hi jwglass
Firstly, you are definitely in the right place here on the website. I am so grateful to have landed here - every response I have had (to lots of questions) has been expert, measured, sensible and supportive.
Your post struck a note with me as regards shock at diagnosis of prediabetes. I also had an Hb1AC of 43 and was healthy weight/ had reasonable diet/was very active etc. The first GP I saw was not vaguely concerned. Thankfully, I had started testing my sugars following advice here. The 'just into the prediabetic range' wasn't the whole story as I was having huge fluctuations eg. low measures then high, which I think was probably masked because the Hb1ac is an average. A big, big thank you to KK123 above and others for suggesting I request other tests: CPeptide/GAD antibody tests among others. The next GP I saw was brilliant and realised there was a problem. Requests for test were sent and then all hurried along when I ended up in hospital due to illness/high keytones and I was diagnosed with diabetes.
I can see I'm rambling....think its a way of coming to terms with it all.
So....to cut the story short: follow the advice you get on here. Ask questions along the way as it all takes time and everyone is different. The lovely people on here don't mind...they help. Try the diet - the low carb high fat one. It works - my Hb1ac is now 37 and I have good control over my sugar levels. Depending upon what the problem is, the diet might not work for ever (eg. if you aren't producing/won't produce enough insulin yourself you will need it at some point)..although I believe I've read that the diet continues to help. I did have a problem with rising triglycerides in cholesterol ...but again, with help from this website and a fantastic DN nurse I've got on top of those by making sure my fats are primarily healthy ones....avacado, olive oil, nuts, etc.
Hope this helps....it was a long way of saying trust the help you will get on this website and ask lots of questions!
PS...I definitely don't consider myself expert ...I'm still learning: it's very complicated....so if I've muddled anything here whilst I've been gabbling I'll apologise now and won't worry if someone corrects my info...please do!
Good luck with it all.