Reactive Hypoglycemia Hba1c Test Results And Where To Go For Help

[milodogg]

Hi, I have been having full blood tests every month for the last few years due to physical and mental wellbeing, My symptoms have been being tired all the rime, being hungry especially after eating, depression, anxiety, nervousness, hands shacking, blacking out every once in a while, lack of focus. not able to concentrate, headaches, cramps, intense joint pain and nerve pain that comes out of no where then goes and a few others. I have had a GTT been poked and prodded seen specialist and gone through 5 GP's. Only yesterday did I find out, because the doctor could not be there, (think he was playing golf), so I saw a nurse. She imparted a very interesting fact to me. It seems that my HBA1c levels are low and have been since this all started. In fact my last one was one of the highest at 3.5%. It has been as low as 2% but averages around 3%. So she asked me how my GP has been treating this. Well this was news to me since not one of the doctors or specialist have said anything and when I have asked about my blood test results they just say they are normal. Have asked for copies before and I always get the same answer. I will have to ask our department head is is not here. Typical NHS laziness. I eat a balance diet and early eat sugary foods. I do not drink much in fact two glasses of wine and i am toast. I have started to gain weight rather fast in the last few months even though I have cut back on my food potions and am eating more greens and less carbs. It is so hard to get up some morning I have actual slept to non and not known it. I am 49 and male.

I want to know if anyone else knows of a good chart for the HBA1c results what they mean to me as a % and where I may be able to get better help. I think I have been suffering with Reactive Hypoglycaemia for a while and the NHS just has no clue or does not want to treat it. Please help. I am tired of feeling like the energy and my life have been sucked out of me.

Thanks, milodogg

 

[Lamont D]

Hi, I have been having full blood tests every month for the last few years due to physical and mental wellbeing, My symptoms have been being tired all the rime, being hungry especially after eating, depression, anxiety, nervousness, hands shacking, blacking out every once in a while, lack of focus. not able to concentrate, headaches, cramps, intense joint pain and nerve pain that comes out of no where then goes and a few others. I have had a GTT been poked and prodded seen specialist and gone through 5 GP's. Only yesterday did I find out, because the doctor could not be there, (think he was playing golf), so I saw a nurse. She imparted a very interesting fact to me. It seems that my HBA1c levels are low and have been since this all started. In fact my last one was one of the highest at 3.5%. It has been as low as 2% but averages around 3%. So she asked me how my GP has been treating this. Well this was news to me since not one of the doctors or specialist have said anything and when I have asked about my blood test results they just say they are normal. Have asked for copies before and I always get the same answer. I will have to ask our department head is is not here. Typical NHS laziness. I eat a balance diet and early eat sugary foods. I do not drink much in fact two glasses of wine and i am toast. I have started to gain weight rather fast in the last few months even though I have cut back on my food potions and am eating more greens and less carbs. It is so hard to get up some morning I have actual slept to non and not known it. I am 49 and male.

I want to know if anyone else knows of a good chart for the HBA1c results what they mean to me as a % and where I may be able to get better help. I think I have been suffering with Reactive Hypoglycaemia for a while and the NHS just has no clue or does not want to treat it. Please help. I am tired of feeling like the energy and my life have been sucked out of me.

Thanks, milodogg

Hi @milodogg

Welcome to the forum.

Your post comes across like I did many years ago, fighting, battling and struggling to get some sense of what the hell was going on. GPs are not trained in rare conditions to do with the metabolism.

We cannot do diagnosis on here, but it does sound if you have a form of Hypoglycaemia, as there is many forms of the condition. Only hospital tests can give you a clear diagnosis.

This is what you need to do to persuade your GP to get you a referral to a specialist endocrinologist in metabolic conditions. Even then, you can get an endocrinologist that is clueless. But there are some good 'uns!

But there is a lot you can do, now, straight away. To try and get control because doing this will help so much.

Stay away from what I call the baddies! The usual suspects are. grains, starchy vegetables, bread, rice, pasta, pastries, fizzy drinks, most alcoholic drinks and anything with sugar in it. Manufactured food and processed foods are not advisable. Eat full fat dairy if you can, not low fat or skimmed. Yes, you can eat butter!

Eat every three hours, small meals, eat fresh meats, protein, vegetables.

