new type 2
 

About 4-5 weeks ago I started being thirsty all the time and was going to the bathroom a lot more. Used by mother-in-law's meter and pegged in at 480! Two days later after no sweets still was 280.. Went to Doc next day and sure enough A1C was 11.5.. Ok here we go.. Major changes, metformin and 3 days later my reading was 160! Oh getting there. Great to find this forum. Thank you all for sharing!

Welcome to the Forum! :)

Read through the first three threads in the Type 2 Section, when you get a chance, if you have not already done so. These threads will most-likely help you a lot. Self education is one of the keys to successful management of your diabetes, along with a healthy / sensible diet and exercise. Basically, diabetes requires a life-style change for the better. Good luck with your control and management.

Blood glucose changes very quickly
 

In a matter of minutes. So - I hate to break it to you - the 160 after starting Metformin is far more likely an accident of timing than a sign the metformin is working. (It typically takes 1-2 weeks to make a difference - I think it was about 2 weeks, or perhaps even a bit longer, for me).

To really understand what is going on with blood glucose, you need to test multiple times a day: when you first wake up (fasting), before you take a bite of food for a meal, an hour later, two hours later and (if the 2 hour reading was above the 1 hour reading), again at 3 hours. Find out your body's rhythm over the day so you can adjust your eating to control it.

I'm still relatively new (diagnosed as "somewhere on the diabetes spectrum" on Oct 2). I've tested up to 10 times on some days, if I'm eating multiple new foods and I'm not sure how my body will react. My goal is to keep my blood sugar below 140 at all times (based on my A1C at diagnosis, the average in the preceding 3 months was more than 140). Within 3 days I had my blood glucose under control - with the exception of testing food items I was unsure might be too high in carbs. Since then, I've only had 5 tests over 140 (out of around 180 tests - specifically looking for high numbers).

There are lots of approaches to managing diabetes. My goal is to maintain normal blood glucose levels (not the elevated levels generally recommended for people with diabetes). The only approach I have found in my research that reliably achieves that goal is low carb (<50/day), moderate protein, with the remainder of the daily calories coming from fat (because there isn't anywhere else to get them from). Here's a study suggesting it ought to be the first approach for management of type 2 diabetes: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...99900714003323

Yeah, too excited too soon. Went back to 226 a couple days later. My doc only has me checking 1x/day at different rotating time during the day. Seems mine is higher in the AM.

You might want to check and s/he is willing to prescribe a higher quantity of test strips - if you're really serious about controlling your blood glucose you need to test frequently enough to know what is triggering the changes. I test an average of 4 times a day.

If you want to have a normal life and have a1c levels of a non-diabetic you need to tell your doctor to give you Afrezza. It's a new meal time inhaled insulin from Sanofi. I have been using it for 9 months for T2 and my son who is T1 has been using it for 8. Best thing since sliced bread. Yes you can eat that too.