Diagnosed today

Hi and welcome to the club!

Good news your doctor is wrong about being able to manage through diet alone.. many of us have done it and put T2 into remission that way. It takes a bit of determination but can lead to enhanced health and not only for T2.

72 is well into T2 territory but mine was 87 on diagnosis so yours is a fair bit lower.

I cut carbohydrates of all and any kind to an absolute minimum and gave up breakfast reducing my eating window.

Lots of info here

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/

have a read around and don't be afraid to ask any questions you may have.

My Hba1c was 91 at diagnosis and 41 6 months later, and I wasn't even trying all that hard.
Eating a low carb diet is very effective in controlling type 2, so your doctor is not really in touch with the way it can be dealt with.

Hi,
I'm by no means an expert as was diagnosed myself a short while ago. My Hba1c was 101 and I was told to go on medication and not change my diet, other than to reduce sugar intake. I decided to try a low carb diet first and at just over a week on, my blood sugar levels today have all been in the normal range. There is a long way to go, but I have vastly reduced my carbs and it's made a staggering difference in such a short time. My first blood glucose reading was 23 - very scary - and today 6.7. I'd suggest getting a meter and testing regularly at home. It's scary at first, but I'm now finding it really useful and reassuring.

I asked/told my DN to give me 3 months to try diet & exercise alone which she reluctantly agreed to. After 3 months I had non diabetic readings and have done ever since - almost 4 years ago now. At first I wasn't that low carb I just cut out all the obvious sugars and porridge, bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, milk chocolate etc. and my level was higher than yours starting out at 86. I would ask for 3 or 6 months medication free. Have a look at my signature to see my journey ...

Here's Jo's superb nutritional thing which can be found here The Nutritional Thingy. | Diabetes Forum • The Global Diabetes Community for you starting out ...

Good Luck!

rr2001 said:

I was diagnosed today during a telephone call with my GP. She told me my levels were 72 and should be a maximum of 47. Said I must have medication starting tomorrow and a telephone appointment with the Diabetic Nurse in 3 weeks.
I asked if I could try and manage my diagnosis with diet and she said no.
Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

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Whether or not you take medication depends on you, your doctor has no right to dictate what you can and cannot do. It's your decision. The advice above is great, the nutritional thingy link is fantastic. It's great that you found this place on the day of diagnosis. There is a lot to take in, but you learn something new all the time. So, if you want to try low carbing first, then go for it.

I hope you can get a blood glucose meter soon, this provide valuable information about your levels. And please ignore anyone who tells you not to test. It's common for GP's and DN's to tell you or insist you don't test, which is detrimental to your health. You need to know what is going on in order to make sensible decisions.

And WELCOME!!!

Hi @rr2001 and welcome!

Another one chiming in to say decisions about medication, or any treatment are yours. Your GP/medics are there to provide input and assistance, but it’s you that makes the final decision. The key is to arm yourself with knowledge so you’re confident in the decision. And hey, you’re allowed to change your mind too if something changes.

I started with an HbA1c of 108 and declined medication. By the first review it was 57, and metformin was offered again, along with statins. I made it clear that statins would never be an option, but that metformin may be an option, but I’d want to understand the pathway to coming off it. The response was that I likely wouldn’t come off it. So I declined it again, got down into the 30s, where I’ve remained ever since.

Monitoring your own blood glucose will give you the tools to adjust your diet and to know how effective it’s being, which means you’ll get an early warning if things do start to go off track.