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Hba1c increase

H

h4ry

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Pronouns
He/Him
Hi.

Newbie here - I had blood test results come back today and I have been really distraught the whole day.

My fasting glucose was normal (4.8) but my Hba1c has gone up to 50. In September it was 43 and a year before that 38.

I've cut out sugary foods, not had biscuits, simple carbs, chocolates etc for 4 months.

I am 38 years old.

I've also been doing a lot more exercise and lost 5kg of weight. I have beta thalemessia trait which means I have abnormal Hb. However the lab has clarified that the way they test the trait would make no difference to the results.

Unfortunately my thyroid is also getting worse and is borderline underactive.

I have a telephone consultation with my GP on Monday.

Looking back at my diet, I did have wholemeal bread, chapptis, wraps etc as part of my diet Would this cause for the levels to spike this much in 4 months? Do I need to cut these out completely? I follow an Indian vegetarian diet.

I'm really concerned that it has gone up so much in a short space of time despite eating healthier and being more active. My cholesterol went down from 5.2 to 4.6. Diabetes runs on my mother's side of the family.

Any hints or tips would be appreciated, is there anything specific I need to ask the GP.

Many Thanks
 
Hi @h4ry and welcome to the forum

Sorry I can't answer your questions directly, but, hopefully someone will come along and offer some advice..

Alan 😉
 
Hi @h4ry and welcome to the forum - well done on the wieght loss - like @Alan44 I'm not able to give any specifc advice (not my area of expertise I'm afraid) but there will be users here who can help - glad you have found us
 
Welcome to the forum
Sorry to hear your HbA1C has increased when you appear to have been being careful and getting more active but it may be you are less tolerant of the carbs you are having. I must be quite tricky with an Asian diet as it can be heavy on high carb foods like rice, pulses, breads so finding lower carb alternatives is challenging.
You maybe would benefit from having a home testing blood glucose monitor so you can check out particular meals to see if they are too high carb, testing before you eat and after 2 hours will tell you if the meal is OK if the increase is less than 3mmol/l. You may have to self fund as GPs don't often prescribe them unless people are on certain medication.
There is a version of the Carbs and Cals book and app World Foods which has carb values of various portion sizes of a whole range of foods.
There is a vegetarian meal plan in this link for a low carb approach which you may find will give you some ideas https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
 
Thank you for the advice and the link. I will definitely invest in a glucose monitor to monitor the spikes.
 
Welcome to the Forum! 🙂 . I'm new to the site myself and discovered it's a great place for advice and information. I would certainly recommend getting Carbs & Cals (book or app) which is so useful when working out carbs and a blood glucose monitor is invaluable . Don't worry, it is possible to lower your HbA1C with a little effort 🙂.
 
Drs have messaged today to do a repeat Hba1c test in 2 to 4 weeks to definitely confirm. Reading articles it says prediabetes to diabetes normally takes a few years, I'm just really worried why mine jumped so much in 4 months.
 
Hiya, everyone is different and although articles give you information, they can sometimes make you feel more worried :( . A blood glucose monitor will be very helpful for you. Let us know how you get on .......
 
@h4ry the bread, wraps etc are all high carb foods, so if you can find something lower, or reduce your intake of them then you might see lower levels.
Unfortunately a vegetarian diet tends to be high in carbohydrate by its very nature, so some research and careful selection of what to eat might well pay dividends.
 
h4ry said:
Drs have messaged today to do a repeat Hba1c test in 2 to 4 weeks to definitely confirm. Reading articles it says prediabetes to diabetes normally takes a few years, I'm just really worried why mine jumped so much in 4 months.
Click to expand...

Hope your repeat test goes well @h4ry

It’s not uncommon for Drs to want a repeat HbA1c to confirm a diabetes diagnosis.

Diabetes does seem fiercely individual. So people’s diagnosis comes out of the blue, with no symptoms… For others they get a clear feeling that ‘something isn’t right’… Some people have a long, slow onset… while for others their diabetes seems to develop, and move much more quickly. It’s all very individual.
 
Drummer said:
Unfortunately a vegetarian diet tends to be high in carbohydrate by its very nature, so some research and careful selection of what to eat might well pay dividends.
Click to expand...
Not the first time I have seen this (or something similar) stated on this forum but very little research is needed to find cheese and eggs, for example. Most vegetarians will also be familiar with tofu and seitan.
There are also more meat substitutes available nowadays.

