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Confused !

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Bobbylou

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Carer/Partner
My partner was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes several years ago.
He’s currently struggling to get his fasting blood sugar levels below 8.2 despite being on 2 medications and being careful what he eats.
The GP mentioned going on insulin to manage his sugars but now they’ve changed their minds. At best, the surgery is pretty slack on its diabetes care but during Covid it’s non existant.
What should he do, insist on trying insulin or plod along ?
 
Hi @Bobbylou and welcome to the forum.

I like to start with the basics. Do you know what his HbA1c is and how it has changed since he was diagnosed? If you don't know what that is then ask, and I will explain.
 
HbA1c was 8.5 In December, 17.5 on diagnosis, so has reduced considerably.
 
Ah, I don't understand those numbers because they do not fit into the normal ranges for HbA1c. There are two ways of expressing HbA1c. It used to be expressed as a percentage and would be in the range 5% to 12%. 17.5% would be remarkably high and would probably have landed him up in hospital in serious trouble. The second, and more usual way these days, is to express it in mmol/mol. This will be in the range 30 to 150+ with anything over 48 earning a diagnosis of diabetes. The numbers you give don't fit in that range at all.

Were the numbers you give taken from a blood test sent to the lab or from a finger prick reading? The finger prick is an instantaneous result and the numbers you give could certainly come from a finger prick test. Finger prick tests are idicative but the protocols ask for a lab test on a blood sample to measure HbA1c specifically before giving a diagnosis.

Forgive me for persevering with the numbers but my suggestion is always to get your base line sorted so you can see where you are and how far you have to go. It also helps to make sure we are all talking the same language, otherwise confusion will reign!
 
Hello and welcome to the forum @Bobbylou 🙂
 
Bobbylou said:
HbA1c was 8.5 In December, 17.5 on diagnosis, so has reduced considerably.
Click to expand...

Was the 17.5 an HbA1C too or a random or fasting blood test?

17.5 can be an HbA1C in the ‘old’ system but would be very high (the equivalent of 160+ in the modern units).

Does your partner have weight to lose? What are they eating on an average day? Do they test their blood sugar during the day?
 
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