Diabetes new

Andy584

Member
Messages
5
Hi i am 73 years young and riddled with arthritis, a few new tin replacements and a wife . Last week i had an episode were i ended up with my hands shaking so i could not have my tea and flaked out for 4 hours. And thought i had an hypo . The next day i was at doctors for tests as he said my sugar was high after a urine sample was done, i had bloods done later and the receptionist said everything was ok but the diabetes test was 46 and needed another blood test in 1 year. So i checked what had been said and came to your website . Although just looked through the site quickly and it looks to me a different story have i been misinformed please.
 
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Kittycat_7_

Well-Known Member
Messages
492
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi
Welcome to the forum
A hba1c of 46 suggests pre-diabetic levels
A change to your diet may reverse the changes i.e. Eating less carbs
Please ask any questions you may have
Tagging @daisy1 for her welcome pack
Take care
 
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Rachox

Oracle
Retired Moderator
Messages
15,808
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi Andy and welcome!
You’ve come to the right place. As Kittycat says your result of 46 is in the pre diabetic range, here are the ranges and an explanation of the HbA1c test which is the test you’ve had:
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/hba1c-test.html
And just to be clear Diabetes is a condition causing high blood sugars or hyperglycaemia not low or ‘hypo’glycaemia. Hypos are only associated with medications used by some diabetics or a condition called reactive hypoglycaemia.
You have a chance to reverse this before you reach the diabetic level of 48 by adjusting your diet, remove obvious sugars and cut down on carbohydrates like potatoes, rice, pasta, bread and cereals. Keep to lower sugar fruits like berries, strawberries, raspberries etc...
Best wishes from another arthritis sufferer with a few tin bits! ;)
 

Bluetit1802

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

As the others have said, you appear to be in the pre-diabetic range so with some effort and a tweak of your diet you should be able to reverse this down to normal numbers.

Something that will help you enormously is a blood glucose meter. You can use this (along side a food diary) to test before you eat and again 2 hours after first bite. This will tell you instantly what that meal did to your blood sugar levels and give you chance to reduce or eliminate some of the carbs. It will become your best friend, and is an essential tool in managing this condition.

Another thing you can do is ring the receptionist and ask for a print out of those test results. They should include a cholesterol and full lipid panel, plus kidney and liver functions. Being told they are "fine" is no use to anyone. They may be teetering on the edge of not being fine, and by the time of your next test it will be too late to do anything about it if they have gone above the cut off levels. Having print outs to keep will show you whether your levels are trending up or down. If you live in England your surgery should be putting test results on-line as they have been asked to do. You can ask about this and how to register for the service.

And lastly, could you complete your profile settings to show "pre-diabetes" etc. If you use the app you will have to log in to the website on your browser to do this. This will help everyone in future when you post or ask questions.
 
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Andy584

Member
Messages
5
First of all many thanks to kittycat7
Rachox and bluetit1802 for the very warm welcome and good advice and obviously putting me on the right track as with my thoughts . It is a little bit of a shock at all times with the name diabetic as in the early 50s my grandmother had it and in those years there was only scale balanced diet and poor insulin she had both her legs took off and turned her blind, my mother had it but things were getting better by then and also my eldest son at 50 years old has it . Now it looks as though i am on the way so with your advice and help i am sure i can have a good go at beating it the good thing is my colestrstral is low at 3. Again best wishes for the start Andy
 
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Bluetit1802

Legend
Messages
25,216
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
the good thing is my colestrstral is low at 3.

Is this because you are on statins? It is very low.
Did you know that statins cause increased blood sugars?

Yes, things have changed for the better over the years. My husband's best friend died of diabetes complications when he was only 40. (He was a type 1 from the age of 9). He had already lost much of his ability to walk, lost most of his eye sight, and had a kidney transplant. Things were very poor for diabetics then.
 

Andy584

Member
Messages
5
No i actually only started statins 6 months ago on the doctors advice mainly as they wanted people of my age on them the thing is i never questioned the drs recommendations which i really should have done as it seems as though our doctors change on a monthly basis now. I was an engineer for 50 years and loved and did my job properly. I just expect the same from professionals. It seems thats all changed now.
 

Bluetit1802

Legend
Messages
25,216
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
No i actually only started statins 6 months ago on the doctors advice mainly as they wanted people of my age on them the thing is i never questioned the drs recommendations which i really should have done as it seems as though our doctors change on a monthly basis now. I was an engineer for 50 years and loved and did my job properly. I just expect the same from professionals. It seems thats all changed now.

I think you would be wise to question your doctor's recommendation as regards statins. You need to do some research and make up your own mind as to whether you need them or not. Doctors hand them out like sweeties to a child.

