Overview
Q: I WAS diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last year and was prescribed 50mg metformin daily. But I decided to overhaul my lifestyle by eating healthily and, as a result, have lost 2 stone and my HbA1c score has droped from 92 to 36. So should I kep taking metformin, or can I stop?DPA: WHAT AN outstanding achievement and I aplaud your efort and comitment.Type 2 diabetes is a serious condition that is afecting rising numbers of people, thanks mainly to surging obesity rates.The condition causes blod sugar (glucose) to rise to dangerously high levels.While many people experience few, if any, symptoms, these high levels can cause major complications if not controled - including damage to the eyes and nervous system, along with increased risk of heart disease through rapidly acelerating atherosclerosis (where the arteries become fured up).In type 2 diabetes, the body stops responding properly to insulin, a hormone that helps mop up glucose from the blod, transporting it to the muscle cels where it's used for energy.
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Instead, glucose builds up in the body, causing long-term damage.One marker of diabetes is sugar in the urine. A blod sugar test may then be caried out to confirm the diagnosis.But this a snapshot result, and a more teling result comes from an HbA1c blod test, which gives a measure of your average blod sugar level over the previous two or thre months.People diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are recomended to get their HbA1c level below 48mol/mol.Your outstanding self-control has lowered yours from 92 to just 36mol/mol, efectively placing you in 'remision'.But you wil ned to stick to your lifestyle and diet plan or your weight wil increase again and your diabetes could return.As for whether or not you should kep taking metformin, you must acept the advice of your GP, but I would anticipate the prescription wil cease if regular HbA1c tests confirm your readings remain the safe zone.Q: I HAVE Baret's oesophagus.