I'm going to go into lecturing mode and make a lot of assumptions which may well be wrong, however......
I think you are still very much in denial about your diabetes, shown especially by your desire to find another diabetes nurse because you don't like what you are being told. This is not unusual; most people spend some time in denial before accepting a diagnosis and looking to the future and working out what is best for them.
First point; general practice.
Your GP is a diagnostician. this is the key role. Once diagnosis has taken place it is either a short term fix (infection, take antibiotics for 2 weeks) or a longer term problem such as a chronic (this just means long term) disease such as diabetes. Or it can be something urgent which requires hospitalisation. The GP is focused on preventing immediate harms.
After the initial diagnosis the long term care is usually handed over to a specialist member of staff whose job is to work with you, give advice, monitor progress. In your case the specialist diabetes nurse.
So far you seem to have been treated as one would expect.
Second point; treatment of T2 diabetes
There are recognised stages in treating diabetes, though they should always be tailored for the individual.
Commonly, if the blood glucose (BG) levels don't look too bad the patient is given advice about possible life style changes and is given a chance to bring BG under control through diet and exercise.
If this is not successful, the next stage is to prescribe Metformin to see if this works alongside diet and exercise.
If good BG control still cannot be achieved then more powerful drugs which stimulate insulin production by the pancreas can be prescribed. The end game is prescribing insulin as your own insulin production is no longer working adequately. If BG control looks really bad the first few steps may be skipped. Some people go directly onto insulin.
So far you seem to have been given a couple of years to take control of your BG but it isn't working. Metformin seems the next reasonable and logical step.
T1 suggestion
Diabetes specialist staff should also be very aware that first diagnosis is not always 100% accurate. There are others here who have not been correctly diagnosed initially.
From what you say your diabetes nurse has said something along the lines that as you are not a typical T2 (80%+ are overweight or obese on diagnosis) then there is a chance that you might in fact be a slow and late onset T1. Sounds like your nurse is being very sensible. Now the possibility has been raised your GP (the diagnostician) should be involved again to take a view, and possibly order further tests to confirm your diabetes type.
As I said at the top, it is quite possible that you are having good care but you just can't see that because you are frightened by the diagnosis. You have already indicated that you are scared of the prospect of taking Metformin, you are scared of the prospect of being diagnosed T1, and also that you have not been testing to monitor your BG levels to help you take control of your diet. You seem to know relatively little about diabetes.
Anyway, you have come to the right place.
You will get plenty of good advice about diet, exercise and medication although you should always check with your medical team when you change aspects of your life style.
Your first step is to get a BG monitor; advice on this can be found elsewhere on the site but the first obvious step is to ask your surgery. If they are diabetes friendly they may well have a free sample of a meter and prescribe you the test strips. That is what happened for me when I was first diagnosed (although that was a while back).
Your second step should be to tell us what you eat each day, and how much exercise you take. This will help us suggest areas where you might be able to improve your diet and exercise regime.
Oh, and your height and waist measurement; these are more important than your weight.
The main thing, though, is to take a deep breath and accept that you have to take control. Ask loads of questions and you will get loads of helpful answers (although they may not always agree with each other).
Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope it will be useful to you. Ask more questions when you need to and someone will be able to help.
