Hba1c still going up

Welcome @mad mark
Chances are that there are still too many carbohydrates in your diet.
If you could share what a typical day's diet looks like, maybe someone will be able to make some suggestions.

What is typically considered a “good” diet is often actually pretty bad for type 2. The nhs consider a type 2 can eat whatever a non diabetic should and any differences in ability to cope get covered by more and more medication (hence the reason so many medics still consider it progressive). Instead changing what we eat to avoid causes the rises in the first place mean less or no medication, less or no complications. Most of us use food as our primary “medication” and most do really well that way.
As above let us know what’s typical and we can help.

Also if you’re on the webpage rather than app you can see “signatures” under each post with useful links. mine are these
Intro to T2 and low carb. https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html
All the things I wish I’d been told earlier https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/th...ish-i’d-been-told-at-type-2-diagnosis.173817/

I tend to agree with @catinahat although I’m very new to this but I’d always say it’s better to control the situation on the lowest amount of drugs possible. I know people think they can just pop a pill and carry on business as usual but we can’t do that. Not saying you are doing that but just trying to make the point

mad mark said:

Thanks for your replies I typically eat a lots of fruit and vegetables as I'm vegetarian . My exercise is not great as waiting for a hip replacement. I also only eat whole grain pasta and rice . Maybe it's the lack of exercise that is the problem

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Being a vegetarian makes it more difficult but I think from what you’ve just said it’s probably not as good a diet as you might think, one of the better informed will hopefully give you some advice

All carbohydrates turn to glucose when digested (apart from the fiber which passes right through) your body can't really tell the difference between brown/whole grain carbs and white ones, the glucose it gets from them is just the same. The whole grain/wholemeal stuff takes a little longer to digest, but that just means it takes longer to get into your blood, but stays there longer.
Too much fruit can also be a problem, nature's candy, there's a good reason you see tennis players eating bananas between sets, it gives a shot of glucose that our T2 bodies just can't handle.
Here's a few links you might find helpful
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto/vegetarian
https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/th...e-you-eaten-today.88074/page-108#post-2587432

As I’m at a Dharma Centre in Italy now, my diet has reverted to vegetarian and I eat what’s cooked by the centre staff. This has meant I’ve increased my daily carbs from around 20g a day up to 50g. I still completely avoid all fruit apart from berries, bread, pasta, potatoes, carrots and rice. i try not have too many pulses, but have a couple of plates of salad leaves with a good dollop of olive oil every day. to this I add some cheese and eggs, tofu and seitan. So far, it’s still allowing me to control my blood sugars.

if I were you, I would drop the rice and pasta completely for a month and see what effect that has.

Hello and welcome @mad mark

As previous posters have said what the world thinks of as a 'healthy diet' is actually not so healthy for type 2 diabetics.

So my thoughts are- have you got a meter. I suspect not as most doctors not only don't encourage type 2s to get a meter they actually are against it. With respect- I really do not agree. If you want to be able to make changes and manage your condition whether by diet alone or including medication you need information about your levels. This will allow you to work out what effect different foods have on your levels. It is this information that allows you to make decisions. If you don't yet have a meter- get one.

My personal preference is to try to manage my diabetes with diet alone while I can. I have gone very low carb and that has kept my levels in the normal range. I appreciate that is a lot more challenging for a vegan or vegetarian as it is more difficult to keep low carb but I suspect that you would be able to reduce your carb intake. I think that that would lead to your levels being lower. As previous posters said- it's all carbs not just 'unhealthy' carbs.

That said- it is important to manage your blood sugar levels so if that means medication then that is what is needed. The possible consequences of high blood sugar levels can be very unpleasant.

Start off by getting a meter and reading around the forum (particularly the vegetarian section).

Good luck and welcome

mad mark said:

Thanks for your replies I typically eat a lots of fruit and vegetables as I'm vegetarian . My exercise is not great as waiting for a hip replacement. I also only eat whole grain pasta and rice . Maybe it's the lack of exercise that is the problem

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Oooof.

So carbs with extra carbs and side serving of carbs.

I'd suggest you can't eat like that anymore unless you want to go down the road of progressive T2 with the horros that entails.