Test results: Help translating into English :D

[Zastro]

I went to the doctors today to get a copy of my test results as I am planning to see a private diabetes consultant soon because the wait list for an NHS diabetes consultant on the urgent list here in Gwent is 5 months. Just out of pure curiosity I would like to get an opinion on just how bad or good my blood test results were.

HbA1c: 130mmol/mol
Blood Glucose: 31.7 (from when I had the blood test this is actually averaging about 10 now on Gliclazide 80mg x2 day )
GFR - MDRD = 80.1 / 80ml/min/1.73m2

Now I do know the blood glucose was incredibly high which was what prompted my GP to make a home visit. Thankfully the medication seems to be helping with the blood glucose but I am confused as to what the other two tests are showing about me.

Tests were on the 13th of this month

 

[Bluetit1802]

The HbA1c is also incredibly high. Anything over 47 is diabetic, so you are well and truly over that and in danger zones. It averages at 19.7mmol/l (as per readings on our meters) so you were spending all your time too high.

The GFR is the rate of filtration from your kidneys and should be above 90, although this changed not so long ago. It used to be above 60.

 

[Resurgam]

the Hba1c represents your average blood glucose levels over the last several months - yours is off the chart, so the high blood glucose levels have been your normal situation for the lifetime of your red blood cells - and by implication a lot longer.
If you reduce your blood glucose levels then the number will drop, but it needs to come down to 48 for you to be considered well controlled - below 48 is still prediabetic.
I have seen my blood glucose levels dropping week by week as I am eating low carb, and I will have bloodtests in a weeks time to see how things have changed. Much of the advice I have had from the NHS has been worse than useless but the simple logic of reducing carbs so as to push my metabolism into something less damaging than having a high level of glucose seemed to be the most obvious course of action.

 

[Zastro]

So by these responses I should by all means be on insulin then?

 

[azure]

Your HbA1C and glucose are really high.

So by these responses I should by all means be on insulin then?

Possibly, yes, but I'd be getting more tests as well to check you're not actually a late onset Type 1.

 

[Zastro]

Yeah someone suggested I might be a late onset type 1, I will probably make an appointment to see my GP on Monday, see if he can prescribe a non-needle injection system for insulin. He actually did want me on Insulin straight away but since I have a very severe needle phobia I outright refused injections

 

[Bluetit1802]

It all depends on what you are eating. You say your levels are now dropping since you started on Gliclazide, which is a good thing, but you still need to use diet to get those numbers down. You should also be asking for tests to see if you are Type 1 (late onset)

 

[Resurgam]

Not necessarily - eating a 'healthy' high carb diet would probably have my levels as high as yours, but I chose my foods and amounts carefully to try to keep under 8 mmol/l all the time. I do fail when faced with a box of grapes, but I consider the purchase carefully. What is a typical days food for yourself?

 

[azure]

Yeah someone suggested I might be a late onset type 1, I will probably make an appointment to see my GP on Monday, see if he can prescribe a non-needle injection system for insulin. He actually did want me on Insulin straight away but since I have a very severe needle phobia I outright refused injections

That was me

I had and still have a needle phobia, but I dealt with it and have it manageable now. So don't let that put you off if you do need insulin. It can be dealt with.

 

[Zastro]

Yeah I have started on a low carb high protien diet from the day after I got my blood results from the GP, My blood sugar has come down considerably and is now averaging 10. As for the foods I am eating, right now I am big on omelettes. Adding a bit of harm with them to help. And yeah looking at my post history it was you Azure, **** you have a better memory than me

Hey if there is one plus, my blood pressure is literately perfect

Update: Decided I am going to see my GP on Monday about switching to insulin since he did want me on it straight away, I would say however that the only way I will be able to do those injections is via a non-needle system like InsuJet as my needle phobia leads to severe panic attacks. I am also trying to get off my quietapine as its having a negative affect on my blood sugar I'll also request further testing for possible late-onset type 1

 

[miahara]

Yes your HbA1c was indeed very high, mine was too at 102 and I too was prescibed gliclazide. It took about two months for my BG readings to fall into mainly single figures and I've managed to get it to stay low by adopting a LCHF diet. My second HbA1C test 7 months after diagnosis returned a result of 52. I'm due another test next month and by converting my average BG readings to HbA1C I'm anticipating something like 45 to 48.It could well be better as the average I use for this calculation is the average since July. I went really very low carb in October and my average BG has continued a slow but steady fall.
The graph shows my first few months on gliclazide and a reduced carb diet.If I'd included from December to January it would show the steep fall even better.
It does take a bit of time!

 

[Zastro]

Yeah I know and the Gliclazide has taken a decent chunk out of my blood sugar (from 20's to 10's combined with a low carb diet) My main concern honestly apart from further tests is that one of the medications I am on called Quetiapine raises blood sugar and slows down my metabolism. I have requested to come off it but my mental health team are convinced I am better off with it than without.

But coming off it is the lesser of two evils in my opinion, I'd rather have more anxiety than having a harder time controlling my blood sugar. There's always alternatives to Quetiapine anyway that don't interfere with my blood sugar that can help and having an easier time controlling my blood sugar will lead hopefully to less needles which are a far more solid amount of anxiety for me than everyday anxiety.

 

[MaxRebo001]

Heya zastro, first of all well done you've started to get your levels down, indeed your results from the 13th are really really high.

As for the insulin, I would hold off on accepting insulin initially, my doctor wanted me on it a few years ago, but I refused as i spend a lot of time working at height and driving usually on my own with irregular meal times so it didn't fit with my lifestyle.

