Should I be asking for more help?!

Carrotxo said:

I’m 28 and was diagnosed as Type 2 in March 2020. My HbA1c was around 50 and I was told I could control it by diet. I next had it in August 2021 and it was 60. No follow up.

After experiencing symptoms i pestered my GP for another HbA1c this month it’s now raised to 75. My GP text me telling me they would prescribe me Metformin. I already have very bad stomach issues so am reluctant to start.

I have never had my blood glucose tested since I was diagnosed. My partner bought me a blood glucose monitor. Today before eating my blood glucose was 16. After eating it was 21.2. Why have they never taken this? Shall I not bother with this?

I also have a heart condition (SVT).


After prescribing Metformin the GP Just text me telling me to book another blood test in three months time. I feel like I’m not being monitored at all and I don’t know if this is normal.

I don’t want to annoy my doctors but I’m worried I’m just meant to take this medicine for 3 months with no idea if it’s working or my blood sugar is any lower?

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Welcome to the forum. Unfortunately, yes, that is what your doctor wants/expects. The question is: Are you prepared to actually do something to control your Type 2 Diabetes? - Most aren't, probably because they are not told that there are some things that they can do.

There are several variations on 4 different approaches to controlling Type 2 Diabetes. All 4 don't require medication and all 4 have around a 40% to 50% success rate of remission - normal or at least merely pre-diabetic HbA1C levels after 2 to 3 yrs (initial temporary success rates (at around the 3 to 6 month time are much higher - the problems lie in the sustainability of the approaches for the individual).

I chose to use my BG meter to test the effect of different food and eliminate (or cut down on) those which raise my BG too much (by over 2.0 mmol) 2 hrs after starting a meal. This approach is known as Low Carb or Keto. You can see for the figures you got, if they were at approx 2hrs after first bite were too high in sugars or starches i.e. more than your body can handle. All digestible carbohydrates tend to have this effect of raising BG in Type 2 diabetics. For non-diabetics they raise BG, but by the 2hr mark the BG levels have gone back down to being hardly higher than before starting the meal ( due to the natural insulin response).

Don't be fooled by the idea that all fruit and veg is good for you, or that whole grains are 'healthy'. While those may be true for non-diabetics, they aren't good for Type 2 diabetics, in fact tropical fruit, most grains and starchy veg are best avoided by Type 2 diabetics.
Unfortunately different people react differently to the exact same food - so it's a case of using a BG meter to find out which foods to avoid. All meat, fish, eggs, leafy green veg, most nuts, full-fat dairy and cheese has no effect on Blood Glucose because fat has zero effect and the effect of protein is only slight compared with carbohydrates.

Here is a link that's very useful about T2 Diabetes. The Nutritional Thingy. | Diabetes Forum • The Global Diabetes Community

The other approaches I mentioned are:
Very Low Calorie diet (around 800 calories for 8 to 12 weeks ) followed by low enough calories in order to keep the weight off.
Fasting - Here I mean 24 hrs or more (not just 'Intermittent Fasting' or Time restricted Eating)
Bariatric Surgery

Carrotxo said:

I’m 28 and was diagnosed as Type 2 in March 2020. My HbA1c was around 50 and I was told I could control it by diet. I next had it in August 2021 and it was 60. No follow up.

After experiencing symptoms i pestered my GP for another HbA1c this month it’s now raised to 75. My GP text me telling me they would prescribe me Metformin. I already have very bad stomach issues so am reluctant to start.

I have never had my blood glucose tested since I was diagnosed. My partner bought me a blood glucose monitor. Today before eating my blood glucose was 16. After eating it was 21.2. Why have they never taken this? Shall I not bother with this?

I also have a heart condition (SVT).


After prescribing Metformin the GP Just text me telling me to book another blood test in three months time. I feel like I’m not being monitored at all and I don’t know if this is normal.

I don’t want to annoy my doctors but I’m worried I’m just meant to take this medicine for 3 months with no idea if it’s working or my blood sugar is any lower?

Click to expand...

