HbA1c results

Shirley Ann said:

Hi everyone
This is my first post. I am confused with my tablets and readings.
I am on 2 tablets of Metformin slow release a day.
I was first diagnosed in March 2021 with a reading of 66. My second reading was 47 and my third this month was 42.
My doctor has said to be careful to not go to low-- how do i avoid this as my cholesterol is high at 7.1?
Any help appreciated, Shirley

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Congratulations on the fantastic reduction in A1c @Shirley Ann.

Shirley Ann said:

Hi everyone
This is my first post. I am confused with my tablets and readings.
I am on 2 tablets of Metformin slow release a day.
I was first diagnosed in March 2021 with a reading of 66. My second reading was 47 and my third this month was 42.
My doctor has said to be careful to not go to low-- how do i avoid this as my cholesterol is high at 7.1?
Any help appreciated, Shirley

Click to expand...

Hello @Shirley Ann ,

Doctors rarely know about the knitty-gritty about diabetes... A Type 1 would have to keep an eye on their blood sugars so they don't go too low. A HbA1c is an average of the past 3 months, and when a T1's is as good as yours is right now, that often (though by no means always) means they're suffering hypo's regularly, which can be quite dangerous, even deadly. You, however, are a T2 on nothing but metformin.... Metformin doesn't cause hypo's. It'll increase your insulin sensitivity a little, and tell your liver not to dump too much glucose in the morning. It's not about to make your blood sugars drop to dangerously low levels. Your HbA1c right now is just in the prediabetic range, so well done. Mine was 35 at the last check, and I don't do hypo's either.

How's metformin treating you? No side effects? (If not, that'd be excellent).

As for your cholesterol, I'm not entirely sure how you connect that to going too low with blood glucose? While lowering blood glucose into the normal range can impact cholesterol, (go up a bit at first, then down to more normal levels), I've never heard of low blood sugars causing high cholesterol? Did I miss something?

Next question: would you like to get your blood sugars back into the normal range? (Perfectly safely?). You might want to have a read here, https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/, that might help you some. Give your GP half a heat attack when you dip under the 40's and into the normal range.
Anyway, welcome, and hopefully we can help.
Jo

Shirley Ann said:

Dear Jo
Thank you so much really appreciate your reply.
The metformin is fine now but was not good to begin with.
My cholesterol last month was 7.6 so i have brought this down also to 7.1. As I was worried about eating too many carbs re diabetes I think I over done it on the cheese lol.
My doctor did worry me re low sugar so thank you for putting my mind at rest.
I have lost 20lbs since March but need to start walking again as I know this will help with the cholesterol levels too.
Just confused on what to eat to keep diabetes down and cholesterol low. I will look at the page you have linked.
Thank you again, Shirley

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Your cholesterol is probably going down because of the cheese, not in spite of it. Keep in mind that most of the cholesterol in your bloodstream was actually made by your body, not consumed. Lower your carbs, normalise cholesterol. It just takes a while, it's not an overnight thing. By losing weight you took fats of your liver, so... Yay, lowered cholesterol! You did a great job with the carb cutting, and don't toss the cheese just yet. Maybe add in some bacon. And yeah... Walking is really good for a T2. It's slow and steady, so it doesn't trigger a liver dump, and it lowers blood glucose too. Win-win. I usually walk with my camera's and meet lots and lots of fabulous looking cats on the way, (who've for the most part become friendly, save for some literal scared-y cats), and as I prefer some goal to walk towards, I took to heading for the mailboxes... Near, far, whatever I was in the mood for. Mom got a lot of postcards to cheer her up during the Dutch lock-down. (I'd go for my walks when other people were either still sleeping or eating). You're doing really well. REALLY well.

Shirley Ann said:

Thank you Jo
Wish I had met you sooner. I work from home 3 days a week for the NHS since the first lockdown. I will re motivate myself and get back to the walking.
I have another call with the doctor on Monday and will ask about lowering my dose of metformin to 1 tablet a day, do you advise this? I also read your link and it was so informative thank you again.
Shirley

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Hi again,

Well, you know, we can't give medical advice on here, so what you do with the metformin is between you and your doc. I can, however, tell you that the change in your HbA1c is due more to your altered diet than because of any pill. They can help some... But not that much. (Also, the metformin leaflet says to try diet first and then, if that doesn't make a dent after 3 months, start metformin. No-one reads that for some reason, docs included.). So it's entirely up to you. I don't expect your blood sugars to soar if you cut down on the met, honestly. Just as long as you keep an eye on the carbs. And hey, it took me months to stumble into this place and get help/information too... Things could've gone a lot quicker if I'd been here sooner. But like me, you're here now. And you're going to be fine.
Jo
PS: if you want to talk to someone, put an @ in front of their name and they'll get a notification that there's a post.

The devil is in the detailed breakdown of Cholesterol. Do you have it?