Intro

[Tazdevl]

I've been diagnosed T2 on 31dec last year; Postphoned a regular checkup to the last minute

When your doctor calls you the same day you can kind of guess that there's something wrong. I "scored" a 16.2... Week later after in another test HbA1c at 83.
I've started taking metformine and I really, really hate the stuff. For me it messes with my mental health.

Loads to learn I guess

 

[KennyA]

Hi Tazdevl and welcome

The more important test result is the HbA1c. That shows a good indication of your blood glucose levels over the last three months or so, weighted towards recent weeks. Your result of 83mmol/mol is high, but not as high as where many people on these forums began. The 16.2mmol/litre from the fingerprick test shows what your blood glucose was at the moment of the test. It's high too, but fingerprick results can change quickly and in response to things other than food - stress or illness are good examples. One of the issues to be tackled is that your system may be used to living with high blood glucose, and your body will actually be doing its best to keep those levels high. That's a problem because high blood glucose over time will damage nerves and capilliaries, and cause further damage.

My best advice is to try to forget everything you think you know about "healthy eating" - what we've been told since around 1980 or so about fat being bad and carbs being good. Unfortunately the media still churn that out. Many of us here have found that greatly reducing carb, and eating mainly fats and proteins has an immediate impact. In my case I went from diabetic BG levels to normal BG in about four months, and in the couple of years afterwards lost around 90lbs.

No medication. I stopped eating bread, pasta, pastry, cereals, fruit, potatoes, beer and anything sugary. This has worked for many people. We don't all seem to react in exactly the same way to food, so you will need to find out what works for you, rather than following exactly what other people have done.

The key to this is monitoring your blood glucose through fingerprick testing. This will show you how well (or not) your body deals with various foods. The usual pattern is to take a baseline test immediately before you eat, and then a second test two hours later. This is not to see "how high you go" - a high point usually occurs about 45 minutes after eating, for everyone. This shows how well your body dealt with the carb/glucose in the food. The ideal is that by two hours you will be back at or close to the point at which you began - so within 2mmol/l of the first result, and not above 8mmol/l.

If that's the result you get, then you can probably say that your are currently able to handle the carb in what you ate. If not, there's too much carb/glucose in the meal for your system to deal with, and it would be a good idea to reduce the carb level further.


I'd have a good read-around on the forums - the Success Stories section is good. Also, you can ask as many questions as you like. Best of luck.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

I've been diagnosed T2 on 31dec last year; Postphoned a regular checkup to the last minute

When your doctor calls you the same day you can kind of guess that there's something wrong. I "scored" a 16.2... Week later after in another test HbA1c at 83.
I've started taking metformine and I really, really hate the stuff. For me it messes with my mental health.

Loads to learn I guess

Hi @Tazdevl ,

There's more out there than just metformin, so if it is wreaking havoc on your mental well being, you do have other options. There are different medications you could try, but like @KennyA said, diet is a very nice option... Especially when side effects are unwanted. It may be something to give a go. Low carb, high fat, moderate protein. Sounds a bit more complicated than it is. https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html might help some get you started. If you're on metformin only, you shouldn't get hypo's when trying the diet-route, should you be so inclined. Also, metformin? It doesn't do anything about what you ingest, not directly. It helps your liver calm down some so it doesn't dump as much glucose in the morning as it normally would, and it makes you a smidge more sensitive to your own insulin... It doesn't bring down high blood sugars after a carb-heavy meal. Alas.

While quite a few of us here are rather enthused about the diet options (which is what I did when metformin absolutely tore through my guts for 3 weeks), know there are other meds to try, or a combination of medication and diet.... Whatever suits you best.

Good luck eh,
Jo

 

[Tazdevl]

@JoKalsbeek I know, my sister in-law works at the first aid department in a Dutch hospital. Diabetes is not her field but she also mentioned other medication. I guess we (T2D's) all start with metformin and move to what suits us best. At least that's what I'm hoping for.

For now I'm aiming to do more activities, loose some weight and steer towards low-carb

 

[JoKalsbeek]

@JoKalsbeek I know, my sister in-law works at the first aid department in a Dutch hospital. Diabetes is not her field but she also mentioned other medication. I guess we (T2D's) all start with metformin and move to what suits us best. At least that's what I'm hoping for.

For now I'm aiming to do more activities, loose some weight and steer towards low-carb

You're being proactive, so yes, I do think metformin isn't going to be your first and last stop when it comes to tackling your diabetes. I hope you find a method that works for you, and soon. Oh, one more thing... While everyone here'll tell you -me included- that "you can't outrun a bad diet", it does indeed help to move around... Thing is though, when you do strenuous exercise, the odds are your liver might dump more glucose to "help", so your blood sugars might go up instead of down. (Though they will drop eventually). If you can do something steadily for a longer period of time though, like, go for a decent walk, that'd be good... No liver-dump gets triggered, and blood sugars go down. Which is why some here'll go for a walk after dinner for instance. Also, since you mentioned mental health, a walk can give a bit of a dopamine-boost, so it's a two-birds-one-stone thing, potentially.

Hang in there, be good to yourself, and know you have a say in all this.
Jo