Type 2 C-Peptide & GAD test on NHS

[Pete46]

How many of you have managed to get their GP to do the above blood tests on the NHS?

I asked my GP if I could have either of these tests and was informed that they do not do them and that even if I was referred to an endocrinologist at the local hospital I would still not get them done on the NHS. He informed me that no labs in the South West of England, we live in Somerset, can do these tests, apparently the only lab that does is in Sheffield.

A little history, I managed to get my HbA1c down to 51 from 89 in in 9 months by going low carb and moderate fat. My GP and DN are amazed by this dramatic reduction as they were not aware that a low carb diet was feasible.

However I am still hungry a lot of the time and not only have I not lost weight but if I have too much fat: mayonnaise, cream or cheese, I actually put on weight and at 15 stone already this is far from ideal. I had to stop taking the gliclazide soon after going low carb as my blood glucose readings before and after dinner dropped to 4. My first morning readings were down to 6 even without the gliclazide, before dinner was down to an average of 5 and 2 hours after dinner was either a decrease or an increase of less than 2 even with the odd slip. However since stopping the metformin and no cheating all reading have started to increase and even if I have a meal with less than 15g carbs my readings increase by over 2 points.

I have a cooked brunch every day: bacon or sausage, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes. Dinner is usually a recipe from https://www.dietdoctor.com/ or the 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet recipe book. We did try the Newcastle Diet in the very beginning but the slimfast shakes gave me diarrhoea and the soups we made were unappealing, I did lose ½ stone but I have since put that back on.

I know that being very low carb means very little insulin is needed therefore less is produced but I am thinking I am not producing enough to cope with what I am eating.

I can ask for another HbA1c as it is almost 3 months since my last one but I already know it will have gone despite being so careful with my diet.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated

 

[catapillar]

The cpeptide and gad tests are to test for type 1 diabetes. One of the key indicators of a misdiagnosis of type 2 when you are actually type 1 is untried for weight loss. As you are gaining weight on a low carb high while presumably trying to lose weight type 1 diabetes seems highly unlikely.

Gad tests are difficult to get ordered and my understanding is they are carried out at limited labs or possibly only in Exeter. If there's no indication you have type 1 a gad test seems unwarranted.

Cpeptide tests are easy to get done and would be easily ordered by an endocrinologist or DSN at a hospital diabetic clinic, any hospital lab should be perfectly capable of reporting a cpeptide test. It's the cpeptide test that will tell you if you're producing insulin.

I've had both tests run from Bristol. They weren't ordered by a GP but by a DSN. There wasn't any fuss getting them ordered, but there was a wait for the gad test to be reported, presumably because of the limited labs capable of running it.

 

[Diakat]

Yep my C peptide had to be sent to Exeter from Kent.
Not sure what you think you would gain from the tests though?

 

[Mbaker]

How many of you have managed to get their GP to do the above blood tests on the NHS?

I asked my GP if I could have either of these tests and was informed that they do not do them and that even if I was referred to an endocrinologist at the local hospital I would still not get them done on the NHS. He informed me that no labs in the South West of England, we live in Somerset, can do these tests, apparently the only lab that does is in Sheffield.

A little history, I managed to get my HbA1c down to 51 from 89 in in 9 months by going low carb and moderate fat. My GP and DN are amazed by this dramatic reduction as they were not aware that a low carb diet was feasible.

However I am still hungry a lot of the time and not only have I not lost weight but if I have too much fat: mayonnaise, cream or cheese, I actually put on weight and at 15 stone already this is far from ideal. I had to stop taking the gliclazide soon after going low carb as my blood glucose readings before and after dinner dropped to 4. My first morning readings were down to 6 even without the gliclazide, before dinner was down to an average of 5 and 2 hours after dinner was either a decrease or an increase of less than 2 even with the odd slip. However since stopping the metformin and no cheating all reading have started to increase and even if I have a meal with less than 15g carbs my readings increase by over 2 points.

I have a cooked brunch every day: bacon or sausage, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes. Dinner is usually a recipe from https://www.dietdoctor.com/ or the 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet recipe book. We did try the Newcastle Diet in the very beginning but the slimfast shakes gave me diarrhoea and the soups we made were unappealing, I did lose ½ stone but I have since put that back on.

I know that being very low carb means very little insulin is needed therefore less is produced but I am thinking I am not producing enough to cope with what I am eating.

I can ask for another HbA1c as it is almost 3 months since my last one but I already know it will have gone despite being so careful with my diet.

How many of you have managed to get their GP to do the above blood tests on the NHS?

I asked my GP if I could have either of these tests and was informed that they do not do them and that even if I was referred to an endocrinologist at the local hospital I would still not get them done on the NHS. He informed me that no labs in the South West of England, we live in Somerset, can do these tests, apparently the only lab that does is in Sheffield.

A little history, I managed to get my HbA1c down to 51 from 89 in in 9 months by going low carb and moderate fat. My GP and DN are amazed by this dramatic reduction as they were not aware that a low carb diet was feasible.

However I am still hungry a lot of the time and not only have I not lost weight but if I have too much fat: mayonnaise, cream or cheese, I actually put on weight and at 15 stone already this is far from ideal. I had to stop taking the gliclazide soon after going low carb as my blood glucose readings before and after dinner dropped to 4. My first morning readings were down to 6 even without the gliclazide, before dinner was down to an average of 5 and 2 hours after dinner was either a decrease or an increase of less than 2 even with the odd slip. However since stopping the metformin and no cheating all reading have started to increase and even if I have a meal with less than 15g carbs my readings increase by over 2 points.

I have a cooked brunch every day: bacon or sausage, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes. Dinner is usually a recipe from https://www.dietdoctor.com/ or the 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet recipe book. We did try the Newcastle Diet in the very beginning but the slimfast shakes gave me diarrhoea and the soups we made were unappealing, I did lose ½ stone but I have since put that back on.

I know that being very low carb means very little insulin is needed therefore less is produced but I am thinking I am not producing enough to cope with what I am eating.

I can ask for another HbA1c as it is almost 3 months since my last one but I already know it will have gone despite being so careful with my diet.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated

I asked for the C-Peptide test as it would be useful to know what ones fasting insulin is at each blood test, as it is one of the markers associated with insulin resistance (I believe in the States it is included, maybe someone from there can confirm). Anyway this was declined so I researched privately and tests can be done for under £100.00.

As insulin resistance some believe (I do) occurs before pre-diabetes / Type 2 diabetes I see this as an essential measurement that is missing.