Do you know someone who has it?  How is it going?  How did it go? 

I have it
I'm doing ... well, it depends who you ask. 
I say I'm doing pretty well.  I know what I can't eat (w/o adjusting what else I eat that day), what I can have a little of and what I can have all I care to.   Atkins made low carb (sugars) diet popular so there are quite a few books, foods & websites, and hundreds of recipes online. 
I take 3 pills a day - it should be one or two, but the current Rx is 3, w/o any real reason.
I do NOT stick myself and take my blood glucose (sugar).  I have the stuff to do it.  See above.
The Drs keep saying I could do better and if I don't it'll get worse.   It's been .. wow..  8 yrs.

My biggest problem (since the initial diet adjustment) has been changing insurance and therefor Drs.
My ins. has changed 5 times, so 5 new Drs...

Is there anything more you want to ask / know?

Do you know someone who has it?  How is it going?  How did it go?

Diet, keep weight down, and exercise, walking is a huge help, it isn't like you need to live at the gym.I was dancing with it now have sugar under control by doing those few things.

When I was diagnosed, my A1c was somewhere around 11. That's bad. Really fucking bad.

Went on drugs, cut our carbs and got it under control, but I was slowly needing to increase dosages.

Went on a basically zero carb diet (meat, veggies, protein shakes) and started running. Lost 100 pounds and got off all meds (type 2 meds and BP meds). A1c came in at 5.3 around then, which is basically normal to really good.

Got divorced and started enjoying myself a little too much, got injured, stopped running, never really got back to it. Ended up in ER with stupid high BP and my A1c was back up too high (just under 7 as I recall). Went back on meds, cut back on carbs and got it all under control.

Back to where I'm looking to add meds/increase dosage to keep it under control. Not real happy about that, so I've very recently bought some new running shoes/shorts and I have to get back it.

If you're borderline, you can probably just make some tweaks to your lifestyle and keep it at bay. Once you've broken your metabolism, it's always sitting there just waiting for you to fuck up again.

Low carb and high fiber work. I've controlled it being a meat-atarian and a vegan both. Neither works forever unless you're also keeping your weight in check and exercising pretty much daily (once you're broken....)

If you are borderline, I'd highly recommend cutting out bread, pastries, chips, pretzels, high starch veggies like potatoes and corn. And take a LONG walk after every meal, at a minimum.

If its new to you (or whoever you're asking for) don't believe me about the carbs. Buy a meter and test yourself after every meal. Keep a simple log of your what you ate and what your blood sugar level was an hour or two after every meal. Your meter will quickly show you what's what.

I got diagnosed days after cataract surgery last year (I'm 64). The call was "DON'T HAVE THE SURGERY!" (literally, that urgent.)  I reminded them they had drawn blood on Friday with special arrangements because of the 10am Tuesday surgery and they normally didn't do Fridays. The call happened Wednesday at 6pm. The surgical team said that they do the diabetic precautions on all their patients so I was cool.

2 Metformin's twice a day. No blood sampling prescribed so no sticky-pokey. Diet and exercise have helped me lose 50 pounds in the last 6 months. Last Dr visit and the blood work shows such improvement and good numbers that they cut the Metformin to 1 twice a day. When the training nurse-practitioner asked about me testing, I explained no one had ever said I needed it. The Dr then explained that I was a great example of a motivated and "well read" patient and how Type2 could be done with less medication if the patient carries the weight of responsibility.

OTOH my Sister-in-Law has it and is now wider than tall, still eats fried everything, has to test her blood all the time, and is on the ragged edge of the next phase (insulin?). My Son-in-Law's mother had it and lost a foot because she didn't take her destiny in her own hands[1]; expecting Dr's to do her work for her. My maternal grandmother was Type1 and took insulin from as early as I can remember.

With that kind of personal experience of those in my extended family, I'm determined to get completely off the metformin. The Dr said it's harder to get off it than avoid it in the first place. I suspect it means that the biannual checkups show a stable trend of in-spec readings and maybe down to 1 pill once a day then work to none (but I'm not the medical expert).

Carbs and sugars are a big deal to fighting it off. Carbs are converted to sugars so you have to look at them as the same thing except processed sugar is faster absorbing so initially worse.

I use MyFitnessPal and pay the extra to run their "heart healthy" diet option. More than anything else, this is an educational tool that works even better if you use it to plug in things BEFORE you eat them. It can then warn you away from a choice before it's "too late".

I cut out ALL sodas (diet sodas are super high in sodium), snacks like chips and candies/cookies/etc., and even many of the "heart healthy" snacks like "veggie chips" because they are often high in sodium or fat. You can learn what can fill you for less "cost" toward your daily limits compared to quick-fun things that don't leave you full for as long but are high in total costs toward those limits. You can be full and still well-below your daily limits of hungry while already maxed out. Your choice.

1. Seems the mechanism of amputation in diabetics is not unlike that of those with leprosy. Nephropathy can set in on hands and feet so that you don't feel it when you get an injury. The cut can get infected (which you also then don't feel). That infection can move into the bones and viola(!) amputation. This is another thing that walking can make HUGE benefits in fighting off.