When is a Type2 diabetic no longer a diabetic?

I stopped medication. A combination of adverse side effects and ineffective pills. I went from 68 to 42 on diet (slightly higher later, see signature).
You are right to avoid the term cured since this implies you can eat and drink and behave the way we used to without ill effects. You would be considered a well controlled diabetic. As to the rest, if it don't hurt then I suppose you are not suffering.

Diabetes has no cure. Well controlled is as good as it gets. People argue endlessly about cures and remission or reversal. If you have to maintain a certain diet or take drugs to keep it in remission then it is not cured, it is controlled. It can, however, be controlled (FOR SOME PEOPLE, NOT ALL) to a point where the body can handle a much wider variety of foods as long as weight is kept down and carbs do not go over a certain personal tolerance which is different for each of us.

rth said:

Thank you for your responses, interestingly enough I have been told off this morning by one of the practice nurses for having a HBA1c that's to low!

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Did she recommend you eat more carbs so that it goes up? I despair sometimes...

I have had my HBA1 blood tests come back in the non diabetic range for the past 3 years .. I can also now eat what I want without affecting my bs, but my eating 'taste' has changed. My DBN insists the no-one ever stops being diabetic (T2) and I MUST eat meat, fish and more carbs ... I have been a vegetarian for over 27 yrs and so don't eat meat or fish .. and as for eating more carbs ... they were making me unwell ... why would I want to eat something that makes me ill.
So it depends on your surgery if you ever get taken off the diabetic register ... nothing to do with being well controlled or in the non diabetic bs range. I did ask for a oral glucose test .. but this was firmly refused as I am always going to be diabetic so I will just be wasting their time !!!

Enclave said:

I have had my HBA1 blood tests come back in the non diabetic range for the past 3 years .. I can also now eat what I want without affecting my bs, but my eating 'taste' has changed. My DBN insists the no-one ever stops being diabetic (T2) and I MUST eat meat, fish and more carbs ... I have been a vegetarian for over 27 yrs and so don't eat meat or fish .. and as for eating more carbs ... they were making me unwell ... why would I want to eat something that makes me ill.
So it depends on your surgery if you ever get taken off the diabetic register ... nothing to do with being well controlled or in the non diabetic bs range. I did ask for a oral glucose test .. but this was firmly refused as I am always going to be diabetic so I will just be wasting their time !!!

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how unpolite... if I was a doctor out of curiosity I´d put you on an oral glucose test... I Wonder how much it would cost to pay for one in private ...

As a T1 the answer to the question I fear has to be when I'm dead.
Makes having diabetes OK, actually i couldn't live without it.

Freema said:

how unpolite... if I was a doctor out of curiosity I´d put you on an oral glucose test... I Wonder how much it would cost to pay for one in private ...

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There is, how to run a DIY OGTT http://www.diabetessupportforum.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13&Itemid=279
Basically 294ml of ORIGINAL LucozadeTesting a t time = 0hrs and 2hrs, possibly at more frequently!
I found that my BG peaked at ~50mins.

rth said:

Thank you for your responses, interestingly enough I have been told off this morning by one of the practice nurses for having a HBA1c that's to low!

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Ha, yes been there. She also told me to eat fewer Eggs, which puts the whole conversation into context

Get medical advice first but you probably could reduce or stop the Metformin for a while and see how that goes.

Unfortunately I don't think we can ever let our guards down once diagnosed, and will always need to take care of what we eat, what we weigh and how much we exercise

I am one of those who believes in remission (which I define as being able to eat an unresticted diet with a completely normal metabolic response to it, as documented by an OGTT, phase 1 insulin test, or enough repeated blood glucose tests to establish it is not just a fluke). Remission (by that definition) has been documented (at least) in post-bariatric surgical patients and people who have adopted the Newcastle diet for an 8-week period).

Currently, I'm well-controlled. I test as normal - as long as I strictly limit my carbs. Still hoping for remission.

Ultimately, though, I don't think diabetes is ever cured - because of the genetic component that made you prone to it manifesting itself in the first place. Even if you manage to make it into remission, if you encounter the same (or perhaps even different) triggers (weight, inactivity, medications, etc.), you are always at risk for it coming out of remission.

Freema said:

how unpolite... if I was a doctor out of curiosity I´d put you on an oral glucose test... I Wonder how much it would cost to pay for one in private ...

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I could do the test at home .. but theres no point as my Drs are adamant its for life end of .. I just had a meeting with a new DBN .. she was lovely and fully supportive of the LCHF way of eating .. so I live in hope of change.

I was diagnosed as prediabetic in 2001,
I was diagnosed as T2 in 2009, when my blood glucose levels were 29mmols.
I lived with T2 for over five years until an endocrinologist diagnosed me as RH!

Do I fit in with your question?

Most metabolic conditions including the various types of diabetes can be controlled but a cure is yet to be found!

Well, my current status is this:



The blacking out is the HCP's name, as posting it would breach Forum etiquete.

I have also been removed from the Practice Diabetic Register. I didn't ask for either thing to happen, it came at the end of a discussion about something in which my GP said something like, "Well, of course all diabetics.......". My retort was something like, "At what stage do I get any credit for serial non-diabetic HbA1cs?" All I wanted was to stop the "this, that and the other happens to diabetics", as I hate any form of labeling and it horrified me to think I was considered as "AB who has diabetes".

I asked if an OGTT would be required and was told it would not be, after the serial HbA1cs.

From time to time, I have considered doing an OGTT at home, whilst using a Libre, but to be honest, I don't think I could be bothered to do the pre-carbing-up required to ensure the result would not be skewed.

I'm content eating as I do, and I enjoy being very trim, so the way I eat now is my new normal. Whilst I hear the arguments about eating a normal diet (who says that's a healthy diet, just because it's what Joe Public eats?) with no rogue bloods.

I can eat chips, rice, bread and so on, with no problems, but to be honest, I don't salivate at the thought, so just don't bother. If MrB is having chips with something, I'll have a few too, but when I'm on my own, I never, ever cook them for myself.

I don't refer to myself as non-diabetic, but then I never called myself diabetic either. As I say, I'm no fan of labels. If I had to have a label, I'd rather be known as healthy than anything referring to diabetes.

My bs has been at normal levels for the last 3 years but I have been told that once a diabetic always a diabetic. It seems that each practice has it's own opinion as to the definition of non diabetic.

My doctor said to me last we met "you are not diabetic at this time but you will always be a diabetic and I will not take you off the register"

He had previously taken me off metformin and only agreed to put me back on them as I said they where helping with weight control and that is the only reason I take metformin now at the lowest dose.