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Hb1Ac advice please

Dj Bob

Member
Messages
8
Location
Glasgow
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes 14 weeks ago with an Hb1Ac of 103 I had went to docs as my eyesight went very blurry overnight and my thirst was ridiculous, i was put straight onto Metformin, building from 1-3 tablets over 3 weeks, also told to lose weight, which i have, lost 20lb in 14 weeks, walking an average 12/14,000 steps a day, created my own diet, which i can live with, just received results from my first test since diagnosis, this was 38. Doc was amazed as he doesn't see this often, he told me i'd got Hb1Ac down to normal in 14 weeks but now has taken me off Metformin altogether for 8 weeks til my next bloods, he wants to know how much my diet has contibuted to this sudden loss of whether it has been the meds, which i can go back on, i was also told this will not be remission even if next results are low, i was told it's just paused and will return, kinda put me off as i thought i'd done so well. My Cholestoral was also high (5.7), on Statins to bring that down and he thinks i have Hemochromatosis but my (iron store) Ferratin number has halved from approx 1000 to approx 500..was just wondering if my story is similar to anyone elses, also any hint to keep Hb1Ac down would be appreciated, thanks.
 
You don't say how old you are (write a signature) but I have just read the leaflet that comes with metformin and statins are not recomended. Your cholesterol may not be high foryour age group and there is is new evidence that a higher cholesterol is safer than a very low one so d some research on this. You appear to have done very well with your weight and diet so do keep this up.
 

Thanks for your reply Ricky, i am 57 years old
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Dj Bob said:
also any hint to keep Hb1Ac down would be appreciated, thanks.
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Keep doing whatever you’ve done to get it down. Suspect it was the dietary changes.
Dj Bob said:
My Cholestoral was also high (5.7), on Statins to bring that down
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I’d ask for the full lipid panel breakdown as the total number is fairly meaningless. Weight loss can often lead to changes in cholesterol numbers so it’d be interesting to compare your full lipid panel with one pre-diagnosis.

Statins can cause blood sugars to rise, so I’d keep an eye on that too. This thread is a useful one for background information: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/cholesterol-and-statins.156985/
 
Thank you very much, i'll look into that, i've only taken my first statin this week, i didn't think it sounded mega high plus it was on it's way down with my diet change and weight loss (6 to 5.7 in 14 weeks) i have also stopped the Metformin due to Hb1Ac dropping so well, plan is to check Hb1Ac, Cholestoral, Ferratin and Liver function in 8 weeks, liver function test is because i've started statins
 
Liver function because you started statins? I'd think they'd also check the liver because the bulk of T2's have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. So now you know, should you get results that indicate NAFLD and people tell you there's nothing that can be done about it: Mine was supposed to eventually irrevocably kill me, and it's all resolved now. Low carb took care of that too.
 
I'm new to this, don't even know what a T2 is yet, when i asked my nurse why she was gonna have a look at bloods to do with my liver, she said she has to because she has put me on a statin. 14 weeks ago, at first lot of tests, my liver functionality was fine, i'm just a bit scared and i think i'm only hearing what i want to hear, all i know is i stopped eating and drinking sugary stuff and in 14 weeks got Hb1Ac down from 103 to 38 and i thought that was super, off Metformin now to see if its my diet that has produced that good result, but maybe i shouldn't get too excited about that at the moment, see what my second lot of results bring in 8 week, but hey, thanks for taking the time to reply
 
Okay, breathe. You were only on metformin, and honestly, that doesn't do a whole lot. It might take your HbA1c down a few notches, but there's no way it could have more than halved your HbA1c. That's your diet, right there. You are ROCKING this. Have a little faith in yourself. You did this practically on your own.
 
Awe thank you, that is just what i needed to read right now, how did you get to remission, what is the criteria, as i say i have got to 38 but my nurse says i'll never be in remission, best that can happen is it may pause for a couple of years, i'm guessing remission means it can still come back and not that it's gone, you have been a good help thanks
 
I call it remission, simply because yeah, if I start eating carbs again, my blood sugars will go back up. While my insulin sensitivity has improved, it's still not normal, and I don't think it ever will be again. I'm a diabetic, I always will be, but I am well-controlled, no medication (not for that anyway), no complications, nothing, and have been for about 4,5 years now. That is what I class as remission. It's just semantics though. You want to keep the diabetic label on your medical file, so don't try and get it removed, as you'll get all the annual check-ups and whatnot, and those are good to keep us on the straight and narrow.

Medical professionals still believe type 2 diabetes is without exception a progressive condition. It doesn't have to be though, but this way of dealing with things, the low carb diet and all, is relatively new. Or rather, it's old, and has fallen into disuse for a long time. Now it's back on the scene, and doing some rather incredible things. I remember my endo believing that a smidge of gliclazide got my blood sugars down to 42 when I last saw her, about 3 months after diagnosis. Turns out I didn't need the stuff, that was my diet doing all the work, not her medication. (The GP took me off, and my blood sugars kept dropping in spite of the glic being out of the picture).

This diet is basically a for life thing, so I hope you find a sustainable version of it for yourself. It's for the long haul, so you'd better enjoy what you're eating.
 
Excellent, well done you, and thanks so much for spending the time to try and help me ease my worries, my new diet is pretty ease, i made it myself and i'm finding it easy so i expect that i can continue, its kust the constant cost of new clothes haha practically went from an XL to a Medium in 14 weeks..and i'm loving it, actually feeling great desite all i've written, take care
 
I was thinking about those statins as from what i'm reading 5.7 is not stupidly high, especially when it had already came down naturally, from 6.0 with my diet, thanks for reply
 
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