Raised HBA1C

robertbanking

Member
Messages
8
Hello folks, hope you are doing well.

I was diagnosed many years ago with symptoms similar to Reactive Hypoglycaemia. I had various Glucose Tolerance Tests but none detected a low blood sugar. However i have all the typical symptoms, feel faint, leg weakness and anxiety 2 hours after a high carbohydrate meal. So i guess some hormones or timing is out for some reason or the blood sugars are fluctuating too rapidly and cannot be caught on the tests i had.

On my recent HBA1C in the UK it was 39 mmol i note this is at the high end of the scale but not classed as prediabetes. I am currently 29. Should i be worried about this and what does this mean please? Does this mean the pancreas is releasing too much insulin and what can i do to try and lower this please? I try and have high protein meals, but do drink alot of caffeine.

Thank you for any support you can give. Have a great day and all the best.
 

Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,932
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
Hello folks, hope you are doing well.

I was diagnosed many years ago with symptoms similar to Reactive Hypoglycaemia. I had various Glucose Tolerance Tests but none detected a low blood sugar. However i have all the typical symptoms, feel faint, leg weakness and anxiety 2 hours after a high carbohydrate meal. So i guess some hormones or timing is out for some reason or the blood sugars are fluctuating too rapidly and cannot be caught on the tests i had.

On my recent HBA1C in the UK it was 39 mmol i note this is at the high end of the scale but not classed as prediabetes. I am currently 29. Should i be worried about this and what does this mean please? Does this mean the pancreas is releasing too much insulin and what can i do to try and lower this please? I try and have high protein meals, but do drink alot of caffeine.

Thank you for any support you can give. Have a great day and all the best.

Hi, @robertbanking, welcome to the RH forum.

Bear in mind I am not a doctor and can't diagnose you, but at this juncture, you may have one of the many conditions that have similar symptoms close to diabetes and other metabolic conditions including RH.

Your Hba1c levels are just in normal levels, so you don't have diabetes.
And all the symptoms are very similar, so that is why it is so confusing.
I have heard of a condition called idiopathic postprandial syndrome.
This condition which is similar to flat line Hypoglycaemia. Both of them record blood glucose levels that don't go under 3.5 (hypo levels).

I would be concerned but not worried especially if it gets worse.
Not knowing what triggers the symptoms, wether like myself I over produce insulin, when I eat any carbs, it could be something you are unaware or unable to find out.
I'm lactose intolerant and also carb intolerant. The reason for this is my initial insulin response, which is not enough for any carbs.
You have probably tried to find the reason by testing foods or drink. And if I'm right, the only suggestion is going Keto. I take it that you have been advised to eat low GI foods, but for me, a carb is a carb, healthy or not.

Keep asking.
 

robertbanking

Member
Messages
8
Thank you so much for your response Lamont, that is very kind of you.

It is confusing, especially when your Glucose Tolerance Test is normal after ingesting a high sugar load. However as the symptoms appear more after high carbohydrate foods its reasonable to assume it is maybe the speed of digestion or maybe the Insulin response.

Can i kindly ask what else is involved in blood sugar management i heard Cortisol is and do you know what other bodily functions all work to balance blood sugars please? I believe there will always be an answer to every condition just the standard Glucose Tolerance Tests did not show any abnormality but there must be a subtle change in the body to cause these symptoms.

Thank you for any support you can give and thank you for being so kind. Wish you a lovely weekend Lamont. You take good care.
 
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Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,932
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
Hi again,
With any blood glucose hormonal imbalance, the symptoms can vary from person to person.
Thank you so much for your response Lamont, that is very kind of you.

It is confusing, especially when your Glucose Tolerance Test is normal after ingesting a high sugar load. However as the symptoms appear more after high carbohydrate foods its reasonable to assume it is maybe the speed of digestion or maybe the Insulin response.

Can i kindly ask what else is involved in blood sugar management i heard Cortisol is and do you know what other bodily functions all work to balance blood sugars please? I believe there will always be an answer to every condition just the standard Glucose Tolerance Tests did not show any abnormality but there must be a subtle change in the body to cause these symptoms.

Thank you for any support you can give and thank you for being so kind. Wish you a lovely weekend Lamont. You take good care.

I have heard of cortisol, but that is for a deficiency in cortisol. And only if you get tested for it, would I be taking cortisol.
In some metabolic conditions, gastric dumping or gastric emptying or low initial insulin response or insulin resistance will cause symptoms, because the symptoms are not only derived from carbs but from your blood glucose levels on a rollercoaster ride, up and down every time you have carbs. The body's own natural homeostasis, works to correct any imbalance, but it does not correct dysfunction or dysregulation of hormones.
Control of my condition is quite easy, once you know what to avoid, and I use intermittent fasting to help not to put pressure on my bg levels. I have a window of a few hours each day, when I eat one or two meals a day, that is if I want to. I never stick to meal times, it is far too much food and not having that first meal is taking the anxiety of what happens later and being in control.
Do have a read of our low carb forum and there is another website we recommend, because going low carb is a lifestyle change.
Dietdoctor.com is a great resource, and there is great recipes.

Keep safe, keep asking

Best wishes
 
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robertbanking

Member
Messages
8
Thank you very much for your response Lamont, i truly appreciate your reply.

I apologise for the delay in my response, sadly a relative of mine got Coronavirus so i had to help them with their shopping while they self isolated.