There is a quick guide for newbies on our own forum. Go to the top of the page, click on forums, scroll down to reactive hypoglycaemia and click on that button, there is a lot of threads on others that have been in your position. There is lots of threads packed with information.
You will have to learn and understand why and how this works for you.
You will need a glucose monitor. This will help with finding out what foods you can tolerate. It will help keeping a food diary, to put down all the information on how you are doing and will help your medical team understand what is happening to you.

What is healthy for most people is not healthy for you.
You will need time to get your head around this. This will take a while to get to grips with but it's really worth it.
It is controllable and when you get to the stage that those list of symptoms start abating, you will get your life back. I know, that was me!

If you want questions answered, please ask!

We will be around.

Again, welcome to our forum

 

[milodogg]

Hi @milodogg

Welcome to the forum.

Your post comes across like I did many years ago, fighting, battling and struggling to get some sense of what the hell was going on. GPs are not trained in rare conditions to do with the metabolism.

We cannot do diagnosis on here, but it does sound if you have a form of Hypoglycaemia, as there is many forms of the condition. Only hospital tests can give you a clear diagnosis.

This is what you need to do to persuade your GP to get you a referral to a specialist endocrinologist in metabolic conditions. Even then, you can get an endocrinologist that is clueless. But there are some good 'uns!

But there is a lot you can do, now, straight away. To try and get control because doing this will help so much.

Stay away from what I call the baddies! The usual suspects are. grains, starchy vegetables, bread, rice, pasta, pastries, fizzy drinks, most alcoholic drinks and anything with sugar in it. Manufactured food and processed foods are not advisable. Eat full fat dairy if you can, not low fat or skimmed. Yes, you can eat butter!

Eat every three hours, small meals, eat fresh meats, protein, vegetables.

There is a quick guide for newbies on our own forum. Go to the top of the page, click on forums, scroll down to reactive hypoglycaemia and click on that button, there is a lot of threads on others that have been in your position. There is lots of threads packed with information.
You will have to learn and understand why and how this works for you.
You will need a glucose monitor. This will help with finding out what foods you can tolerate. It will help keeping a food diary, to put down all the information on how you are doing and will help your medical team understand what is happening to you.

What is healthy for most people is not healthy for you.
You will need time to get your head around this. This will take a while to get to grips with but it's really worth it.
It is controllable and when you get to the stage that those list of symptoms start abating, you will get your life back. I know, that was me!

If you want questions answered, please ask!

We will be around.

Again, welcome to our forum

Hey Thank you so much for the information. I have been reading up on things since I found out about my low levels and what you say makes sense to me. It has been hard finding information that gels i guess i was looking for a just do this and your better type of thing, but I realise your right that everyone is different in this way and I will have to find what is right for me. I guess one thing I may not give up are blueberry pancakes but I will feel a little better knowing I have put lots of butter on them.

I will have a look at the other posts and see what I can do with my yet another new GP at my surgery. They seem to drop like flies or move to New Zealand. I will have to wait till next month to see my GP but I will start on changing my diet. I wish Could start to do a bit of working out but i get to light headed when i exert my self. I am not in bad shape or overweight, just hard to do much with no energy or without feeling like i should just fall down and sleep on the spot.

Thanks for all your help.

milodogg

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hi @milodogg

Those HbA1cs you mention are extremely low, low enough to make me wonder if they are in fact right. The lower end of the normal non-diabetic range is 4%.

If you are the UK you may find that your coded test results done at your GP surgery are available on-line. All surgeries were advised to make these available by last April, and most seemed to have done so. No-one will have told you this, surgeries seem to enjoy keeping secrets, but if you ask at your surgery if yours are available and you sign a consent form, and produce some photographic ID, they will give you a code and you can look them up on line. It is quite illuminating. Mine go back several years.

Failing that, ask the receptionist for a print out of your last lot of blood test results. If the receptionist is difficult, ask to see the nurse ASAP (by phone if she has no appointments) and press her for the print outs. You should not be being refused access to them.

 

[milodogg]

Hi @milodogg

Those HbA1cs you mention are extremely low, low enough to make me wonder if they are in fact right. The lower end of the normal non-diabetic range is 4%.

If you are the UK you may find that your coded test results done at your GP surgery are available on-line. All surgeries were advised to make these available by last April, and most seemed to have done so. No-one will have told you this, surgeries seem to enjoy keeping secrets, but if you ask at your surgery if yours are available and you sign a consent form, and produce some photographic ID, they will give you a code and you can look them up on line. It is quite illuminating. Mine go back several years.

