I am Type II (I found out on January 2010) and my doctor said that I don't need to be on medications yet because my blood sugar is not bad with diet and exercise only. I am struggling to get them below 140 2 hours pp. and below 110 fasting...I wonder at what point other people started taking medication...please share this information with me...remember, I'm a new diabetic, that's why I have so many questions
Thanks
My mom’s never taken medication or insulin she is 100% diet controlled type 2 diabetic (she’s been diabetic since I was 10 years old, am now 32).
I on the other hand, was never given that option, I was put on metformin right away (December 2003) 250 mg once a day and over the course of 4 years it was increased every 4 months till i maxed out at 2,000 mg a day. I was put on long acting insulin (lantus) June 1st 2008, was switched to glumetza January 2009 and on meal time insulin (humalog) May 1st 2009 (the day before I got married). To degrees i wish Id been put on the insulin sooner, but like many endro he wont like to jump the gun when he knows its not always needed.
Stay on your doctor because too many let patients go way high before putting them on meds or insulin. The sooner you get proper treatment, the better to preserve your beta cells.
Have you had a C-peptide & antibody tests to determine if you really are a Type 2? Doctors quickly make a diagnosis of T2 based on age & sadly people don’t get what they need based on an assumed diagnosis. It’s not unusual for adults to be misdiagnosed. Are you seeing an endo? PCPs don’t know much about diabetes.
I was diagnosed almost 3 years ago with type 2. Endo started off with 2mg Glimiperide and 500 mg Metformin twice daily. After 6 months, Glimiperide was removed. I kept a journal and blood sugar and A1C improved. After a year, Metformin was reduced to 500 mg once daily. After another year until now I’m taking 250 mg Metformin once daily. Just like any other diabetic, my management includes diet and exercise.
I had a physical and went to a lab and had blood drawn, 2 days later my doc office called me and said they were calling in meds to my pharmacy. Labs showed my fasting bs at 363 and A1c was 13.9%. I was called in a script for 1000mg metformin and 4mg glimepiride a day and scheduled to see the doc again in a week.
I was told my BS was high at my last physical (Sept 2009). I’m currently on no medication. My fasting is usually around 86-99 and my latest a1c was 6.0.
I do have to watch what I eat though. Mornings are the hardest for me. Anything carbs will spike me. For example, if I have just one piece of whole wheat toast, or 1 cup of cold cereal for breakfast my BG can go as high as 180 (at the 1 hour). I don’t eat bread or cereal anymore:( In the evening I can usually tolerate more carbs but I do go for an hour walk right after my super and have noticed this will bring my BG down by approx 40 points.
What are you eating throughout the day? Are you counting your cabs? I usually dont go over 40 carbs per day and most of those are after lunch.
Paul
You should take medications if you need them. According to your profile, your HbA1c is 5.2%, that is ideal. If you continue to have trouble getting your postprandials below 140 and keeping your fasting below 110, then that would presumably show up in your HbA1c. If your meter readings are inconsistent with your HbA1c, talk to your doctor. You doctor should look at all sources of information when evaluating how you are doing. Make sure he sees your meter logs. There are some very real reasons that the HbA1c can be distorted, particularly from things like anemia causing an artificially low number. There are alternate tests a doctor can order (like fructosamine). But realize, that you may well just a very lucky girl and be able to modify your lifestyle and not need medications. If your blood sugar control is good enough, don’t take the medications, save them for later when you might need them.
personally, I think the sooner you take the meds the better. any way to get an endocrinologist to prescribe you something by asking for aggressive early stage prevention or treatment? i was diagnosed when i was 30, i wish my primary doc had then put me on the meds. up until now, i’ve been doing just diet and exercise, A1C from 7.2% to 5.3%. i kept track of all my BG readings postprandial and fasting for the past year and a half and showed them to my endo and he prescribed byetta, metformin XR 750mg and acarbose.
the endo said people who are on byetta at the beginning or early diabetes have a much better chance of preserving 80% of beta cells as opposed to diet and exercise alone who when fully diabetic will have burnt off a lot of their beta cells.
I don’t check my BS at 1 hour after meals, just 2 hours…Is it important to check it at 1 hour? I am counting my carbs, I am eating about 40 carbs per meal…How are you managing to eat 40 carbs per day??? I would not be able to do it, what do you eat? Everything I eat has carbs…but I don’t eat meat or chicken, or fish…Please let me know what do you eat to keep your carb intake that low.
Your fasting was pretty high at 363! I’ve never had readings that high…that I know of, but before I was diagnosed I had several episodes of blurry vision, I just couldnt’ see anything, it was like if I was seeing through a foggy window, so I guess my BS was very high, but I didn’t know I had diabetes yet. In your case, the physical picked it up, I’ve never had a physical done, mine was picked-up during pregnancy and it won’t go away. Good luck on your next A1c. Are you exercising daily? Are you following a special diet? I had to see a dietitian and I’ve modified my eating habits to fit my “new life”. Good luck and take care!
