To think I'm going to be diagnosed with diabetes tomorrow?

[koolaidpink]

My last hba1c in October I can’t remember exact number but I was ‘pre diabetes’ according to doctor. Put on 500 mg metformin.

Hba1c yesterday was 7.1, got a telephone appointment with doctor tomorrow morning.

I’m I going to be told this is diabetes? And what’s likely to happen from here?

If you had GD then (as I'm sure you know) you have a 50 per cent chance of getting type 2. Sounds like it has developed into type 2. Have you been back on the Gd diet as well as taking metformin?

Another vote for the Fast 800 diet.

I was having pre-diabetes symptoms. Got a blood glucose monitor and my first reading was 8.9/mmol

After 6 weeks my highest reading was 4.4/mmol and lowest 3.9.

I'm under no illusion if I was to go back to my old eating habits (carbs carbs carbs) it would jump up again.

But the legitimate risk of death/dementia/cancer is enough to keep me on the straight and narrow now.

Fast 800 has changed my life.

What I've never understood about "reversing" type 2 is that if you do it by diet, surely it's not reversal but just management? If you don't have any insulin resistance then your body can handle a carb overload is fine. If you're diabetic/pre diabetic/ GD then it can't. So even if you reverse it by following the diet, you'd still have high levels if you ate a "normal" diet... is that right?

Yep, I remember people going crazy for the Atkins diet. But Mosleys diet 800 is better. Metformin is bog standard tabs, that mostly give the runs....
If your pre diabetic, then it's a wake up call. Eat carbs if you want, but keep calories down and weight down. Otherwise, if you end up on insulin, it's a long slog. The shakes, feeling sleepy, peeing all the time, losing weight is all good indicators. We lose weight because we are peeing the sugar out of our bodies.. Insulin can give weight gain, due to retaining energy to feed muscles. If muscles not used much, hence weight gain. It's a horrible limiting disease if not caught in time, and rots the body organs if not managed. Heart disease, kidney failure etc.. I do hope you take it seriously. Once your on insulin, it's just maintenance of your body.

I was diagnosed with T2 in December. My mother and grandmother had T2 and I had GD in pregnancies. The odds were stacked against me but I didn’t help the risks as I was over weight.

It was an incidental finding from a blood test. I had no symptoms at all. I have almost lost a stone and plan to lose more. I take 4 metformin tablets per day. I am buying my own test strips to keep an eye on my blood glucose levels. I have massively cut my carb intake. I tend to only have carb with one meal. I no longer snack. I don’t want to die prematurely because of this and I don’t want to be a drain on the NHS. It’s the only way. I am hoping to reverse T2. A family member on my husbands side has done this and is off medication and very healthy.

I didn’t think a doctor would put you someone on metformin just for prediabetes. I was diagnosed with it a few years ago but all my gp gave me was a diet sheet (not a very good one either as it was high in carbs). Prediabetes is pretty easy to reverse with a low carb diet though - I followed the 8 week blood sugar diet and it works. Blood sugar levels went back to normal. I’d give it a try if I were you. People have used it to successfully reverse t2 diabetes

I was diagnosed type 2 nearly 3 weeks ago. I go back for another test in three weeks but have been told to lose as much weight as possible by pretty much any means by then (Dr has helped me put together a supplements plan to go with vlcd /low carb diet) . It's grim but working. I feel much better and less sluggish and have lost 10lb in two weeks. Am hoping to reverse the diabetes completely if I continue losing for the next few months.
Metformin makes it harder to lose weight, so it is unusual to be given that before you've tried the lifestyle changes.

@ODFOx once again everything I've read on metformin says the complete opposite. It can help weight loss. It's insulin that makes it harder.

@ODFOx no, metformin definitely does not cause weight gain nor make it harder to lose, it's meant to help. Just double checked to make sure I wasn't talking rubbish.

@ODFOx glad you're feeling better, well done on the loss.

You're right about weight gain and Metformin koolaidpink. There's quite a bit of misinformation on this thread.

That other thread is awful. Not sure why people were being so horrible to the OP.

Hope you're ok OP. A diabetes diagnosis can be a bit of a shock, even if you're half expecting it.

You've had good advice. Sort your diet out, reduce carbs, try to exercise. The more you can manage to control it without lots of meds, the better.

Can I ask how old you are? I was reading recently that menopause can increase likelihood of diabetes diagnosis & ive found that mine has been a whole lot worse in the past few years.

