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What should i do now

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Cookiesandcream1

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Went to the doctors and got my blood results. My hba1c was 6.7% and the doctor told me that was normal and thinks there is no reason to repeat the blood test!
Is he right and what should i do now???

Thank you!!!!
 
Cookiesandcream1 said:
Went to the doctors and got my blood results. My hba1c was 6.7% and the doctor told me that was normal and thinks there is no reason to repeat the blood test!
Is he right and what should i do now???

Thank you!!!!
Click to expand...

6.7 is equivalent to 50 in the Hba1c test and firmly in diabetic range (which starts at 48). It’s not normal for a non diabetic but I don’t know your history. Is he saying you’re not diabetic Cookiesandcream?
 
Was the result actully given to you as 6.7%? I believe the other number system (which would give you double figures) is newer. My is in double figures.
a HbA1c of over 6.5 would give you a diagnoses of diabetes. Talk to your doctor again.
 
Amigo said:
6.7 is equivalent to 50 in the Hba1c test and firmly in diabetic range (which starts at 48). It’s not normal for a non diabetic but I don’t know your history. Is he saying you’re not diabetic Cookiesandcream?
Click to expand...
He told me that it was very unlikely that i would be a diabetic
 
Ralph-YK said:
Was the result actully given to you as 6.7%? I believe the other number system (which would give you double figures) is newer. My is in double figures.
a HbA1c of over 6.5 would give you a diagnoses of diabetes. Talk to your doctor again.
Click to expand...
He gave me the result like that and i will try to talk to him again even though he seems set in is ways
 
Cookiesandcream1 said:
He gave me the result like that and i will try to talk to him again even though he seems set in is ways
Click to expand...

He may be clueless in his ways to be honest. This is the diagnostic criteria for Type 2 diabetes and it’s clear that a Hba1c of 48 (6.5) or over is within diabetic range. Ask him why you don’t fit the accepted criteria when your Hba1c is 50.

Exceptions are people who are in these categories and even then further testing/monitoring is warranted. He can’t just send you away!

  • ALL children and young people
  • patients of any age suspected of having Type 1 diabetes
  • patients with symptoms of diabetes for less than 2 months
  • patients at high risk who are acutely ill (e.g. those requiring hospital admission)
  • patients taking medication that may cause rapid glucose rise e.g. steroids, antipsychotics
  • patients with acute pancreatic damage, including pancreatic surgery
  • in pregnancy
  • presence of genetic, haematologic and illness-related factors that influence HbA1c and its measurement (see annex 1 of the WHO report for a list of factors which influence HbA1c and its measurement)

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/profess...nitoring/new_diagnostic_criteria_for_diabetes
 
I had recently read through the NICE guidelines for Type 2 out of curiosity, and remembered that when I was diagnosed and given all my drugs and equipment, the DN said to me at the time that they wanted me to get down under 53, probably because I was given Gliclazide. Were you taking that before? I think he a) probably doesn't really know enough about diabetes to advise you right, and b) saw the number in the guidance and just assumed that was the figure.

My GP happily said I was 'normal' when my HbA1c reached 46, although my DN wants it below 42. It's hard to get a straight answer!
 
42 is equivalent to 6%. I know Pete's was 5.5% when he had one done at a 'well man' thingy some years ago, presumably 'normal' is a range as well as 'diabetic' LOL
 
trophywench said:
42 is equivalent to 6%. I know Pete's was 5.5% when he had one done at a 'well man' thingy some years ago, presumably 'normal' is a range as well as 'diabetic' LOL
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I suspect ‘normal’ is what the respective GP is happy to settle for to be honest Jenny. Anything over 48 isn’t really normal levels though unless there’s additional reasons as posted above.
 
The HbA1c of a non-diabetic is approximately 5.5% or 37 mmol/mol.

