fasting test?/clinics?

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will2016

will2016

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I have attended the diabetes clinic twice and just felt I was an inconvenience, the doctor didn't introduce himself, there was a lady there who appeared to be a student doctor although he didn't mention or introduce her either, I had taken an hour off work and was 35 minutes late in getting in which made me late returning to work which peed my boss off. Is this typical of diabetes clinics?

I didn't get answers to my questions, got more help from 2 ladies at work with the condition to be honest, my best HbA1c has been 13.5 (6 hour fast/3 weeks on metformin) but thats balanced against something like 17.5 when i was first diagnosed so going in the right direction, although i haven't tested for ages, been told not to until i find a med that suits me.

I was never given a full fasting test as yet and don't know what the procedure is or how thats meant to work? any advice on that would be greatly appreciated, can anyone tell me how this is supposed to be done please? sorry for going in but right now i feel isolated and confused.
 
Hi Will

Good that your HbA1c is beginning to drop. Slower is better apparently. If it drops too quickly it can make you feel terrible, it is also possible for T2s whose bg levels have been up for some time to experience hypo symptoms as their blood glucose levels return to the normal range but are still above 4.0mmol/l - hypoglycaemia is usualy considered anything lower than 3.9.

After a short time the 'warning switch' sort of resets itself and the false hypos should stop.

Do you have your own blood glucose meter and strips? What sort of advice have you been given regarding diet?
M

PS Apologies if I'm way off here... but I half wonder whether the readings you are mentioning above are fingerstick-style instant bg readings or HbA1cs. HbA1c tests usually (but not always) involve giving a sample of blood from a vein and results come back from a lab in a week or so. Test-strip/meter style tests tell you what your bg is at that moment and usually involve a droplet of blood from a finger. HbA1c tells you what your levels have been like on average for the last 2-3 months.
 
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everydayupsanddowns said:
HbA1c tests usually (but not always) involve giving a sample of blood from a vein and results come back from a lab in a week or so.
Click to expand...

or if you're my clinic, you use a huge super-duper finger pricker and drain my finger of almost its entire supply of blood 😱 hurts big time! I usually get my results back in 2 - 3 days 🙂
 
Heard about those mythical machines... but never seen one.
 
Almost immediate HbA1c's ?!?

It's witchcraft I tell ye! 😉
 
Hello Will,

If you're not happy with the way your clinic is treating you, tell them about it. Yeah, doctors and consultants are busy, and they have to deal with grumpy people all day (and that's just the staff...hehehe) coz nobody wants to be in hospital or go to the doctors, but really, they need to learn to be more people friendly, and they won't if they don't know there's a problem.
I'm lucky coz my hospital team are really nice and approachable and encourage you to ask questions.
I've never had a fasting test either, well, they asked me to fsat before and HbA1c once, but the DSN at my surgery told me not to bother too much. I get the impression that the fasting test is to check if you're diabetic or not, and i suppose that your levels, like mine, on diagnosis don't leave any room for doubt. If it's like the one they give to preganant ladies, they give you a bottle of glucose solution to drink and then test your blood to see how much is left a certain time later.
HbA1cs measure your average blood sugar levels over a 3 month period, so after 3 weeks of metformin the result if probably still influenced by your higher pre-diagnosis levels.
You might very well be advised against testing (yes, it's crazy but true), oddly though my team did encourage me to test until i was settled on a regular medication regime. I wonder if yours are just making excuses.

Grrr, my Hba1c took a least a week to come through, and i know for a fact that the path lab has been streamlined recently....
 
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