Its very interesting to hear you intermittent fast i think that is a very clever idea. I kindly wondered though how come many people can live to 60 with poor diets, drinking alcohol and many sweet snacks and never get low blood sugar symptoms please?

All my blood tests including HbA1c and Insulin fasting and after sugar have been normal. I have never had any stomach surgery, Do you have any thoughts please on what may be different in my body to cause these symptoms? What would a cure look like for this condition please obviously its a rare condition and i appreciate its underfunded and not much is known about it.

Thank you very much for your responses Lamont, you are a true gentleman, i really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week.
 

Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,932
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
Hi @robertbanking and I hope you are not too tired from shopping, and this will come in handgun the future, when you decide and discover which food you can tolerate and not spend money on junk food. Ha! My grandsons going back to school tomorrow after isolation.
Thank you very much for your response Lamont, i truly appreciate your reply.

I apologise for the delay in my response, sadly a relative of mine got Coronavirus so i had to help them with their shopping while they self isolated.

Its very interesting to hear you intermittent fast i think that is a very clever idea. I kindly wondered though how come many people can live to 60 with poor diets, drinking alcohol and many sweet snacks and never get low blood sugar symptoms please?

All my blood tests including HbA1c and Insulin fasting and after sugar have been normal. I have never had any stomach surgery, Do you have any thoughts please on what may be different in my body to cause these symptoms? What would a cure look like for this condition please obviously its a rare condition and i appreciate its underfunded and not much is known about it.

Thank you very much for your responses Lamont, you are a true gentleman, i really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week.

I have wrote about my IF before, I have named it, the idiot diet!
It's easy, hence the name. But the basic reason is to limit my concern over food, due to the limitations of what I allow myself, I could actually keep control. When in my mad testing phase and recording everything, the amount of details, writing testing every few hours day in, day out, and my endo would suggest something different, or ask me to trial, different timings, fasting different times, eating small meals at different intervals and so on.
After all this, my thought process realised that all this was meal organisation. And regardless of time scale and that I had become brainwashed into thinking had to eat three meals a day, and was back to breakfast, lunch, dinner and even supper, and I was challenging my body to be healthy again by following rules, which I knew was counterproductive to how RH is treated by food limitations and discoveries such as my body is better and healthier on a daily basis, not eating at all.
Obviously, I need to eat sometimes even if it is once a day, just to get enough nourishment to keep me healthy. Also, because of all the discoveries I had found out inspired me to try something outside the box.
And after weighing up the possibilities, this was my plan, my treatment, my lifstyle, my likes, my tastes, when I want, how I want and cooked the way I want, portion control, carb free, or my favourite, something akin to gammon, eggs, mushroom, onions and tomatoes fried in a small amount of goose or duck fat, you could use coconut oil or 100% virgin olive oil. But not vegetable oil!
Again, my diet, is my diet, designed for me, not you!
But that doesn't mean, you can't have something similar suited to your lifestyle. Because what might work for me, might not work for you and vice versa.

What is different, is like saying your fingerprints are similar to mine.
How you got here, what you eat, where you live and so on, your gut biotics contain millions of good and bad bacterium which is being helpful or not to process your intake, the hormonal response is different in how much insulin you have for the initial insulin response, how much insulin is overproduced, the speed of the hyper, the spike, the overshoot, the hypo and how low the hypo goes. In that respect, we are all different.
And the science of how your brain gut trigger, and the brain organise the hormones even before you eat, insulin resistance, can be a major factor or any other endocrine conditions you may know about or not!

I'm sorry, but there is no cure, but as you have read, control and knowledge is key to a healthy future.
But, when first diagnosed and my endocrinologist had a study of all things RH, he knew about the gliptin, because of diabetes. And put together a study, with the two patients around here he had under his purview, and I and a woman with similar symptoms with her RH. So he ran a series of tests, initially 50 mg of the gliptin which is used for T2, because it increases the initial response of insulin, to offset insulin resistance and low insulin during digestion.
However, it reduced the hyper which reduced the overshoot, but it didn't stop the hypo. And the hypo
wasn't as bad. And then I was given 100mg. Not much difference in the oucome.
I will finish by giving an opinion.
Due to my experience, results and my health, I would advise a course of action, that suits you, that eliminates the carbs and sugars that trigger the symptoms and hypo, to prevent hypos and diminish symptoms by control and knowledge.


Good luck with all that, I have not had the complete success that comes across. But I have had periods where I can safely say, that I have it where I want it, and intermittent fasting is a huge part of my life.
And if you can't get the control, , a gliptin .might help get some control.

And don't call me a gentleman, I worked for a living!!!!!
 

mariavontrapp

Well-Known Member
Messages
262
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
I had reactive hypoglycaemia from a young age, but tests never showed much - they weren't doing the right tests! There was no internet in those days so I thought I was alone in this and got used to being dismissed by the doctors. I slavishly followed the UK recommended low fat diet, which was totally wrong for my needs. I developed type 2 at the age of 52 and have been battling with it ever since. My advice to you would be to start eating right now in order to avoid problems in the future. Most importantly, don't let your weight creep up. Learn the truth about carbs, healthy fats, etc. Cut right down on sugars and reduce carbs in general. Cook healthy food from fresh rather than processed foods. I think type 2 diabetes is preventable if you take steps whilst you are young
 

Dr Snoddy

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,325
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Trolls
Hi Robert. Just out of interest and perspective would you mind saying how much caffeine you consume on an average day?