Type 2 Should I be on Metformin?

[RuthP]

@RuthP those results are remarkable. Your doctor is an idiot. How else did he suppose you had achieved those results unless it was a low carb diet? And he (and the NHS) still want us to eat bread and potatoes daily, and fill ourselves with fruit. Pffuff. Very well done, have a gold medal.

Thank you @bluetit 1802 - it’s great to get your support and a gold medal! Shame my doctors couldn’t give me a little bit of a hooray... never mind... I guess they don’t like being shown to be wrong even when the patient has clearly improved...

 

[RuthP]

@RuthP
Superstar results indeed and with such a lack of support from your HCP's you have done a sterling job. Well done you for taking control of your life and health.

Thanks @bulkbiker it’s good to get a pat on the back! Whilst I did a lot of my research before joining this group, the encouragement to act on it and keep going has really come from following the people in this group who have gone through the same process to regain control of their health. It’s inspirational and stops you feeling isolated (despite living in country Australia!).

 

[RuthP]

Hi
He was a smart doctor
When he consider this level of hba1c 5.9 diabetes

Hi @HICHAM_T2 - don’t know whether he’s a smart doctor... I think it’s just a function of the Australian reference range cut off being 5.6% - after which Metformin can be prescribed. I only wish I had known about the potentially devasting effects of (particularly refined) carbs back then...

 

[HICHAM_T2]

Hi @HICHAM_T2 - don’t know whether he’s a smart doctor... I think it’s just a function of the Australian reference range cut off being 5.6% - after which Metformin can be prescribed. I only wish I had known about the potentially devasting effects of (particularly refined) carbs back then...

Hi again
Doctors who believe that 5.8% are not diabetes they're wrong

Because the higher a1c the normal rate I think this is considered diabetes and not pre-diabetes
But on the other hand I agree with you

Perhaps you can control your blood sugar level only with diet

 

[Debandez]

Well I stuck to my guns - no Metformin and had my HbA1c checked on the 6th November...

On the 13th July, 2018, it was 7.5% (59 mmol/mol) and drum roll... on the 6th November it was 5.1% (32 mmol/mol) without drugs! So just under 4 months of LCHF alone brought my numbers into the realms of “normal” - I’m pretty amazed!

I told my diabetes specialist that I had been following a ketogenic diet and, whilst saying I had good blood work, he told me that I needed to eat some toast for breakfast and potatoes with veg and chicken or fish for lunch and dinner, and of course fruit (because my brain needs carbs). He told me that this was the best way of eating - he said that after all this was the way he ate and he didn’t have diabetes! I nearly pointed out that that was precisely why he was able to eat that way but I just grinned and said OK - realising that he didn’t have a clue. I thought of Gary Taubes. So neither my specialist nor my GP have been of much help or support on this journey.

Other tests that may be of interest:
Total Cholesterol down from 5.3 mmol/L to 4.5
Triglycerides down from 1.3 mmol/L to 0.8 (my understanding is that if less than 1.0 there are no small dense particles of LDL)
LDL down from 3.3 mmol/L to 2.7
HDL constant at 1.4 mmol/L

I asked the GP for an Insulin test but he wouldn’t budge - “we already know you’re insulin resistant” he told me... so I got it done privately along with a fasting glucose test at the same time - results are as follows:

Fasting BG 6.0 mmol/L (still getting a bit of the “dawn phenomenon”)
Fasting Insulin 7 mU/L (less than 10 considered normal insulin sensitivity by the LAB)
Plugging these figures into the HOMA-IR test formula, I haven’t got my calculator on me but from memory, the result was 1.96 - borderline, so still a bit of work to do there. It’s such a shame that I had no previous results against which to compare this - I can only assume it was quite a bit higher.

For anyone still on the fence regarding low carb for Type 2, I hope this gives you inspiration. Oh I almost forgot, whilst not as impressive as some, I have lost 13kg over those 4 months.

Brilliant. Well done. Awesome stats. Idiot Dr. Lots of them around sadly. It doesn't take a genius to work out low carb food works well for diabetics. A simple blood glucose monitor tells you straight away. Why can't they get their head around that. Not rocket science.

 

[RuthP]

Hi again
Doctors who believe that 5.8% are not diabetes they're wrong

Because the higher a1c the normal rate I think this is considered diabetes and not pre-diabetes
But on the other hand I agree with you

Perhaps you can control your blood sugar level only with diet

Yes - so far so good with controlling my blood sugars with diet only but if I had known this was a real possibility when I was first diagnosed at 5.9% I might have avoided years of angst and potential damage...

 

[RuthP]

Brilliant. Well done. Awesome stats. Idiot Dr. Lots of them around sadly. It doesn't take a genius to work out low carb food works well for diabetics. A simple blood glucose monitor tells you straight away. Why can't they get their head around that. Not rocket science.

Thanks @Debandez! As you say it’s not rocket science! Just a little encouragement would have been good rather than coming out of the surgery feeling a bit deflated...