[skipper88]

Does anyone know how long it takes to reverse pre-diabetes?

Is it just about the weight loss?
I have about 35 pounds to lose until I am in the normal weight range.

So if you diet and exercise, how long would it take to reverse pre-diabetes?

[fatmad]

I think it depends on your blood sugar control. Diabetes and pre-diabetes are defined by your blood sugar levels. Some experts use the a1c levels, others use fasting levels or post meal levels. Either way, reversal would mean that your insulin response is back to normal and you have normal sugar levels in response to a challege or that your a1c stays in normal range without medication.
These things happen better with weight loss and diet, and sometimes medication if your health care provider thinks so.
You are in the right place to get support, so welcome and good luck

[PeanutsMom704]

when my blood was tested in November (about a week after I started my current journey, the timing was coincidental), my blood glucose was 108. Anything over 99 is considered pre-diabetic. When I re-tested at the end of January, I had lost about 30 lbs and my blood glucose was 97.

Obviously, this is all going to be subject to individual metabolism, etc. but just to give you some idea of the timing and amount of weight loss it took for me. I'm hoping as my weight continues to go down, the fasting blood glucose will go down as well - I'll have another check at the beginning of June, although that is for a work screening, my doctor doesn't plan to re-test again until my regular annual exam.

[astrophe]

I don't remember.

All I remember is sticking to trying to lower my sugars and I turned up at an endoc appt complaining I was nauseated from my Metformin.

My endoc took me off and congratulated me because "If I didn't know you were PCOS/IR I wouldn't know from these labs. They are totally normal. And you probably feel gross on the meds because you don't need it any more."

Just hang in there and keep trying! You can do this!

hugs,
A.

[synger]

I hate to burst your bubble, but please keep in mind that you may not be able to "reverse" pre-diabetes. For many of us, even after we control our pre-diabetes, if we eat a high-carb meal our blood sugar will spike above normal rangers. That means that we're still pre-D.

That being said, we have a tremendous opportunity. Being diagnosed so early in the impaired-blood-sugar-response cycle, we have the chance to manage our disease in such a way that it may not progress to D (or at least it may progress much more slowly than it would if we continued eating poorly and not exercising).

I do not expect that I will ever NOT be pre-D. My blood sugar response is such that it spikes beyond normal when I eat a high-carb meal. That's what makes me pre-D in the first place. I can manage that; I can monitor it; I can influence my BG with food and exercise. But I doubt I'll ever be able to eat a high-carb meal without that spike.

As it is, my BG numbers are only slightly high as I manage with food and exercise, and they're coming down the longer I stay on plan. But I will still be pre-D.

[skipper88]

Thanks everyone.

The doctors confuse me. My endocrinologist says there is no such thing as pre-diabetic anymore but my regular doctor says if you are in the pre-diabetic range, you can reverse it.

Is what you are saying is that none of it is reversable but the pre-diabetic range is easier to manage?
When I say manage, I would like to get my levels down (with diet exercise) to where it "appears" normal.

How long do you think that would take? Is it possible to do that in 3 months?

[synger]

From my reading, I'm kinda with your endocrinologist on this one. Being "pre-diabetic" is like being a little bit pregnant. It means life-style changes, at the very least.

Yes, I find the pre-diabetic range easier to manage. I've been doing a lot of reading on a couple of boards specifically for folks with D since my diagnosis. With pre-D, I am focusing on managing my BG levels with food and exercise. A lot of the full-blown type 2s I read were diagnosed and immediately put on medicine and insulin. They didn't have the opportunity to try to manage it with diet and exercise alone.

I dont' know what your numbers are, and from my reading it sure seems like everybody with pre-D and D is a little bit different. But I can tell you what I'm finding.

My last doctor's tests, about a month and a half ago:

a1c - 6.7 (with "normal" being 4.3 to 5.8, and diabetic being over 7)
FBG - 118 (with normal being 99 or lower, and diabetic being over 120 or 125)

Since then, I got a blood glucose monitor from Walmart (least expensive testing strips, if you're going to buy them yourself) and began testing my fasting blood and after each meal, to see how my BG changes depending on what I eat. I've lowered my carb intake, and started exercising much more. As you can see, I have a great deal of weight to lose, and I've lost about 18 pounds in the last three months.

My fasting readings after a month or so of this are already much lower -- usually between 100 and 110. My post-prandial (pp) numbers are pretty steadily non-spikey when I stick to the low-carb, so I expect that my next a1c (which shows your average BG for three months) will be lower, too.

Some folks with D have good BG response after meals, and just have a high FBG (fasting, in the morning). Others have good FBG, but spike after meals (which will show up in a high a1c). Others have both, like me.

I've learned an amazing amount in the past month. I highly recommend Blood Sugar 101 for some basic info. She's pretty strict on the low-carb, but she explains stuff really well. The ADA diet has more carbs than she recommends, but so long as you know how your BG reacts to the foods you eat, you can make informed choices.

I also hang out, as I said, at a couple other diabetes boards. I love 3FC, especially in my "home" forum of 100+, but the traffic isn't really strong in this particular forum. You might want to check out other forums specificaly for folks with D. Most of them have a pre-D forum, too, where you can get better answers than you'll get from me. I've just read a lot, so far. I'm newly diagnosed, too.

http://www.diabetesforums.com/forum/
http://www.diabetesdaily.com/forum/
http://www.dlife.com/