But if your GP prescribes metformin even if you BG is below 10 you can't get the card?
If you are prescribed metformin then you qualify.. but if you can eat e.g. a Mars bar and are constantly under 9/10 when not taking any drugs (i.e. Normal) a GP might not prescribe you anything.
Metformin and other diabetes drugs are a great strain on your liver, kidneys etc.
GPs are under oath to do no harm if you successfully reverse diabetes then a proper GP should stop prescribing.
Why would you want to take drugs?
If you can't stay under 10 without taking drugs or a very strict diet then you are still diabetic.
There is not a specific number.. Glucose meters vary a lot and are not that accurate.
If you are lucky enough to reverse it, you will always be susceptible to becoming diabetic again.
There aren't many who have reversed it.
Most of those who do reverse diabetes 2 are severely obese and have had a gastric operation so that they can't eat normally again.
Not being diabetic for them is usually the least of their worries.
I think in the future, someone will find the real cause of lifestyle diabetes 2 and I bet it will be simple like an unknown type of bacteria or a bacterial virus that radically changes gut flora.
Dr Barry Marshall proved in the 90s that stomach ulcers were due to a bacteria that lived in stomach acid, despite medicine saying that was impossible.
The latest discovery is that it isn't just the pancreas that produces insulin/glp-1 but also the upper intestine, except in diabetics.
It is gut flora that stimulates the intestines to do that.
People with diabetes 2 don't have the right gut bacteria.
If you starve the gut for an extended time, the wrong sort of gut flora lose out to the right kind and the upper intestine regains the ability to produce glp-1.
It makes sense for the body to use the intestines to do this as it's the first contact with food your body has.
Also the right gut flora break down sugars in your food before you can absorb it. The bacteriodes (bad gut flora) do not and so you blood sugar levels rise more than they should.
Kefir, Live greek yogurt contain the good gut bacteria shown to enable intestine to produce glp-1.
Probably not in the right quantities tho.
We are more bacteria.than human.
There can be as many bacteria cells in a big Xmas poo than human cells in a body.