Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What do I do with an A1c of 11?

Diabetes is rampant of the maternal side of my family. I’m type II diabetic myself. Have to monitor my glucose and diet. I advoid the starches and intake of sweets. Lost a bunch of weight too and was able to get by on 500 mg of Metformin now. Used to take 1000 mg 2X daily. It’s a cruel disease. My mothers sister ent blind and was completely bedridden before dying all because of diabetes. 2 of my first cousins died of it at an early age. Dean was a farm manager on a farm and lived alone. It was the winter and the mail carrier was the last to see him and his dog. Brother couldn’t reach him via the phone and had the landowner do a wellness check. He was lying on the floor in front of a gas heater with his dog. He had been dead several days. His brother had to borrow HazMat garb to clean out his home. Had to burn everything, HS diploma, military records, clothes, photos, etc - like he never existed. Deemed a Biohazard inside the house.
His younger brother was a plumber and went on a call where he had to crawl under a house. End of the day, he didn’t show up to turn in his tickets. They backtracked his jobs. Boss found him under the house. They surmise his glucose went too high and he went into a diabetic coma. EMTs had to tie a rope to his feet and pull his body from under the house. Bad situations. So sad. Don’t play around; get it under control.

Thank you for the excellent counsel, and within these guidelines I will sort out my exact path. I picked up a blood glucose monitoring kit today so I can check blood sugar level myself. Day before yesterday I had an optometrist check my eyes for diabetic damage, and there was no trace of damage.

I think this high blood sugar is a recent rise. It did not show up on blood tests a few months ago. Hoping we are ahead of serious damage and can bring it down.

I added daily cinnamon several days ago and walk a half hour per day so far, plus whatever I do working the garden, calling lions etc. Don’t have it all together but I’m getting there.

Dillonbuck, what’s the problem of starting a virtually all protein, veggie and some fat diet all at once?

One of the better threads on The campfire.

Since you mentioned your eye check, don’t buy new glasses now as your vision will change again as your sugar comes down.

As others have mentioned, your A1C is an indirect measure of your average sugar level over the past 3 months. A reading of 11 likely means this didn’t just start in the past few weeks. Fortunately, most of the damage that this does takes a little time to develop. You can win. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

A few posts have noted it exercise in addition to diet and meds if you're going that route...how often do you have to exercise? Only on the days that you eat.

Go ahead and quote all the study statistics you want, 1000mg. of Metformin had me s hitting uncontrolably at a moments notice often with little or no warning. The endocrinologist reduced the Metformin dosage by half and added other meds. Now I can keep my a1c below 7 and often close to 6 without any unpleasant side effects of any of the meds. Diet, exercise and weight loss work together to make diabetes something you can live with.

I was miserable my skin when I was 270 lbs.
I was diagnosed as diabetic at 8.5 A1c.

I just said no.

I've kept my A1c at 5.5 for 4 years now.

Weight at 193-200.

I get on the scale every morning and eat accordingly for that day.
193 is perfect for me.

My life changed so incredibly when I realized I had to do this.

I was never overweight when I was young, but somehow in my 50's it caught up to me.

I'm sorry if I sound preachy Sometimes, but my life was so radically transformed that if I can help just one person...

Another good Campfire thread with some heartfelt and useful information. The place is on a roll!!!

My tidbit of info to add (and I heard it alluded to) is to avoid Metformin and tree stands in combination... holy [bleep]!

Metformin is a first line drug and you will likely be on it, at least for awhile until you can get some weight off and make other needed adjustments to your diet/life. As mentioned, sustained relief metformin can help with the bowel issues. Rybelsus(oral)or Trulicity(weekly injectable) are newer drugs that really help as well and help with getting the weight down, too if that is a big part of the issue. The latter two are VERY expensive if you don't have insurance that covers them but they do work.

Hard to describe how nice it is to get off the meds and re-establish some peace of mind.

The intermittent fasting combined with smarter eating helped me get over the insulin resistance hurdle and back into the tree stand!!! Remember persistence and discipline are required, too. With time, it will become your new habit and will feel "normal." As Dr. Fung spells out in his book, you can still enjoy celebrate special moments and holidays, etc. with traditional foods and "reward" yourself on occasion... just can't be the routine any longer.

This. "it doesntwork for me" is a cop out. Its proven. Do it.

^ bingo

With an A1C of 11, your long term is a little shorter than most.