If your total cholesterol is only 3, that is quite low. Perhaps you could find out what the breakdown is (HDL/LDL and triglycerides) These will be on the print out of your test results if you ask for one. We can help you if you don't understand what they mean. The HDL is the good stuff and you need that to be high. The triglycerides are the baddies and these need to be low. The LDL is often known as the bad cholesterol, but it isn't all bad. The total is just that - a total of the HDL, LDL and 46% of the triglycerides and is meaningless in itself because it includes the good stuff as well as the not so good stuff.

There is an excellent thread started by @bulkbiker all about cholesterol and statins. It is very interesting, but you need several days and lots of cups of tea to read it all. It is here - https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/cholesterol-and-statins.156985/
 
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Andy584

Member
Messages
5
Thanks for the info i am going to have a good look and check all my options now i am glad I have joined this site but i can remember my colestrol was not high when statin were given to me i will look in my records i got a copy about 2 months ago as we had a doctor who was struck off at our practice and she was my doctor for a few years
 

daisy1

Legend
Messages
26,457
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Cruelty towards animals.
@Andy584
Hello and welcome to the Forum :) Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it both interesting and helpful.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 600,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 

Pinkorchid

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,927
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi and welcome to the forum,

As the others have said, you appear to be in the pre-diabetic range so with some effort and a tweak of your diet you should be able to reverse this down to normal numbers.

Something that will help you enormously is a blood glucose meter. You can use this (along side a food diary) to test before you eat and again 2 hours after first bite. This will tell you instantly what that meal did to your blood sugar levels and give you chance to reduce or eliminate some of the carbs. It will become your best friend, and is an essential tool in managing this condition.

Another thing you can do is ring the receptionist and ask for a print out of those test results. They should include a cholesterol and full lipid panel, plus kidney and liver functions. Being told they are "fine" is no use to anyone. They may be teetering on the edge of not being fine, and by the time of your next test it will be too late to do anything about it if they have gone above the cut off levels. Having print outs to keep will show you whether your levels are trending up or down. If you live in England your surgery should be putting test results on-line as they have been asked to do. You can ask about this and how to register for the service.

And lastly, could you complete your profile settings to show "pre-diabetes" etc. If you use the app you will have to log in to the website on your browser to do this. This will help everyone in future when you post or ask questions.
We do not get our results online but are given a printout when we have our diabetic review. It is down to the individual GP surgeries how much they put online for patients to see as long as they allow something there are no rules about it With mine it is only requesting repeat medication and appointments
 

bulkbiker

BANNED
Messages
19,576
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
We do not get our results online but are given a printout when we have our diabetic review. It is down to the individual GP surgeries how much they put online for patients to see as long as they allow something there are no rules about it With mine it is only requesting repeat medication and appointments
Not really

Screenshot 2019-05-29 at 09.37.25.png


from here

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/how-to-access-your-health-records/

I think that "legal requirement" thingy sometimes might need pointing out to English surgeries at least...
 

JoKalsbeek

Expert
Messages
5,937
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
i i am 73 years young and riddled with arthritis, a few new tin replacements and a wife . Last week i had an episode were i ended up with my hands shaking so i could not have my tea and flaked out for 4 hours. And thought i had an hypo . The next day i was at doctors for tests as he said my sugar was high after a urine sample was done, i had bloods done later and the receptionist said everything was ok but the diabetes test was 46 and needed another blood test in 1 year. So i checked what had been said and came to your website . Although just looked through the site quickly and it looks to me a different story

Your levels are prediabetic, and they're mostly going to wait a year to.... Wait to see whether you'll be a T2 then so they can start you on metformin and start the usual diabetes treatment. Seems like no-one ever figures "Hey, they're pre-diabetic, let's prevent them from becoming a full-fledged Type 2 while we still can!". So basically, the time to act is now, not in a year when your HbA1c comes back diabetic. Cut carbs, discuss coming off the statin (which does have causing or aggrivating diabetes in the list of side-effects), and try to avoid the whole T2 thing alltogether. I saw people around me die horrible deaths after T2 complications, and I though I was pretty much doomed when I got my T2 diagnosis. (No-one bothered to tell me I was prediabetic for years.) Turns out you can do a whole lot just by changing your diet. I'm complication and medication free. Not what I was expecting about this whole diabetes thing at all. Same can go for you. But not if you go with the wait-and-see attitude your doc has. That's kindof closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. I have a feeling you'll be more proactive than they are. ;)

You'll be okay. And maybe your son'll benefit from your currently growing knowledge too!
Jo
 

Bluetit1802

Legend
Messages
25,216
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only

Pinkorchid

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,927
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/nhs-services/gps/gp-online-services/

this seems to infer that all GPs in England should be doing this.
I am registered with Patient Access but have been told it is down to the doctors how much we see . I am not really bothered now that I get a printout of my blood results. I not really interested in my past records they wouldn't show much anyway as I never went to the doctors for years and years. I only started to when I had high blood pressure and raised cholesterol in my late 60's and apart from my diabetes is still all I see them for