Diagnosed on Monday.

[TonyLaw12]

Hi all. Just found out Monday that I am T2D and the last couple of years of fatigue, brain fog and difficulty concentrating are starting to make sense.

The doctor has told me that my A1c is 60 which in his words meant I was “well and truly diabetic”. I've started on the Metformin as prescribed but now I’m into a haze of information about how to tackle this. After years of my diet simply being ‘that thing looks delicious’ rather than what is a carbohydrate etc, this has come as somewhat of a shock. All other tests such as thyroid, liver, kidney and cholesterol were all perfectly fine, with cholesterol being very very good apparently. I have a follow up next Thursday for weight, blood pressure etc.

The odd thing is that for some reason, 2 weeks before diagnosis, I suddenly decided to change my lifestyle for no apparent reason. I started taking 2 tbsp of chia seeds with a breakfast smoothie of coconut milk, frozen berries and a banana (I’ve never eaten breakfast regularly), a leafy salad and fresh fruit, carrot sticks and hummus for lunch followed by a 2 mile walk (I now walk at least 4-5 miles a day), evening meal was whatever the family ate paying no mind to the ingredients and at least 2 litres of water throughout the day with a further tbsp of chia seeds. In those 2 weeks I felt the best I’d felt for years and although the fatigue and brain fog were still there, they had definitely improved significantly. Although I had developed a much more regular pee habit, but just figured that was the increased water intake.

Since diagnosis and starting on the Metformin I have found that my energy slumps every 4-5 hours. I don’t as yet understand why, be it hypo or hyper as the whole biology of it all confuses me still. Surely it can’t be hypo can it?

However, I think I have come up with a plan. Just interested in initial thoughts on it weather it be a sound plan or a ridiculous plan. Bare with me, I’m still learning… anyway

Diagnosis to 1st check up and test.
Continue with diet and lifestyle change as before but remove more carbs from diet, remove all of the sugary **** I used to eat and switching to Erythritol in coffee (4-5 cups a day) taking the Metformin as instructed.

1st test to 2nd test
If my A1c has come down to a more sensible level at the test then try to maintain it with diet only until my next test.

2nd test
Make a more informed decision as to the future management and hope I can get this thing reversed.

Is that outlandish or a realistic goal?

Thank in advance.

 

[pixie1]

Hi Tony,
Welcome to the forum. This is where your education will start, understanding your conditions and how to treat it, which is best for you.
Your goals are not outlandish and is realistic.
Your A1c is 60, which is a good starting point. Many people here have been very successful in reducing the their A1c, from a much higher level than 60.
Did your Dr offer the choice of reducing your results through diet and lifestyle change. You can very easily reduce it through diet alone and there is no reason whatsoever to be prescribed metformin.

This is were you find out which foods raise your blood sugars, bananas are pure sugar in a skin. To learn this about yourself is to buy or ask for a monitor, this is the best tool to use, to monitor your sugar levels and learn about foods, by testing. I you are told not to test. Ignore this advice and test.
All foods have carbohydrates, however the foods to avoid, bread, rice and grains even the brown ones, all starchy foods really. Veg grown under the soil like: Potatoes carrots are high carbs, also tropical fruits are high in sugar contents are avoided. Anything green is good, mushroom's, eggs, avocado, all meats fine and fish. Anything with the word berry are good to eat have.
You should be able to drop your Alc well within 3 months easil.
Be careful of cereals and porridge.
I am sure others will also have their input as well
good luck.

 

[TonyLaw12]

Very, very confused now. Sat in work this morning roughly 2 hours after breakfast and my metformin pill. I began to cough. Quickly followed by shortness of breath, struggling to breathe and talk. Then I became light headed, shaky and my heart began to race.

Went home and wife Triple 9’d it. I had something to eat and by the the paramedics got here my breathing had pretty much returned to normal. They first did my sugars which came out as 7.6. All other vitals were really good.

They thought what had happened was that I was dipping close to a hypo which in turn panicked me leading to a panic attack.

Had lunch as normal walked to the pharmacy to get a glucose meter. 2 hours post dinner I did a test and it is 5.1 mmol/L

Both of these reading are within levels for a non-diabetic. Does this potentially indicate that the lifestyle changes I had already made have worked or even a misdiagnosis. Or is it possible to have these types of readings sometimes?

 

[HSSS]

Those readings mean what you’re doing is working! The food you are eating is not causing huge spikes post meals.

To know if your were having a real hypo or not would need a test at the time of the problems you had a work. What may have happened is a false hypo. In reality they feel very much the same except a false one occurs when your levels are below what they are normally, even it it is still ok, normal or even still a bit high - and importantly not dangerous in and of itself unless it causes you to have an accident and injure yourself for example. Hypos are pretty rare unless on something like insulin or gliclazide that makes your pancreas make more insulin. Not impossible but rare.

