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Medications

T

tom1179

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Hi

What is the HBAC1 range will Doctors put you on medicine to get your glucose level down, if you stray out of the prediabetes rang is it at 50?
 
tom1179 said:
Hi

What is the HBAC1 range will Doctors put you on medicine to get your glucose level down, if you stray out of the prediabetes rang is it at 50?
Click to expand...
Hi @tom1179
Are you in the UK?
This information page will explain blood glucose level and HbA1c numbers.
48mmol/mol is given here as the threshold for a diabetes diagnosis. I don't think that automatically means medication will be prescribed (unless you're T1), you may be asked to revise your diet if you have not already done it,
 
tom1179 said:
Hi

What is the HBAC1 range will Doctors put you on medicine to get your glucose level down, if you stray out of the prediabetes rang is it at 50?
Click to expand...
If diagnosed T2 they will offer you medication and will probably recommend that you take it, but they are supposed to do all this in co-operation with the patient. I was offered metformin on diagnosis and refused it.

The NICE guidelines that form the basis for how the NHS approaches diabetes are written as advice to the medical people, and not as advice to the patient. You can find them here:

https://test.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng28/chapter/1-Recommendations

They are pretty old now (the dietary advice for T2 is still all low-fat and carbs) and assume that medication is a key part of treatment. Obviously true for some but not all. And they equate T2 with high blood glucose - so that if you've had a diagnosis, you will always have high BG.

The target HbA1c levels are in consequence some way away from "normal" blood glucose - 48, 53, and 58 mmol/mol in different circumstances. And preventing hypoglycaemia seems to be a main concern, so there's a preference in the system for having people's BGs higher rather than lower.

Interestingly in my local area many GPs are increasingly running low carb programmes. There's question about whether this is following the NICE guidelines, but it looks like these GPs are more attracted by something that works.
 
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