Diabetes Success Story - Getting Diabetes in Remission in 9 Months
When someone is first diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, it can feel like they have been robbed of a part of their freedom. Being told to cut out foods that they enjoy and pressured to exercise, most of them wouldn’t know how to start and how to sustain this new lifestyle.
Watch how Mr Png Yeong Siang managed to navigate this process and get type 2 diabetes in remission in 9 months through a combination of medical treatment and lifestyle modification (Diabetes remission is defined as achieving HbA1c level of less than 6.5% at least three months after stopping diabetes medication).
It is possible to bring life closer to normal even if you have diabetes!
Mr. Png’s Story
Life before diabetes diagnosis
Mr. Png is a person who loves Singaporean food, especially chicken rice.
His field of work requires him to respond quickly to changing circumstances, and there was often periods of high stress when managing complex projects.
He had to work long, irregular hours, disrupting his diet.
He used to jog regularly in the past until he suffered a knee injury.
How he was diagnosed with diabetes
He noticed that he was losing a lot of weight quickly.
He was feeling exceptionally tired, even his colleagues noticed that he looked more haggard.
His vision was starting to blur.
He did a fasting glucose test at a clinic, finding out that his blood sugar level was 12.9 mmol/L - 2 times higher than the normal range.
He went through a period of denial. He couldn’t believe that despite trying to control his diet in the past, he was still diagnosed with diabetes.
How he started controlling his diabetes
Instead of waiting for months for a follow-up consultation with his clinic, he decided to visit NOVI for an assessment of his condition.
Dr. Sue Anne Toh and team conducted tests to help him assess the impact of diabetes on his body, and recommended medication that not only helped with diabetes, but also protected his pancreas and kidneys.
He took up NOVI’s lifestyle program, which included a FreeStyle Libre Sensor that showed him his blood sugar in real time.
NOVI’s dietitian and doctors were able to see his blood sugar and the food that he consumed, gradually helping him adjust his diet so that he could start eating some of his favourite foods again.
NOVI’s fitness instructor designed workout plans that helped him to increase his muscle mass so that his body could break down sugar more efficiently.
The result of his efforts
6 months after being diagnosed with diabetes, his blood sugar (HbA1c) went from 12.9% to 5.6%.
He stopped taking medication, and at 9 months, his blood sugar was 5.9 mmol/L.
With a healthier body and lifestyle, he has higher energy levels and can enjoy more things in life than he used to.
One of the most precious takeaways for him is that he was able to spend more quality time with his eldest daughter, who decided to go on walks with him. It helped them get closer together than ever.
His advice to people with diabetes
Seek treatment early, take action in your life to make changes and don’t fight the process. You can bring life back to normal!
Learn more about the program that Mr Png joined
The world is full of advice for diabetes control: Foods to avoid, foods to consume, exercises to do, supplements to take etc.. But how do you separate the fact from fiction, and how can you incorporate them into your lifestyle?
NOVI Magnum is a diabetes management program that we designed to help address diabetes holistically, combining medical care with expert diet and fitness coaching. The focus of this program is to help you find the right balance between medication, diet and exercise so that you can live an enjoyable life while keeping diabetes in control.
