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Shocked and upset to receive phone call from GP Surgery saying I am pre-diabetic

T

timeistight

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Other
The title sums it, had some bloods done and got a phone calll today from a Heath Navigator (I had never heard of them before) telling me a i need a phone call appt with a nurse to discuss the fact that I am pre-diabetic. I am shocked and angry, she could not tell me what the actual test result was as she is not allowed to access my notes and the appt is not until 5 Jan so I have weeks to be anxious and upset. I was in tears I was so shocked and upset, it is a bolt out of the blue . I eat a really healthy diet, fish,chicken and veggie dishes all home cooked, I rarely eat red meat and I have a take away about twice a year, I do not snack I do not drink fizzy drinks and I do not smoke or eat ready meals or processed food. I have a glass of wine every other night, a biscuit with a cup of tea in the afternoon sometimes. I am overweight but nor by much and at the age of 72 I do not want to go on a diet, I spent my youth on diets and hating my body so for the few years I have left I do not want to go down the road of being obsessed with my weight and stressing about every meal or morsel. There is a part of me that really does not care at my age and i am dreading getting a lecture on health eating and excercise from the nurse. I cannot exercise as I have really painful knees and hips, I used to walk a lot but it is too painful and anyway the area I live in is so dirty and depressing (fly tipping, street drinking, open drug dealing and begging) that there is no pleasure in going for a walk. I do not even know what to ask this nurse as I am blindsided by this news and it is a long wait for the appt . I have a year from hell, which includes a traumatic bereavement and some other issues I don't want to go into on here and this feels like one more horrible thing to have to deal with. I was already dreading Christmas due to being deep in grief and now i have this to contend with.
 
Hello and welcome @timeistight .

I am sorry you have had such a rotten time, lately. Also that the Health Navigator (I’ve never heard of that term, either) had caused distress with the abrupt delivery of the news on pre diabetes without the full info, and no support.

Don’t despair. Pre-diabetes can , with a few changes to diet, be stopped in its tracks, and not develop further.

There is info for new members at the end of my post. Have a read, come back with any questions. Members here will be willing to share their experience to advise you.

Regarding your notes in your health record, with the test results. You are entitled to have access to them yourself.

www.nhs.uk

View your GP health record

View your GP health record online, find out what's included in a GP health record and what to do if there's an issue with your record.
www.nhs.uk www.nhs.uk
 
Agree with all the above. Personally, I don't see much point in them giving you half a story - if they can't tell you what your HbA1c was then you don't know where you stand. In addition there's an acceptable error in HbA1c tests, and some can be flat out wrong. I've had one that was miles out - a result of 54 mmol/mol as opposed to the true lab-checked and verified value of 38.

Pre-diabetes is a recently invented term that just means your blood glucose is out of normal range. It's not a disease in itself, and it's fairly straightforward to do something about, if that's actually needed.
 
Hi and welcome,

First of all….and this is easier to say than do….take a deep breath, don’t panic, this isn’t the end of the world.

You’ve done the right thing by coming here and we can help support you.

I’ve never heard of a health navigator either, and I’m not sure what their point is if all they can do is book you an appointment.

Do you have the NHS app? If you do you can see your results there. If not ask your surgery how you get access, or for a written copy of your results.

Given that they say you are prediabetic it is likely that small changes to what you eat can make a difference (if you want to go down that route). So you say your diet is good, and the things you have mentioned are good. For diabetes it’s also good to look at the amount of carbs you are eating as well as sugar. For example bread, potatoes, rice, pasta. Depending on your actual test results small changes like increasing protein and decreasing carbs might be enough.

Whatever happens it’s taken a while for you to get to this point, and doing nothing until January isn’t likely to make much difference. If you feel like exploring more take a look at some of the links in my profile.
 
Lakeslover said:
Hi and welcome,

First of all….and this is easier to say than do….take a deep breath, don’t panic, this isn’t the end of the world.

You’ve done the right thing by coming here and we can help support you.

I’ve never heard of a health navigator either, and I’m not sure what their point is if all they can do is book you an appointment.

Do you have the NHS app? If you do you can see your results there. If not ask your surgery how you get access, or for a written copy of your results.