Tag

Do as pharmseller says and get an appt. with the diabetes specialist as soon as possible. You're doing good with the low carb diet, keep that up.

Your doc proscribed the metformin as a stop gap until the specialist can evaluate you, forget about diarrhea, with an A1C of 11 your issues are much more important than the squirts.

Don't listen to anyone that tries to talk you out of using medicine to control it. You need to get it under control NOW, getting off of medicines through diet and exercise is a laudable long term goal but right now you need to get it under control to stop the damage it's doing, that means taking the medicine.

Get to the specialist ASAP and do exactly what he says.

[quote[b][/b]=gunswizard]Go ahead and quote all the study statistics you want, 1000mg. of Metformin had me s hitting uncontrolably at a moments notice often with little or no warning. The endocrinologist reduced the Metformin dosage by half and added other meds. Now I can keep my a1c below 7 and often close to 6 without any unpleasant side effects of any of the meds. Diet, exercise and weight loss work together to make diabetes something you can live with.[/quote]


“That much Metformin will cause explosive diarrhea, you'll be s hitting thru the screen door uncontrolably. Trust me on that one BTDT”


The quote above is from your first post. You tell the OP that he will experience explosive diarrhea. Not might, not can, but will. Just because you did doesn’t mean he will. Stating definitively that your experience will be his experience is irresponsible.





P

😳

Very possible, but only if it stays there. If a new diagnosis motivates a fellow to eat right, exercise, stop smoking and control his B/P, it can add years to his life and life to his years. I’ve seen it go both ways.

Cut the carbs way back. Get some exercise at least 3-4 days a week. You might try intermittent fasting. Eat during an 8 hour window during each day, then fast the other 16. Only water, black coffee, or tea during your fast. Works for me. It takes some discipline, but when you think about the effects of high blood glucose (heart damage, eye damage, kidney damage, foot amputation) it makes it a little easier. Good luck on your journey buddy.

Ron

It is beneficial to exercise every day. You don't have to do 2 hours at the gym though. Find something you enjoy doing that gets you out of breath enough that you would need a minuet to talk. I cycle nearly every day. My knees couldn't take running, but I can get that run in on the bike in just 10 minuets. If you make exercise fun and do it enough to make it a habit, you will want to do it every day. Get that out of breath exercise every day and just strength train at specific times.

After reading this thread, I watched some of Dr. Berry’s vids, and his thinking makes a lot of sense to me. I am not going totally carnivore right off, but am cutting the carbs and sugar(redundant, I know) out to start, limiting dairy severely, and reworking my exercise routine a bit. I am not sick, pretty healthy actually, but at 50, the aches and pains have been getting to where they rob me of sleep, and it is getting a bit harder to stay at my ideal weight. If losing the sugar and other carbs fixes or improves these things, dairy will go next, and I may end up at simple meat and very select vegetables before its over. I am more interested in staying healthy and feeling good than I am in eating any damn thing I please.

Food in this country has become for many something to satisfy cravings and please the mind, rather than something used to nourish the body first and foremost. I have been as guilty as anyone of this, and can start to see the toll it takes on a body. For me, that is unacceptable, so changes will be made.

OP, thanks for starting this one. With the wide experience and knowledge here, we have the ability to help one another with a lot of things, and that sure beats a lot of the inane conversation that seems to prevail this time of year.

No carbs.

The less you can eat, the better.

But no carbs.

Start moving. Exercise is an aggressive position for your current condition. Just move, doing something,every day.

FWIW interim report for anyone dealing with high blood sugar or who wants to try out a low carb eating plan. Informational rather than prescriptive.

After three full days of meat, veggies, a big tea spoon of cinnamon, no sugar and almost zero carbs, my morning blood sugar is 138 before any breakfast or exercise. Breakfast yesterday: two slices bacon and two eggs; lunch, home ground venison patty and eggs; supper, ling cod speared that afternoon; veggies raw as snacks all day. I feel very good, for a change. Also intake about a table spoon of olive olive oil and walk for a half hour, with short segments of fast walking to get heart going. I have no convenient way to power lift so for now that is wish. Give me a break, I’m 77 and well past expiry date.

12 days into 2K mg of metformin, had some loose stool yesterday, but no diarrhea. Re the cinnamon: I regard claims about it askance, but figure it won’t hurt and if the boosters of it are right, it might do me some good.