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Is she diabetic or not???

pinkie75

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Type of diabetes
Parent
Treatment type
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Im a mum of a 20 year old who has a serious medical condition called panhypopituitarism... basically a whole range of hormones are missing so she has to take hormone replacements including thyroxine, cortisol, growth hormone, oestrogen, DHEA,...... she has struggled with weight for a few years and last year one of her consultants said she had all the signs of insulin resistance ... I didn't think anything of it, but then googled insulin resistance and decided to get a blood test to see if she was diabetic... her HbA1c blood test came back as 49, which is apparently borderline? Anyone got any comments on this? I have no idea what this means. The GP said it wasn't serious, didn't explain anything and ask us to have another test next week?
 
This is a good page to read about HbA1c http://www.diabetes.co.uk/what-is-hba1c.html it gives the figure. A value of above 48 is considered in the diebetic range but would probably be confirmed with another test. That is very borderline. This figure would be easily corrected with a small change in diet to reduce sugar and white flour from her diet. However, given the other conditions she should consult her GP to make sure before changing too much. Additionally just doing 20 mins of light exercise after eating (a walk) would also reduce these numbers.

He may likely offer metformin but you need to discuss the side effects it has with the other drugs she is taking. It has a tendency to cause diarrhoea.

Hope this has been helpful and good luck for your saughter
 
I would usually say a change of diet is the best course, but I just don't know enough about your daughter's other health conditions to make such a suggestion. Therefore, as mentioned above I think an increase in exercise will be the best course. Regular moderate exercise is a great way of very quickly reducing insulin resistance. Personally I enjoy cycling, but there are loads of options out there. I sometimes do press ups if the weather is appalling. My wife (non diabetic) does yoga, which is not too strenuous.
 
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