Off drugs!

[Robo42]

On my last blood test in July and visit to my DR, it was a surprising 42 , ten points lower than previous. I was also told my HDL, LDL and cholesterol were all very good. Took me off linagliptin 5mg and also my statin/atorvastatin. So after over a year on 5 different meds for diabetes (after over 10 years diet controlled type 2 ) meds not exactly agreeing with me, now off and back to diet control only. Will have to see how things go but here’s hoping to continue. Trying to think what might have changed, I try to eat well, lowish carbs, one thing I changed was replace soy milk with oat milk wondering if this helped?

 

[ally1]

Great news about coming off meds and hope your levels stay low

 

[4ratbags]

Only time will tell, congrats on coming off the meds.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Well done, and keep up the good work. No idea about soy milk/oat milk. I stick to a small dash of cows milk in my tea and nothing else.

 

[walnut_face]

Well done! On the milk front I experimented and eventually gave up. I dont have milk in drinks at all now, and cereal left my menu right from the start.

 

[magsiesss]

Fab news ... well done

 

[bulkbiker]

I use soya milk (unsweetened) doesn't seem to have an impact on my BG.. has virtually nothing in it anyway..

 

[bulkbiker]

Ooo sorry meant to add bloody well done on getting off all the nasties..

 

[Brunneria]

Yes indeed, well done!

Losing weight, or losing stress, or increased exercise, or dietary changes are the usual suspects for such improvements.

But whatever you are doing is working!

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

On my last blood test in July and visit to my DR, it was a surprising 42 , ten points lower than previous. I was also told my HDL, LDL and cholesterol were all very good. Took me off linagliptin 5mg and also my statin/atorvastatin.

Well done!

 

[Robo42]

Not posted for a while. Still off drugs. Last hba1c readings, 42 Jun16, 44 Dec 16 & 46 Apr17. Had a really duff year so no surprise a bit up. Should be able to do better. The main thing I have found is the change in my GP & diabetic nurse attitude. In 2015 I was told I needed drugs as I had hit an NHS recommended hba1c target & tried 4 or 6 different drugs that all affected me badly. Then I tried without last year and recently the attitude seems more relaxed or less concerned with hard numbers(or is it save money). Certainly hope I can keep Ok with diet and not let thinks creep up any more.

 

[TooManyCrisps]

Well done @Robo42. I'm sure you'll be able to get those numbers down again soon.

I can't work out the medics approach to drugs and insulin and in fact posted about exactly that just this week after reading people on here saying they had been put on Metformin with an HBA1C reading of X when someone else had been put on insulin with a lower reading.

I was diagnosed last year with a hba1c reading of 97 but chose not to take medication and my GP was fine with that. Within 3 months it was down to 49 and within a year it was 37. I was never pressurised to take Metformin

When I posted on here about different GP approaches/attitudes someone kindly posted the NICE guidelines and i was really surprised at insulin being recommended at a much lower HbA1c reading than my original one, albeit not until other drugs had been tried first.

 

[Robo42]

The GPs not prescribing test strips & also saying don't test at all just rely on the 6 monthly hb1ac test.
If I had not tested regularly when first diagnosed I would not have the good idea of what foods are good for me & ones to avoid. Any carbs at breakfast are not good for me & handle better in the evening. I don't test a lot now but if not feeling right or eating something different I do to see the affect but I but the test strips myself. I would say people should test at first to see affects of different food types.