Sorry to burst the hope bubble but with an hba1c of 60 it’s diabetes for sure (the only exception might be if you are anemic or have another red blood cell condition).

It’s possible you reacted to the metformin I guess. You probably dont need it anyway now with the changes you are making.

 

[VashtiB]

Hello and welcome

I agree that it is unlikely that you have been misdiagnosed. However, it is possible to make changes to your diet that may result in your HbA1C coming down to a non-diabetic level. I have kept my levels in that range for 3 years and I have had a new doctor speculate that I was misdiagnosed. I know that my levels are only in the non-diabetic range because I basically eat no carbs- when I do eat carbs I see my levels go too high.

I also agree with @pixie1 that it is all carbs that affect your levels- yes even the 'healthy' carbs. It is something that is not understood by all in the medical profession. It has been years since I had a banana and if I did I would expect my levels to spike.

I'm sorry you had that incident- it may not have been related to the diabetes though. It is also unlikely to have been a hypo as a type 2 only on metformin. The best way is to test at the time as that will let you know what your levels are.

Good luck and welcome.

 

[pixie1]

Totally agree with above. At 60 A1c you do not need metformin. It could of been non diabetic related or a false hypo which occurs when the level come down below the glucose level which the body is use to, it reacts. not having tested at that time, normally it a no, At 7.1 thats not a hypo.

at the moment it seems majority of people newly diagnosed are being put on metformin. Must be part of NICE guidelines

 

[londonpob]

Hi Tony

Your post really resonated with me, and sorry to hear about your incident.

I had a regular check-up in August and had a HBAC1 back of over 100 which didn't make any sense to me - I had no symptons and felt really well after achieving some reasonable weight loss over the last few years. I took a private blood HBAC1 test about 6 weeks after the original HBAC1 which came back at 46 (which was a relief) - so have been a similar situation where I have been wondering if the original HBAC reading was accurate.

I have made lifestyle changes (cutting out a lot of carbs and more exercise) and will continue on that path at least until I have a clearer picture of what is going on!

I use the glucose meter every day to keep track which I find really useful - my typical post meal levels are in the 5s and 6s unless I have some carbs, in which case they are a touch higher.

 

[Deleted member 475901]

I had several false hypos after starting low carb my blood sugar test showed I'd only just dipped into the normal range so nowhere near a real hypo. Just body used to running too high and not recognising normal levels.
It settled after I'd been on a low carb diet for a few weeks. Having my own meter and strips to measure before and 2 hrs after meals also made it easy to check for false hypos too.

 

[Robo42]

Hi all. Just found out Monday that I am T2D and the last couple of years of fatigue, brain fog and difficulty concentrating are starting to make sense.

The doctor has told me that my A1c is 60 which in his words meant I was “well and truly diabetic”. I've started on the Metformin as prescribed but now I’m into a haze of information about how to tackle this. After years of my diet simply being ‘that thing looks delicious’ rather than what is a carbohydrate etc, this has come as somewhat of a shock. All other tests such as thyroid, liver, kidney and cholesterol were all perfectly fine, with cholesterol being very very good apparently. I have a follow up next Thursday for weight, blood pressure etc.

The odd thing is that for some reason, 2 weeks before diagnosis, I suddenly decided to change my lifestyle for no apparent reason. I started taking 2 tbsp of chia seeds with a breakfast smoothie of coconut milk, frozen berries and a banana (I’ve never eaten breakfast regularly), a leafy salad and fresh fruit, carrot sticks and hummus for lunch followed by a 2 mile walk (I now walk at least 4-5 miles a day), evening meal was whatever the family ate paying no mind to the ingredients and at least 2 litres of water throughout the day with a further tbsp of chia seeds. In those 2 weeks I felt the best I’d felt for years and although the fatigue and brain fog were still there, they had definitely improved significantly. Although I had developed a much more regular pee habit, but just figured that was the increased water intake.

Since diagnosis and starting on the Metformin I have found that my energy slumps every 4-5 hours. I don’t as yet understand why, be it hypo or hyper as the whole biology of it all confuses me still. Surely it can’t be hypo can it?

However, I think I have come up with a plan. Just interested in initial thoughts on it weather it be a sound plan or a ridiculous plan. Bare with me, I’m still learning… anyway

Diagnosis to 1st check up and test.
Continue with diet and lifestyle change as before but remove more carbs from diet, remove all of the sugary **** I used to eat and switching to Erythritol in coffee (4-5 cups a day) taking the Metformin as instructed.

