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Pre-diabetic... but am I, really?

H

HappyChris

Newbie
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3
Preamble:
I've recently been told that I am pre-diabetic and read lots of leaflets/articles about what to do now to slow down the onset or even stop it in its tracks. Little of the advice seems that relevant, though. I'm not overweight - BMI is 22.4, I walk around 3 to 5 miles a day during 2 hour-long bouts, have a (underused) gym membership and don't drink (to speak of) or smoke. My only relevant vice is a liking for sweet stuff.
I was told to come for a check-up again in a year, so no real alarm bells seem to have been heard. I suspect that my results were a false positive, possibly triggered by a recent sugar-related binge, so I think that a period of self-monitoring would either confirm the diagnosis and give me a chance to slow things down or breathe a sigh of relief and just cut out the sweeties.

What I need to know is:
What kit do you advise me buying that is accurate enough, easy to use and appropriately cheap? SinoCare seems to be big in the UK market, thus a possibly safe bet or are there reasons to buy elsewhere? Has this already been covered extensivelity in these forums? Or are there any other helpful and knowledgeable sites to refer to?

Many thanks in advance...
 
Hi @HappyChris , welcome to the forum!
HappyChris said:
I suspect that my results were a false positive, possibly triggered by a recent sugar-related binge
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Do you know what you ere tested for? A fasting blood glocose, a random blood glucose or a hba1c? And what was the number?
Sugar binges don't cause false positives as a rule.
HappyChris said:
What kit do you advise me buying that is accurate enough, easy to use and appropriately cheap?
Click to expand...
If you're interested in monitoring, @Rachox has some useful information about meters, she'll see this tag and share it.
 
Welcome @HappyChris . Bit late for many in the forum, getting their beauty sleep. Have asked someone to post a list of meters, probably tomorrow.
You might want to read up on Tofi thin on the outside, fat on the inside.
 
You may well be correct that you just tested high. However, I would honestly suggest that if you've been flagged as on the diabetic spectrum at all, you should keep it in mind going forward: you say your only relevant vice is a liking for sweet stuff, but please remember it isn't necessarily "vices" that get you. Brown rice, bananas, oatmeal for breakfast, wholewheat bread- these are much more likely to cause diabetic issues than, say, smoking or drinking. It's insidious.
Anyway, getting a tester will tell you what you need to know: test before you eat, then two hours after you ate: a rise of more than 2 is a sign the food was problematic: I just warn you in advance a lot of the food you had been told was healthy may turn out to be surprisingly bad as far as blood sugar goes. For testers, I just use accucheck, and it's cheap and accurate enough. My doctor uses Bayer.
 
Hello and welcome,

As @Antje77 it is important to know what the test was. If the test was a random blood glucose test- that is a test for the level at the time of the test then even non-diabetics can read high. If, however, it was a HbA1C then that test measures the average over 3 months and will not be high for someone without diabetes.

There are a percentage of type 2s that fit your profile- slim and exercises but you are right that the more common type 2 is overweight (but may exercise regularly as I do).

It is also possible to be diagnosed with type 1 as an adult- just for your information.

I strongly recommend that you get a meter so you can monitor your levels which gives you more information.
 
I've been using a Sinocare meter since about a week after the pre-diabetes phone call last June. I picked it more or less at random from Amazon, but any meters sold in the UK have to conform to the same standard, and their strips are generally less than 20p each. (The Sinocare strips are generally less than 20p each - it's the cost of the strips that mounts up)

With an enthusiastic schedule of testing my blood glucose I went from an HbA1c of 43 to 35 in 3 months.

If you can find out the numbers of your test results from the GP you'll have a better idea of where you're starting from and what you're aiming for.
 
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Hi @HappyChris and welcome. Thanks for the tag @Antje77

Here’s some info on UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.


HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews if you use this link and select the meter plus 5 packs of strips and then add the code dcuk (all lower case) at check-out, you’ll get the meter free. So total cost for meter + 5 x 50 strips will be £31.76.


https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/



Links to the strips and the meter for future orders:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/

There are also discount codes for when you come to buy more strips - "navii5" and "navii10" will give you 20% off purchases of 5 packs of strips and 25% off 10 packs of strips respectively.


Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/

Discount codes for the Code Free strips

5 packs 264086

10 packs 975833





SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + found here:



https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793

with the strips found here:



https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097

Some members have got a free Tee2+ by phoning up to order, with a large order of strips they often throw the meter in for free:

Phone number 0800 8815423


With more expensive strips is their Caresens Dual, this one has the advantage of glucose and ketone testing in one machine, it’s to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/collections/caresens-dual



If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.


Don’t forget to check the box if you have pre diabetes or diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)
 
Yes you probably are - see above. It's a really good idea to avoid being formally diagnosed as diabetic - it affects things like your insurance premiums. Once organizations hear "diabetic" they assume the worst. I wish someone had explained that to me when I was told that I didn't have diabetes, I was just pre-diabetic. It is quite simple to reduce your blood sugars - reduce your carb intake.
 
Thanks to everyone who has replied to my plea.

I am grateful to KennyA for his head-up re consequences of being a recognised as diabetic - it's enough to put me on a low-carb immediately! Can I treat my condition without being seen as one (get VAT relief on meter and so on)?

Quite forgot about TOFI. This might apply to me as I have seen my weight drop over lockdown but not so much my waist...

Thanks to Rachox for her info. Not settled which one, but I intend to be ordering my meter, etc tomorrow. If I don't get a reply from Navii to a query it'll be a SinoCare Accu2 as per Widget’s comment.

You’ve all been very helpful and informative but I'll still ask - did I choose the correct forum as a newbie pre-diabetic? I'm quite used to being booted off fora by punctilious moderators!
 
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HappyChris said:
did I choose the correct forum as a newbie pre-diabetic? I'm quite used to being booted off fora by punctilious moderators!
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You'll definitely not get booted for choosing the 'wrong' sub forum. You can use all, it's only when it causes confusion or is totally off topic that we'll move the thread, or suggest you post in a different place.
No worries!
 
Nobody's going to stop you "treating" your condition. You won't get VAT relief without a diagnosis, though, but that shouldn't be a dealbreaker.
 
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