Confused

Flo-63 said:

Hi, I was diagnosed in November with type 2 while my doc was testing hormone levels after hysterectomy. I was told 6.6, and given metformin. Starting one x 500 per day and build up to 4, which I've found challenging but managed and also lost 1 stone. Changed my diet, cut out sugar and cot down massively on carbs. I had my 3 month blood test last week and when I called for the results, I was given the number 59. The receptionist couldn't enlighten me what it meant and if that was better or worse than before. Can't speak to a nurse until the 12th March. Any advice on what these numbers mean and why so different would be greatly appreciated.

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Hi @Flo-63 - given that these figures are 3 months apart I'm guessing that they are HbA1c values (an estimate of blood glucose over 3 months - see here https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/managing-your-diabetes/hba1c).

A1c can be reported as a % or as mmol/mol values and it's not helpful that you were given one of each!
So your first A1c was 6.6% or 48 mmol/mol and the second was 59 mmol/mol or 7.5% (there's a converter in the link above).

I'm Type 1 so I can't comment on what a Type 2 should expect, but 6.6 doesn't sound too bad and I guess you'll need to be heading back in that direction.

Hi @Flo-63 and welcome to the forums.

I suspect you are confused by the fact that diabetes is usually diagnosed via hba1c and there are two different measuring symptoms for hba1c. It can be measured in mmol/mol or % . It is linked to your average blood sugar over the last 3 months because it measures the sugar that has attached to your red blood cells (which live about 3 months).


So you are diabetic if you have an Hba1c greater than or equal to 6.5% or 48mmol/mol . Then if you do an ordinary blood test with a glucometer your blood sugar is measured in mmol/L and (for a non diabetic) is normally between 4mmol/L and 8mmol/L (s0metimes a bit lower or higher).
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html

Are you able to look at your medical records online? My guess is that the 6.6 is 6.6% and the 59 is 59mmol/mol , but a check of the units used for the measurements would confirm that.

Here is a converter
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/hba1c-units-converter.html

6.6% is the same as 49mmol/mol and is equivalent to an average blood sugar of 7.9mmol/L
59mmol/mol is equivalent to 7.5% and is equivalent to an average blood sugar of 9.4mmol/L

I hope this helps, and I haven't just managed to confuse you more.

Once more, welcome.