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Impaired glucose tolerance, just diagnosed, need to check something

N

Northern Brit

Member
Messages
6
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi

I've just joined the forums as I've recently (yesterday!) been told that I may have impaired glucose tolerance. I'm due to see a medical practitioner in a couple of weeks time, but there is something I'd like to find out first before I go.

I've been having annual blood tests form quite a few years, due to having high blood pressure and being overweight. These have been for glucose levels, cholesterol, kidney function, etc. When I first started having them, they were always fasting tests. But in recent years I've been told by the person taking the blood samples (practice nurse or nurse at the hospital pathology department) that it doesn't matter if you fast or not. Up until now all my tests have been OK, whether I have fasting tests or not. But last week I had a non-fasting test, and my glucose is out enough for my GP to determine that I have impaired glucose tolerance.

Checking out the diagnosis requirements for this condition, they seem to require fasting tests. Could it make a difference that my test was non-fasting and should I mention this when I have the medical appointment to discuss the diagnosis?
 
Fasting test is when they want to check your cholesterol, its not needed for an HbA1c.
 
Fasting is required for accurate cholesterol and glucose. Otherwise what you have recently eaten will have some effect.
Fasting is not required for an HbA1c test (the 3 month average of blood glucose)

What sort of test was it that resulted in a pre-diabetic diagnosis? If you don't know, then please ask at your surgery and ask for the actual level. You really need to know this to be able to understand where you are at and what you can do about it.
 
I suspect it wasn't HB1AC, my father is Type 2 diabetic and has this test regularly so I suspect from his experience that my own test wasn't HB1AC. I suspect it was an annual spot-test to make sure there were no obvious problems, it wasn't specifically geared towards someone who is already known to be diabetic.The receptionist at the doctor's practice told me that my blood glucose level was 3.9, they look for a reading of between 4 and 8, so my reading was just on the borderline. So the doctor had concluded that I was showing an indication of impaired glucose intolerance. An appointment has already been made on the basis of this diagnosis to see a healthcare professional in a few week's time to discuss lifestyle changes to keep things under control.
 
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Have you misheard something? A random glucose level of 3.9 is LOW not high. Above 7 or 8 is normally suspicious of diabetes on a random check
 
I think I did mishear something, I think I heard a figure of 48, and also one of 39, I think my result was 48 and they were looking for a result under 39. I heard the 3 and 9 and the 4 and 8, and assumed my result was 3.9 and it should be between 4.0 and 8,0. But I just saw somebody else's post where they said they got a high result of 46, so it makes sense if my result was actually 48 and they were looking for 39 maximum.

I have some knowledge of diabetes, I have family members who are diabetic and also I did university course on diabetes a few years ago. My understanding is that a person without diabetes/prediabetes will always have a blood sugar level within set limits whether they are fasting or not. The body will keep the blood sugar levels naturally. So if my reading is 48 when it should be below 39 could that be why my doctor thinks I have impaired glucose tolerance even on a non-fasting test?
 
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You still haven't got those numbers right.

These are the HbA1c guidelines:

Below 42 is non diabetic
Between 42 and 47 is pre-diabetic
48 and above is diabetic.

A random blood test would be approximately 4 to 7 or above. You said it wasn't an HbA1c, and was a random test.

Perhaps you should ring up and confirm what you were.
 
I'm not sure ringing them is a good idea, it may be better to wait until I have the appointment, when I can discuss things properly with somebody who knows what the figures mean rather than a receptionist who is just quoting what she sees on a computer screen.
 
It seems to me that I'm in limbo anyway. I haven't been advised to take any immediate actions so I can't do anything until I've seen the advisor in a couple of weeks anyway, which is the only action I've been advised to take. The best I can do is be careful what I eat and take a reasonable amount of exercise, and it seems to me that knowing exactly what the figures are won't make much difference until I've seen the advisor and been told exactly what I need to do about it. Personally I would have thought that if there was a serious problem I would have been asked to see somebody, possibly the doctor, straight away, so the impression I'm left with is one of "There's a problem that needs sorting out but it's not serious".
 
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Hi Northern Brit, you will probably get the same useless advice most of us are given and generally not have your diabetes/impared glucose tolerance taken seriously at all by your HCPs.

