New, confused and admittedly scared

CanadianGuy

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi all,

I'm a new member from Canada.

About a year ago my doc sent me for routine bloodwork. I never followed up with him and always thought, "Oh if something's wrong, THEY'LL call".
Went back for something else the day before Halloween, and I looked at my chart and my FBG was at 6.0. He never told me that...

My diet and lifestyle has not been good due to work stress and some laziness. I put on some weight.
He sent me for more bloodwork when I made an issue of this.

My fasting BG was 6.4. My A1c was 5.0 (which confuses me).
From the time I found out about my 6.0, I have been working out, eating healthier and gave up the booze. I'm 5'9" and went down from about 188 pounds to 175/176, where I'm at currently, in less than a month. I've given up the McDonald's and the donuts and the whatnot for broccoli, chicken breasts, beans, salads, home cooking.

I have an indoor rowing machine and I try to row 5,000 meters daily, until I am sweaty as hell.
In just a few weeks of eating right and taking exercising seriously, my clothes fit loosely. The other day I had to run to my house from my car, and my pants (at their tightest notch) started falling off! I had to put another notch in my belt just to keep my pants on.

The dress pants I bought for work, which used to be tight at the waist, now look kind of silly on me. When I meet up with clients at work (work with criminals involved with the CJS) three so far have said, "wow you look good, have you been working out?"
My face looks a lot skinnier.
My stamina has greatly improved.

However....going from 6.0 to 6.4 in 10 months scared me. And I'm confused why my A1C is at 5.0.

Only thing I can think of is, I have a LOT of work stress lately and I am very anxious lately...this new doctor's visit and hearing the 6.4 number made me feel so scared I can't relax and feel like I'm losing control. I wake up in fight or flight in the morning. I wonder if that's skewing my FBG #'s?

I've been visiting my doctor with extreme anxiety lately but he refuses to give me any RX's, just tells me to deal with anxiety and that i don't fit the profile of somebody who needs drugs. Now i am anxious that my anxiety is physically affecting my health.

Well I said a mouthful so far.

Hi all. :)
 
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pleinster

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,631
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
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ignorance
Hi. Possibly the figure referred to in you HbA1c do not equate directly to the other figures you refer to. For example, the HbA1c results can be expressed in DOCT figures or in IFCC (in the UK, msot of us know our HbA1c results in the latter). For example the older style DOCT of 5.9 equates to the IFCC of 41 (on the border of pre-diabetic and diabetic), and it gives you a result derived from the average of your blood sugar over the preceding 3 months. The meter readings tend to be in mmols and are less accurate indications of your blood sugar only at the time of testing. Now, 5.9 on the DOCT scale might be expressed as a blood sugar level of 6.8 mmols. Hopefully the chart below will help clarify this. I'd advise you to persist with the diet (consider cutting the carbs a little more if possible, though you seem to be eating few), record your meter readings with the food you eat (noting levels before and two hours after eating) and look for patterns and adjust the diet accordingly. Further, be aware that stress can definitely have an impact on your levels. I hope you manage..I'm confident you will as you have come to this site. Good luck.
50shades - Copy.png
 
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Liam1955

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Last edited:

lindijanice

Well-Known Member
Messages
433
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hello @CanadianGuy from another "Canadian" - I married a Canadian guy so do I qualify?? You certainly seem to have taken the bull by the horns as it were and gotten your act together re: the prediabetes.... Try to relax a little as it seems you have enough on your plate! Don't make prediabetes another stressor if at all possible - it is a journey, not a marathon as so many on here say, and rightly so. We do have the option in Canada of looking for another Doc who will actually listen to us and not trivialize our health issues - who will treat the whole individual. Maybe time to be looking??? Don't cut yourself short - you have to be your own advocate in these matters.... The stress of working with criminals has a whole level of factors and issues that many other occupations don't have - I have worked with a number of them myself in one of my jobs so I hear you - so look after yourself please! Will be looking for further posts to see how you are doing. Blessings/L
 
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paulus1

Well-Known Member
Messages
843
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
youve cut carbs youve lost weight and exercising. man your doing all the right stuff so just carry on the bloods will drop. if stressed keep an eye on your bp. and try to de stress. no point being non diabetic and having stress related issues
 
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Bluetit1802

Legend
Messages
25,216
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi and welcome @CanadianGuy

I would simply like to point out that fasting blood glucose numbers are unreliable, which is why they are rarely used these days to diagnose diabetes. If this test is higher than it should be it is just an indicator (and in the UK it has to be 7mmol/l or more to indicate diabetes, and above 6mmol/l to indicate pre-diabetes) It is then followed up by at least 1 if not 2 HbA1c tests to arrive at a diagnosis. My surgery doesn't do them at all, for anyone. They just use the HbA1c (or one of the other recommended diagnostic tests such as the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test - which in my opinion is the most reliable).

Many factors affect the fasting test. These include the time of day the test was taken, what you did between getting up and having the test (rushing about, showering, driving etc), whether you had a disturbed night, the amount of additional stress before the test (even hanging about waiting to be called in is stressful).

If you buy your own glucose meter you may see what I mean.

I congratulate you on being pro-active and changing your habits in order to avoid diabetes. Well done. :)
 
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Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi and welcome. Your figures seem fine. The HBA1c units are the same globally but have been changing from a % value to a mmol value in recent years. The figure 5 will be the % value and is extremely good. Yes, if you want to do any spot meter checks do these 2 hours after a meal.
 
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pleinster

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Thanks for that change @Liam1955 - still a bit dodgy though. I have what I believe is known as coulrophobia. It's not so much a fear of clowns as it is a mental disorder whereby fear of them could cause a reaction to brutally assault them if they appear suddenly in front of me. I hate clowns more than I hate my diabetes. Okay..I am exaggerating...very,very slightly.
 

Goacher55

Well-Known Member
Messages
948
Type of diabetes
Type 2
I really wish I had access to this forum when I was initially diagnosed. It’s fabulous ! And no question is so silly that someone won’t have been through it or asked it . I’m lucky my diabetic nurse and my gp are fabulous. My main advice it’s something that needs respecting but not necessarily fearing.i hope that makes sense
 

Liam1955

Master
Messages
10,964
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
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Anti-Gay People, Self Centre People, Two Faced People and Bad Language.
Thanks for that change @Liam1955 - still a bit dodgy though. I have what I believe is known as coulrophobia. It's not so much a fear of clowns as it is a mental disorder whereby fear of them could cause a reaction to brutally assault them if they appear suddenly in front of me. I hate clowns more than I hate my diabetes. Okay..I am exaggerating...very,very slightly.

Sorry @pleinster for any "suffering" both Avatars may have caused. Hope this one is more pleasing :happy:.