@HmmmmmmInteresting yea that other thread turned a bit nasty. I see some of the ops posts had been deleted though so not sure what she had said but she sounded frustrated and fed up, some of the replies were just unkind.

@greyinganddecaying thank you, yeah I feel a bit emotional about it to be honest. Just the realisation that this is real and I need to change my lifestyle or else it's not going to be good in the long run. I am 39, just turned and no sign of menopause I don't think(still regular, normal periods etc, no early menopause in family). Still got all that to look forward to sorry to hear yours has been more difficult to control lately, hopefully it passes and is more manageable soon.

[quote koolaidpink]@greyinganddecaying thank you, yeah I feel a bit emotional about it to be honest. Just the realisation that this is real and I need to change my lifestyle or else it's not going to be good in the long run. I am 39, just turned and no sign of menopause I don't think(still regular, normal periods etc, no early menopause in family). Still got all that to look forward to sorry to hear yours has been more difficult to control lately, hopefully it passes and is more manageable soon. [/quote]

It's normal to feel that way. I was in my 20s when I was diagnosed. I had some tests done as part of a work medical where my blood sugar was 12+. I sat on those results for months (stupidly, obviously) until I finally went to my GP.

I can recommend the diabetes.co.uk website & app for advice if you are diagnosed tomorrow. Please let us know how you get on.

@koolaidpink

Just reading that other thread I wish I was 9 and a half stone

You may not be 9.5 stone but at least you’re not a dickhead like that other OP is!

When people say "reverse diabetes" mean? Does it just mean symptoms? And numbers? I thought that once diabetic you always are but can reduce blood sugar levels. Are the likelihood of complications also reversed ?

@tobee I'm not sure but I THINK type 2 diabetes with eating correct diet, exercise and medication if needed you can bring your blood sugar levels down to a healthy level then the symptoms would stop. But then if you let the diet and exercise slip then I think slowly the blood sugars would creep up again. So it's not curable, but it is manageable with a lifestyle change. I THINK. I think type 1 is unfortunately not as simple as that but once again not sure.

@tobee and I must add that diet and exercise and medication doesn't work for everybody in reversing it. Some people try without luck and everyone is different of course.

Thanks @koolaidpink. I got the pre diabetes blood result last November. Been told to lose weight by next November. Had pre diabetes about 10 years ago and managed to avoid dodgy blood sugar results until last year.

I am in America, for context, and four years ago Metformin was suggested when my A1C went up to 6.4. I work out five days a week and I’m 5’7.5 and 8 stone 12 pounds, so diet and exercise isn’t always the solution, especially if you suffer from insulin resistance.

In any case, I tried inositol and my A1C has been hovering around the 5.4 mark for years. My insulin resistance is related to having PCOS, although there is a strong history of Type 2, despite hailing from a slim family.

^^I also had GD and was on insulin within two weeks, as my sugars could not be controlled through diet.

Just a wee update, the doctor phoned and said that it does put me into the category of diabetes type 2. She wants to see me face to face so have an appointment on Monday and she just said it was imperative that I keep taking the metformin. She said my last hba1c was 45 and it's now 54. She said she will have lots more information for me on Monday.

Hope you're ok OP. Use this weekend to research low carb, make a plan for exercise etc.

Not everyone can reverse diabetes, but lifestyle changes can help in how it's managed.

I am sorry OP but you know now and know what to do. I was diagnosed in 2014 and given some bumpf by the nurse which was generic and the diet sheet and advice was pretty much carry on as normal!

So I did, as I was also burying my head in the sand about it. A wake up call about this progressing has led me on a path of really facing up to my truth now. Ignoring the NHS advice and reading around about
low carb, exercise and a mix of 16:8 has led me to lose 2.5 stone since January 1st this year. I may be too late to reverse it but I have to try to control it at least. You may not be too late.

I found Life After Diabetes really helpful in my journey. It is written by the chap at Newcastle Uni who has worked with Michael Mosely and whose team has been amazing at working out so much more about T2. It's a very easy book to read but explains how and why the body works as it does really well, and the studies behind things like Fast 800 (and rapid weight loss).

It was instrumental in helping me to realize that I am built and work differently from other people, and actually that's ok if you know how to look after yourself. The best way someone else on MN described it and which I really like is likening it to an intolerance. If you were gluten intolerant, you could eat the bread, but you know you would have consequences. And it's the same for T2s, and with carbs - so it might be ok to fall off the wagon now and then (I am having lasagna for easter, shoot me!) but you also know that you will have consequences for making that choice. I found thinking about it like that really helped me to make the adjustment and to explain it to other people, too.