• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Getting there

Ruth B

Ruth B

Well-Known Member
Messages
447
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I just wanted to say that I have just got back from seeing both the nurse and the doctor and they were both really pleased with my results. I know others are struggling and I don't want to crow but I did want to share.

My last appointment was end of April with an HbA1C of 71 and Cholesterol of 5.8 and blood pressure 108/80

Today my HbA1C is 56, Cholesterol 5.2 and blood pressure 105/76. I have also lost just over a stone in that time. (My doctors don't give a cholesterol breakdown just the one figure, which while is high they have accepted and said that any more meds wouldn't really be worth it)

My blood pressure monitor also checks my pulse rate and that had gone down from 101 to 87 beats per minute.

The nurse was a little disapproving when I mentioned i had bought a meter but I mentioned after she had said how well I had done so she could really complain. She was even encouraging me to eat more veg and less potatoes. The doctor even suggested that if I wanted to reduce from 4 Metformin a day to 3 I could, as I don't have a problem with them I decided to stay at 4 (which the doc approved of) and if it keeps on improving then we can reduce them in 6 months time.

When I think that I have had this much improvement when I only got the meter and really started to work on it about 6 weeks before the blood test it is almost making me look forward to the next test in 6 months.
 
Well done on your results. Your efforts are paying off.
 
Well done!
I would try to reduce your metformin by one a day and see how you do, even if you have to reintroduce it. If you are improving then why the wait. Hopefully you could stop taking them all together.
 
Ruth B said:
I just wanted to say that I have just got back from seeing both the nurse and the doctor and they were both really pleased with my results. I know others are struggling and I don't want to crow but I did want to share.

My last appointment was end of April with an HbA1C of 71 and Cholesterol of 5.8 and blood pressure 108/80

Today my HbA1C is 56, Cholesterol 5.2 and blood pressure 105/76. I have also lost just over a stone in that time. (My doctors don't give a cholesterol breakdown just the one figure, which while is high they have accepted and said that any more meds wouldn't really be worth it)

My blood pressure monitor also checks my pulse rate and that had gone down from 101 to 87 beats per minute.

The nurse was a little disapproving when I mentioned i had bought a meter but I mentioned after she had said how well I had done so she could really complain. She was even encouraging me to eat more veg and less potatoes. The doctor even suggested that if I wanted to reduce from 4 Metformin a day to 3 I could, as I don't have a problem with them I decided to stay at 4 (which the doc approved of) and if it keeps on improving then we can reduce them in 6 months time.

When I think that I have had this much improvement when I only got the meter and really started to work on it about 6 weeks before the blood test it is almost making me look forward to the next test in 6 months.
Click to expand...
Congratulations on your improvement.

Try to avoid that nurse like the plague in future.
 
Unfortunately she is the main DN at the practice, so I am unlikely to avoid her. She isn't too bad (compared to some I read about here) and I was expecting disapproval about the meter, but as I said, she could complain at the results it had brought.
 
Oh well done Ruth, you must be delighted. Your hard work is paying off. Congratulations.

As for the cholesterol, I am certain the breakdown will have been looked at and will be on the print out otherwise how could the path lab calculate the total? Try ringing the receptionist and asking her for the breakdown. It's worth a try.
 
Thanks for all the good wishes.

I always get given the print out of the figures and there is never a breakdown for cholesterol on it. I have asked the doctor in the past and was told that they don't worry about it and just have the one figure. I guess you can't win them all.

Opinions also seem to vary on what is acceptable, according to my printout HbA1C should be between 53 and 64 where as I notice a lot of people here (and their HCP) seem to expect it to be a lot lower. My doctor is also not overly worried with my cholesterol being 5.2. It would make life so much easier if the organisations could decide just where to set the goalposts.
 
I think it all depends on where you start with your HbA1c. Personally, I was "only" 53 on diagnosis, so clearly that isn't an acceptable target for me. Maybe if someone starts very high, giving them a target of 53 to 64 is deemed to be achievable and not likely to demoralise them. I've never been given a target to meet.
 
Hi Ruth, congratulations on getting your levels down, keep up the good work.

Marilyn
 
Ruth B said:
Opinions also seem to vary on what is acceptable, according to my printout HbA1C should be between 53 and 64 where as I notice a lot of people here (and their HCP) seem to expect it to be a lot lower.
Click to expand...

Congratulations Ruth, great results!

Are you sure that doesn't say HbA1C between 5.3 and 6.4? That would make more sense although it means they would be mixing units which would be very confusing.
 
Definately between 53 and 64 mmol/mol. In December it was 59, April was 71 and now it has gone down to 56.

If I am reading the chart correctly 71 would have given me an average blood glucose of about 11 which sounds about right Its only since I got the meter I realised how often I was going into double figures, with the amount of snacking I used to do I have a feeling some of my pre meals would have been in double figures, I changed my diet a few days before the meter arrived and I have no intentions of repeating how I used to eat just to find out how bad the figures would have been. :)
 
Just want to up date this to say that this morning for the first time in far too many years the scales were showing me below 100kg, only 99.9 but I can't remember the last time it went below 100kg. In old money, I have lost 2 stone 2lb this year, Half a stone between January and April, when I decide to take control and 1 stone 9lb between May and now.

Still have a long way to go but it is a major land mark for me.
 
Brilliant. Really pleased for you..
 
Back
Top