What you can do to get in control is firstly, get a blood glucose monitor and test strips. The latter are expensive but I have heard that the Code Free monitor comes with considerably less expensive strips so this is the make most of us go for. I get mine on prescription as I am not in the UK and threatened my DSN with never eating a single carbohydrate ever again before I had the means to test. I now have a very generous prescription for test strips and a perfectly normal HbA1c of 35. This is without any meds, only diet.

So diet is vital to control blood sugar. I do LCHF, that is Low Carb High Fat and take the High fat part as seriously I do the low carb. I limit my carb intake severely, as in 20-25 grams of carbs per day. On the other hand I usually have up to 200 grams of fat per day. I have lost a little weight on this diet but didn't have much to loose. My BMI is 21.5. Others have lost a lot. of weight, have normal BG, normal BP and normal cholesterol. So LCHF can work very well.

I was diagnosed in February but had suspected diabetes for some time. My fasting reading always came back normal so I had an OGTT doen and was confirmed diabetic with a two hour reading of 14, my 1 h reading was 20.6.
 
Totto said:
Hi Northern Brit, you will probably get the same useless advice most of us are given and generally not have your diabetes/impared glucose tolerance taken seriously at all by your HCPs.

What you can do to get in control is firstly, get a blood glucose monitor and test strips. The latter are expensive but I have heard that the Code Free monitor comes with considerably less expensive strips so this is the make most of us go for. I get mine on prescription as I am not in the UK and threatened my DSN with never eating a single carbohydrate ever again before I had the means to test. I now have a very generous prescription for test strips and a perfectly normal HbA1c of 35. This is without any meds, only diet.

So diet is vital to control blood sugar. I do LCHF, that is Low Carb High Fat and take the High fat part as seriously I do the low carb. I limit my carb intake severely, as in 20-25 grams of carbs per day. On the other hand I usually have up to 200 grams of fat per day. I have lost a little weight on this diet but didn't have much to loose. My BMI is 21.5. Others have lost a lot. of weight, have normal BG, normal BP and normal cholesterol. So LCHF can work very well.

I was diagnosed in February but had suspected diabetes for some time. My fasting reading always came back normal so I had an OGTT doen and was confirmed diabetic with a two hour reading of 14, my 1 h reading was 20.6.
Click to expand...

You did build up your glucose intake in the days before the GTT?
 
I live in the Bolton area so come under their health care trust.

My diet in the days leading up to the blood test was normal for me. I live with my parents and my father is a Type 2 diabetic, my meals at home follow his diet and the only difference is any extras I have away from home. He has a blood monitor which he sometimes uses, I could use that for doing tests, although he says that he has been told by various medical people that it's not necessary to test every day and the HB1AC is more relevant.
 
Your dad has probably been told all the usual NHS rubbish about not testing and eat carbs and low fat.
I hope you will have an open mind about diet, and if your dad argues about low carbs that you will show him this forum.

Use his meter and test before a normal meal, then again 2 hours after your first bite. Get your dad to do the same, then compare readings and let us know how you go on.
 
Northern Brit said:
I live in the Bolton area so come under their health care trust.

My diet in the days leading up to the blood test was normal for me. I live with my parents and my father is a Type 2 diabetic, my meals at home follow his diet and the only difference is any extras I have away from home. He has a blood monitor which he sometimes uses, I could use that for doing tests, although he says that he has been told by various medical people that it's not necessary to test every day and the HB1AC is more relevant.
Click to expand...
Testing is vital, at least as newly diagnosed. You need to learn what food of different kinds do to your bg readings. That is, if you want to keep in good health. Diabetes can do terrible things.

So what do normal meals look like?
 
some vegetables perhaps?
Totto said:
Testing is vital, at least as newly diagnosed. You need to learn what food of different kinds do to your bg readings. That is, if you want to keep in good health. Diabetes can do terrible things.

So what do normal meals look like?
Click to expand...
 
I just wanted to pipe up to say that impaired glucose tolerance can show up as low BG. As well as high.
This can be reactive hypoglycaemia, or a lot more subtle.
- there is often a phase, long before it develops into prediabetes, or diabetes, where low BG several hours after eating is the only sign there is impaired glucose tolerance.

Learned that from my new and latest favourite D book, the Diabetes Miracle by Diane Kress.

(She uses this early sign to diagnose potential problems, and prevent a worsening of the problem by using diet)
 
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