Thought on blood tests numbers appreciated.

[Signs]

Morning folks,

I have an telephone appointment with locumm doc this morning as my usual DN is off sick to discuss my HbA1c results which I've posted below. I'd value some opinions on numbers please.

I have been generally unwell since before Christmas. Took some sort of 5 day stomach "bug" when I came home from hols in Tunisia end November and then from then until end March my levels were all over the place, very difficult to control, and I had to up both Gliclazide from 40 to 80 and metformin from 1x1000 daily to 2x1000 daily.

Asthma has also been a pain in rear end and have been on a few doses of steroids to get me the worst of it.

Also despite proven effective lowish carb diet I've put on a stone since end November.

All my woes in a couple of pargraphs! Staying positive - back weight and aerobic training last week - however the increased HbA1c, (not entirely unexpected) has knocked the confidence back a bit.

I'm obviously not happy with the HbA1c of 7.5 but would like to hear some thoughts on the other numbers. Posted results from August for reference.

HbA1c: 41.0 mmol/mol (5.9%) on 11/08/2014
HbA1c: 59.0 mmol/mol (7.5%) on 26/05/2015

Blood Pressure: 130/77 mmHg on 11/08/2014
Blood Pressure: 136/81 mmHg on 26/05/2015

Total Cholesterol: 3.2 mmol/L on 11/08/2014
Total Cholesterol: 4.1 mmol/L on 26/05/2015

HDL Cholesterol: 0.90 mmol/L on 11/08/2014
HDL Cholesterol: 1.50 mmol/L on 26/05/2015

LDL Cholesterol: [no result]

Triglycerides: 1.1 mmol/L on 11/08/2014
Triglycerides: 1.1 mmol/L on 26/05/2015

Creatinine: 110.0 umol/L on 11/08/2014
Creatinine: 115.0 umol/L on 26/05/2015

eGFR: 60 ml/min on 11/08/2014
eGFR: 60 ml/min on 26/05/2015


Cheers, John

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

Well, I'm sure you know your numbers are generally going in the wrong direction. Both the steroids and an infection can be really bad for blood glucose control.

"Lowish" carb diet? Have you tried an actual low carb/high fat diet? i.e. less than 50 g of carbs a day? I think that's worth a try.

 

[4ratbags]

When you say lowish carb, do you know exactly how many carbs you are eating per day. When I first started eating low carb I thought I was doing well until I put everything I ate into cron-o-meter and I was eating double the amount I thought I was. Being unwell and those dratted steroids wouldn't have helped either.

 

[Signs]

Hi folks, thanks for the replies and apologies I've taken so long to come back.

By lowish carb I mean between 150 - 200g per day with around 120g being my evening meal.

Yes I have have tried LCHF (between 20-50g daily) and very successfully as well. If you look back my posting history you'll see that. On LCHF I was able to wean myself off all medication and have an HBa1c consistently between 5.2 - 5.9, got back to my lifestyle obsession of weight lifting and felt great.

All went to hell in basket July 2013 when I had a heart attack (left arterial descending). That saw me incapacitated and sedentary for 3 months and 8 months off work until March 2014 before I was fit enough to return. On medical advice at that time I upped my carb intake and resumed glicklazide & metformin. (Big mistake)

Reckon I've hit paydirt with this doc. He was diabetic specialist now come to work in local surgery as a GP.
After my telephone convo Wednesday he called me in for an appointment on Thursday. He suspects I have an ongoing bacterial infection of some kind and had me provide some samples for testing. Also gave me medication, amoxcillin, clarithromycin & lansoprazole - which a good old google search points to helibacter pylori, fairly common, although he urged caution on jumping to conclusions. As I also presented other symptons he is convinced that this and and a couple of steroid doses for asthma could accounts for higher glucose levels and extra glic may cause weight gain (new one on me).

So . . . back to to 20 - 50g carbs per day starting tomorrow. Will need to work meds as we go.

John

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

As far as I can tell the standard medical advice to eat at least 130g of carbohydrates is based on virtually nothing but some study done in the 60s that says our brain uses that much glucose per day, so we need to eat that much or our brain stops working. What they failed to take into account was that in the same paper that the study is discussed they say that if a human doesn't consume that much carbohydrates (or anything at all), the body creates the glucose from protein and fat and our brain function is fine and our brain can also use ketones as a fuel source, so not as much glucose is needed anyway.

 

[VinnyJames]

Eating 20-50g of carbs per day will see your readings plummet. Keep testing and then if you want to - raise your carb intake until your readings stabilise at a level you are comfortable with.

Good luck!!

 

[donnellysdogs]

I have a surgeon that I work for (not as anything medical) he knows I suffer from bad shoulders and elbows at times due to my work. He has offered me advice.. And @ohitsnicola recently as well and there is no way he would want to advice me to have a steroid due to the raising of bloods. This is despite him knowing how much I care for myself and how I do everything poss to keep my levels good. He knows he could inject steroids easily but won't as he prefers my levels to stay optimal instead.

Sure it can **** well hurt like **** with elbows and shoulders but he is right... I do work through the pain.. I don't give up with exercises he gives me and my bloods don't suffer.

Got to say though increasing fats (which were low) to having the avocado's, olives, oil and fish have helped enormously as well.