Any Here Not Formally Diagnosed

[Chronicle_Cat]

Hi all,

Are there any people here who aren't formally diagnosed? Here in this part of Canada (Ontario), it takes 3 consecutive hba1c tests over a period of 18 months to receive a formal diagnosis. (I don't know if this is the case in the UK or it's diagnosed more quickly).

At my last doctor's visit 3 weeks ago, my hba1c was 7%, within the diabetic range. (I haven't had a blood panel for several years and put off the routine blood tests due to another medical concerns that led to major surgery a year ago). My doctor told me that I am high risk and I need to implement major changes (reduce carbs, exercise, low weight) . She did not give me any medication (yet). My other blood glucose test was in the normal range. She told me that is a "huge wakeup" call and will be monitoring me. For purposes of this site, I put myself in the prediabetic category (not sure whether I should be here or in Type 2).

Since then I've reduced my carbs and portions, started exercising (6 days 20-30 minutes cardio), weightlifting 2X a week. I've lost 10 1/2 lbs so far and feel much better physically.

I have a friend with type 2 who highly recommended this site (she gotten her glucose levels down considerably mostly with diet). She also suggested a glucose meter which I just started using. (Today is my first day.) Hopefully I can smooth out the spikes I must have been having (which lead to the hba1c).

BTW, I'm 62.

 

[Canvaspic]

Hi, followed you over from the other thread.

In Ireland, the diagnosis is fairly doctor specific, I had a number of infections, specifically a painful ear infection, which was probably a yeast infection. I was tracking my own FBG with a view to keeping my numbers down to affect a cure. It didnt dawn on me that I might be diabetic until I found that the diet wasn’t working. Even with decent weight loss the numbers were still rising. So in the end it was just a realisation it was going to take more than diet to bring the numbers into line. Had 2 OGTT tests, first went to 11.3 but the second only 8.5. So I have a peice of paper that says I am prediabatic, but I think its fairly arbitrary. Main thing is keep the numbers down, use what you need to achieve lower numbers, keep a distance between yourself and complications. Best of luck.

 

[Guzzler]

Here in the UK two HbA1c tests are used a couple of weeks/one month apart, the second test confirms diagnosis. This is how my T2 was diagnosed.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Yes, in the UK an HbA1c of over 6.5% would be classed as diabetic, and would normally be followed by a second HbA1c within 2 or 3 weeks to confirm the first unless there were physical symptoms or other markers that made diagnosis obvious. Looks like you are diabetic!

 

[hazelzac]

Hi , my oggt post 2 hour was 8.5 ,but my hba1c was 5.1 which is completely normal. Dr said they will repeat the tests in 2 months ,here in Australia I don't know what guidelines they follow they haven't diagnosed me for prediabetes yet. I am checking my bsl regularly and I have left all sorts of carbs I take 20 to 30 gram carbs and trying to loose weight.

 

[AloeSvea]

Hi all,

Are there any people here who aren't formally diagnosed? Here in this part of Canada (Ontario), it takes 3 consecutive hba1c tests over a period of 18 months to receive a formal diagnosis. (I don't know if this is the case in the UK or it's diagnosed more quickly).

At my last doctor's visit 3 weeks ago, my hba1c was 7%, within the diabetic range. (I haven't had a blood panel for several years and put off the routine blood tests due to another medical concerns that led to major surgery a year ago). My doctor told me that I am high risk and I need to implement major changes (reduce carbs, exercise, low weight) . She did not give me any medication (yet). My other blood glucose test was in the normal range. She told me that is a "huge wakeup" call and will be monitoring me. For purposes of this site, I put myself in the prediabetic category (not sure whether I should be here or in Type 2).

Since then I've reduced my carbs and portions, started exercising (6 days 20-30 minutes cardio), weightlifting 2X a week. I've lost 10 1/2 lbs so far and feel much better physically.

I have a friend with type 2 who highly recommended this site (she gotten her glucose levels down considerably mostly with diet). She also suggested a glucose meter which I just started using. (Today is my first day.) Hopefully I can smooth out the spikes I must have been having (which lead to the hba1c).

BTW, I'm 62.

