# Hba1c 104 and in shock



## TiredOldGal (Oct 1, 2019)

Hi all

Just got my diagnosis this afternoon. Only found out because I had been having a few issues with what I thought was the menopause (it wasn’t) and my bloods came back with this result.

My head is in a fog, but I’m here, ready to learn and hopefully will lower this high score.  I’ve just taken my first metaformin this evening.

Looking forward to getting to know you all.


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## rebrascora (Oct 1, 2019)

Hi and welcome from someone else who is suffering menopause and a Diabetic diagnosis. If it is any consolation, I was a little higher than you at 112 back in Feb this year. Unfortunately mine turned out to be Type 1 and I am now on insulin which was a further emotional kick in the teeth as I had it in my sights to push my diabetes into remission through diet and exercise, but I'm getting the hang of things a bit now. The first few months are a bit of a roller coaster so strap yourself in for some ups and downs. We are here for you to celebrate the highs and support you through the lows as we all know how frustrating and unpredictable it can be.
Have they supplied you with a Blood Glucose Meter. If not ask for one. They are not obliged to supply them to Type 2s unless on insulin or insulin inducing medication but they do have discretionary options and with such a high HbA1c you could argue that you need all the help you can get.

Tip of the day as regards Metformin. Take it with a substantial meal and take it mid meal as it has a well earned reputation for causing digestive upset, which can range from indigestion or nausea/vomiting to colic pains and diarrhoea sometimes with very limited warning. The side effects often settle down after a week or two but many of us find that ensuring they go down surrounded by food really helps.

You will need to cut out all the sweet stuff and also significantly reduce the starchy carbs you eat, even the healthy wholemeal versions, so really restrict your consumption of bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, breakfast cereals etc. Find new things to treat yourself with instead of crisps or sweets. Nuts are good and olives if you like them and a nice chunk of quality cheese really hits the spot for me. Eggs, mushrooms, meat, fish, full fat dairy, leafy veg/salad are all usually great for us diabetics. Keep fruit intake to a minimum and avoid fruit juice. Most of us tolerate a few berries reasonably well but exotic fruit like bananas, pineapple and mango are pretty high in sugars, as are grapes, so avoid those.
A low carb diet can be quite enjoyable once you get your head around it but it takes a bit of figuring out because carbs have filled up the space on our plates for all of our lives and learning how to eat without them is quite daunting at first.

Good luck and feel free to ask any specific questions that occur to you.


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## Drummer (Oct 1, 2019)

With any luck - which many of us have had, you will soon be feeling so much better.
Just in case, though, I advise taking metformin earlier - it tried to turn me inside out, I had to go out in the mornings, take the tablets at lunchtime, and then stay very close to the bathroom. I think I am just really sensitive to it - I am sensitive to all medication. 
I was at 91 at diagnosis, 41 six months later. I need to go rather low carb, down to 40 gm a day now, but I suspect that is due to years of being undiagnosed diabetic.


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## Martin9 (Oct 2, 2019)

Hi @TiredOldGal , welcome to the club no one wants to join, hope you manage to tolerate the Metformin , I was in your position around a year and five / six months ago, but by following the advice that @rebrascora and @Drummer have given you above I have managed to bring my HbA1c levels to within normal levels.
Having said that, what works for one might not work for another as we are all different , but good luck and best wishes...
M.


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## TiredOldGal (Oct 2, 2019)

Hi everyone

Thank you so much for your lovely replies.

It’s daft o’clock in the morning but I guess my mind is still trying to process everything.  I didn’t get a glucose test thing, but I may buy myself one from amazon. 

I’m a teacher, so I’m not looking forward to the quick visits to the loo, but hopefully I may not have too many side effects from the Metformin! ‍♀️

Bread and potatoes are my downfall. I love them.  So it’s going to be a bit strange getting my head around that. Crisps too - I’ve always been a savoury gal, so this diagnosis has floored me ( excuse my ignorance lol).

  I bought a low GI diet book years ago, so am looking through that to see what’s good and what isn’t.  Is this a good idea?

I appreciate all of your kind words and I look forward to getting to know you all.


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## Martin9 (Oct 2, 2019)

TiredOldGal said:


> Hi everyone
> 
> Thank you so much for your lovely replies.
> 
> ...




@TiredOldGal , yes just try keep carbohydrates as low as you can , try and limit the crisps and potatoes, and read the backs of food items to see what the carbohydrate content is as our bodies readily change the starches into glucose
Nuts are lower carbs as an alternative to crisps approx 53g carbs in 100g crisps whereas see chart above for grammes per different types of nuts..the better types on left of image the worst on right...


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## TiredOldGal (Oct 2, 2019)

Brilliant. Thank you.


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## Drummer (Oct 2, 2019)

You might find that low GI is no advantage - I could see no difference between breads with high and low GI, for instance, but it might be worth testing as everyone is different. Some people can manage porridge, but I'm not one of them.


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## emmgeo (Oct 2, 2019)

I have been on 1000mg of  Metformin since July and I am happy to say I have had no bad symptoms from taking it at all, Lucky I guess.
These medications affect us all in different ways.


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## everydayupsanddowns (Oct 2, 2019)

TiredOldGal said:


> I bought a low GI diet book years ago, so am looking through that to see what’s good and what isn’t.  Is this a good idea?



