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How long after T2 diagnosis did you start insulin

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Tannith

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There have been discussions on another thread about how long it takes for a T2 to need insulin. Obviously it must vary between individuals but I wondered if the stories are right about it taking around 10 years? (I'm not on it myself) So I thought we might get answers straight from the horse's mouth as it were.
 
My brother - 8 years from diagnosis, after working his way through all the other available diabetes meds.

my father - 30 years from diagnosis. He was 78 at the time

Me - no diabetes meds yet after 10+ years since diagnosis
 
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My father (who, for what it's worth, lives entirely on bread, baked beans, potatoes and fruit) isn't on insulin yet, and he was diagnosed in about 1995.

EDIT: Just in case there's any confusion, I'm definitely *not* saying eating these foods is advisable or even OK. I'm just saying that my elderly dad- stuck in his ways and a firm believer in his NHS caregivers who taught him to load up on carbs, isn't on insulin yet.
 
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Geordie_P said:
My father (who, for what it's worth, lives entirely on bread, baked beans, potatoes and fruit) isn't on insulin yet, and he was diagnosed in about 1995.
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Well that's good news. That's pretty much what I've been living on since Covid started. (Plus porridge).
 
I'm 10 years with only metformin from time to time. At the moment I just take 1 BP tablet.
 
Tannith said:
There have been discussions on another thread about how long it takes for a T2 to need insulin. Obviously it must vary between individuals but I wondered if the stories are right about it taking around 10 years? (I'm not on it myself) So I thought we might get answers straight from the horse's mouth as it were.
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Past 10 years and gone backwards from drugs so heading away from insulin rather than towards
 
This thread is scaring me
Do people really eat all these almost life threatening foods!!!
 
coby said:
This thread is scaring me
Do people really eat all these almost life threatening foods!!!
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Some, but I would suggest not many and certainly not I.

OP: 8 years, diet and exercise, to date.
 
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16 and a half years diagnosed only med for T2 is Metformin, with some breaks from that, too.
I lost a lot of weight. Still have some that refuses to leave. Manage now with low carb, some healthy fats, and two meals a day in an 8 hour eating window.
 
hankjam said:
Some, but I would suggest not many and certainly not I.

OP: 8 years, diet and exerise, to date.
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You should take a look at some of the Facebook type 2 groups. The eatwell/sad plate is alive and kicking (all the way to the grave). The mentality in this forum is very much not that of the great majority of the public. Usually through their own and their professionals ignorance or denial and desperation to maintain the status quo. Having been in here since diagnosis it was a shock to see how awfully for their condition most type 2 choose to eat.
 
HSSS said:
You should take a look at some of the Facebook type 2 groups. The eatwell/sad plate is alive and kicking (all the way to the grave). The mentality in this forum is very much not that of the great majority of the public. Usually through their own and their professionals ignorance or denial and desperation to maintain the status quo. Having been in here since diagnosis it was a shock to see how awfully for their condition most type 2 choose to eat.
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Agreed.
At my last review with the DB I asked how many T2 covered by the practise were in remission. Not many came the reply. She then looked up my history and noted that I have only once been in the diabetir range for my HbA1c, when I was diagnosed.

No interest in how I managed this....
 
My dad has been T2 for about ten years, and moved to metformin and then gliclazide. 3 or 4 years ago he went low carb and got taken off all meds, though his hba1c is in the low diabetic range. I think the reasoning is that at 91 it's much more dangerous for him to fall from a hypo than to have an hba1c of 50 for ten years... Certainly no danger of him moving to insulin that I can see.
 
I have no reason to go on insulin. My body produces way too much as it is. I’m very insulin resistant so. My goal for the last ten years has been to to become more insulin sensitive by going very low carb and shortening my eating window.
 
coby said:
This thread is scaring me
Do people really eat all these almost life threatening foods!!!
Click to expand...
My dad does, yes. Exclusively in fact. Of course, when he was diagnosed in the 1990's I would imagine the NHS advice was even more carb based than it is now, and he will have followed doctors' advice strictly. Possibly the fact that he's very physically active kept him from complications- I don't know. I can say he's very fit and strong in his mid 70's though.
 
5 and a half years, many combinations of meds, vlchf diet, nothing was working, very frustrating. Felt like a failure.

(eventually rediagnosed if you accept certain criteria)
 
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