Japes

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,633
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
First time around, in my misdiagnosed as Type 2 days, from a starting Hba1c of 144 (15.7%) it took about a month before I was seeing 5s and 6s regularly on my meter. The first repeat Hba1c was 57 (7.4%) and there it remained-ish...

Three years later, (a year ago today, in fact) back up to a 109 (12.1%), a re-diagnosis of LADA, insulin now treatment of necessity rather than oral meds. Again, about a month to get back to regular 5s and 6s.

Add in experiments with eating patterns and exercise to get to the current Japes' preferred routines to help the insulin work most effectively without it all taking over my life and mind, and I'll say it's taken 4 years to maintain my current normal!
 

kitedoc

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,783
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
black jelly beans
It took a year to get mine down.

obB4VJc.jpg
@Tipetoo , you do banana benders proud !!
 
D

Deleted member 308541

Guest
@Tipetoo , you do banana benders proud !!
Thanks mate, bananas were on special at 0.50 cents a kilo a few years back after being at a high price after most of the banana crop was destroyed by a tropical cyclone for a fair while.

The banana speed bumps are pretty high, but I ate lot of them. Metformin straightened me out though, and a moderate lchf lifestyle all helped.
 

daisy1

Legend
Messages
26,457
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Cruelty towards animals.
@Mollyc1995
Hello Molly and welcome to the Forum :) Here is the the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it interesting and helpful.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 235,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

  • Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why

  • Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
 

Daphne917

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,320
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
I got down to pre-diabetic levels within a year and to normal levels within 2 years of diagnosis however I think it may have been faster if I had not started taking statins as they pushed my hba1c up from 48 to 54.
 

Diawara

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,298
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
@Mollyc1995 hi.... exactly twelve months ago i had my first hb1ac test which came back at 12.5% .went to waterstones looked in the self help/ medical bit where one of the books on diabetes leaped out at me.. the eight week blood sugar diet by dr micheal mosley.. read and reread it and enbarked on the diet following roughly the recipes ( im not a bad cook) didnt keep strictly to 800 calories maybe 900ish as i work outside and the weather was quite cold so needed fuel!.... i also started to glean information from this wonderful site and forum.. by the time i saw the diabetic nurse maybe two weeks later she tested f.b.s.im sure it was in the 5s but she still insisted i had the metformin (i told her that i didnt want to be on this forever she said that i probally would be)she was concerned that ketones were present in urine which i said it was becase i was doing the low carb diet which she hadnt heard of.... i saw her again the following week she was still worried about the ketones so she sanctioned a meter and some strips .. so checking six or seven times a day and recording results over possibly two months i never had a figure over 7 mostly 5 to 6 f.b.s and before meals... eating less and cutting all the crud from my diet was easy;....no bread pasta cereals cakes pastry pies rice sweets biscuits haribo fruit as it turns out exept berries ..not sure of my weight when started as i had lost a little since autumn 2017 which was 124 kilos and i think i had got up to 127 earlier that year...i now weigh about 97 kilos ..i have been about 100 kilos since june 2018....my june hb1ac came back at .5% and my september one was 5.3% ... overall i feel a completly different person fitter, sharper in the mind ,positive ..above all the pain in my knees which i have had for about 15 years has gone with the weight loss....
 
Last edited:

DavidGrahamJones

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,263
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Newspapers
how long did it take you? And what number did you come down from?

I can only answer as someone who had been type II for 15 years before going against my GP's advice and trying low carb. At that point I was taking Metformin, Gliclazide, Januvia and Atorvastatin for good measure (obviously Statin not directly for diabetes). On that level of medication my HbA1c was usually in the 40s. Within three weeks of cutting out all bread, potatoes, rice and pasta and anything that might have a whiff of carb (<50gms carb per day) I had to stop the Gliclazide and the Januvia as my BG was so low. After my next set of blood tests my HbA1c was still in the low 40s and my total cholesterol was down to 3, so I stopped the statin as well, it's still only 4. During the last 5 years of low carb (not high fat) my c-pep has been a level 1.7 (low end of "normal") but my insulin resistance has gone up then down then up again. The last time quite high.
 

Resurgam

Expert
Messages
9,850
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
I differentiate between blood glucose as tested by a meter and Hba1c - which is glycated haemoglobin.
My blood glucose was down below 10 all the time and below 8 most of the time within days of diagnosis, as I went low carb from that moment.
My hba1c was below diabetic levels (47) after 80 days