Newly diagnosed and a bit overwhelmed

Hi @MrsJ1971 and welcome!

Diagnosis is a difficult time and it sounds like you’re going through a rough ride.

The good news is you’re in the right place for advice and support. My own diagnosis wasn’t too much of a shock - I’d had my head in the sand for years and went to the doctor with a nasty abscess that wouldn’t heal suspecting what the outcome would be.

My HbA1c was 108, so a little higher than yours. That was a bit over 5 years ago and my HbA1c as been at non-diabetic levels for over 4 years. That was achieved through diet alone, namely going very low in carbohydrates - ditched all bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and starchy veg. It wasn’t easy at first but now I love the way of eating, feel much healthier for it, have lost a lot of weight and am free of chronic migraines.

A good place to start is the dietdoctor.com website which has lots of information, recipes and meal plans. There are some paid options but unless you particularly want to pay, all the information you need is available for free. A short summary would be to eat real, unprocessed single ingredient foods at the lower end of the carbohydrate scale, so meat, fish, eggs, some dairy and above ground vegetables.

On the rapid climb of your HbA1c, I don’t think it’s that uncommon for that to happen over a year or two once your body has decided it can’t cope with any more carbs things go downhill pretty quickly. Needing to have a scan must be worrying but try not to let it stress you too much - that won’t help with your blood sugars.

In your shoes I’d start changing what I eat as soon as possible - it won’t harm whatever the outcome and might help you feel a little more on top of the situation.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Hi. I agree you should reduce the carbs in your diet and see how your blood sugar responds. Don't expect big changes with the Metformin; GPs tend to rely on it too much for miracle results but it does help. There are other drugs if needed.