I'm not going to repeat the good advice given above. You've had a really bad experience with the medical profession which unfortunately is not uncommon. I would be relaxed about "annoying your doctors". There is a view in the health services that T2 diabetes is incurable, needs medication, and inevitably gets worse. This is simply not the case.

Yes, use the meter. It will tell you what foods do to your blood sugar levels, and give you a snapshot of progress.
Yes, a low-carb lifestyle will reduce your blood sugar levels quickly and relatively easily.
Yes, you will have to unlearn a lot of what the health service, the media, and friends and family think is "healthy eating".

Have a look at the various success stories on this forum. There are large numbers of people (I'm one of them) who have addressed their T2 condition through dietary changes. Best of luck.

Hi @Carrotxo and welcome to the forums.

Yes, I would agree with the others that you deserve/(d) better support from your doctor, though it's unfortunately not an uncommon situation .

I would second @ianf0ster 's suggestion that you use a meter and test before and two hours after a meal. Then you will be able to tell whether your body is coping with the carbs in that meal. An hba1c of 75 corresponds to an average blood sugar of 11.7 over the last 3 months. Many T2s with higher levels than yours have got themselves into normal figures by reducing their carbs.

If you don't want to go full keto, have you considered just a carb reduction? eg ditch or reduce the obvious culprits such as rice, pasta, potatoes, bread?

Your meter will tell you whether the reduction is working for you.

And remember, weight gain is a common side effect of T2.

Finally, have you spoken to your doctor about your concerns about your stomach issues?

Carrotxo said:

Thank you for your replies everyone. Yes I am overweight. At the time of being diagnosed I was doing Keto and had lost 4 stone. I was told by 2 doctors I saw that I had to stop keto as it wasn’t healthy. Since then I’ve put the weight back on.

I’m a bit worried about doing keto again as I have essential hypertension (been waiting 2 years to see cardiologist as my referral was lost due to pandemic) and also has my most recent ecgs (which I also had to pester for) were abnormal.

I’ve never had c-peptide but I don’t think it would be Type 1 because my weight and I believe my biological mother has Type 2.

I’m sort of a fussy eater/eat too much processed food as I’m often depressed and lack motivation. In terms of food I probably have more like a child’s diet. I’m not sure which diet to do?


For dinner tonight for example I had microwave rice and pre-cooked chicken pieces. My BG 2 hours later is 21.5.

the Metformin I will start taking tomorrow morning. I am meant to increase it over 3 weeks to 4 tablets a day. But earlier in the year I was hospitalised for stomach issues and I’m worried it’s gonna make my existing issues worse.

Apologies this post is kind of all over the place. Thank you again.

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Please eat veg like cauliflower, broccoli, courgette or other low carb rather than rice, potato, pasta.

Low Carb /Keto reduce hypertension so much that Dr David Unwin said both he and his patients had to come off their hypertension drugs after they started a Low Carb way of eating because their blood pressure went low enough to make them light headed.
If Keto wasn't (in general) healthy then why have doctors been prescribing it for epilepsy in children since the early 20th century?
Can it be unhealthy - Yes if you try hard enough you can make any diet unhealthy - but most people are sensible. However if you have an eating disorder (other than carbohydrate addiction) I suggest you tread carefully.

At the time of being diagnosed I was doing Keto and had lost 4 stone. I was told by 2 doctors I saw that I had to stop keto as it wasn’t healthy. Since then I’ve put the weight back on.

I'm not surprised. Unfortunately a lot of "official" advice is simply wrong. The results of a keto diet will probably improve many/most underlying health conditions - hypertension included.

I'm not particularly surprised that the doctors were anti keto either, but we have to be careful before dismissing their concerns, as they have access to @Carrotxo 's medical history and we don't. In her position I would push for a reason as to why it's unsuitable eg maybe her weight went down too low and she couldn't maintain it on keto or maybe there's a reason why keto diets are unsuitable for people with SVT??? Let me stress that I am not a doctor and I have no reason to suppose that either of those statements are true, I'm just giving examples of reasons why we might recommend keto and the doctors might not.

In any case no one has objected to lower carbs so that might be an option before further clarification on the keto issue?