Is your diabetes management plan working?

Sounds like you will be at 5.7 or below, which SHOULD be the goal.. you may still have to be on some meds to remain there, but we know from experience that we either need to lower the number with diet, or medication, but I see a lot of people talking about how they are on lots of meds, even Insulin, and working out, eating what they think is a healthy diet, yet still have elevated blood sugar.

That makes sense if you aren't treating the disease, but I can't think of another disease where the goal isn't to return you to normal. My BP is kept low with some pills, they didn't give me one pill, and say 155/100 is good enough.. they gave me several pills, and mine is 92/62. I have gout. If my Allopurinol, and I think diet, had not prevented a flare-up in the past 9 years, then I would expect to be given a higher dose. No doctor would say.. 300 mg of Allopurinol, knocks you down to 3 flare-ups a year, so that's good enough.

I am not sure most diabetes patients have a goal. When I started, I just wanted my doctor to like my numbers.. it was 2 years before I even knew what was good or bad. I found out, because I would take my BG, and it would be 385, so I would write down 185.. just knock a few hundred points off... and my doctor ran an A1C finally. They had been dealing with my congestive heart failure, so didn't do much about my diabetes until I was more stable 2 years later. It was in the teens. He knew I was lying, and said 185 is still bad.. if you are cheating, at least make the numbers good, and laughed at me. My first BG reading in 2002, was 526 mg/dL.

So he tells me below 120 is good, and to be under 7.0 A1C is optimal. So I tried harder, and got my numbers down, but not to 120.. I was running 150 average, and I was upset, because I was on 2000mg Metformin a day, plus an Actos. I get tested and it is 6.9.. and he praises me. BUT I was not below 120???

The told me what was good, and sent me to diabetes training for 8 hours * which was all b.s ).. but most people do not know what their A1C translates into.. 7.1 is an average of about 157 mg/dL, for example.

So what is 120?? That's a 5.8. So they set me a new goal of 6.5, and I never made that until 2011, when I started low carb.. 7 years later. I was over 10 A1C for most of those years, and was maintaining 360 lbs.

The doctors just looked disappointed, and changed nothing.. I was to blame.. I ate too much of the carby food they told me I should eat, and then i would have 5000 calorie binges several nights a week, for 4th meal. That was the max dose for Metformin, so they had no other ideas.. eat less of the carby food which made me ravenous.. and it would get better. I couldn't ever do that for more than a month or 2. I routinely had 300-500 BG readings.

They probably should have put me on Insulin. I was 28 when diagnosed with T2, so maybe it was my age?? I have a friend who takes 85 units of basal Insulin, and a bunch of fast-acting with her meals. I was on 10, then 15 units of basal Insulin, but since getting back on very low carb, I am off Insulin, and soon to be off pills. I just have to convince the doctors.

One possibility, is that they are afraid to lower BG too much, and want it at 150, so they don't have to worry about LOW BG, and another is that if you follow the diabetic diet they recommended back then ( hopefully changed in 20 years ).. they can't give you enough medication to overcome the end results of eating that way. I imagine it would take a lot of Insulin, to counteract a 500 BG reading.. how much is safe.. pills certainly had upper limits.

That meas a combo of diet and meds at the very least.. I choose a very strict diet, in hopes of reaching 70-110 without ANY diabetes meds eventually, like I did before, BUT I get that most people won't eat that way, so they need to eat BETTER, and take some meds.. but in the end, you want to be under 120 when you take your blood sugare, right?

Otherwise the diet, exercise, and medication is not working, and you need more to get to where you need to be, to be healthy.

I certainly don't want to go to the gym, eat a healthier diet, and take a bunch of medication, and STILL be at an unhealthy BG level.. and both 6.5, and 7.0 are not healthy. You are still doing damage to the body.. just more slowly.. and that's OK, if you are 83, but if you are 53.. how much damage will you do in 30 years?

We hear mostly about people who are struggling. They still have high BG, and no ide how they can lower it, that they haven't been trying to do, and are confused, and upset, and I remember being that way.

What I would LOVE, is for those who are maintaining 5.7 or below.. and regularly getting normal blood sugars, with meds, or without.. meaning they are handling it well, to speak out more. We don't need help, so we usually talk about other health concerns.. for me it is CHF, and of course, weight loss, which is a big one for everyone.

There has to be a lot of diabetic people who are at a normal BG level. I just think once you got it handled, you talk less about it, but I think by sharing, it would help a lot of us know what works, and what doesn't.