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Stress and anxiety affecting HbA1c test results?

CliveUK

Active Member
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27
In October last year I was diagnosed as having prediabetes with a HbA1c test result of 42. By changes to my diet I managed to get this down to a normal 38 by the time I was retested this year in January, obviously I was very relieved and pleased.

Unfortunately due to various things going on in my life I have been suffering from a lot of stress and anxiety for the last few months, this has been compounded by the current Covid 19 situation also. A week ago I was due for another HbA1c test as a check-up, much to my dismay this came back with a result of 44. My question is; is it possible that stress and anxiety is having an effect on the HbA1c test results?, has anybody else had this experience?
 

Yes, stress can impact blood glucose levels. I think during lockdown, many have unconsciously or consciously taken a bit more exercise - even if just by way of not going shopping so often, then of course, there is the much bemoaned problem of the COVID Kilos. Many, many have found they have gained weight.

I'm not saying any of those other factors apply to you, but they're worth having a ponder over.

Back on the horse. I'm sure you can get yourself back on track.
 
Yes - stress and anxiety in my own personal experience increases my blood glucose levels - recently between lockdown, being made redundant and starting a new job my levels have gone up a tad (I know because I test everyday even although I have been in control/remission for over 3 years now).
 
CliveUK said:
A week ago I was due for another HbA1c test as a check-up, much to my dismay this came back with a result of 44.
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Hello Clive, this is not a direct answer to your question. I just wanted to say that no tests for blood glucose levels are very accurate. Your result of 38 could just as well have been 39 and your 44 could have been 43. So, still a rise, but not quite as high as you may have thought.

I'm sorry about your stress. Obviously you will be trying to find ways to calm yourself even when bad things are happening, but, as I know to my cost, that's not so easy, is it? Have you asked your GP for a repeat test? You could also get yourself a cheap(ish) bg meter and test strips so you can take testing into your own hands. I use the Navii, which is about the cheapest to be found. (You will find lots of advice on using a meter on the Forum.)
https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/gluconavii-blood-sugar-meter-glucose-monitor-starter-kit/

Even slightly reducing the carbs in your diet and increasing the exercise might help lower your next A1c. If you have a meter you can check what reduces or raises your bg. Not getting enough sleep is a form of stress that is know to raise bg. You might like to log your sleep also. Being short of sleep is thought to raise bg in itself, but also in causing hunger for unhealthy, carb heavy foods.

To summarise, feeling out of control is stressful, taking control lowers stress. Good luck!
 

Thank you . . . luckily the weight and exercise are not a problem as I run about four times a week. I'm not perfect with diet but I am careful so hopefully with a little less stress things will return to normal. I shall be doing a couple of home tests every day now for a least the few weeks and see how things are looking.
 

Thank you, I haven't asked for a re-test at the moment. I do have a home test monitor however so I'm planning to do regular testing for a couple of weeks and see how that looks, maybe then if the result don't reflect the HbA1c results I will ask the GP for another test.
 
Thanks you for the reply, I do hope its the stress, which hopefully won't last rather than anything else. I have a monitor so I have started today testing myself, I shall do this for a while every day and see how things look.
 
CliveUK said:
Thanks you for the reply, I do hope its the stress, which hopefully won't last rather than anything else. I have a monitor so I have started today testing myself, I shall do this for a while every day and see how things look.
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Might be worth you getting a Libre, I’ve had one for about 3 weeks now & it’s great as gives you round the clock readings so you can see how your levels fluctuate & which factors impact on it the most.

Re:stress, sounds silly but I got really irate recently watching the Eng v Denmark football match, got so wound up by it I didn’t get to sleep till past 2am! The Libre showed my BG levels were clearly elevated vs. previous days, reckon it added about 10% onto the average that day.

I also find excessive caffeine inhibits insulin sensitivity, so if you like coffee, watch out how much you have.

A small glass of red wine on an evening is quite good at pulling the BG level back, as is eating slowly, a rushed meal tends to spike me far higher even when eating identical meals from one day to the next.

All discovered via the Libre hence why I strongly recommend it.

All the best.
 
Ah i was going to ask the same. I was regularly testing every morning and was around 4.5 - 5.3. i stopped after a while cos just seemed to stay so gave fingers a rest. If been worried recently and was also nervous just about testing again and what th result would be and it was 6 . So maybe that answers it.
 
A bit of an update . . . I have recently been testing 3 and sometimes 4 times a day for about 3 weeks to try and build up a picture. The results were normal when I worked out an average and simulated a HbA1c test so I stopped testing. When I spoke to the doctors surgery and related this and queried my recent HBA1c test result of 44 I was told "these tests are gold standard" and are unlikely to be wrong, when I persisted they reluctantly offered me another test in 8 weeks time. About a week after that I received a letter from the surgery advising me that the Pathology Laboratory had discovered test results had been on average 10% higher than they should be and I may not be pre-diabetic after all! I am going back next week for another HBA1c test, so fingers crossed its ok and the test is more accurate this time around.
 
I've been a "well controlled" T2 for seven years , and yes, I've found that stress and various other non-food issues can all affect my glucose levels - and worrying may well tend to make things worse.

I've seen my biggest HbA1c increase this year, similar in size to yours, and if it's any consolation, I know from checking my meter stats that I'm now back down to within my normal range..

I simply accept that as I'm not some kind of robotic lab experiment I'll have a small range of HbA1c results, and occasionally I'll get one outside this "acceptable" range, but what goes up can also come back down again. Some slight fluctuations are normal, and the only time I'd be concerned would be if there was a larger unexplained increase, or if my results were showing a regular upwards trend. However, because an HbA1c is only an average over the last 3 months I pay much more attention to my finger prick tests (or Libre logs when I've used a sensor) as the patterns and trends I see give me continuous feedback on what's actually going on in "real time", which means there's a possible opportunity to attempt immediate remedial action.
 
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I have a very stressful job, I never have time off, have a holiday once every 5 years on average.

Covid lockdown in March I had 5 weeks off, perfect bgs, amazing bgs, getting my bg right was soooo easy, back to work, back to crazy bgs, irregular exercise and irregular food times or course played a part but im 100% convinced stress was a huge factor.
 
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