Newly diagnosed Hba1c 85

Hi Rob and welcome. Do not despair, there is lots of help and advice here.
Firstly I'd say about the hidden or unexpected carbs in things like cereal and fruit.
If you could give a run down of 2 or 3 days full eating for you that might help us identify if there's anything lurking.
I'm not ignoring your questions ee metformin, I've never been on it myself. Others will be along I'm sure

Have you seen (or had a phone interview with) a diabetic nurse or doctor since your results?
It is they who should address the medical side of things, nobody on here can do that.
The folks here you will give you bags of support and lifestyle / dietary tips.
How is your weight for example?
Don't despair.

Hi Rob,

I have been a diabetic for 10 years now and was prescribed Metaformin but just like you it was a source of tummy troubles for me. I was then made to go on "Slow Release" Metaformin. Although the tummy upsets were less with slow release version but they were still there. For a brief period it did help in lowering my blood sugars but not to acceptable levels and eventually I was made to go on max dosage of 2000 mg 4 years back and life really did become miserable as the tummy aches and frequent toilet runs became the new normal. I was then taken off metaformin and I was put on Jardiance (empagliflozin). It worked a bit but not much. My last HbA1C in August'20 was 86 and one prior to that was 90.

Things have changed in last month though as I came back here and started reading about low carb diet, figured what have I got to lose and decided to give it a go. I have been on low carb since 19/10/2020 and could see my blood glucose levels dropping down. I then bought a freestyle libre sensor and started monitoring my BG levels and could see that it was coming below 10 most of the time with low carb diet. Encouraged I read further and started 6 days back Intermittent Fasting with low / no card diet and have been off any medicine since last 6 days with all my continuous glucose monitor (CGM) readings falling between 4.2 to 7.5. Never had this happened in last 10 years despite following as healthy a lifestyle as I possibly can. When I was diagnosed back in 2010 I used to have a waist lingering between 36 to 38 inches and a eight of about 86 - 88 Kg. Today I weigh 71 Kg and a waist of 32 to 33 inch. I achieved a reasonably well toned body by being regular to gym, have been a teetotaller for 10 years but nothing ever got me this close to normal BG levels. Only the low carb diet and Intermittent Fasting. More recently I was showing signs of high blood pressure but ever since I have gone on low carb diet the BP has always without fail fallen in right range too.

Its early days but the one thing I would say is Metaformin can be a pain and from my experience none of these medicines help as much as the low carb diet does so give that s shot and you may be off medication soon enough.

robsurmer said:

Hi there
My restrictive diet is the way it is because I have extreme diverticulitis inherited like my siblings from our father
My diet consists of:
Breakfast (everyday the same):Banana milk shake (one banana unripe + half a glass of low fat semi skimmed organic milk
Lunch: (everyday) Ham and Cheese Sandwich (consists of two slices of brown bread+two slices of ham+two slices of gouda)
Dinner: Chicken Breast stuffed with halloumi cheese/or sirloin steak grilled/or two Waitrose Angus beef burgers+ steamed broccoli/or steamed spinach
This is all I eat on a daily basis- no snacks/biscuits or anything else- because of my extreme gastric reflux at night problem over the past two years I eat nothing between 6pm and 10am- just drink water during this period.
Does this look like a diet that would cause type 2 diabetes?

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Does diet cause diabetes? Type 2of course, Well that’s a whole topic that I am not sure on the answer to. Is there a genetic element that with certain diets can trigger? That seems to be something that is more likely to be the case.

the banana and bread are quite heavy carbs, but not as laden as some diets would be.

as for metformin, you don’t need to take it, there are alternatives but you do need to reduce rhose blood levels, the impact of those long term can be severe.

with a highly limited diet, perhaps weight loss may help depending on how you are in that respect, but if not then without something your bloods can not improve and that may need to be drugs I’m afraid