HBA1C

[Parm_D]

Hey everyone,

When the pandemic started my hb1ac was 48 and the doc diagnosed me t2 diabetic. Numbers been up and down since then from middle of last year i decided to do good and get levels good and have been doing so with diet and exercise my levels have been good
Had a blood test recently bur never told me my numbers so i called them up and told hb1ac is 46 he says to me i am pre diabetic. I told him how i started at 48 and was diagnosed t2 diabetic he said 42-48 pre diabetic and anything after 48 diabetic

I got to get myself tested again and get another opinion coz i dont wna get my self excited for nothing .

What do you lot think about this ?

 

[jonathan183]

I think a second HbA1c is taken if the case is borderline e.g. HbA1c 48mmol/mol or higher, if both are 48 or above you are diabetic. It sounds as though only one was 48mmol/mol and the other was below, so I think pre-diabetic is probably right.

 

[EllieM]

I got to get myself tested again and get another opinion coz i dont wna get my self excited for nothing .

What do you lot think about this ?

Up till 2011, hba1c was measured as a %, and 6.5% was the dividing line (47.5 mmol/L). So 47 you are prediabetic, 48 you are not. But many GPs like to see two diabetic levels before they formally list you as T2, which is I suspect why your doctor is saying prediabetic now. (And a very cynical person might say that if you have a formal T2 diagnosis you cost the NHS more money in terms of health checks etc so it's in the system's interest not to diagnose you unless they have to.)

In any case, it's a fairly arbitrary level on a sliding scale, so excellent that you have reduced your levels a bit but your metabolism still isn't coping with carbs as a non diabetic would. So whatever you have been doing to control your levels, keep at it.

An alternative way to look at it, suppose you have weight issues and lose a lb so that our bmi drops from obese to overweight. Psychologically it's an awesome result, but it's not really changed much.

Anyway, congrats on reducing your levels, I guess it's good if you want to get life or health insurance.