Hello everyone! I have just joined this forum today and am looking for some advice.
I have just be diagnosed with prediabetes, with an HbA1c level of 42 mmol/mol.
I am 48 years old and weigh 55kg (BMI 19.4 - healthy but at the lower end.) I’m not particularly active (I don’t take part in sports etc.) but I do walk a fair bit - since diagnosis, I have started briskly walking for 30-45 minutes each day. I am a moderate smoker and before my prediabetes diagnosis, I was already cutting down.
I am asthmatic and use Ventolin and Clenil inhalers. I also take folate tablets to raise my vitamin B9 levels.
I have a mixed diet that is reasonably good - ie a lot of home cooking, but once a week I may have a pizza or a burger, etc. I would be a liar if I said I managed my “5-a-day”
As I would imagine is the case with many people, I am somewhat overwhelmed and confused with what I have to do. I also appear to have symptoms that are worse than my HbA1c level would suggest (in my judgement.)
I’ll start with symptoms that may be caused by my condition.
Sleepiness/lack of energy. I sleep 8 hours per night, pretty much every night. Occasionally, I’ll have great difficulty in nodding off, but most of the time I’m OK. I don’t drink caffeine after 8pm. During the day, I never really wake up - I feel the same all day as when you do normally in the first 15 minutes of waking up. I also sleep during the day for between 1 and 4 hours - this could be in one go, or separated of 2 or 3 occasions.
Healing - cuts and sores take many months to heal - I have about 3 sores all behind my hairline, 1 of which hasn’t healed in months and 2 which haven’t healed in many years - a decade or more - these have been treated with medicated shampoo at the suggestion of my GP, but even prolonged use doesn’t make them fully heal.
Itching - Constant itchiness, particularly my upper back and chest, but also legs and arms - it’s the kind of itch that scratching doesn’t really fix - I can scratch and literally seconds later the itch is back.
Thirst and urination. I am pretty much constantly thirsty, which possibly leads to me needing to pee frequently - up to a dozen times a day and occasionally immediately after I have just been - ie within a minute. When I get the urge to pee, I need to go with some urgency. I need to get up in the night to pee and frequently wake up with a raging thirst. Occasionally, I also wake up in the night hungry in need of a small snack, such as a packet of crisps or a biscuit.
That’s the main symptoms, though I do also have a concern that some sexual dysfunction and potentially, blurred vision and hearing loss may be attributable to my diagnosis.
Do these symptoms correspond to my diagnosis? And where do I go from here?
Many thanks!
I have just be diagnosed with prediabetes, with an HbA1c level of 42 mmol/mol.
I am 48 years old and weigh 55kg (BMI 19.4 - healthy but at the lower end.) I’m not particularly active (I don’t take part in sports etc.) but I do walk a fair bit - since diagnosis, I have started briskly walking for 30-45 minutes each day. I am a moderate smoker and before my prediabetes diagnosis, I was already cutting down.
I am asthmatic and use Ventolin and Clenil inhalers. I also take folate tablets to raise my vitamin B9 levels.
I have a mixed diet that is reasonably good - ie a lot of home cooking, but once a week I may have a pizza or a burger, etc. I would be a liar if I said I managed my “5-a-day”
As I would imagine is the case with many people, I am somewhat overwhelmed and confused with what I have to do. I also appear to have symptoms that are worse than my HbA1c level would suggest (in my judgement.)
I’ll start with symptoms that may be caused by my condition.
Sleepiness/lack of energy. I sleep 8 hours per night, pretty much every night. Occasionally, I’ll have great difficulty in nodding off, but most of the time I’m OK. I don’t drink caffeine after 8pm. During the day, I never really wake up - I feel the same all day as when you do normally in the first 15 minutes of waking up. I also sleep during the day for between 1 and 4 hours - this could be in one go, or separated of 2 or 3 occasions.
Healing - cuts and sores take many months to heal - I have about 3 sores all behind my hairline, 1 of which hasn’t healed in months and 2 which haven’t healed in many years - a decade or more - these have been treated with medicated shampoo at the suggestion of my GP, but even prolonged use doesn’t make them fully heal.
Itching - Constant itchiness, particularly my upper back and chest, but also legs and arms - it’s the kind of itch that scratching doesn’t really fix - I can scratch and literally seconds later the itch is back.
Thirst and urination. I am pretty much constantly thirsty, which possibly leads to me needing to pee frequently - up to a dozen times a day and occasionally immediately after I have just been - ie within a minute. When I get the urge to pee, I need to go with some urgency. I need to get up in the night to pee and frequently wake up with a raging thirst. Occasionally, I also wake up in the night hungry in need of a small snack, such as a packet of crisps or a biscuit.
That’s the main symptoms, though I do also have a concern that some sexual dysfunction and potentially, blurred vision and hearing loss may be attributable to my diagnosis.
Do these symptoms correspond to my diagnosis? And where do I go from here?
Many thanks!