When I was diagnosed 13 years ago, I had a high of 600 and was put on insulin right away. I was taking 30 units of Novolin twice a day back then, with good management, I was able to switch to Actos about 3 years later but it was doing wonders to my weight so I switched to metformin 1000 mcg a day now and it has been working great even though lately my fasting sugars are staying higher than normal so I see a switch coming in the near future. I am proponent of starting your meds as early as possible while diet and exercise is great, you can never be too careful remember it takes a long time for the outward signs of complications to show.
Wow! You really have improved…and I thought that once you start using medications you will have to increase them eventually, not decrease them. I am learning so much from all of you! Keep up the good work, take care.
My doctor did a c-peptide test on January and he said it was normal…I just had an appointment and I asked for a GAD test and he didn’t know what I was talking about…he said that my c-peptides are fine and that I am Type II…I wonder if he didn’t understand my pronunciation (I have a foreign accent) or if he really doesn’t know what GAD is (which would be really bad for me to have a doctor like that). I will bring a print out about GAD and show it to him on my next appointment and request that test, but I won’t see him until 3 months from now.
Why did they start you on medication right away? Was your A1c very high? I was told that my A1c is fine (5.2 this month vs. 6 since my diagnosis 3 months ago) and for that reason my doctor doesn’t want to put me on meds yet. He said that I can manage it with diet and exercise only, but my fasting is still between 100-116 and I struggle to get my 2 hour pp readings below 140…I wonder if Metformin will help but my doctor thinks I am doing great…I want to do better though.
Everyone is different but i controlled my sugars w/ diet and exercise for 3-4 years but when I began slacking off from running my a1c slipped and i had to start meds. again everyone is different your numbers are good now if you trust your doctor go listen to them
I am Type 2 and I have been on Metformin a month now. I wanted to do just diet and exercise but my doctor said that even though he would like that for me, it was my A1C that he was concerned about which is why he wanted me to go on meds. It was 9.2. So my guess is it is the A1C that helps the doctors make their decisions about meds or no meds. All doctors seem to have their own idea of what numbers are good and which ones aren’t too and how low/high you should aim for etc.
The Metformin is helping for sure. I noticed a difference in the first few days. Which was good because it took a while to figure out the diet.
Although I never got a chance to try with diet and exercise only so I don’t really know if I would have been able to successful do this or not without the meds. Although, I wasn’t eating low carb before my diagnosis - now I am. So who knows. But I definately think the Metformin helps. But someone said it doesn’t help to lower your sugars but to help you pancrease deal with glucose I think (can’t remember for sure how it works). But you still need to do the diet and exercise. I don’t exercise too much yet because I was weak when I was diagnosed but even now that I am feeling stronger I only do like 30 minutes a day and my sugars are lower than yours. (see my blog with my readings). I am skinny and don’t really need to lose weight. But I really believe that is because of the low carb diet that my numbers are staying lower- if I pigged out on biscuits. I am sure it would go higher.
My doctor let me try diet alone for about 4 months. I still couldn’t get fasting under 130 or so , I started metformin and have increased in 3 times. I am now on 2550 mg with a very low carb diet and exercise. I think it is different for different people. Your HbA1c is excellent and unless it starts creeping up I don’t see any reason for meds. My body is very sensitive to the hormones in my body. I have a big difficulty keeping bgs low even when I don’t eat anything.
You are very young. If you were diagnosed early, you can “save” beta cells by aggressive management of your blood glucose levels. I would suggest metformin XR initially - it has been on the market a long time, is proven safe & effective, & doesn’t cause hypos (lows.)
Diet & exercise are great & totally necessary with or without meds. Restricting highly refined & processed foods and carbs is essential. I just think that rather than add drugs only when your current regimen begins to fail means that you are stressing your body’s capacity by that time.
In my case, I was diagnosed 11 years ago at age 46 & started met 500 mg twice daily. Over the years, my dosage has increased. I also tried glipizide, but it produced severe lows that were unmanageable, & januvia, which had no effect whatsoever on me. I’ve been on lantus basal insulin for 15 months & have been taking prandin with lunch & dinner for one year to help manage post prandial spikes.
Good luck & keep us posted!
I know several people who haven’t ever had a diabetic med touch their lips; but I’m not one of those people. I started with amaryl the day I was diagnosed, and have been on several meds in the last 10 years. And now take three pills a day…When was the last time you saw you doc? You might want to take this concern to him/her and see what they say now that you’ve been a “practicing” diabetic for almost 5 months. And to have so many questions, is GREAT! At least you are doing something and working at getting healthy Good for you!
I found out out I have type II back in 2000, my doctor put me on Metfornim 500mg twice a day right away, now I still stake menfornim twice a day but is now 1000mg and the doctor has added Actos to the mix. This is working for me as my two last A1c have been 6.2 and I get the test every 3 months. Before the Actos I was in the 7.5 range. My readings fasting are in the high 80 to low 90 and after a meal they go up the high 130’s
The reason why my doctor put me on meds right away is because my A1c was high, I had no idea I was diabetic prior to 2000 but that year my vision suddenly changed, went from 20/15 to not being able to read, in panic I visited an eye doctor who sent me back to a family doctor who ran the glucose test and said I was diabetic.