It can take a while for levels to stabilise, especially fasting levels, the fact you have effectively halved you readings in two weeks is really good progress, i would want to closely monitor levels for a bit and re-evaluate before saying yes to the insulin.

Of course were all different and i'm not a doctor.

 

[Zastro]

It's ok, I need to pop up the GP anyway to start getting off one of the meds I am on that's actually having a negative effect on my blood sugar. Hopefully by the time I see the consultant in 5 months time I will be off it and will have a lot easier time controlling both my blood sugar and my weight. Going to stick with the low carb diet as well as it seems to be working!

 

[azure]

That would depend on whether you do have late onset Type 1 @Zastro If it was me, I'd want my diabetes type verified first before making any decisions. Some Type 2 meds aren't suited to Type 1.

 

[Freema]

Yeah I know and the Gliclazide has taken a decent chunk out of my blood sugar (from 20's to 10's combined with a low carb diet) My main concern honestly apart from further tests is that one of the medications I am on called Quetiapine raises blood sugar and slows down my metabolism. I have requested to come off it but my mental health team are convinced I am better off with it than without.

But coming off it is the lesser of two evils in my opinion, I'd rather have more anxiety than having a harder time controlling my blood sugar. There's always alternatives to Quetiapine anyway that don't interfere with my blood sugar that can help and having an easier time controlling my blood sugar will lead hopefully to less needles which are a far more solid amount of anxiety for me than everyday anxiety.

I also used to be on quetiapine, and yes it raises the blood glucose some, but probably not that much as yours, it also can lead to diabetes, which is why I stopped it right away, when finding out, I did take 600 mg a day so was on a rather high dose, I gained 1 kg at least pro month and as I was already life threatening overweight, I thought to myself it wasn´t worth that in a longer perspective, then I have to live with my depressions and almost constant stress instead, I did take it for that which is not a normal reason for describing it, and I used to have very servere cronical tiredness in my head almost like a servere flu in my head all the time, and quetiapine did solve that totally ..
I understand that not everybody can stop taking quetiapine as it is one of the most effective medicine for some of the servere mental diseases and conditions that one can suffer from, and especially in bipolar it is very effective..

I did go lower carb right away and went 1000 calories a day, and actually I felt much better mentally very soon after , I also went for longer walks of 5-7 kilometers every other day while being so obese at that time I couldn´t hardly do any sports...

If you are overweight then try just for 14 days to go totally low in carbs and calories and go up in fats too as proteins more than like 0.8 grams pro kg bodyweight can be transformed by the liver to glucose as well...

I think a very low carb eating style will prevent the raise in blood glucose from quetiapine , as I don´t think it raises the blood glucose with more than a few percent...

 

[Zastro]

I know that it wont bring it down much but it would help to control my diabetes a lot easier which is what I am looking to do. And yes for me quitapine has been a miracle drug, its brought me back to where I should be with minimal side affects (yeah the weight gain was one). But the fact is the alternative to staying on it causes me more problems than solutions. The weight gain from Glic cannot be ruled out on top of the Quitapine either and I have to have teeth taken out via GA and my weight will play an important factor in that.

Thankfully for the first time my bloods came under double digits today at 8.9 so thats a start and if my blood sugar remains stable for the next 3 months at my current average then my HbA1c will be 67 which is a massive drop from 130. Clearly there would be more work to do but its a start, its a start of a new part of my life where controlling my diet and monitoring blood sugar have to become a daily routine for me which is a lot to ask when your autistic but hey, no one said life was easy.

 

[Freema]

I know that it wont bring it down much but it would help to control my diabetes a lot easier which is what I am looking to do. And yes for me quitapine has been a miracle drug, its brought me back to where I should be with minimal side affects (yeah the weight gain was one). But the fact is the alternative to staying on it causes me more problems than solutions. The weight gain from Glic cannot be ruled out on top of the Quitapine either and I have to have teeth taken out via GA and my weight will play an important factor in that.

Thankfully for the first time my bloods came under double digits today at 8.9 so thats a start and if my blood sugar remains stable for the next 3 months at my current average then my HbA1c will be 67 which is a massive drop from 130. Clearly there would be more work to do but its a start, its a start of a new part of my life where controlling my diet and monitoring blood sugar have to become a daily routine for me which is a lot to ask when your autistic but hey, no one said life was easy.

hey Again I kept some of my quetiapine and take a half pill like a 100mg once in a while when I haven´t slept well for many days, it has kept me from going back into depression I think... it is also a medication used as a PN, so it can actually be taken once in a while also... if that is the better choice ... just to give you the idea , and have that in mind if you too are afraid of falling back into the darker side of ones psyke...

 

[Zastro]

Thanks everyone fore all the amazing advice by the way, thought 'd let you know its appreciated <3

 

[Zastro]

For those who asked about an update, went to the doctors today. They are going to make me wait to see the specialist before they do more tests to see if its type 1. In the meantime they are happy with my blood sugar which has now been below 10 for 3 days and told me to continue with the low carb diet although they did say due to being on Gliclazide it's very doubtful i'll be able to keep my current weight and will likley put a some weight back on. They did however agree to take me off the quietapine and I now have a 4 month taper which should co-inside with the specialist appointment. He also said that any dental work under GA will have to wait until I see the specialist as my local NHS hospital will not do any work until they know I have the diabetes under control.

All in all I would call that a productive appointment, in regards to late on-set type 1 they said they would have to do another HbA1C blood test when I see the specialist which I agreed to providing they numb the needle area with lidocaine first.