Anemia

[Anne-Marie Robson]

I have been anemic most of my adult life. I get conflicting info regarding this in relation to my blood sugars. My gp says I have to concentrate on blood sugars but if I dont have the required amount of blood surely that will distort my readings. While in hospital a few years back with sepsis I had chance to ask dr of blood if my readings were high. She said not to worry about them she was happy with them. Gp conversation is about a month ago. I feel like I am banging my head against brick wall. It's my body where do I go to get answers. I have already lost 4 st and want to lose another 3 to get to my ideal weight. I want to get rid of diabetes and live my life. Help???

 

[Resurgam]

Do you not have your own meter to check your blood glucose?
That would throw some light on your day to day levels. I use a cheap Tee 2 from Spirit Healthcare
The anemia might distort the Hba1c results due to abnormal turnover of red blood cells, but the meter tests whole blood, so possibly a more accurate reflection of your situation. You would then know what your meals were doing in terms of spikes or not.

 

[Bluetit1802]

First of all, you need to buy a blood glucose meter. This is a very useful tool as you can use it to see how your blood sugars react to your food choices and give you the opportunity to tweak your diet.

Secondly, you need to know what your HbA1c blood tests have been, from the one that you were diagnosed with to present time. This is the test used to diagnose diabetes, so if you have a diagnosis you will have had the HbA1c. You can ask for print outs of your blood test results, and if you live in England you can also ask if your surgery puts test results on-line as English surgeries are supposed to do. (a few surgeries don't do this but most do)

You are quite right that anaemia can falsify the HbA1c results. This usually makes the HbA1c lower than expected, but in some types of anaemia it can raise the HbA1c. Doctors should be well aware of this. In these cases you can be given a different blood test called a Fructosamine test although these are rarely given in the UK mainly because the blood has to be sent to a lab that will measure these, and very few labs do this. You could also ask for an oral glucose tolerance test. This is the test used on pregnant ladies and is widely available in surgeries.