Failing that, ask the receptionist for a print out of your last lot of blood test results. If the receptionist is difficult, ask to see the nurse ASAP (by phone if she has no appointments) and press her for the print outs. You should not be being refused access to them.

Hi, and thank you for that. I did not know tis but I will enquire tomorrow with my surgery. I know my results seem low but in my reading I have found that is some cased that some have been as low at 1.5 and is due to individual metabolism. Still I will seem to have my GP, who ever is next in line at my surgery to see if they will have a look and not just brush me off like all the other have. It is not a nice felling when you walk in to the gp and the the first thing they say is you have 10 minutes and only one issue at a time then they relay on the internet and some little book they have Before looking at you and saying it is all in your head or it aurthridous. who trains doctors in the Uk anyway Hasbro.

thanks again for your info

 

[Lamont D]

I would put your work out on hold until you can get good control, what happens with physical exercise is your liver pumps more glucose into your blood and this triggers more insulin, which is the last thing you need.

I would suggest a fifteen minute walk after meals, this will help with your levels and you still get regular exercise even though it's gentle. And it won't raise your blood glucose levels.
When you get a monitor, you can test how much a blueberry pancake spikes you!

The pancake alone would really spike me.

 

[Lamont D]

@Administrator can we move this thread to the RH forum please?

Ta!

 

[Brunneria]

Hi and welcome!

Yes, see if you can get those blood glucose results.

Also worth reading up on the HbA1c test itself. There are a number of health issues (sickle cell, anaemia, and poss some others) which can affect the results. If your results are consistently low, I would ask to have those other health conditions checked out carefully, if only for elimination purposes.

Here is a link, to show you what I mean:
http://www.clinicalcorrelations.org/?p=5190
I am afraid it is very technical, but it is also thorough!

 

[milodogg]

@Administrator can we move this thread to the RH forum please?

Ta!

 

[milodogg]

Hi and welcome!

Yes, see if you can get those blood glucose results.

Also worth reading up on the HbA1c test itself. There are a number of health issues (sickle cell, anaemia, and poss some others) which can affect the results. If your results are consistently low, I would ask to have those other health conditions checked out carefully, if only for elimination purposes.

Here is a link, to show you what I mean:
http://www.clinicalcorrelations.org/?p=5190
I am afraid it is very technical, but it is also thorough!

Hi, I had a hydro cell issue about three years ago but it took me 6 months of complaining to my gp to get seen and when they did they booked me right into hospital form the office after 5 minutes. It took the NHS another 3 months to come up with he cause and they sent me to the cancer wing at the hospital to a specialist who told me it had nothing to do with him. I guess the GP let me run about feeling very ill and in bad shape for 6 month while I had E. soli in my blood stream. I spent three weeks in hospital on morphoine with no support form the NHS on what I had until the doctor told me later. The hydrocell was later about antoher 6 months. But I have felt this way since and though I have not seen my blood results going back all those years I am wondering if that was the start of it now. I kind of feel that I have been pasted around with no one wanting to take respnsebilty for makig any kind of diagnosis or just leaving me and hoping someone else will make the call. One of the hardest things is that all but one of the hospital doctors I have seen english is there second language and they have never answered any of my questions and left me there to speak to nurses who seem to not care. Sorry If i make this sound like all staff in the NHS are calis as I know they are not but I have yet to meet one that isn't.

Thanks for everyone support it is really great and You have given me lots to think about and a new direction to go. I will let you know how things go as I will go into my surgery tommarrow and see if i can get the test results going back as far as i can.

milodogg

 

[Angiegood69]

Hi, and thank you for that. I did not know tis but I will enquire tomorrow with my surgery. I know my results seem low but in my reading I have found that is some cased that some have been as low at 1.5 and is due to individual metabolism. Still I will seem to have my GP, who ever is next in line at my surgery to see if they will have a look and not just brush me off like all the other have. It is not a nice felling when you walk in to the gp and the the first thing they say is you have 10 minutes and only one issue at a time then they relay on the internet and some little book they have Before looking at you and saying it is all in your head or it aurthridous. who trains doctors in the Uk anyway Hasbro.

thanks again for your info

This is my experience exactly!