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#148

Welcome aboard. You sound exactly like me 8 years ago.

I fully understand that you don’t want to have to be on insulin. But the best advice I can give you is to not view that as a bad thing. I know you don’t like the idea—- but I can almost assure you based on your description and your profile pic (not old, not obese, etc) you’ll be on insulin within a matter of weeks (assuming you’re receiving appropriate medical care) and that it’s the only suitable treatment.

I hope you have an appointment with a specialist or at least someone knowledgeable scheduled right away. Again, don’t look at it as a bad thing, but gym membership and metformin isn’t going to be your solution… speaking from experience

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#149

I was diagnosed 12 years ago with an A1c of 12, my doc put me on metformin, plus issued a prescription for a diabetes education course in low carb eating.
Just a note, low carbing for 11 years a1c under 6,0 for the last 10. A t2 here.
Yep it is scary, but it could be controllable, but if you are T1 insulin is the only answer.

#150

Good result, A1C under 6 last week. I think diet and metformin are the thing for me, until something else adds to it. I am feeling very fortunate.

#151

I’m on 1G of metformin BID now, as of a couple days ago, up from 500mg BID. Low carb diet as well. My blood glucose readings have all been sub-120s every day since I started. I’ll be curious to see what happens once I’m back to weight lifting next week. Doesn’t seem to be the case that I’m going to need insulin, despite your personal experience.

#152

Well good luck!

I’d have a complete work up done by a knowledgeable doctor… if your body is insulin deficient (not yet determined) insulin is always the best option… if it’s insulin resistant there are lots of treatments and combinations of treatments

If all you have is a bit of insulin resistance and taking some metformin and eating low carb can manage it in the long run then you are very lucky. Just be advised that many many people get put on metformin and it works for a short while then end up needing insulin… and it’s not a personal failing

#153

Hi, I’m Duane a type 1 living in Atlanta Georgia. I have been wearing a pump for over 10 years and got the Medtronic 630G about a year ago. I just started wearing the sensor that talks to the pump. I really like being able to see the graph which gives me the status of my BG continuously. I am having a problem with getting refills from the VA for the sensors and am currently out of sensors. I have been told there is a way to extend the life of the sensor past the 6-day limit, which is why I signed up for the forums. I’m looking for a link to instructions as to how to do that. That’s my current condition. I have been type1 since 1968, so I have been at this game for a long time with only minor complications. I look forward to checking in from time to time to see what the latest news is from the community.

1 Like
#154

Welcome Duane

#156

Good morning!

My name is Brittany. I was officially diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in Oct 2019. But I had gestational diabetes with my last 2 pregnancies (2016 and 2018).

Along with a lot of you I am on a frustrating journey! I am only 35 years old, I am not overweight (BMI 21). I have always eaten a healthy diet and am fairly active. I do not have a strong family history of diabetes. There is no logical reason that I have this disease!

When I was officially diagnosed my A1C was 8. They put me on Metformin and that combined with a very low carb diet got me down to 6.5 in 3 months. Everyone was happy, except me! I asked to be referred to an endocrinologist as I believed I fit more with a type 1 diabetic. I got in pretty quick and she ordered the antibody tests, although she did not believe I was type 1. Those results just came back and were negative. At her advice I started to add a few more carbs back into my diet. I made sure these were healthy carbs and low in GI. Also at her advice I stopped testing as it was causing me stress.

Well I have a routine doctors appointment in a few days. At first I wasn’t going to get my A1C done due to fears about Covid! So instead I tested at home. I was surprised to find I tested at 16 mmol/L! This was after a fairly low carb meal! I tested my fasting the next day and it was 13 mmol/L. So I decided to brave it and go get my A1C, it came back at 8.5! I am beyond surprised and frustrated by this! I have done nothing different, except add back in a few carbs at the advice of the endocrinologist. I guess I’ll wait and see what the doctor says in a few days.

I am glad to have found this community. I have been reading posts for awhile but finally decided to join! I’m hoping to connect with people in similar situations and maybe get some sort of hope I will finally figure this out!

#157

I found this several months ago, but until now did not realize what a wonderful group it is-with so much knowledge and info and ideas! I was diagnosed with type 1 (brittle sugar diabetes) in March 1969, 51 years ago! Medicine has come SO FAR! I have been on Medtronic insulin pumps for 12 years; now am on the 670G. I have been frustrated with auto mode so right now am only using the sensor on manual mode. I have been blessed with 3 healthy beautiful children. My youngest, almost 27, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 16 1/2. He is doing very well on his pump.

