Just got my test results

Your HbA1c reading is a measure of a product called glaciated haemoglobin in your blood stream. When you have glucose in your blood it leaves a residue that can be detected and given a figure. Your own figure is 7% which although above the target figure set out by NICHE which is an institute of health professionals it really isn't bad. The target figure is 6.4% or 46. There are things you can do with medication, diet and / or exercise to help bring down this figure. Before anybody starts making suggestions it might be good if you can tell a little bit about your condition. When were you diagnosed? Are you currently taking any medication? Generally what do you eat? Once again a figure of 7% is nothing to worry about and you can bring it down. People here will help you and there are loads of very clued up, very warm and friendly people who are diabetic just like you. Welcome to the Forum by the way. Sorry I forgot to add that the HbA1c gives an average result of approximately the last 3 months of where your blood sugars have been.

See http://www.diabetes.co.uk/what-is-hba1c.html to understand HbA1C levels and corresponding glucose levels.

DebTompkins said:

Thank-you
I just got the results of my blood test this morning....I haven't spoken with my doctor yet. I will be honest I don't currently eat well. I currently eat a lot of white bread and my husband loves pasta so we eat a lot of pasta. I try to incorporate vegetables but I'm not great at it....in addition my husband only likes peas, carrots, and corn....it's expensive to purchase groceries do two menus.
I exercise but not as much as I used too.

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If this is all new to you then before you go into information overload which is quite easy to do perhaps speak to your doctor and see what he or she suggests for you. I think they will be likely to drag you kicking and screaming away from white bread. In an ideal world if you are not offered medication and even if you are, looking at ways to reduce your carbohydrate intake might be a very good idea. There are lots of ways of doing this without going to mad extremes that involve you living on dust and a little water. There are creative ways to put food together that don't need to be expensive and a lot of them actually taste quite good too. A lot of people get their initial diagnosis with a HbA1c reading a lot higher than your own. I know it's very easy to suggest but try not to worry about things. I am sure that you will find that you will need to make changes in your lifestyle but these changes really don't need to be extreme nor do they need to be difficult. That way you can make them permanent which overall will probably do you most good.

Hi @DebTompkins to put into context your HbA1c of 7 and fasting blood glucose of 7.4, my initial HbA1c was 134, with fbg north of 20.

You would abviously not want to have diabetes. You have a number of options which include:

Diet
Diet and Exercise
Intermittent Fasting
Drugs

Your numbers are relatively low, so you might want to look at the first 3 options first. Some of the diet protocols are LCHF (low carb high fat) which can incorporate a Vegan or Vegatarian version if meat, fish ans diary are not your thing, Newcastle Diet, which is a low calorie "shock the system" diet for circa 8 to 12 weeks at around 800 calories. Some might also try a Whole Food Plant Based Diet.

I am tagging @daisy who can provide some getting started information.

DebTompkins said:

Not sure what to make of the numbers on my test results. I had my blood tests sent to me directly and they say I have diabetes but I'm not sure what my numbers mean.....help?
My HB 1ac was 7% and my glucose reading is 7.4

Not sure how bad this is or what to make of it.

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Hi, its a bit of a shock isn't it? as other have said, you star tin a way better position than many of us so it shouldn't be too hard to make improvements.

My personal advice would be think about switching into your diet more real foods and less highly processed ones especially stuff with wheat and sugar in it . Check out the low carb program and see just how tasty many of the menus are.. its cool stuff !

hello and welcome to the forum
My Hubby was diagnosed in June with an HbA1C of 11% and a fasting blood glucose of around 17 so your numbers are not too bad at all and you should be able to get them down quite quickly.

After following a low-carb diet for almost 3 months his FBG is now around 8-9 so much improved on his starting point.

Essentially you have to reduce the amount of carbs that you eat ( all carb turns to sugar once digested just at different rates) Oats will take longer than white bread for example.

Reduce the bread/potato/pasta/rice/processed food/cakes/biscuits from your diet and get a blood glucose meter so that you can test yourself and see which foods you can and can't eat and you will soon see an improvement.

lots of friendly folk here so ask away and good luck.

Mbaker said:

Hi @DebTompkins to put into context your HbA1c of 7 and fasting blood glucose of 7.4, my initial HbA1c was 134, with fbg north of 20.

You would abviously not want to have diabetes. You have a number of options which include:

Diet
Diet and Exercise
Intermittent Fasting
Drugs

Your numbers are relatively low, so you might want to look at the first 3 options first. Some of the diet protocols are LCHF (low carb high fat) which can incorporate a Vegan or Vegatarian version if meat, fish ans diary are not your thing, Newcastle Diet, which is a low calorie "shock the system" diet for circa 8 to 12 weeks at around 800 calories. Some might also try a Whole Food Plant Based Diet.

I am tagging @daisy who can provide some getting started information.

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Hi. I think the 7 figure is the HBA1C in old money i.e. 7%. Your number of 134 would be in new money

Daibell said:

Hi. I think the 7 figure is the HBA1C in old money i.e. 7%. Your number of 134 would be in new money

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Yes mine is old figure, the conversion is 20.3 mmol or 14.4%.