I'm newly diagnosed pre-diabetic myself, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. I've been reading, though. A lot. I can get quite myopic when something grabs my attention. Which, obviously this did.
1. I both understand and share your apprehension. Ironically, one important metric in moderating blood sugar is keeping stress low, which is kind of difficult when the bad news fairy knocks you for a loop. I hate myself for even saying this, but do try and keep an even keel. If it helps, imagine bludgeoning me for daring to even suggest it. It'll be therapeutic.
2. One thing people will tell you is that there really isn't any "pre" or "post" diabetic, you're just on a continuum of impaired glucose tolerance, and the "pre" and "official" designations are just markers on that continuum. This, unfortunately, appears to be true. How far along you are will often determine how many complications you are experiencing, and may also influence what degree of "normal" tolerance can be re-established through vigorous effort and lifestyle adjustments. Accounts on this front are wildly anecdotal and differ entirely from individual to individual.
3. "Diabetes" as a syndrome seems to be multi-factoral, and can differ greatly from person to person, making it almost as uselessly vague (if demonstrably less sinister) then "cancer". It appears to primarily be a symptom based diagnosis, with a variety of underlying causes (particularly among the varied "adult onset" type 2's). The inevitable question we all ask is "Can this be reversed/pushed into remission/cured/etc", and the correct answer (after much searching) seems to be "it depends". It depends on the issue causing the problem and if/how THAT problem can be addressed. Semantically, it also depends on how people choose to define words like "reversed" and "cured"...a return to a whole hog lifestyle without repercussions would appear fantastical, but dramatic improvements are not. It's highly individual, of course. A regime that has one person eating a moderate carb diet while expressing tight glucose control is a complete disaster for another person. In some cases it seems tied to disease progression at diagnosis, in others simple metabolic whimsy. I'm not sure there's a more irritating answer to a question then "it depends" but there you have it. On the flip side, pretty much anyone from the earliest pre-diabetic to the most symptom riddled wildly-out of control at time of diagnosis individual can usually make improvements.
4. The number of metrics you have to improve in will heighten your odds of immediate good results. If you get a pre or type 2 diabetes diagnosis and your diet is already excellent and your fitness beyond reproach, it might be very tricky finding avenues of improvement. If you're overweight and never exercise and practice ghastly nutrition, it's possible you can experience improvements in leaps and bounds with some determination and effort.
5. Regardless of metabolic good fortune or adherence to rigorous exercise, if you eat or ate the Standard American Diet, some reduction in carbohydrate consumption (possibly a dramatic reduction depending on how much you consumed) appears to be inevitable no matter how spectacular your control gets. The days where 300g+ carbs a day madcap gluttony were possible are most probably abruptly behind you (Technically they're still "possible", they're just a really, really bad idea). This is both A) distressing news for anyone who adores "comfort food", and B) probably perfectly sensible from a nutrition point of view. That stuff you always knew was bad for you is now marginally more bad for you. I say "marginally" because whether you're genetically predisposed to diabetes or not, you can only ride that particular tiger for so long. It catches up with everyone one way or another.
6. Even if the best one can manage is rigorous control through a moderately restrictive and initially annoying lifestyle change, it's good to keep in mind that A) You'll inevitably feel better, and get healthier, and B) Medical science is forging ahead at an exponential pace. You're very young. You caught things early. There's plenty to be optimistic about.
If you need an equally rookie pre-diabetic buddy to talk things out with, go ahead and drop me a message and we'll swap emails, or somethin'. If that's even possible. I dunno. This is like, my third post. I don't even know why I joined a UK forum. I live in Canada, for pity's sake.
