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Hba1c of 45

narinder

Member
Hi

Can I get some advise please. Had bloods checked in September and spoke to dr receptionist and was advised no further action. However by chance I went to see the Dr on Friday and was advised that my Hba1c was 45. I understand that this is classed as pre diabetic even though they don't like to use the term. I am already on HB medication and my father had diabetes and I also had gestational nearly 9 years ago and was insulin dependant three times a day. The only advice the Dr gave me was lifestyle change and nothing else...... Where do I start????

Any advice greatly appreciated.
 
Hi Narinder,
My Hba1c has been 45 for two years but I now have gone low carb to improve me from pre diabetic levels..hopefully.
You need a meter and carefully check when you spike after a meal. Find out what spikes and if can you remove it from your diet do so. I do not take meds at all and was diagnosed as type 2 at an Hba1c of 50.
regards
Derek
 
Hello narinder. From your previous posts you seem to have been worried about becoming diabetic at least since you joined the forum in 2008.
That's a long time to be worried about something without apparently being able to do anything about it. I appreciate that you are also worried about your Dad, who is T2, but what can we tell you to help that others haven't said already?
Clearly we're missing the target here. If you have been progressing steadily towards full T2, well, that's the nature of it. You are in a good position to take control, possible with a LCHF diet, which you must be well acquainted with by now. Are you haunted by your experience as a gestational diabetic?
Back to the present ... I don't think @daisy1 has given you her info pack so I'm tagging her now. It has all the advice you need to get started.
 
@narinder

Hello Narinder and welcome back. Here is the information, mentioned above, which we give to new members (even though you have been a member for some years now) and I hope you will find it interesting and useful. Ask more questions and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 
Thank you all for the advice. Unfortunately I lost my father in the summer due to various medical issues including diabetes. Besides that, what I found shocking is that the Dr offered no advice on what to do. Of course losing weight is part of what needs to be done and to increase exercise. I was given advice by a family member who is a retired GP is to give up wheat. Has anyone had success with this? When i did have Gestational diabetes my consultant told me a few thing we're going against me. 1 Ethic background. 2 family history
 
Unfortunately many of us have received either no advice at all or, possibly worse, completely wrong advice regarding diet.

Both sugary and starchy foods (bread, cereals, potatoes, rice, pasta...) are the culprits as food high in carbohydrates is what raises our glucose levels, so the advice to give up wheat was quite correct as far as it goes. But you need to look more closely at your diet and a lower carb higher fat diet is an excellent way to avoid all these spikey foods.

Robbity
 
Hi

Can I get some advise please. Had bloods checked in September and spoke to dr receptionist and was advised no further action. However by chance I went to see the Dr on Friday and was advised that my Hba1c was 45. I understand that this is classed as pre diabetic even though they don't like to use the term. I am already on HB medication and my father had diabetes and I also had gestational nearly 9 years ago and was insulin dependant three times a day. The only advice the Dr gave me was lifestyle change and nothing else...... Where do I start????

Any advice greatly appreciated.
 
Hi Narinder I recall being warned for a few years I was pre diabetic with readings similar to your own. Unfortunately I think the NHS have a policy of doing nothing more than suggesting life style changes prior to you hitting that button of actually being considered diabetic when it goes up just a bit more still - by then its a bit late and so I understand your concern and am sorry about your dad. Then I was offered GP prescribed exercise at the gym which helped quite a lot. I had put on a lot of weight due to uncontrolled thyroid problems so I was worried about going, but need not have been, there were many unfit overweight people there. You may be very slim of course but if not I would urge you to either get a free prescription to the gym or just pay or go swimming if you prefer. I also learned a lot from a dietician about what I ate and drank and it can surprise you. I regularly used to drink about a litre a day of fruit juice thinking it was good for me, in fact it was probably what pushed me over into becoming diabetic. Likewise I used to snack on bananas feeling they were good for me and filling, but when I said I also sometimes make a smoothy and add other fruit as well the dietician looked pretty horrified. She said I must stop the fruit juice immediately and take water instead. Do not eat more than one small banana a day because they are about the sugariest fruit you can eat and limit other portions of fruit. Do not take them all in one go for example as in a smoothy, if you want an orange, apple and a few strawberries or something take them over the course of the day so that each time you give yourself a bit of a sugar hit your blood has time to process that before you have some more, less is more! Many low fat products are dangerous because they make up for the lack of fat with a big hit of sugar in them. Alcohol too, the odd pint of lager, one small glass of wine ok regular drinking no. Otherwise you have so much sugar in your blood from it the nasty effects begin. My current reading is 51 the doctors are not entirely satisfied but I am not doing too bad. Wishing you well and you can stop yourself whatever it may be in your case from tipping over into full blown diabetes, burning calories as well as cutting them down is the way to go.
 
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