What I suspect your GP is referring to is that on the NHS system if the result means that no-further action needs to be taken, then it's marked as normal. So as long as my HbA1c was below 6.5% (48) which is the NICE criteria limit - then I was down as "Normal".

Given that I'm on metformin, the NICE limit seems to now be 7.5% 😱 So I suppose I'm still "Normal" too.
 
Mark T said:
The HbA1c of a non-diabetic is approximately 5.5% or 37 mmol/mol.

What I suspect your GP is referring to is that on the NHS system if the result means that no-further action needs to be taken, then it's marked as normal. So as long as my HbA1c was below 6.5% (48) which is the NICE criteria limit - then I was down as "Normal".

Given that I'm on metformin, the NICE limit seems to now be 7.5% 😱 So I suppose I'm still "Normal" too.
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Mark, where does it say the Hba1c of a non diabetic is approx 37? My understanding is anything over 41 is pre-diabetic so under that is non diabetic and over 48 hits the criteria for classification as diabetic. This is the advice my GP told me he’d received.
 
Amigo said:
Mark, where does it say the Hba1c of a non diabetic is approx 37? My understanding is anything over 41 is pre-diabetic so under that is non diabetic and over 48 hits the criteria for classification as diabetic. This is the advice my GP told me he’d received.
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That came out of wiki, however the citations on that are not quite a solid as I would like. However the point that should be made is that a non-diabetic is able to tightly control there levels. I've tested my wife a couple of times and even after eating something quite carby she was under 5.

How you diagnose diabetes is a different matter. The question becomes one of the available test and the accuracy of those tests (nothing is perfectly accurate). There is a WHO document about adopting HbA1c to diagnose and how they chose the levels. It looks like there was lots of disagreement at the time over what the cut off should be - but eventually they settled on what we have today.
 
Mark T said:
That came out of wiki, however the citations on that are not quite a solid as I would like. However the point that should be made is that a non-diabetic is able to tightly control there levels. I've tested my wife a couple of times and even after eating something quite carby she was under 5.

How you diagnose diabetes is a different matter. The question becomes one of the available test and the accuracy of those tests (nothing is perfectly accurate). There is a WHO document about adopting HbA1c to diagnose and how they chose the levels. It looks like there was lots of disagreement at the time over what the cut off should be - but eventually they settled on what we have today.
Click to expand...

Agree Mark but 50 isn’t a normal reading so I agree with Lucy about a second opinion being needed for this enquirer.
 
I suspect that 41 would be the upper level of 'normal' and most 'normals' would be lower, with 37 possibly being the average or mean. Or a more average normal.
That's in a HbA1c test.
 
Ralph-YK said:
I suspect that 41 would be the upper level of 'normal' and most 'normals' would be lower, with 37 possibly being the average or mean. Or a more average normal.
That's in a HbA1c test.
Click to expand...

I agree with that Ralph. I know I’m at the high end of ‘normal’ simply because I’m actually diabetic.
 
I had a blood test 6 months before I was diagnosed with Type 2 that showed my HbA1c was 56 & no action was taken. When I found out about this after diagnosis, I wrote a letter of complaint to the surgery & got a personal reply from the GP who did apologise, but also said that he wasn't concerned about the result & therefore said nothing.
 
Mark T said:
That came out of wiki, however the citations on that are not quite a solid as I would like. However the point that should be made is that a non-diabetic is able to tightly control there levels. I've tested my wife a couple of times and even after eating something quite carby she was under 5.
Click to expand...
I sometimes test my wife, who is not diabetic & her last HbA1c was 33, and she often goes nearly as high as me after something carby, though her BG's return to normal much quicker than mine.
 
Mark Parrott said:
I sometimes test my wife, who is not diabetic & her last HbA1c was 33, and she often goes nearly as high as me after something carby, though her BG's return to normal much quicker than mine.
Click to expand...
Would that be a finger prick test you do Mark? This compared to a HbA1c, and between diabetics and none diabetics, is where it gets complicated.
 
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