1st test to 2nd test
If my A1c has come down to a more sensible level at the test then try to maintain it with diet only until my next test.

2nd test
Make a more informed decision as to the future management and hope I can get this thing reversed.

Is that outlandish or a realistic goal?

Thank in advance.

Everyone is unique & affects people differently. But I would say too much friut is not good(bananas are no for me) with sugars also coconut can be very high in fat, I have oat milk & seems good. When I first was diagnosed the advice I was given(seems to change all the time) about what to eat was not very helpful.
I tested myself before & 2 hrs after every meal and noted down what I eat , this showed what affected my & what was good. I found in general that I could not handle any carbs in the morning but could handle better in the evening. I got a good idea over time of what to eat & what to avoid. I was on no medication & kept diet controlled for over 10 years. On a small dose currently. I need to be as good as you with exercise,

 

[HSSS]

Hi Tony

Your post really resonated with me, and sorry to hear about your incident.

I had a regular check-up in August and had a HBAC1 back of over 100 which didn't make any sense to me - I had no symptons and felt really well after achieving some reasonable weight loss over the last few years. I took a private blood HBAC1 test about 6 weeks after the original HBAC1 which came back at 46 (which was a relief) - so have been a similar situation where I have been wondering if the original HBAC reading was accurate.

I have made lifestyle changes (cutting out a lot of carbs and more exercise) and will continue on that path at least until I have a clearer picture of what is going on!

I use the glucose meter every day to keep track which I find really useful - my typical post meal levels are in the 5s and 6s unless I have some carbs, in which case they are a touch higher.

Highly likely that if you cut the carbs after the first test then that’s why you got such great improvements at the second. Well done

 

[Lenny249]

Very, very confused now. Sat in work this morning roughly 2 hours after breakfast and my metformin pill. I began to cough. Quickly followed by shortness of breath, struggling to breathe and talk. Then I became light headed, shaky and my heart began to race.

Went home and wife Triple 9’d it. I had something to eat and by the the paramedics got here my breathing had pretty much returned to normal. They first did my sugars which came out as 7.6. All other vitals were really good.

They thought what had happened was that I was dipping close to a hypo which in turn panicked me leading to a panic attack.

Had lunch as normal walked to the pharmacy to get a glucose meter. 2 hours post dinner I did a test and it is 5.1 mmol/L

Both of these reading are within levels for a non-diabetic. Does this potentially indicate that the lifestyle changes I had already made have worked or even a misdiagnosis. Or is it possible to have these types of readings sometimes?

Hi, do I understand the maths correctly? Your original reading of HbA1c was 60. Following your panic attack (sorry for that) your reading was 5.1 mol, is that 32 HbA1c?

If that's the case and you stay at 32, would you then class yourself as NOT diabetic?

Did you have to pay for your glucose monitor, are you confident in it, how often do you take a reading and if you don't mind, could you say which one you have?

 

[HSSS]

Hi, do I understand the maths correctly? Your original reading of HbA1c was 60. Following your panic attack (sorry for that) your reading was 5.1 mol, is that 32 HbA1c?

If that's the case and you stay at 32, would you then class yourself as NOT diabetic?

Did you have to pay for your glucose monitor, are you confident in it, how often do you take a reading and if you don't mind, could you say which one you have?

Although you can convert a fingerprick reading to hba1c equivalent mathematically that’s assuming that you would always have that same fingerprick glucose level - which simply doesn’t happen. That’s why most apps and meters require a series of glucose readings to “estimate” an hba1c equivalent. The more readings across the day catching more highs and lows the more accurate it becomes. A single reading really means little at all used in this way.

 

[Rattus66]

Very, very confused now. Sat in work this morning roughly 2 hours after breakfast and my metformin pill. I began to cough. Quickly followed by shortness of breath, struggling to breathe and talk. Then I became light headed, shaky and my heart began to race.

Went home and wife Triple 9’d it. I had something to eat and by the the paramedics got here my breathing had pretty much returned to normal. They first did my sugars which came out as 7.6. All other vitals were really good.

They thought what had happened was that I was dipping close to a hypo which in turn panicked me leading to a panic attack.

Had lunch as normal walked to the pharmacy to get a glucose meter. 2 hours post dinner I did a test and it is 5.1 mmol/L

Both of these reading are within levels for a non-diabetic. Does this potentially indicate that the lifestyle changes I had already made have worked or even a misdiagnosis. Or is it possible to have these types of readings sometimes?

I think that’s also a side effect of Metaformin. I’m very new to this too so I’m far from being knowledgeable. I’ll be keeping a close eye on this.