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)