Given that they say you are prediabetic it is likely that small changes to what you eat can make a difference (if you want to go down that route). So you say your diet is good, and the things you have mentioned are good. For diabetes it’s also good to look at the amount of carbs you are eating as well as sugar. For example bread, potatoes, rice, pasta. Depending on your actual test results small changes like increasing protein and decreasing carbs might be enough.

Whatever happens it’s taken a while for you to get to this point, and doing nothing until January isn’t likely to make much difference. If you feel like exploring more take a look at somea of the links in my profile.
Click to expand...
I eat a couple of slices of whole meal bread a day, potatoes maybe three times a week, a small portion of basmati rice (which I love) some pasta which I always weigh, I make my own soup in my slow cooker, I can't see what else I can do, I rarely fry food and when I do I use olive oil. Fish at least twice a week, avocado, tomatoes, mushrooms and brocoli. I had never heard of a Health Navigator until today, apparently they are meant to guide patients to the most appropriate service when they ring the GP but have no clinical training and to be honest alll she was doing was what a receptionist does, ring me with test results and say I need a follow up appt.
 
Hi and welcome @timeistight . Pre diabetes, which as @KennyA says, is not an official diagnosis, more like a warning that your blood sugars are a bit above what they should be. Pre diabetes can range from a fraction over normal to just below the diabetic range. It’s really just giving you a heads up.
Without knowing what your HbA1c test results are, it’s difficult to say what and how much you need to do to drop them back into the normal range. They may only just be over, in which case they have given you needless stress.
You mention you’ve had the year from hell. Stress can really affect your blood sugars. The effects of stress can be seen with increases in blood sugars, particularly sustained stress over periods of time. Also as we age our body’s become less efficient, and this can affect metabolism. Our pancreatic beta cells may decline therefore, this may mean slight increases in blood sugars.
As for diet, it could mean just a few tweaks here and there which may make all the difference. Nothing drastic just a few changes. The important thing to know is prediabetes is not diabetes.
 
Hi and welcome. I'm sorry you have unsupportive communication and been left to sweat out what it means on your own. Take a read through the Board and you'll see it isn't bad news and that there is lots you can do that is astraightforward and pleasant to help your blood glucose readings. Like you I had a healthy diet but it wasn't healthy for a diabetic, so I had to change it and cut the carbs and fruit. Knowledge is power! Few of us here have had proper help from health professionals, so do your own research and then you won't be blindsided with dud "advice" the way many of us have been. I've had some really stupid advice from nurses. If you take control, you will find that diabetes is not so scary, but it does respond to stress, and you've had plenty. Ask whatever you like, no question is stupid or irrelevant, and most of us have been where you are now. Hugs.
 
Thank you everybody for making me so welcome and responding so quickly with kindness, support and advice. it was a real shock to get a phone call like that especially at 5pm on a Friday. This year I have had 3 beravements which included a young family member who died in sudden and traumatic circumstances i am still struggling to process and I still cry almost every day and fiind it all but impossbie to take on board that I will never see them again. We are not celebrating Christmas this year as nobody in my family can face it. Just going to put a small tree up and light some candles. I also have the neighbours from hell, it is so bad that it has gone to a multi agency meeting of police, council and the Anti-Social Behaviour team. I have had to call the police out 3 times in the past few months. Never had bad neighbours before so it has been such a shock . So yes, I am stressed ! I guess that the best thing I can do re the nurse is gen up on information and make a list of questions. If anybody can suggest things to ask I would really appreciate it.
 
