Advice please on BG levels

[jeanie99]

I was diagnosed with pre diabetes with a 43 reading(I understand this is about 7) taken from my arm and high cholesterol at 6.5 some months ago, I already have high blood pressure and am medication for this. so the three together are not good news.

Based on the information I have read on this site I started on a restrictive diet some weeks ago and was overjoyed when I had my BG level taken at Lloyds pharmacy to be told at 6 hrs fasting had a level of 5.1 and after a two hr fast 5.2 both readings normal.

My concern then was my cholesterol which was taken last week and to my surprise my cholesterol had reduced to 4.5 which the GP said was a very good result from diet alone but my blood sugar was 42 which was still in the pre diabetes level.

To say I was totally confused is an understatement how can one week I am down to normal blood sugar and another just as bad again when I am still keeping to the same diet, what's happening.

GP said he felt there was a chance I would become type 2 diabetic.

I am not overweight have a BMI 22 and have lost over 7 pounds on this diet and I don't want to loose weight.
Doc as arranged for me to see a dietician in August, I am really fed up.

 

[pav]

The HbA1c tests take an average of your sugar levels over the past 3 months and could be slow to show the change in levels. For an example my HbA1c tests in Dec, Jan and feb showed that my BS was rising slowly where in fact using a meter I was constantly in the teens and 20's.

After getting myself sorted out, my last HbA1c in May showed a significant drop from 7.6 to 6.2 in old money results.

Its another good reason to get a test meter and test oneself regularly to see what's going on. Unfortunately it can be a major problem to get test strips on prescription for some type 2's depending on where they live (the post code lottery syndrome).

The recent hot weather has also been causing big fluctuations with our BS levels.

 

[jeanie99]

Pav,

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question I very much appreciate it.

I hadn't realised that the blood taken from my arm looked at a 3 month period, this explains the difference because I wasn't restricting my diet even 2 months ago.
It as put my mind at rest for the time until my next blood test at the docs which is Oct/Nov. I shall go down to Lloyds and have the finger prick test to check I am on course. I have considered buying a meter but have no idea what type to purchase and no nothing about strips, are they expensive.
I have little support at home as my family just think what's the problem lots of people are diabetic and they just take medication, they don't understand that if I can avoid diabetes and stay off medication this is much better for me.

 

[pav]

This bit is down to the good old postcode lottery and even different practices within the post code. Its worth asking if you DN or doctor will prescribe test strips.

Getting a meter is not normally a problem, as most suppliers will send you one free eg the likes of Bayer, Abbott medisense, Lifescan , Accu Chek. My personal favorites are the Bayer Contour next USB and the Accu Chek Mobile.

Sometimes you can buy strips direct from the suppliers, I believe Abbott sell them direct at around £15 for 50. In a chemist test strips are around £25 + for strips for most of the meters.

If you self fund then theres the SD code free which has strips for around £7 for 50 strips. Theres also the suprcheck2 and I think the nexusRX systems, which use cheaper test strip options.