Type 2 help on hb1ac test and if illness affects the result

[patdiabetes2]

Dx june 2014 hb1ac 63 metformin 3 x 500/October 2014 41 /then had three attacks of of panceatitis,between December and February..... gall bladder removed after second attack. Diagnoised with chronic pancreatitis two weeks ago (not alchoholrelated as I am a non drinker)


my last test was 37 and DNS wanted to withdraw metformin completely Over the 3 months test period I had been admitted l hospital 3 times with pancreatitis 3 days -4 days and then 3 days NIL BY MOUTH ! followed by very low fat low everything.....On more than 2 Occasions had to have 1V insulin <--.. My question is will these periods of not eating at all or very little have an effect on my hb1ac test figures. Also told only to test once a week before a meal and two hours after. Agreed to drop 2 x 500mg metformin but keep 1 x 500mg and see how it goes..told if I see a trend of it going up I could reintoduce the evening meal dose..

 

[masonbason63]

Hi Patdiabetes2,
Hope your feeling a bit better, I can't believe Your told to test once a week with all this going on, flipping ridiculous !!
My understanding of an HbA1c test it gives you an average of what your bloods are doing over a six week period, so any illness or days of not eating etc for longer periods would affect these results.

 

[masonbason63]

You need to discuss this with someone keep a food log and test more regular if you can get test strips on prescription even better, write down anything that might help conclude what's happening

 

[))Denise((]

A HbA1c is weighted more to the last 30 days. It depends on how long your blood cells last as it is a test of how much glucose is stuck to them. So although they say it is a snapshot of the last 90 days, what has happened most recently has most effect.

 

[AndBreathe]

Thats what I thought. They are going to test hb1ac in three months time. Hopefully there will be no more pancreatitis attacks in that time. I am starting to get some symptoms back that had gone while I was on the 3 x 500 metformin. Painfull pins and needles in fingers and toes, waking through the night with it some nights and strangely when waking on a morning the feeling of warmth travelling up my body from my toes. Hungry even after eating, pains in general. Problem with my eyes the list goes on. Not sure whether to go to see gp, do nothing until thenext test or start the evening metformin again.
I thought the test was over a three month period with the dsn saying to do it again in 3 months

What are your blood scores whilst all these changes are going on? If you are experiencing symptoms, you need to be testing plenty, not less.

Reducing your Metformin isn't going to make a drastic difference to your blood scores. metformin doesn't drive numbers down by much at all. It's other main impacts are to help reduce insulin resistance, reduce the sugar your liver releases into the bloodstream, from time to time, and it suppresses the apetite, for some. So, a couple of your symptoms (like hunger) could just be related the reducing your metformin.

On the plus side, if you've had a couple of periods of eating very little, you may have defatted your liver and pancreas (if you had any fat there), which has been shown, by Professor Taylor in his work on reversing T2, to be extremely important in reversal/significant improvements. If you're interested to read more about that last bit, you can do here: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal.htm

37 is a great, non-diabetic range score. Are you pleased with it, or does it scare you a bit?