70 mmol

[P40]

I am type 2. My latest test results over the three month period is 70 mmol. Saw the doctor today after a frankly awful and alarming conversation with a clinician over the phone who told me I am in danger of kidney failure although upon checking my results on the NHS app it clearly states stage 0 no alerts necessary. The doctor says 70mmol is too high but these numbers mean nothing to me as it isn't the system my meter works on. I have been told absolutely no carbs although I only ate complex wholemeal carbs in small amounts before. I am alarmed by the doctors being alarmed and not sure what this 70 mmol means exactly.

 

[Mark Rawlinson]

The 70 mmol result you are getting sounds like your Hba1c this is like an average of how your blood cells have reacted over a 3 month period
there is a section on the main part of this site that explains it and other parts that describe how standard results are
if you use a blood glucose measuring device the results will look much different, they measure the amount of sugar in your blood at that moment in time

Glycosylated haemoglobin & diabetes. HbA1c facts, units, diagnosis, testing frequency, limitations, control & conversion. How blood glucose levels link to A1c.

Glycosylated haemoglobin & diabetes. HbA1c facts, units, diagnosis, test frequency, limitations, control, conversion. How blood glucose levels link to A1c.

www.diabetes.co.uk

Normal and Diabetic Blood Sugar Level Ranges

Normal blood sugar ranges and blood sugar ranges for adults and children with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and blood sugar ranges to determine diabetes.

www.diabetes.co.uk

 

[Mark Rawlinson]

Also are you on any medication for your diabetes ?

 

[Resurgam]

I am type 2. My latest test results over the three month period is 70 mmol. Saw the doctor today after a frankly awful and alarming conversation with a clinician over the phone who told me I am in danger of kidney failure although upon checking my results on the NHS app it clearly states stage 0 no alerts necessary. The doctor says 70mmol is too high but these numbers mean nothing to me as it isn't the system my meter works on. I have been told absolutely no carbs although I only ate complex wholemeal carbs in small amounts before. I am alarmed by the doctors being alarmed and not sure what this 70 mmol means exactly.

In my opinion you can safely ignore advice from people who have no idea what they are telling you, even if they do work for the NHS.
Have you been diagnosed very long?
Do you know your diagnosing HbA1c? That gives us some idea where you were starting from.
My own HbA1c at diagnosis was 91 and I believe that due to an ignored flag years earlier, I had been experiencing high blood glucose levels for quite a while.
My kidneys, liver and the like - I was assured, were absolutely fine, and there has been nothing adverse detected. By avoiding high carb foods my HbA1c has reduced down into the 40s, but I am sure I had high numbers for years.
By testing I did find out that carb content over 10% was best avoided, and that brown white simple or complex, my gut cheerfully broke it down and got it into my blood stream very quickly.
It would be almost impossible to have no carbs at all in your diet - and probably not necessary as I am really sensitive to carbs but I can eat up to 40 gm of carbs a day and still see normal numbers. Others report rather higher amounts of carbs and still having good levels of glucose in their blood - measured in mmol/l on UK meters.

 

[P40]

15 years ago and totally without symptoms I was diagnosed in a routine health check upon changing doctors surgeries. They said my fasting bloods were 9 under the system that was then used on the glucometers. Immediately put on merformin and given a horror story about heart attacks, strokes amputations and blindness etc.. My doctors surgery is awful and they are always like this no matter what problem people go with its always a horror story. Now the latest bloods are 70 and I can't understand the conversion as to what it is under the old measuring system. They just keep saying it's seriously abnormal. They are just making me worse because stress elevates my blood sugars anyway. It turned out today my kidneys are indeed OK as the clinician was actually reading the wrong results to me but they are still saying my glucose is dangerously high.

 

[lovinglife]

Have a read of this page here, it has a conversion tool that you can put your number in, your 70 gives you a HbA1c of 8.6 in “old money”

HbA1c Units Converter - DCCT to IFCC

Since June 2011, the way HbA1c values are reported has switched from a percentage to a measurement in mmols/mol.

www.diabetes.co.uk

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @P40 and welcome to the forum. I see you have been a member for over a year, but you have only just become active.
It would be extremely helpful to know what units that 70 (and that 9) were measured in and whether they were form a simple finger-prick (single drop of blood) or a phial of drawn blood. There are several different units that have been used of the last few years.
If the GP considers 70 to be bad, then it's likely that that was form a phial of blood and was an HbA1C test which measures an approximate indication of how high your blood glucose has been averaged over the last 2 and a half to 3 months (the lifetime of your red blood cells).
The highest 'normal' HbA1C is 41 in current units, then at a level of 48 one is considered to be diabetic - but quite a few are first diagnosed with HbA1C readings of well over 100, so there is no need to panic! Indeed, many on this forum have put their Type 2 diabetes into remission by either diet alone, diet plus exercise or diet plus some mild medication such as metformin (if the gut can tolerate it).

Since you are (from what you say) only taking Metformin so far, so as this has no direct Blood Glucose lowering effect (it works by persuading your liver to release less glucose), it is safe to slowly reduce the carbohydrates in your meals. All digestible carbs quicky convert into glucose in the body, so reducing them lowers Blood Glucose. But rapid changes in Blood Glucose (either up or down) can cause problems in your eyes and also the nerves in feet, legs, arms. Thus the need to reduce Blood Glucose slowly.

I have been in diet controlled remission for over 5 years, here is a link to some of the information that I found most useful:

Thread 'Jo's Nutritional Thingy'

Aug 14, 2025

There’s a few things you should know.

1. Practically all carbs turn to glucose once ingested, so not just straight sugars, but starches too. Food doesn’t have to taste sweet to make your blood sugars skyrocket.

2. A meter helps you know what foods agree with you, and which don’t. Test before and 2 hours after the first bite. If you go up more than 2.0 mmol/l, the meal was carbier than you could handle. (It’s easy to remember, as you’re a T2: all 2’s, all over the place!)

3. In case you didn’t know already, this isn’t your fault. It’s genetics, medication, decades of...

• JoKalsbeek
• Replies: 2
• Forum: Newly Diagnosed

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[P40]

Have a read of this page here, it has a conversion tool that you can put your number in, your 70 gives you a HbA1c of 8.6 in “old money”

 

[P40]

Thank you so much. Very good article.