Newly Diagnosed with HBA1C at 86

I was diagnosed at 87 mmol/m changed what I was eating completely (ultra low carb) and was in remission within 4 months.

No medication ( metoformin for 3 weeks before they went in the bin) certainly no insulin.

I started off with a Hba1c of 91, was put on tablets but they made me really ill, so I stopped them. Like Bulkbiker, I binned them.
Eating low carb has meant being in remission for the last several years, with weightloss and increased activity as a result, not the reason for it.

No meds for me, just low carb and I bought a meter to test before and after every meal so I found out how many carbs my body tolerates.

I was diagnosed Sept. 21 while in hospital for something else, but nobody actually told me, and I was being injected with insulin without permission or discussion (I realised it was insulin, but was rather ill at the time and on a raft of medication for other things, and few staff spoke to me anyway). Once out, I refused insulin (GP and DN were furious) went on metformin twice a day, phased it out to once a day, then completely off it as my BG stabilised (GP and DN refused to assist with this so did it on my own) have now been diet-controlled and in pre-diabetic then non-diabetic readings for about a year. This Board has been enormously helpful. I can't thank everyone enough.

Note I am NOT recommending anyone else do what I did vis a vis dropping medication without medical support - just answering the question.

Mine is a very similar experience to @Outlier , though I wouldn't say those healthcare practitioners who I saw were furious.

I had luckily found places like this forum where I was able to learn from others' experience just in time so when I met with healthcare folk I was ready to discuss the approach I was intending to take which is similar to all the others who have responded here. I was told that cutting out carbs wasn't normally recommended but, apart from advocating ramping up medication eventually to include insulin, there was a silence when I asked what the alternative was.

I'd also bought a blood glucose meter and could see my daily readings dropping once I'd cut out carbs (quite dramatically at first). So I persisted with the approach I was taking and after 5 months stopped taking metformin when my BG readings had been in the normal range for a couple of months. At the next HBA1C (about 8/9 months from diagnosis) it too came out in the normal range.