What am I?

[VioletViolet]

Hello , My HBA1C was 54 in June. I've brought it down to 42 by eating low carb over the last couple of months. Does that mean it's gone? Do I still call myself diabetic? Am I forever a diet controlled Diabetic even if I can get it under the prediabetic range?

Also, even though my HBA1C has lowered my cholesterol is high and now I've got to bring that down Did this happen to anyone else? I've been pretty much vegetarian prior to diagnosis, I the my body is in shock at all the changes.

Thank you

 

[AloeSvea]

First of all - well done you for bringing your HBA1c down with diet in only three months.

What is prediabetes, diabetes, and non-diabetic levels differs from country to country, just to make the numbers thing a wee bit arbitary around your mark! I would say, and it is in the two countries I have lived in mainly, that 42 is in the prediabetes zone. And to have your diabetes resolved/in remission there is a time factor involved. As in years! Maintaining it. So you need to find out what the HBA1c numbers are for the different pre/diabetes zones where you live? If it's the UK then it will be on this site somewhere...

Another way of looking at it, rather than the pre/diabetes label, in my humble opinion at any rate, is to see a 42 as low-level blood glucose dysregulation, and if and or when you get it down to non-diabetic levels for a decent period of time, including that kicker - the fasting blood glucose, I think, from memory but I haven't checked, one of the criteria I read was three years?, then say that your blood glucose levels are well regulated again. Gets rid of the whole diabetes zone issue! But that's for you, as I believe most medical professionals see a diabetes diagnosis as a lifelong thing, regardless of your remission status. But that may be changing - which would be a wonderful thing. I have read of folks in here whose medical professinals have given them an 'all clear' after a significant amount of time, and the remission criteria has been met.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @VioletViolet Congratulations in reducing your HBA1C from 54 to 42 in just 2 months. It's more of an achievement than it may seem because the red blood cells which the HbA1c measures live for around 3 months, which means that up to 1/3rd of them had been around before you started Low Carbing. Thus, if you keep on until your next HbA1C then that one will most likely be even lower than 42!

Not such good news on the 'cure' front though. I have encountered 2 people (in the .org forum) who claimed to be cured - all others accept that if we start eating the same way as we did before diagnosis then our HbA1C will go into the diabetic range again. Those 2 people went very quiet a couple of years ago, so I suspect that their luck ran out and they now realise that they are no more special than the rest of us - they were in remission just like I am (for over 4yrs).

Are you losing weight? If you have been and it has not stabilised yet, then the 'burning' of excess body fat is a probable reason for a higher LDL, plus a Low Carb way of eating tends to raise HDL and lower Triglycerides, so although your total Cholesterol and LDL may be higher yet your Lipid ratios may well be much improved (because of HDL up and Triglycerides down). Most who were overweight or obese and went Low Carb find that once the weight has come off and stabilised, their LDL is lower than it was at diagnosis. I'm one of the 10% of T2D's who was slim and for some reason it doesn't work that way with us, so my LDL still remains higher than it was at diagnosis, though my Lipid ratios are very much improved so I'm not too concerned.

*edited for spelling.

 

[AloeSvea]

Yeah, I had through-the-roof LDL and immeasurably high trigs when I was losing masses of body fat on lower-carbing post diagnosis. It took three months to normalise, if memory serves. But I have remained with high LDL, but good ratios and healthy trigs since.

And yeah, it does seem that people have what can be quite wildly different tolerances and levels of both body fat, and carbs that they can eat and drink without it sending their blood glucose into a tizzy. In the lit it's referred to as fatty liver differences (as in how much of puts your system out), and sick fat cell differences (ditto). I also think there are lots of places and junctures for a type two diabetic for there to be serious problems in the blood glucose system. I look forward to a time, if I am still alive, where diabetes clinics do a deep dive into these things and we can have really targeted treatments based on solid information about what exactly is going wrong in the cycles and systems in our bodies in metabolic disease.

 

[VioletViolet]

I had a review with my Nurse this week and she said I will always be flagged as a diabetic however low I get my HBA1C . I'll be classed as a diet controlled Type 2

 

[Lamont D]

I had a review with my Nurse this week and she said I will always be flagged as a diabetic however low I get my HBA1C . I'll be classed as a diet controlled Type 2

But in remission, no thanks to the advice given by them.

 

[Melgar]

Bask in your success @VioletViolet . It’s of no real significance what they think or list you as, yes annoying that they will always consider you diabetic, but really your body your health . As @ianf0ster states, diabetes never really goes away, it’s just that your hard work and dietary choices have made a difference, and that’s all we can hope for. I was labelled asthmatic a few years back in the UK. No matter that I had just one attack, and that is all it took. I am now officially an asthmatic in the UK health system. Annoying.

 

[Rachox]

Well done on your success @VioletViolet . Personally I think it’s good to keep the diabetic ‘label‘ on your records as you will then automatically get all the annual checks, foot checks, eye scan, bloods etc..

 

[Outlier]

I will always be diabetic no matter how well-controlled my BG because if I wasn't controlling it I would return to diabetic-level blood readings and the health complications that go with it. However, I can perfectly well manage this, unlike some illnesses, so am quite happy with the concept. Everyone suffers from something and this is much more easily handled than some other illnesses.

 

[Daphne917]

I had a review with my Nurse this week and she said I will always be flagged as a diabetic however low I get my HBA1C . I'll be classed as a diet controlled Type 2

@VioletViolet well done on reducing your hba1c. I was diagnosed with T2 in 2012 and since 2014 my hba1c has been between 35 and 40. I was told that I would always be considered as diabetic however after my last hba1c on Wednesday I notice that my medical notes now say ‘diabetes in remission’ which is the first time it has been officially recognised by my surgery!!

 

[AloeSvea]

I will always be diabetic no matter how well-controlled my BG because if I wasn't controlling it I would return to diabetic-level blood readings and the health complications that go with it. However, I can perfectly well manage this, unlike some illnesses, so am quite happy with the concept. Everyone suffers from something and this is much more easily handled than some other illnesses.

It CAN be much more easily handled than some other illnesses - if you have the 'milder' versions of type two, according to Swedish endocrinologists at Lund University, who came up with, in my opinion at any rate, a good categorisation system. Which ties in with the fatty liver, and the sick fat cell theories behind T2D, just to remind. (I'm popping in here saying this, as I don't have of the 'milder' versions! Where massive weight loss and the passage of time leads to remission. And so, is not at all easily managed.)

 

[VioletViolet]

@VioletViolet well done on reducing your hba1c. I was diagnosed with T2 in 2012 and since 2014 my hba1c has been between 35 and 40. I was told that I would always be considered as diabetic however after my last hba1c on Wednesday I notice that my medical notes now say ‘diabetes in remission’ which is the first time it has been officially recognised by my surgery!!

Well done