Reversing diabetes

Ddave said:

New here..Was diagnosed 4 weeks ago as type 2. Was 119kgs..now 117kgs. Metformin 2x daily x 2 tabs(500mg) and Glicazide (2 x daily) were issued by the doctor . Sick for a week and half..felt like vomiting some times/ crook gut feeling / constant, sudden runs to bathroom "trots" ! Initially at 14.5 mmog/l . Dumped drugs 2 weeks so far..changed diet..minimal carbs and introduced 1 hours exercise morning plus night. Now around 8 to 8.5 mmog/l . Fallen off diet a few times as still adjusting...blows out when do. Last night was 19.5 mmog/l after sweet dessert & hamburger ---just had to see how it happens ---but dropped to 8 mmog/l after 1 hours exercise. Note my exercise is a light use of a waterrower machine. Last 2 years basically no or little exercise..but have strong legs due to prior mountain hiking from 3 years ago. Doctor steaming angry that i refuse the medication..however my concluding is the only real answer is weight loss under low carb diet. Interested in others views. I note that i see here other people have found weight loss the big driver to reversal.FYI- I am in late 40's

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You may find @Andrew Colvin 's story to be of interest. http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/got-my-first-3-month-hba1c-results-this-morning.55719/

I would add that not everyone can reverse their diabetes, but it makes sense to give it a shot, provided you do so understanding there's no guarantee.

Hi found you have asked same question here as on Fasting Readings Thread.
I did manage to get reasonable control without medication, but I'm still having to work on it. I was diagnosed with a fasting reading of 18 which I now understand was very high. I reacted violently to Metformin and my doctor said to stop it for a while. I eventually persuaded him to let me try for 3 months without Metformin. I worked on diet, weight loss and exercise. I was very fortunate that I was given a meter and told to test. I tested first thing, before meals and 2 hours after a meal. This showed me what I could eat and what I needed to avoid. I found Weetabix spiked me also a lot of carbs so cut those out. Also fruit or at least some fruits. My numbers took a while to go down but they did. I didn't need to lose a lot of weight but have lost over 2 stone. BMI down from 25 to 20, so I am now at the lower end of normal. Exercise - I didn't do much to begin with but started to try to walk gently for about 30 mins a day. Working on this my HbA1c went from 95 at diagnosis down to 50 in the 3 months my doctor had given me. He was happy with that. In the next 3 months it went down to 33 which I am happy with. This for me is still a work in progress and I'm still learning. I am now able to eat some foods that I couldn't manage before but will test those. I do sometimes get a higher reading and sometimes I don't know why but mostly they are in the normal range. I don't test every meal now but do try and check several meals a week. The walking I've pushed up to about 2 to 3 hours a day but as I can only walk slowly this is about 4 to 5 miles. Hope this helps. Do ask questions and I will try and answer.

Dave, you are a similar age and weight to me. My GP didn't prescribe anything for me, and just suggested a three month period of diet and exercise. 11kg of weight loss and strict LCHF diet later, my blood sugar level was normal. No treatment of any kind. Didn't even increase exercise. Now I am just on 6 monthly tests (and low carbs forever). Everyone's body is different, but it's perfectly possible your experience will be the same as mine.

Hi, like yourself I was recently diagnosed T2, but was told I was borderline under the original UK measure but diabetic under the new European directives. I was sent to see a specialist who put me on Metformin 500mg twice a day as his opinion was that sooner or later I would have to take medication. No other options were discussed. The Metformin made me really sick so I had to visit the GP again who reduced it to one 500mg tablet daily and the latest blood test results said no further action was required. I am overweight by a good 4 stones and have found exercise to be the last thing on my mind, but like yourself I am thinking of dropping the medication and going low carb and exercising regularly to see what happens. I have not discussed this with the doctor and I have no way of measuring bloods, but from a previous low carb diet experience I know that I felt so much better in myself and lost a lot of weight. It is difficult to go against a doctors recommendations but I feel I have been given very little information and very few choices regarding the condition.

I would be trully horrified if I ever got a reading of 19.5 as I recall the highest reading I have had after going LCHF has been 13.5.
From what you have posted it sounds like you were put on a high dose of Metformin without a running in period at a lower dose. Our bodies take a while to adjust to Metformin and the effect varies from person to person.
I think perhaps you should have given Metformin more time and tried the controlled release version.
The way I see it Metformin is a very useful tool, for me using it and LCHF and moderate exercise my hba1c has dropped out of the diabetic range. I don't like the site effects of Metformin but for me they are tolerable and I intend to keep taking a reduced dose until I am confident I have lost enough weight and I have good control by diet alone.
The view I take is as a diabetic my bodies systems are damaged, and cannot control my blood glucose level, the options open to me for controlling my blood glucose level are diet, exercise and drugs in various combinations. Day to day human life is chaotic as humans we cannot have 100% control of what they eat or how much exercise they can take in any given day so until (hopefuly) I can be 90% sure my body's systems have recovered sufficiently to deal with day to day variations I will still be taking a reduced dose of Metformin.

Theres no harm in giving diet a go first but be prepared if your nunbers dont come down that medication is a possibility. Diabetes cant be reversed as such but it can be put into remmission for a lot of people but be aware that it is a lifetime commitment andnof you fall off the wagon too many times there may be no getting back on at some.point.

I agree that weight loss is one of the keys to achieving longer term control of this disease, but it is getting your BG under control as soon as possible which will be the biggest help in that process.

If medication is available and offered I don't see the logic in refusing it.

You won't get extra points for doing it without drugs.