timeistight said:
The title sums it, had some bloods done and got a phone calll today from a Heath Navigator (I had never heard of them before) telling me a i need a phone call appt with a nurse to discuss the fact that I am pre-diabetic. I am shocked and angry, she could not tell me what the actual test result was as she is not allowed to access my notes and the appt is not until 5 Jan so I have weeks to be anxious and upset. I was in tears I was so shocked and upset, it is a bolt out of the blue . I eat a really healthy diet, fish,chicken and veggie dishes all home cooked, I rarely eat red meat and I have a take away about twice a year, I do not snack I do not drink fizzy drinks and I do not smoke or eat ready meals or processed food. I have a glass of wine every other night, a biscuit with a cup of tea in the afternoon sometimes. I am overweight but nor by much and at the age of 72 I do not want to go on a diet, I spent my youth on diets and hating my body so for the few years I have left I do not want to go down the road of being obsessed with my weight and stressing about every meal or morsel. There is a part of me that really does not care at my age and i am dreading getting a lecture on health eating and excercise from the nurse. I cannot exercise as I have really painful knees and hips, I used to walk a lot but it is too painful and anyway the area I live in is so dirty and depressing (fly tipping, street drinking, open drug dealing and begging) that there is no pleasure in going for a walk. I do not even know what to ask this nurse as I am blindsided by this news and it is a long wait for the appt . I have a year from hell, which includes a traumatic bereavement and some other issues I don't want to go into on here and this feels like one more horrible thing to have to deal with. I was already dreading Christmas due to being deep in grief and now i have this to contend with.
Click to expand...
Just a thought. Are you able to access the NHS app? Your results should be available to view on there for you to be able to see what your hba1c was when they took your blood. Hope this helps.
 
An update to my thread, welll it turns out I am not pre-diabetic! my blood test result was 5.02% and my overall cholesterol is 4. Nurse was patronising, spoke over me so long and loudly that i had to ask her to let me speak. She said that in 2012 (!) I was down as being pre-diabetic with a 5.7 blood test and I said that nobody at the practice ever mentioned it to which she responded " I did not work there then so I don't know but I guess you must have forgotten" to which i replied that I am sure I would not have forgotten being told this. I then said that given I have not progressed to diabetes in almost 14 years and now my result is lower then guess I am not very likely to develop diabetes. I asked her about stress and spoke about the 3 bereavements i have had and how difficult this has been to which she said "oh well these things happen" I was gobsmacked and could not say anything. So I have had just over 2 weeks of anxiety and there was nothing to worry about and all I can think is that some wires got crossed at the surgery. Nurse said all I need is to have the blood test repeated in a years' time but I feel a bt reluctant. The test I had this time was one of many tests that my GP ordered when I went in about an unrelated health matter so it has all been a bit of a whirlwind. All the other bloods and my urine test were normal and I am on meds for the initial health issue. Thanks to all on here for the help and support , I really value it
 
timeistight said:
it turns out I am not pre-diabetic! my blood test result was 5.02% and my overall cholesterol is 4. Nurse was patronising, spoke over me so long and loudly that i had to ask her to let me speak. She said that in 2012 (!) I was down as being pre-diabetic with a 5.7 blood test
Click to expand...
This is ridiculous.
An hba1c of 5.7% (39 mmol/mol in the units that are currently used in the UK) isn't even prediabetic, this starts at 42 mmol/l or 6%.
Are you in the US? In the US they say prediabetes starts at 5.7 %, so even if you want to follow US guidelines you were only at the lowest possible number to say prediabetes.
I'm not surprised no one told you your hba1c at the time, it was normal, that nurse is way out of line with the things she told you.

I'm very sorry you had a rubbish time the past weeks, thinking you had prediabetes. I'm also very happy you are nowhere near prediabetes so you can scratch that worry off your list!

May 2026 be very friendly to you.
 
Antje77 said:
This is ridiculous.
An hba1c of 5.7% (39 mmol/mol in the units that are currently used in the UK) isn't even prediabetic, this starts at 42 mmol/l or 6%.
Are you in the US? In the US they say prediabetes starts at 5.7 %, so even if you want to follow US guidelines you were only at the lowest possible number to say prediabetes.
I'm not surprised no one told you your hba1c at the time, it was normal, that nurse is way out of line with the things she told you.

I'm very sorry you had a rubbish time the past weeks, thinking you had prediabetes. I'm also very happy you are nowhere near prediabetes so you can scratch that worry off your list!

May 2026 be very friendly to you.
Click to expand...
Thank you for you kind wishes, I hope 2026 treats you well . That nurse was not the best, I worked in mental health as a community support worker as well as on acute psychiatric wards and there was no way on earth I would ever have spoken to a patient the way she spoke to me. I listened with respect and answered with kindness and empathy and treated everyone as an individual . She spoke to me as if I was a none too bright 5 year old.!
 
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