I was diagnosed on Monday with diabetes type 2 when my a1c was 6.6. I’d gone to my GP before Christmas because of constant headaches and general tiredness (very stressful period at work). He ordered blood tests done and they came back with vitamin B9 and D deficiencies (the latter not unusual because of where I live) and a a1c of 6.3. Because being overworked I certainly hadn’t eaten very healthily, and not exercised hardly at all the last 6 months. I am obese (5’3", 190lbs).
On Monday, I went back to my doctor. I was feeling better after the Christmas break (I’m a teacher) but I knew I wouldn’t be surprised with a T2 diagnosis. And sure enough, that’s what I got. My doctor gave me a glucose meter, and for the first two weeks he wants me to measure fasting blood glucose level every morning, and 2hrs after meals three times a week. I’ve chosen to interpret the latter as every other day, since that’ll show me every weekday over a two-week period.
So, to my numbers. My fasting bg numbers have been, with the exception of the very first measurement that I ever did on Tuesday morning (70), between 90 and 107. My PP numbers have been in the same range, except for three times where I got between 122-138. Are these ok?
My doctor told me to avoid sugar and fat for now, told me that losing weight was good, but that for now the focus had to be to learn how to measure my BG levels and figure out what to eat based on that. I got a spiraliser for Christmas, so I’ve cut down on carbs significantly just in the last 6 days. And I’ve been reading voraciously (it’s the teacher in me) and the numbers that are presented on many websites are the ADA’s recommendation, which these same websites say are too high. However, I haven’t been able to find any numbers that people with T2 recommend instead of the ADA numbers. Hence my post.
hi kit! you have come to the right place for info and support. when i was diagnosed with type 1 about 5 years ago, this forum SAVED ME! i am a teacher too, btw. my stressy period for work started on return from the xmas holiday and will last till the end of february, with exams and correcting and reports and meetings and parent-teacher conferences. it is stressful but i kind of like the stressy, must-cover-this-material and all the deadlines!
your numbers look great! your doctor or diabetes educator should give you some target numbers for pre and post prandial readings. your numbers look non-diabetic, which is great!
eating to your meter is good advice from your doctor.
this forum is a great place to talk to other type 2s who might be in the same situation you are in-no meds yet, it seems, and trying to control with diet and exercise.
good luck to you and welcome!
Oh, that’s good to hear! I was a bit nervous that my fasting numbers were too high, since they are of a par with my 2hr after-meal readings. My doctor wants a baseline, I think, which is why he wanted me to test for two weeks before I go back to him. He mentioned that he thought that I was sugar intolerant, which I must admit I do not know anything about - neither causes nor consequences, but he said that in our neck of the woods, the government had put the cut-off for a diabetes diagnosis at 6.5 on the a1c, and since I’d need the equipment and change of diet either way, it wasn’t a bad thing. It’ll be easier (and cheaper!) to get test strips and all that with a proper T2 diagnosis.
I agree with @pancreaswanted, that your numbers look good. A fasting number less than 126 mg/dL is one check that doctors will do to help them diagnose. It is not the only test. A healthy non-diabetic will often wake up with blood glucose in the 70-90 mg/dL.
I like your doctor’s action of giving you a meter and instructing you to measure after your meals. This is a favorite tactic in the this community, to “eat to your meter.” It simply means measuring after meals and if a certain meal repeatedly drives your blood sugar too high then consider cutting down on portion size or even eliminating that meal from your diet.
You may not have diabetes, but if you do, you’ve caught it very early and you can prevent a lot of high blood sugar damage to your body. Good luck and please keep us posted.
Thank you. I hope I caught it early, as I have already had foot surgery (a busted ankle, which is partly why I am obese) and reparations of my retinas because my myopia makes them so thin. If I don’t control my blood glucose, I figure I have a bad starting point which high readings will make a lot worse.
Sounds like you are taking the right attitude towards dealing with your new diagnosis. Fortunately, you caught it early (a1c of 6.6 is quite low for a diabetic) and have time to figure things out.
As for the targets, I also concluded that the ADA guidelines weren’t appropriate for someone like me that wanted tight control of blood glucose. I did some reading and came to the conclusion that my goals (at least initially) would be the following:
Fasting: between 70 mg/dL and 95 mg/dL
One hour Post-prandial: no more than 126 mg/dL
Two hour Post-prandial: back to what level I was at before I ate (or below 95 mg/dL)
After 1 hour of exercise: no lower than 70 mg/dL
Now, for the “caveats:”
I’m not Type 2 (I am early in the LADA presentation of Type 1)
I can’t always achieve the numbers above, although I get close (last a1c 4.8, average BG of 91 mg/dL)
I eat very low carb, exercise a lot, and take a high dose of Metformin to achieve the level of control I have
Since I have auto-antibodies and low insulin production, it’s unlikely I’ll be able to maintain such control for long periods of time (although who knows)
Since my primary concern as a type 2 is controlling my blood sugars, I focus my testing on that to make sure I’m in control. Doing so, I’ve drastically reduced all carbs, not just sugars. Telling someone to reduce sugar is really only half of the problem, if that much. Unless you consider all carbs to be sugars (which is true), then of course it’s the right advice.
I’ve found that eating liberal amounts of fats has been good for me, personally, because it fills me up without carbs. Now that my sugar is consistently in line, I’ll play with reducing the fats/calories to lose weight.
