Just diagnosed diabetic: A1C 12%: what worked?

[Anonymous]

Agree with the above posters. Wear a CGM. I was helped the most by not eating after 6/6:30 at night and eliminating some carbs altogether. (I can’t eat rice. It doesn’t matter if it is white brown or wild rice, small serving size, mixed with a protein. I just can’t).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hate to tell you but diet alone is not bringing your 12 down to anything reasonable. So while this is all good above advice, you will need the drugs (you are starting at a high dose of metformin so hopefully it works for you!).

+1. This is serious. See an endocrinologist and dietitian.

[Anonymous]

I am pre-diabetic and wear the cgm by lingo it's like $49 and you wear it for two weeks. Until you can get one through your doctor I highly recommend! Very helpful to know how my blood sugar is effected by various foods and how simple exercise after eating meals can decrease it

[Anonymous]

Follow GlucoseGoddess on Instagram

Her diagrams really explain the relationships between foods.

[Anonymous]

This sounds so scary. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

It's not just high protein/low carb.

It's balancing protein/fat/carbs/fiber to prevent blood glucose spiking.

Again, please see an actual endocrinologist. An A1C of 12 is quite high.

Please take care of yourself!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate to tell you but diet alone is not bringing your 12 down to anything reasonable. So while this is all good above advice, you will need the drugs (you are starting at a high dose of metformin so hopefully it works for you!).

+1. This is serious. See an endocrinologist and dietitian.

+2. Not sure why you are asking a bunch of random Internet strangers for medication advice rather than getting recommendations from a more specialized doctor.

[Anonymous]

Go for a walk within 30 minutes of each meal

[Anonymous]

Sounds like Type I diabetes. Insist on being tested.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry you’re going through this.

My FIL got diagnosed with full-blown type-2 diabetes after the pandemic. Strong family history paired with a love of deserts never ends well. He went keto and he’s now post-diabetic and doesn’t have to check his sugar anymore. He’s extremely strict. He hasn’t had more than 20 carbs a day in years. YEARS. No cheat days. He just says, “it’s not worth losing a foot over” and gets on with his life. He’ll leave the room if there’s a good dessert. We try to make keto deserts for him, but he won’t eat any of the fake sugars so they’re all terrible. The man with the biggest sweet tooth I know will just eat a few slices of apple. It’s wild.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like Type I diabetes. Insist on being tested.

Also, just for understanding, my T1D child was hospitalized for 3 days at a A1C of 9.

It's wild to me that someone would just let you walk out of a medical office as though you might not be in DKA and close to dying...

[Anonymous]

This isn’t a wait a few weeks to see an Endo kind of thing is what people are trying to tell you. A fasting blood glucose close to 300 is ridiculously high. I have two diabetic kids, the first one was diagnosed in DKA and spent four nights in the hospital, 2 in the PICU. He had an A1c in your range…. This is really serious stuff and I cannot believe that metformin is all you walked away with. Or that your doctor let you walk away at all. Someone with type two diabetes that is creeping up on them should be getting metformin by the time their A1c is in the low sixes. There’s no way a type two who is having regular appointments and in good shape like you and just one day has an A1c over 12. That should take years of a slow climb.

Yes, you will be well served by taking them metformin and going on a very hard-core low-carb diet immediately just to try to avoid hospitalization, but you need a lot of follow up and it needs to happen quickly

You need a CGM. Get a Stelo or whatever brand you want immediately so you can get some data. You need bloodwork for all 5 diabetic autoantibodies and C peptide, these are easy LabCorp type tests and your primary care should be able to write you an order in five minutes.

If you can get your fasting blood sugar down to maybe 150 on diet and exercise, then it’s less of an emergency, beyond that, this feels like an ER visit to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just diagnosed this past week. A1C at 12%. I am shocked at the number. I am 5 ft tall and 122 pounds. I could lose 10 pounds, but otherwise healthy. I go to Orange Theory Fitness 6 times a week. I am sure genetics has to do with this: mom, dad, brother all diabetic. I know I can cut out bread, white rice, pasta, sugar in creamer, and sweetened yogurt. But what meds worked best? Dr. started me on Metformin ER 1000 mg per day and said to increase to 2000 mg per day in a week if I have no gastro issues. I want to get this under control. I have had no symptoms of diabetes thus far. Any advice? I know metformin is the first thing to try but not sure if that will work without anything else with my A1C so high. I am in my late 50s.

Ozempic or Mounjaro for you.

See an endocrinologist. You may need to be on insulin for a short while to overcome insulin resistance.

Get familiar with glycemic index.

No potatoes either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure you are T2? Metformin is for T2. I doubt it will bring it down to 7 or less. What about your family members, are they T1 or T2?

T2 is high sugar. T1 is low. Please don’t comment about things you fundamentally don’t understand. She has T2.

[Anonymous]

Even though you are not overweight by typical standards, do you carry the weight around your abdomen? Do you belong to an ethnic group that is higher risk for carrying abdominal fat, like South Asian or East Asian? If so, you may need to get visceral fat under control because it is a huge contributor to diabetes, and maybe a GLP-1 would help. But obviously this needs to be a convo with a doctor and endocrinologist. Wishing you the best.