, but you don't know how much. It used to be thought that what was dead was useless and would not recover but research shows that some of it will because it is not all necessarily dead, just blocked, by fats in the pancreas. Some of these can be unblocked and wil work again. But, there is currently no way of telling how much so, easy on the jam doughnuts

Actually it is nice to know that if you get back to normal levels and you are on a diet that you find OK, you can carry on quite happily if you remain sensible. And once you start learning about what you can eat and what you should avoid, in time, things become second nature.
 
Shelley71 said:
You are all right. I do know what to do to eat healthily. I just needed to hear that you are never cured of Diabetes. I was daft to think it was gone but I misunderstood my GP. Oh well, onwards and upwards
Click to expand...
Hi Shelley!
I was diagnosed on the 28th Jan. Totto pointed me in the direction of diet doctor and I went LCHF. Today I found that I had lost another 2lbs making my total weight loss 1 stone 2lbs. I know that Douglas99 eats low GI and it worked well. What I like best about LCHF is no weighing anything and never feel hungry. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!
 
No
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I really appreciate all the posts. They've been really helpful. It's a relief to know I'm not the first person to make this mistake and I'm probably not going to be the last

Knowing that I can't cure my Diabetes has made me realise this is a life change that has to keep going forever. I will keep going and get back to where I was before I fell off the wagon in December. I went for my blood test and I get my results next Monday. I'm expecting it to be a bad result but I'm already back on my healthy eating so hopefully I can persuade them not to push me back on the Metformin. I was already on the SR tablets by the way. I didn't realise I hadn't responded to the person who asked.

Thanks again for the support.
 
I saw a Doctor's video recently. (just forget which one) and it was explained that Diabetes is not so much the Disease but the Sympton. The sympton of Insullin resistance, or pancreatic insuficiency etc. As with all symptons they can ease off sometimes or worsen. So it is always a good idea and strategy for good health to keep BG levels in the safe zone. This includes for non-Ds too.
 

Hi Shelly
please read this article and it may explain how you may truly have reversed your diabetes by recovery of your beta cells. Of course the propensity to get high blood glucose when you put on a certain amount of weight will never go away. That is where lifestyle change must occur to keep it away forever. It would also help the reversal deniers to understand why scientists and endocrinologists now acknowledge reversal of type 2 as a fact:
press "yes" you are a health professional for access: good luck!

Prof Gerald H Tomkin of the Diabetes Institute of Ireland examines how he can now tell many of this patients that weight reduction and exercise may lead to the reversal of their diabetes through recovery of their beta cells.
http://www.imt.ie/clinical/2012/07/type-2-diabetes-—-is-it-a-disease-of-the-fat-cell.html
 


Please read Professor Taylors work. More of a people don't want to loose weight for a lot of people imho
 
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