It’s not a bad thought, and will give you some general pointers, but there are some inherent problems with it if that’s all you use. 

GI is checked by eating a fixed amount of a food in isolation (I think it’s 50g in carbs) and averaged over 100 people. Recent research has shown how significant an effect the gut biome has on carbohydrate metabolism and so within that 100 there will most likely be some quite significant variation. Also we rarely eat food in isolation. 

So the principle of ‘how fast does this food hit my system and how much will it spike my BG’ is spot on, but really you don’t want to know the results for the average person, you want to know the specific effects for you as an individual. 

Which is why a BG meter is one of the biggest learning and management tools for folks here. 

You can use it to monitor not just what’s going on generally with one check a day, but to specifically examine what happens when you eat this, that or the other meal of food... and how that differs at different times of day. Which carbs and fruits are kindest on your system. Which treats are worth it, and which cause massive BG upheaval for relatively little enjoyment. 

You’ll become your own food and nutrition expert in no time


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## grovesy (Oct 2, 2019)

Differnt strategies have worked for me at differnt times over the years, you have to find what works for you and you can maintain most of the time.


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## TiredOldGal (Oct 2, 2019)

Drummer said:


> You might find that low GI is no advantage - I could see no difference between breads with high and low GI, for instance, but it might be worth testing as everyone is different. Some people can manage porridge, but I'm not one of them.


There’s so much to take in but I’m ready for it. Thank you.


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## TiredOldGal (Oct 2, 2019)

everydayupsanddowns said:


> It’s not a bad thought, and will give you some general pointers, but there are some inherent problems with it if that’s all you use.
> 
> GI is checked by eating a fixed amount of a food in isolation (I think it’s 50g in carbs) and averaged over 100 people. Recent research has shown how significant an effect the gut biome has on carbohydrate metabolism and so within that 100 there will most likely be some quite significant variation. Also we rarely eat food in isolation.
> 
> ...


I’ve ordered myself a monitor so will get to grips with it. I used to have to test a child at school so at least I know how it works.


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## belugalad (Oct 3, 2019)

TiredOldGal said:


> I’ve ordered myself a monitor so will get to grips with it. I used to have to test a child at school so at least I know how it works.


Hi Good luck,I was diagnosed in May at Hba1c 95 and take 2 metformin and was back to normal range in about 3.5 months,I tolerated metformin fine,if you don't there is a slow release version that you could ask for.
I was worried about explosive toilet issues but I didn't have that problem


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## TiredOldGal (Oct 4, 2019)

Thank you


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## CathyB (Oct 4, 2019)

Hi and welcome, I also followed the low carb road and was back in normal range within 6 months.  I couldn’t give up bread so I now have LivLife from Waitrose, it’s the lowest I have found (thanks to this forum).  Dropping the spuds isn’t that bad when you get creative with cauliflower, for dinner tonight I had cottage pie but used mashed cauliflower for the top, sprinkled with a generous layer of cheese  yummy.  I can’t imagine going back to bland spuds, rice or pasta now


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## TiredOldGal (Oct 4, 2019)

CathyB said:


> Hi and welcome, I also followed the low carb road and was back in normal range within 6 months.  I couldn’t give up bread so I now have LivLife from Waitrose, it’s the lowest I have found (thanks to this forum).  Dropping the spuds isn’t that bad when you get creative with cauliflower, for dinner tonight I had cottage pie but used mashed cauliflower for the top, sprinkled with a generous layer of cheese  yummy.  I can’t imagine going back to bland spuds, rice or pasta now


Thank you.  I would never have thought to do that with cauli!  I’m a potato-holic so will have to find other things now.


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## Eddy Edson (Oct 5, 2019)

Anitram said:


> I read somewhere that walnuts are high in Omega-6 and should be eaten in moderation, as too much Omega-6 is apparently bad for you.



I think the mainstream expert view nowadays is that omega-6 is good and if there's any adjustment needed, increase omega-3 rather than reduce omega-6.  Walnuts are triffic sources of both and commonly get rated the best nut.

Eg https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/no-need-to-avoid-healthy-omega-6-fats


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## TiredOldGal (Oct 5, 2019)

Anitram said:


> I believe it's the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 in your  diet that's important. A ratio of 1:4 is recommended but in walnuts it's the other way round. The advice is to balance things by increasing your Omega-3 intake.
> 
> I ditched sunflower oil in favour of extra virgin olive oil because of the high Omega-6 in sunflower oil.
> 
> ...



Yes, I do feel like I'm in a jungle, but I'm determined to succeed.  I use extra virgin olive oil already


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## KARNAK (Oct 5, 2019)

Hello @TiredOldGal welcome to the forum, sorry its a bit late but hey ho better late than never. Extra Virgin olive oil is a great choice although Rapeseed oil is a good alternative, difference being, olive oil heats at a slower rate than rapeseed so the food cooks at a different rate. If your food needs to be cooked quickly use the rapeseed, slower extra virgin, hope this helps on your big D journey?


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## TiredOldGal (Oct 5, 2019)

I'm not sure I've ever tried Rapeseed Oil.  I have sunflower oil - is that any good?


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