Your doctor said you were high-risk? Not 'Congrats' (not!) 'You have diabetes'?. I am hearing more and more of these stories, and I find it, well, intriguing?. I think 'diabetes' (as well as 'prediabetes') have become scary, almost dirty, words that many medical professionals are choosing not to use, it would seem. And it seems you have been on the 'bad information' end of that what may be a trend! She gave you the advice a medical professional is in fact supposed to give a diabetic, or person in the diabetic blood glucose range, if you prefer. And you got way better advice than most. (I love her advice!) But for you to go away from that appointment with the idea that you are prediabetic, ie in a risk zone, and not a diabetic with an HBA1c of 53 is not good in my opinion.

53 is not very high, and I think she was trying to inspire you with 'hey, you can get out of this diabetic range' rather than leave you feeling down. I appreciate her perspective. Good on her in fact. (And I would say that to anyone with in the full spectrum of diabetic levels, - I began at 93 at diagnosis after all!) But what a shame to leave you with this confusion!

If I was you I would look at the wonderful '50 shades of diabetes' graph on this site, and see your colour coding - I find that a very helpful way of looking at the ranges there, complete with an excellent, in fact, the best, way of comparing the % system and the 'other' numbering system for HBA1cs (ie the average-ish of your last 1-3 months of blood glucose levels). 53, or 7% there, is deep orange. Prediabetes is yellow and pale orange. (Love the colour coding!) Then enjoy it as you watch your HBA1c change colours! As in get lighter. (It can also go the other way, as I have experienced, which is a whole other story, but hey! This is essentially an up-beat posting, which I guess is what your doctor was going for...)

 

[Chronicle_Cat]

But for you to go away from that appointment with the idea that you are prediabetic, ie in a risk zone, and not a diabetic with an HBA1c of 53 is not good in my opinion.

Hi,

I think I was told this because I technically don't meet the current requirement for diabetes diagnosis the way it is diagnosed here .

However, you are right, I need to regard myself as diabetic, Type 2. Getting better control of my blood glucose levels (which is the hallmark of diabetes) and making permanent changes and continuing to watch it for the rest of my life means I have diabetes. (I know I had some denial at the beginning. I do remember telling her, "I CAN'T have diabetes, no one in my family has ever had it." I'm changing my status on my picture to Type 2 if I can.

I went and looked at the "50 shades of diabetes" graphic, it is very helpful.

Since I got my meter 3 days ago,I've been testing myself 6 times -when I wake & before & after meals. I have been eating lower carbs and exercising for the last 3 weeks so my tests are probably better than what would have shown before.Most of the time, my blood sugar has been very level (usually varying by less than 1.0%) and I've usually tested in the in the low 6%s although I had 1 spike the first evening of 7.5% (which I think was related to soybeans in homemade chili in my dinner. Although they are considerably lower in carbs than other beans, I think they have may have been the cause of that spike. I will try it one more time to see for certain but will probably eliminate it from my diet and make meat only chili.) I've been trying to "eat to my meter".

My fasting levels have been 6.1%, 6.5% and 5.2% mmol/l.

 

[Indy51]

Don't know if the method is still the same, but when I was diagnosed in Australia, it came after a health scare for related reasons - it was 2 fasting BG tests, followed by a 2hr OGTT and A1c. The A1c and fasting were in the prediabetes range, but the OGTT fit the Type 2 criteria and is considered the "gold standard" diagnostic tool here.

 

[Bluetit1802]

My fasting levels have been 6.1%, 6.5% and 5.2% percent. (My meter tests in %).

Are you sure your meter tests in % ? I have never known a meter that does that. They are normally mmol/l or mg/dl. I suspect yours may be mmol/l. (mg/dl measurements are in double or treble figures)

 

[Chronicle_Cat]

Are you sure your meter tests in % ? I have never known a meter that does that. They are normally mmol/l or mg/dl. I suspect yours may be mmol/l. (mg/dl measurements are in double or treble figures)

Yes, you are right, it is mmol/l. I got confused - the HbA1c levels here in Canada use the old British system %. (Glad I'm not an American who has to multiply by 18 or divide by 18 for converting mmol/l to mg DL or vice versa. )

 

[AloeSvea]

I hear you on the shock, @Chronicle_Cat - even with all the warnings 'out there' it had never occurred to me Diabetes would get me either. I'm the first on both sides of my family to get T2D too. But we have never seen a world with the kind of food, or food products that we have, and many of our bodies just can't take it. (All that processed food! All that sugar and carbs!)

