Hi everyone. I have a confused question that some of you may be able to help with....at what point should you go on metformin? When i got diagnoised 4 weeks ago my doctor said to try diet no meds My fasting reading was 7.9 and when i read on here and other sites of what peoples diagnosied readings are simular to mine they were put on tablets! Im confused should i be on them already?
It is very important that you and your doctor (GP) build a good working alliance. You need to have room for discussions about your progress. I was put on a two days study which is free for every one newly diagnosed where I live. Think I learned something, but consider myself as always on the learning path when it comes to living with my Diabetes.
What we learned was that we are the ones who are responsible for how to live well with our Diabetes. Often the road for Type 2's are to try first with physical activity + change in diet. That might work for some, but not for all. Your HbA1c (long term glucose) shall be 7% or lower (European terms). There are many new words to understand at first. HbA1c is measured in percent and tells how stable your blood sugar has been the last two - three months. To measure eventually progress or stability in Blood Glucose you need to know your value of longterm glucose (HbAc1). If you have HbAc1 at 7.5, as an example, it is going the right way if it is beneath that measurement next time. 7,2% is in the right direction.
When it comes to fasting Blood Glucose this is measured otherwise: 4 to 7,5 mmol/liter blood (ca. 70 to 125 mg/dl). Your fasting measurement is 7,9 and that is too high. The best you can do is to get yourself a glucose meter and try to measure fasting BG daily. It is recommended to measure before and after physical activity as well (because you need to know if your blood sugar falls to low. Physical activity usually lower it). To measure before meals and two hours after might be a good investment in your general health in the beginning. That will tell you about Blood Sugar stability during the day. The longer times there are continual spikes during the day, the higher the risk is for developmnt of problems like Retinopati or problems with nerves.
Back to the development pattern of Type 2. One can start with only physical activity and food regulation. HbAc1 will tell after two month if it is OK to continue without medication. (It didn't work for me). Next step on the Type2 ladder is medication that cannot give you hypoglycemia. Next step: More of the same medication. After that (some years): medication combo (now it will be possible to get hypoglycemia triggered by the medication). If we live long enough after being diagnosed (some get diagnosed late in life and will not have the development described) next step is a combo of meds and insulin.
As soon as you learn to live with your diabetes and can discuss it with your GP, you will find that it may work out well to live with Diabetes.
I am on Metformin, but have had a very unstable blood sugar in the past months. My GP and I watch it closely. My hope is to stay away from medication that can give hypoglycemia as long as possible.
Please, never be afraid to talk to you doctor!
Hope this was at some help!
