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Second HbA1c test

R

Ricmel

Active Member
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So I was diagnosed as Diabetic on 21 April with an HbA1c of 97. I had my second test on 3 October and got results today with my HbA1c dropping to 41 and my fasting glucose was at 5.8 mmol.

I have to be happy with that though I thought I was going to be a little bit lower. I asked my doctor if I should go on to meds to push closer to non-diabetic readings she said she would not advise going on meds. That good progress made with diet should continue to improve. So we are going to wait until the next test in 6 months to assess progress then. My blood pressure has been in normal range for 3 months and my cholesterol is all fine.

Overall I am pretty good with the progress I have made so far.
 
HbA1c of 48 and over you are diagnosed with diabetes, 42 to 47 is considered pre diabetes, below 42 is normal.
Well done, that's a fantastic result, keeping in the non diabetic range is your new challenge.
I can't see how your Dr can prescribe diabetic meds to someone who wouldn't be diagnosed with diabetes based on their test results
 
Ricmel said:
So I was diagnosed as Diabetic on 21 April with an HbA1c of 97. I had my second test on 3 October and got results today with my HbA1c dropping to 41 and my fasting glucose was at 5.8 mmol.

I have to be happy with that though I thought I was going to be a little bit lower. I asked my doctor if I should go on to meds to push closer to non-diabetic readings she said she would not advise going on meds. That good progress made with diet should continue to improve. So we are going to wait until the next test in 6 months to assess progress then. My blood pressure has been in normal range for 3 months and my cholesterol is all fine.

Overall I am pretty good with the progress I have made so far.
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You may have felt it should've been lower, but this is an excellent result. You should be proud of yourself, getting back into the normal range! Yay, you!
 
Ricmel said:
So I was diagnosed as Diabetic on 21 April with an HbA1c of 97. I had my second test on 3 October and got results today with my HbA1c dropping to 41 and my fasting glucose was at 5.8 mmol.

I have to be happy with that though I thought I was going to be a little bit lower. I asked my doctor if I should go on to meds to push closer to non-diabetic readings she said she would not advise going on meds. That good progress made with diet should continue to improve. So we are going to wait until the next test in 6 months to assess progress then. My blood pressure has been in normal range for 3 months and my cholesterol is all fine.

Overall I am pretty good with the progress I have made so far.
Click to expand...
That's a brilliant result being as you were so high to begin with! You should be really happy with yourself. Well done :)
 
JoKalsbeek said:
You may have felt it should've been lower, but this is an excellent result. You should be proud of yourself, getting back into the normal range! Yay, you!
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My thoughts exactly Jo :)
 
Ricmel said:
So I was diagnosed as Diabetic on 21 April with an HbA1c of 97. I had my second test on 3 October and got results today with my HbA1c dropping to 41 and my fasting glucose was at 5.8 mmol.

I have to be happy with that though I thought I was going to be a little bit lower. I asked my doctor if I should go on to meds to push closer to non-diabetic readings she said she would not advise going on meds. That good progress made with diet should continue to improve. So we are going to wait until the next test in 6 months to assess progress then. My blood pressure has been in normal range for 3 months and my cholesterol is all fine.

Overall I am pretty good with the progress I have made so far.
Click to expand...

Wow, what an achievement. I would say don't think of it necessarily as being the lower the better once you have got back to your body's normal threshold level and are in non diabetic numbers, there are differences in levels between non diabetics. No GP would give out medicine to lower a person's levels when they are below the diabetic threshold (hopefully). It would be like overusing insulin just to get an hb1ac in the 20s. Doing that might put other strains on the body. I reckon that if you keep at it you might find it naturally goes lower anyway without meds.
 
Thanks all. I was pretty happy with the result.

But I think I need to research the numbers more. I thought 41 was still high, maybe not diabetic level but pre-diabetic level?

Anyway, I’ll continue with the low carb approach. I haven’t found it too burdensome so far.
 
According to Patient Access the normal HbA1c range is 20 - 41 (I always double check my workings when I'm trying to remember numbers. I usually remember correctly but I'm rarely convinced I've remembered correctly), so that is a fabulous result, you're back there in the non-diabetic, non-prediabetic range.

Well done you!

I fully understand wanting to be lower so that you have some wiggle room, I'm aiming for that in losing weight, but as a first test after diagnosis I'd say that definitely means it's time to break out the pom-poms for some celebratory cheers!
 
Ricmel said:
Thanks all. I was pretty happy with the result.

But I think I need to research the numbers more. I thought 41 was still high, maybe not diabetic level but pre-diabetic level?

Anyway, I’ll continue with the low carb approach. I haven’t found it too burdensome so far.
Click to expand...

If you have any Dawn Phenomenon at all, then with the same low carb it's likely your HbA1C will continue to fall further because your liver will dump less glucose as it adjusts to the new normal BG levels.
HbA1C isn't a perfect measure because it's a loner term average of a measure related to Blood Glucose. For example theoretically it's possible to have reactive Hypoglycemia yet still have a 'normal' HbA1C depending upon how the peaks and troughs diverge from the normal range. So keeping your BG stable during the day is important.

The lower end of pre-diabetes is set a fair bit lower in the USA than in Europe and Canada. This is one of the reason that some claim that half of US adults have pre-diabetes. The normal range for HbA1C in the USA is considered to be 4% to 5.6% , pre-diabetes 5.7% to 6.4%. Here (in the UK) the range is 6.0% to 6.4% as it is in most western countries.

What matters is the probability of retinopathy & neuropathy etc. at different levels which is much lower once you get below 42 6.0%).
 
Ricmel said:
So I was diagnosed as Diabetic on 21 April with an HbA1c of 97. I had my second test on 3 October and got results today with my HbA1c dropping to 41 and my fasting glucose was at 5.8 mmol.

I have to be happy with that though I thought I was going to be a little bit lower. I asked my doctor if I should go on to meds to push closer to non-diabetic readings she said she would not advise going on meds. That good progress made with diet should continue to improve. So we are going to wait until the next test in 6 months to assess progress then. My blood pressure has been in normal range for 3 months and my cholesterol is all fine.

Overall I am pretty good with the progress I have made so far.
Click to expand...
Wow, that’s amazing. You are a great inspiration. I was diagnosed three weeks ago, this really gives me hope.
 
I got my Hba1c down to 41 and had no trouble in keeping it from going up except for a blip over a year ago - which I suspect was due to Covid - it has gone down again, but I did not even know it had happened as the GP surgery only got in touch to try to get me on statins.
If you are not getting spikes in your blood glucose you can probably look forward to a fairly uneventful future with regard to diabetes.
I was quite unwell with a nasty cough, very early in the Covid outbreak, but other than that have been in good health and feeling better each year.
 
Weirdly, in the last week since I saw the doctor my BS readings seem to have gone off a cliff. In the period April to just a week ago I did 600 plus prick tests and generally range was 5.4 to 7 with maybe a few readings above 8.

Last week readings have ranged from 3.5 to 5.7?Taking tests same time, 1st thing in morning then before both lunch and dinner and 2 hours after each.
 
Those sound brilliant readings to me. Practically perfect
 
I've also been a tad confused as my 1st check up since diagnosis in March my HBA1C was 42 and had one last week which was 44.

I keep getting told by multiple people (diabetics and nurses) that it must mean I'm having too many hypos but I definitely am not....I had a couple in November (one month after official diagnosis) but since then I've not had one, or at least felt like I have....

What is considered a good range to be in for HBA1C for a type one

Thanks
Joe
 
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