Not Diabetic But Fasting Glucose Went Up And A1c Went Down Slightly ...

John201832

Member
Messages
12
I’ve been paranoid of diabetes for the last few months due to mildly elevated fasting blood sugars ranging from 101-106 mg/dL (5.6 to 5.9 mmol). In the United States, these values are considered prediabetic. I lost weight and exercised and ate clean and I did get a fasting glucose as low as 89 mg/dL (4.9 mmol) just 2 months ago. On 2 different occasions, my A1C was calculated at 5.4. Then I went on vacation, ate whatever I wanted and stopped exercising for weeks without gaining week and my fasting started going up again to 5.6 to 5.9. Like my body is sensitive . The highest fasting reading was the 5.9. I can understand that but what I don’t get is how my A1C went down to 5.3 . I know it’s not a huge difference from 5.4 to 5.3 but what the hell? That went down while fasting went up. Any idea what the hell or how that can happen? I’m so afraid of becoming diabetic and have been stressed for months on end . I know in the UK most doctors go by A1C but here high fasting glucose is enough to get a prediabetic diagnosis .
 

Alexandra100

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,738
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I’ve been paranoid of diabetes for the last few months due to mildly elevated fasting blood sugars ranging from 101-106 mg/dL (5.6 to 5.9 mmol). In the United States, these values are considered prediabetic. I lost weight and exercised and ate clean and I did get a fasting glucose as low as 89 mg/dL (4.9 mmol) just 2 months ago. On 2 different occasions, my A1C was calculated at 5.4. Then I went on vacation, ate whatever I wanted and stopped exercising for weeks without gaining week and my fasting started going up again to 5.6 to 5.9. Like my body is sensitive . The highest fasting reading was the 5.9. I can understand that but what I don’t get is how my A1C went down to 5.3 . I know it’s not a huge difference from 5.4 to 5.3 but what the hell? That went down while fasting went up. Any idea what the hell or how that can happen? I’m so afraid of becoming diabetic and have been stressed for months on end . I know in the UK most doctors go by A1C but here high fasting glucose is enough to get a prediabetic diagnosis .
The A1c test is not very precise. It has been known for the same blood sample to be sent to two different labs and 2 different numbers come back. My understanding is that the really important numbers are the ones I see on my meter one and two (or more) hours after eating. It sounds as if you have not been testing at these times. IMO it would be a good idea to do so. If the numbers are higher than you like, your readings can then guide you as to how to modify your diet to improve them.

Interestingly, I have recently been shocked to have the mirror image of your discrepancy between A1c and fasting bg. For the whole month of May my fasting bg was 5 or less, and my after meal readings were quite low, yet my latest A1c had gone up to 38 which I think equates to an average of 6.6!!! I almost never see a reading as high as 6. I think the difference may be partly down to the fact that my red blood cells were slightly above normal. If you had other blood tests at the same time as your A1c, you might like to check if anything similar has happened for you. Raised haemoglobin can raise the A1c and lower haemoglobin can lower it.

I put no weight on the categories of pre-diabetic etc. As you say, the cutoffs vary from country to country. What does harm is too much sugar in the blood. That is where it is so helpful to test at home. Any one reading may be inaccurate, but because we can test so often, we get a much better idea of what is going on than with a one-off test like the A1c.
 

JohnEGreen

Master
Messages
13,172
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Tripe and Onions
Well there is the fact that HBA1c is an average measurement over a period of time and a fasting plasma test is a snap shot of where you are at a particular time and there is a variance averages take into account highs and lows you may not even be aware of this could be the root cause of the discrepancy between the two methods of testing.
 

Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,746
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
I am not diabetic!
My last Hba1c test was 37, which is a normal level that is not diabetic.
The only reason my endocrinologist became aware of anything untoward was because I had kept a food diary and tested relentlessly.
Because of my experimentation, my specialist noticed that my post prandial levels were very high and blood sugar levels went low after a few hours.

From your post, everything seems to be normal.
So, if you want to give yourself some good information of how your blood sugar levels react to food, keep a food diary.

I do not use a fasting test, I only test before a meal. Because I found that early morning testing was unnecessary and unreliable. Testing around your meals is more important into finding out, what you should be concentrating on and not your hba1c and fasting levels.
Getting a diagnosis is not the be all and end all, it is just another step to getting yourself as healthy as you should be and which foods will give you that.

Best wishes