High HbA1c

lynnedeloo said:

Hi,
Been told today that my HbA!c is 56 and need an appointment with the diabetic nurse.
I am on Metformin 1500mg per day but may need my meds adjusting although no one contacted me for my blood test results.
I do not test my blood because the GP service say that I don't need to. Getting fed up with knowing what too eat.
I get very hot and have sweat pouring down my face and either have a cold drink and something to eat. It seems to take forever for me to cool down. Advice please.

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You are told not to test because the NHS can't possibly fund all the T2's who would do wonderfully on strips. Since you're only on metformin and your HbA1c isn't all that dramatically high, it should be easy enough to get your numbers back down. Self-funding some strips to get started out help greatly to know what agrees with you and what doesn't. I gather you know how to low carb though? Have you been giving that a shot, and maybe adjusted your amount of carbs down? What do you usually eat in a day? Maybe there's some room for improvement there? Metformin doesn't do much about what you eat, just about what your liver dumps. (And it suppresses appetite, in some.). I do know that when I eat something with sugars in (salads with honey which wasn't mentioned in the menu, the wrong coke etc), I get flushed too, and wobbly.

Hope you'll feel better soon!
Jo

lynnedeloo said:

Thanks for your advice. I am pretty sure I do not eat enough. during the day. You mention low carb but how do you manage yours? I normally start sweating mid morning after having low sugar porridge for breakfast. I thought I have feeling funny because of a high blood sugar.

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Porridge is something that some can manage without spiking but many can't.

If you don't test how are you to know if high blood sugar was the cause of feeling unwell or not.

I suggest strongly that a meter and strips are a priority and will be a good investment for you.

The cheapest BG meter kits with 50 test strips only cost about £20 plus postage in the UK.
The 2 most popular ones in here which have cheap test strips (the biggest cost) are the SD CodeFree and the Tee2+.
SD Codefree is available from Homehealth-uk.com or Amazon
Tee2+ is available from Spirit health : https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/

Personally I use the Tee2+ but I have no connection to either company except as a customer.

lynnedeloo said:

Thanks for your advice. I am pretty sure I do not eat enough. during the day. You mention low carb but how do you manage yours? I normally start sweating mid morning after having low sugar porridge for breakfast. I thought I have feeling funny because of a high blood sugar.

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Porridge is high in carbs, even low sugar. Same goes for any cereal, really... If it's grain based, or corn based, it's practically bound to up your bloodsugars. Rare exceptions to the rule apply, but yeah... That could be your culprit, right there. Me, I usually skip breakfast, except for the weekends, when I more often than not do have three meals: Eggs for breakfast, either with bacon and cheese or some other variety (cinnamon, tuna and mayo, salmon and dill...). Lunch would often be a salad, you know, leafy greens, tuna, capers, olives, avocado, mayonnaise, that sort of thing. Or with some chicken, any kind really. Ceasar, Nicoise, carpaccio. In the evening I'll have any kind of meat/poultry with for instance cauliflower or broccoli rice with bacon and cheese to bulk it up, but any above ground veg would do. For dessert sometimes I'll have a bit of extra dark chocolate, cheese or olives, some espresso with cream, that sort of thing. The key is to eat things you enjoy eating, makes it easier to stick with it. Things that do make you feel full, because you don't want to be hungry all the time. So plenty of fats.

lynnedeloo said:

Think I will have to review all the things I eat now. Especially if I am not eating the right breakfast.
I will ask the nurse again about blood testing and will possibly buy a testing machine so I know where I am going. Thanks for your advice!

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Try full fat Greek yoghurt with berries for breakfast or eggs any way you like ‘em. Your DN will still probably tell you it’s no point testing but, unfortunately, the only way you can know what effect foods have on you is to test.

Tescos have a meter for £10 and 50 strips for £10. I would just get a meter in all honesty.
I did and it's really helped me control my bs. I will be telling the nurse I've been testing before and after eating if she asks what I've done to drop it. At diagnosis I was 101. Should be much lower next time.
Test on first mouthful and 2 hours after. If it is less than 2 points higher than before it's not spiking you. I've been trying out different foods to see what happens.
I can also now match how high or low I am compared with how I feel pretty well so I can manage myself better.
I found that as soon as I cut carbs really low all my symptoms like the waterfall sweating I had, went bit by bit. All gone in a few weeks.
Good luck. Use this forum and ask lots of questions.

mouseee said:

Test on first mouthful and 2 hours after.

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That should be test "before: first mouthful bite, as in before meals, then two hours after first bite...

lynnedeloo said:

Think I will have to review all the things I eat now. Especially if I am not eating the right breakfast.
I will ask the nurse again about blood testing and will possibly buy a testing machine so I know where I am going. Thanks for your advice!

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You are wasting your time asking your nurse about testing. It is NHS policy not to prescribe testing equipment to T2s not on insulin or certain strong drugs. Metformin is not a strong drug. She will use one of the common excuses such as "there is no need for na T2 to test", or "you will hurt your fingers or become obsessed or it won't teach you anything". It is all rubbish. Please believe us. Ignore this dangerous advice and buy yourself a meter. We will help you to use it to your best advantage. If you already had one, you nwould have been able to ditch porridge a long time ago. There may well be other things you are eating that are making your diabetes worse - foods such as bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and otyher starchy foods. A meter will help you with all this.

Hi Lindeloo
I've just posted elsewhere how I was also told not to bother testing at home by my GP practice, but I went ahead. It really helped me to get my bgls back down into the normal range. For me, there was something important about testing before and after meals. Seeing how different meals and single foods impacted on my blood sugar made things real, and helped motivate me to make the changes I needed to make to what I ate.
I self-funded (so it didn't matter to me what my GP practice said). While it did cost a bit initially as I learnt about what spiked my blood sugar and what didn't, now I only test new foods and do maybe a spot check now and again. I'd go for one of the meters recommended on here with the cheap strips. Hope things go well xx