3 Likes
#158

Hello All,

I have been lurking around here for almost 2 weeks, reading everything I can since my Type 2 diagnosis on July 18. The only standouts from the Lab results were my Fasting Glucose level of 341 mg/dL and an HGBA1C of 12.4 %. I started on Metformin 500 mg, one tablet twice a day (before breakfast and dinner) on July 21. Due to continued very high morning Fasting Glucose levels, my Doctor changed the dose on July 24 to two tablets twice a day (before breakfast and dinner). One day in the beginning of all this, I added a temporary testing time before lunch (probably something I read about on this site). I liked so much the window it provided to how I was doing in the middle of the day, so have continued to do it. The numbers are progressively going down, with the three July 23 readings being 370, 306, 261 and the three July 31 readings being 166, 132, 139. I know, still far from perfect, but I will take the improvement!

In my video appointment today with my Doctor he was hopeful that the downward trend will continue, but suggested adding Glipizide to bring down my numbers further as they are still out of the desired range. The dosage amounts and frequency were never discussed, but the Doctor left it up to me to start tomorrow on the Glipizide or wait another week to see where I am at and discuss it during our next video appointment. I made the decision to wait as my body is still adapting to the benefits of Metformin, a more restricted diet (now attempting very minimal daily carbs/sugars), and increased weekly amounts of aerobic exercise and strength training (full disclosure: besides lots of gardening, I had really fallen off my activity level for a number of months due to how generally “off” I was feeling. I now know it was because of having undiagnosed Type 2 Diabetes). I suggested to the Doctor (from reading it here) that I wanted to start taking Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) to help with some neuropathy symptoms that can uncomfortably, sometimes painfully, pop up in my feet and hands. I got the feeling that vitamins/supplements are not really part of their Diabetes treatment plan, but they will be for mine (I’m a lifelong vitamin/supplement user)! I was told by the Doctor that it may not help, but it probably wouldn’t cause any harm, so I will start taking it once daily on a empty stomach before lunch time.

If you read this far, thank you for taking the time. Though you can never get back the time you invested, you have unknowingly become an integral part of the support and guidance I need to fight each day moving forward against this insidious disease. For this I will be forever grateful…

John - New Type 2 Diabetic, Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patient (treated very successfully each night since 2011)

5 Likes
#159

Welcome, thanks for sharing your story.

#160

Welcome to the club John :blush: (@Jsgarden)

#161

Welcome @Jsgarden! I’m glad to hear you’re improving each day. Congratulations!

#162

Thank you for your warm welcome! I hope as I continue on this T2D journey to become a supportive part of of your community (@MM1, Jim_in_Calgary, Tapestry)
John

2 Likes
#163

Hi; I’m Kent. I’m a Type 1 diabetic. Diagnosed October 19, 1982 at age 19. I have been an insulin pump user for 20 years. The past 2 1/2 years I have been using CGM and it has changed my life.

1 Like
#164

Hi Kent, Welcome to the community. Thanks for joining, we look forward to interacting with you.

#165

Duane, I am also a type 1, since 1969. I have been on insulin pumps for about 12 years now. I now have Medtronic’s 670G with cgm. I did not realize you could get a sensor to last longer than 6 days! I’d be interested in that!

Linda

#166

Hi all,

I haven’t been in this site for a while. This site was really helpful to find answers in the community during hardship times.
A big hug to everyone.

I made a video in YouTube on my hacks and tricks to keep my blood sugar in control. It’s my first video, plenty of mistakes. And I was nervous all time. Anyways. I hope it helps and will be making more and better videos in the near future. Hugs.

1 Like
#167

JS,

While waiting on my first pump and CGM, I allowed BGs to run higher (avg probably 150-160) to reduce the severity of hypo episodes. Peripheral neuropathy became very painful. After starting on pump with BG coming down, my neuropathy slowly moderated to tingling, numbness and low/tolerable level pain. I hope lower BGs will similarly lessen your neuropathy symptoms.

1 Like
#168

Congrats on producing and publishing your video. I like your suggestions to use fasting and exercise to help manage blood sugar levels when taking insulin. I’ve found that the ability to explain concepts to others embeds that knowledge in my mind like few other learning modes.

I agree that a CGM is a fundamental tool for dosing insulin and managing glucose levels. I think it benefits anyone with glucose metabolism anomalies whether they use insulin or not. In fact, I think CGM technology could be successfully used to educate people with pre-diabetes about how their personal eating style affects their glucose levels. This needs to be used more.

Your physical fitness is impressive. Keep up the good work!