The good news is you can get better, from the point where you are, to a better point, and especially with fasting blood glucose levels like you have (which indicates to me your liver is still responding to hormone signals - or that is how I would read those FBGs in any case) - you can probably get right out of the pre/diabetes range altogether.

Coming to this forum, and good on your pal for suggesting it to you! - was a really good move. You can read how other people have gotten significantly better, and pick and choose amongst the methods - as they are all here! (Wonderfully so!) Find a method or methods that suit you, and suits your lifestyle. Especially re what kind of 'way of eating'/diet you want to do. Or at least - give a try. You have your meter, you have the forum - it's all go! (In a good way of course.)

And yeah - I don't usually say this, but I can to you - you have your doctor who gives really good advice . It's all go indeed!

 

[Glink]

Hi Chronical_Cat, I was initially diagnosed--sort of--in another Canadian province. I also had a mish mash of lab tests that put me rather borderline, but I was having other health issues and symptoms classic to diabetes that pushed things along. I had to be proactive and self-document (home testing and diet logs) for a while to be taken seriously, but it was worth it because for me going low carb made me feel much better and then I got access to prescriptions for test strips and eventually meds that helped me keep things under control. The endocrinologist basically sent me back to my GP and told me not to return until things got worse (after running a bunch of tests to rule out other underlying things that might explain my surprisingly high fasting sugars), but my GP tracked me pretty well (FBG and A1c quarterly) and eventually put me on metformin when my sugars rose again. I think I had a formal IFG diagnosis but not an official diabetes one. I probably could have been diagnosed with T2 if I had stopped taking care of myself but that didn't seem necessary/worth while, as I feel quite awful when my sugars get high. I would have liked to have GAD antibody testing (I was thin and young and already ate "healthy" and exercised more than average, so LADA is suspected) but my province didn't cover it. I second the recommendation of this site for support, especially for figuring out dietary changes--with the caveat that everyone is different and you kind of have to take all advice here with a grain of salt.

 

[pollensa]

thank you for informing system in Canada I find this most helpful, especially for those of us who are residing in different counrties with different diagnosing procedures and varying cut offs, i.e. depends where you are in world when your diagnosed.

To have 3 tests I would welcome personally, i.e. to be 100% sure one is not mis diagnosed incorrectly. The wonderful thing on top, how lucky you are your doc has guided you in the best possible way low carb and change of lifestyle, also you have taken charge of this wake up call, and are doing something about it congratulations. Although 18 months is period before official diagnosis, your change of lifestyle as your mention, hopefully will prove great positive results by lowering your current status, and when next test, that provided diagnosis, will hopefully show non diabetic?????? So dont give up on your lifestyle change.

Here is spain unfortunatetly its one test A1C, even though one may have normal finger prick blood tests, for random anytime after eat, 2 hr after eat and fasting, even if they are normal and A1C shows high over the cut off, you are diagnosed as diabetic with discordant results, I was victim to this, and found had normal finger results, and proved a lab error typographical had taken place, the just of this information, is had I not pushed pleaded begged my doctor for a 2nd A1C which proved non diabetic range, I would have been mis diagnosed as Diabetic....

Be happy that Caution Canada gives 3 tests waits for surety purposes, seems pragmatic and good medical sense, however, that may not be viewed the same by the majority??

Perhaps of help go to www.dietdoctor.com excellent website for low carb lifestyle and eating, enjoy!! yum yum

thanks for sharing the system in Canada, I find such posts vital importance, to add to general information we all learn from forums and posts generally.

Have a nice day from Mallorca Spain, buy the way have you heard of Dr. Jason Fung, from Canada, I am a great fan and admire his thoughts on Diabetes generally on all areas, has some very helpful books also.


Mallorca Spain