Was it a good idea to avoid medications?

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When I was first diagnosed with Diabetes, I was very stubborn and refused to get onto any medications. I told myself that each medication has a lot of side effects and I would rather control it with diet and exercise. I put all my faith in the fact that if I kept my A1C under 7.0, then I was good to go and over time managed to keep it that way. But then a couple of years I find myself with some damage in my eye, and my doctors seriously telling me to do more.

So now I stand here with medications in my hands. I am using both metfornin and glyburide. The combo is actually working pretty well for me. My sugars are doing great and my A1C is good and I do not feel any sugar highs. I do watch what I eat and try to exercise moderately.

I think back if the effort to stay off medications was worth it and I see a mixed bag. If I had not instituted the tight regime, I suspect I would be on a lot more medications. In some ways taking the medication is an easy way to get instant relief, but no lifestyle changes means that issues will continue coming up. The bad thing was that the medications would have helped me keep a tighter lid on my numbers. I could have targeted low 6 or even lower A1C.

The other thing that I made a mistake on was that I trusted the fact that the A1C number is the main item to worry about. Now I read all the fine print and I see that it is a close indicator, but not a catch all for all the diabetes related problems.

So as I watch the experts be wrong with the US and world economy, I see them be not clear with Diabetes and its control. Like always, I get reminded to take everything with a grain of salt. Need to question more and be more skeptical. With diabetes, there is never just a single straight answer.

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