Welcoming in my new life

Hello all, I've been reading these forums for a few weeks now after my Hbac1 tests a few weeks back showed I had elevated sugars and a result of 55.

I was pretty messed up for a few days, I got extremely depressed as I am "only" 39 and recently married and started to think my life was about to end. Things got a little better after some better sleep and a positivity from the wife and mum, but my emotions have been up and down since then.

I have always been a mix of muscle-fat, almost like a taller prop position rugby player. My BMI will always be overweight/obese as I have a large chunk of muscle under the flub. I am of African descent and my mother and father both are borderline diabetics. Unfortunately when I should have been screened for this stuff I was not told about my higher risk factors. I had bowel cancer checks in 21/22 and my bloods were fine - but I do not even know if they were testing my HbAC1; surely they should have been, right?! The only thing they worried about was my anaemia, which still continues to this day.

My diet was never really that crazy as I used to powerlift/body build for a good amount of years in my life, but when I met my partner the training slowed and the food continued. I still wouldn't have said my diet was crazy, but more white pasta and white rice (Asian wife) came into play, as well as a bit more chocolate than I would have normally eaten. Even though I was not training with the consistent regime I used to have, I would never say I became inactive due to multiple long 3-5 miles walks. But maybe my intense weight training was clouding over my declining insulin response from earlier in my life?

Since the diagnosis I have purchased a CGM and finger prick tester, but I find the CGM is often lower than the finger test and the finger test I have to use twice as it gives me different readings, generally I am around 4.5-5.2 pre-meal and about 6.3 after a meal with some low carbs. I tried the AC1Now home test kit which gave me a 6.1,6.2 and 6.7 readings in-between my two HbAC1 tests, which was quite accurate, but not cheap (£90)

The other day I tried a home-made OGTT test (as I am sure my GP isn't bothered to do it for me) with 80g of Lucozade and I didn't really spike high or for long on the CGM (6.8), but my finger prick was about 7.3 and I forgot to test 2 hours later. But the CGM showed a gradual decline over a few hours. I have read the NHS gives you 400ML of Lucozade, which I am not prepared to drink that amount!

I had my 2nd HbAC1 test last Thursday and my numbers dropped to 49.

I have a C-Peptide and glucose test up coming to see how IR I maybe and also what my pancreas is up to.

All other numbers in regards to triglycerides, cholesterol, renal/liver functions, BP are fine. So I just hope that cleaning up my diet, getting back to weight training and being mentally positive will help me manage my T2D. I will also talk to the nurse about the Path to Remission programme.

Thanks to all the post authors in the forums and the advice given. It has been a great help.

EllieM said:

Hi @JBooth and welcome to the forums.

I don't know whether this is relevant to you but you should be aware than iron deficiency can raise hba1c levels,,,,
.
You could ask for a fructosamine test if you think your iron deficiency is distorting your hba1c.

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Thank you @EllieM

There are actually two things I need to talk to my GP about:

1) As I am west-African, my haemoglobin is different. I think Haemoglobin-C or something, which can also distort my hbca1. Additionally my siblings carry the sickle cell trait. Again I think I need to investigate more and as my GP as he hasn't even called/returned my calls after my 2nd result

2) As you called it, the anaemia. No one has even told me how to address it since I first found out and suffer from the symptoms heavily for the past few years - so it also looks like I need to ask my GP for this test too.

I will wait for my c-peptide/glucose test to see my HOMA-IR and if that is anyway normal, I will raise with the GP.

I am a glass half empty person anyway, so I am just going to think of my diagnosis as correct and go from there.

Thank you for the link!

AndBreathe said:

With sickle-cell in the mix, and your heritage, personally, I would push for fructosamine testing, rather than HbA1c.

How did you do your OGTT? How much Lucozade did you actually consume? Were you using a Libre at the time?

I did one a few years ago, as they were changing their recipe, and I ended up taking in more glucose than entirely necessary. Doh!

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Well I just ha a call from the doc and the next appointment will be 8th of March, so I will ask him about that test to confirm.

I did the OGTT with only 80gm of Lucozade Sport, as I read they use 75gm of a glucose mix. I was using the Libre at the time. I am checking now and the number did get higher than 6-7 (for some reason I cannot get the exact number, just the scale).

I'll just ask my doctor for a more scientific approach

AndBreathe said:

You should be able to download the Libre data to your pc/laptop. There’s a lot there so you’d have to locate the date and times.

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Thank you! I will try it tonight whilst the footie is on