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It’s interesting because it seems like our beginnings were the same, but the response of the medical professionals were different. I had the blood test at urgent care and they called me back the next day and said “your A1C is 13.6 you should go see an endocrinologist.” No sense of it being an emergency. I googled and google convinced me it kinda was, so I looked around and found an endocrinologist, who was a couple hours away but had an appointment the next day. She tested me and it was 13 in her office, and she said “you have diabetes, you should eat better and exercise and come back in 3 months for another A1C.” I asked about medication and she said I could if I really wanted to, I mentioned that I was concerned about my weight too and she picked Ozempic. But none of it seemed urgent.
But Google said it was urgent, so I read a bunch of things and started exercising and got the Stelo. I also found an online dietician who was a great cheerleader but didn’t have a clue about diabetes.
But that didn’t seem right so I went looking for a local endocrinologist who saw me this week, and a dietician who is a CDCES who saw me this week too.
I have been exercising a lot. I have a job where I walk a lot, and I have been walking on my days off. My average since diagnosis has been about 9K. I have been trying to work out twice a day. I have been the treadmill on an incline, the elliptical, swimming, and doing tai chi and stength videos. Interestingly, my numbers are better if I exercise before I eat, instead of after, which is good because that’s easier for my schedule.
Anyway, because it’s only been a month they haven’t rerun the A1C but the endo said that my current stats would be 7.1 or 7.2 if they stayed there for 3 months.
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@anonymom3
Yes, I like to exercise before a reading, not after a meal. Most recommendations are for after and they make sense, but may not improve readings as much. But you don't go swimming for 30 minutes after a meal, and all that. I think it's not that crucial.
If you already get plenty of exercise that's enough, it's not a case of more is always better, in fact too much exercise can get your body releasing more glucose and raise your readings! It's mostly harmless, just the body doing what it should, but it messes up the record, lol.
Y'know, here' a thing, if your A1C is already down to 7.1 then the Ozempic is not particularly necessary. Now, losing weight is also helpful for controlling diabetes and Ozempic (and such) is great for losing weight. Metformin is a cheap, standard pill that truly helps - but it commonly has a side effect of loose bowels, manageable for most people but for some, not. First day or two is rough but then it settles down - or doesn't. Well Ozempic is fashionable, too, so what the heck!
You want to learn to count your carbs, in the foods you eat. There's tons online and in print. It's not as complex as it looks, there are really just a few general rules, and one of the general rules is: read the labels on the back of the package! Soon you can go out to a restaurant and read the menu and guess pretty well what the meal will be. And like everything else, just getting within 15-20% does the job. You can also ask for a referral to a nutritionist who does know something about diabetes. And there are various tips and tricks to help, too, once you have the general idea.
Hope that helps.
It took me about ninety days, and a lot of Internet time, before I had all the drugs and diet and exercise worked out for my case. I was lucky, perhaps you were too, that such a high reading could be so quickly moderated. Others are not that lucky no matter what they do.