The "nature of a vegetarian diet" no longer tend to be high in carbs. It is years, neh decades, since vegetarianism meant a diet of lentils and nut roasts with mounds of mashed potatoes and other root vegetables. In my experience, it is no higher in carbs that a typical omnivorous diet and no harder to reduce carbs when following a vegetarian diet.
 
Thanks all, seems like the NHS advice is wrong in terms of encouraging wholemeal grains. Whilst I had cut out free sugar products I was maybe having too much wholemeal grains in my diet. Unfortunately I can't eat eggs, but I've stocked up on green leafy, salads, eggplant etc etc, greek yogurt, different cheeses and tofu. Hopefully that will make a difference. I will also buy the monitor this weekend
 
h4ry said:
Thanks all, seems like the NHS advice is wrong in terms of encouraging wholemeal grains. Whilst I had cut out free sugar products I was maybe having too much wholemeal grains in my diet. Unfortunately I can't eat eggs, but I've stocked up on green leafy, salads, eggplant etc etc, greek yogurt, different cheeses and tofu. Hopefully that will make a difference. I will also buy the monitor this weekend
Click to expand...
This link looks to have some good suggestions and fits with a low carb approach.
 
Hi h4ry and welcome to the forums.

With regards the wholegrains etc. I understand it to be that all of it breaks down into sugar, so I start the day with a wholewheat seeded slice of toast which is 17g of carbs. That's still roughly the same as if I had a slice of white bread, it might be slightly lower because of a bit more fibre from the flour and seeds but not really much but if I'm working to a carb based diet it's also about the same as if I had 17g of sugar!!! All that happens is that the body takes longer to break the more complex carbs down so my blood sugar won't spike as fast as if I had the 17g of sugar but over a few hours the amount entering my blood stream will be the same. I do watch sugar as well as carbs just to try and make sure I'm not having sky-high spikes but generally avoid things like potatoes, rice and pasta other than where they fit in my diet (I'm personally aiming for 120-130g of carbs per day and work towards 25-30g of sugar).

The bit that makes it all really annoying and confusing though is that our bodies all handle carbs in different ways, some foods that causes my blood sugar to go up might have very little effect on you and vice-versa. I was given a finger prick test machine when I was diagnosed and I still use that from time to time and especially when trying new foods or eating out as the best way to keep tabs on things.
 
Mark72 said:
Hi h4ry and welcome to the forums.

With regards the wholegrains etc. I understand it to be that all of it breaks down into sugar, so I start the day with a wholewheat seeded slice of toast which is 17g of carbs. That's still roughly the same as if I had a slice of white bread, it might be slightly lower because of a bit more fibre from the flour and seeds but not really much but if I'm working to a carb based diet it's also about the same as if I had 17g of sugar!!! All that happens is that the body takes longer to break the more complex carbs down so my blood sugar won't spike as fast as if I had the 17g of sugar but over a few hours the amount entering my blood stream will be the same. I do watch sugar as well as carbs just to try and make sure I'm not having sky-high spikes but generally avoid things like potatoes, rice and pasta other than where they fit in my diet (I'm personally aiming for 120-130g of carbs per day and work towards 25-30g of sugar).

The bit that makes it all really annoying and confusing though is that our bodies all handle carbs in different ways, some foods that causes my blood sugar to go up might have very little effect on you and vice-versa. I was given a finger prick test machine when I was diagnosed and I still use that from time to time and especially when trying new foods or eating out as the best way to keep tabs on things.
Click to expand...
If you start looking at the sugar as well then it will tend to complicate things and really the only reason to look at the 'sugar' would be if you have two products with the same carb content when you would probably choose the one with the lowest 'sugar'.
 
Thanks for the advice, the largest increase I've had so far is going from 4.1 pre meal to 6.1 two hours post meal which included one chapati in the meal. The other spikes have been less. I've not tested after having a really high carb meal yet. The GP has also referred me for the glucose tolerance test which is booked in a couple of weeks.
 
h4ry said:
Thanks for the advice, the largest increase I've had so far is going from 4.1 pre meal to 6.1 two hours post meal which included one chapati in the meal. The other spikes have been less. I've not tested after having a really high carb meal yet. The GP has also referred me for the glucose tolerance test which is booked in a couple of weeks.
Click to expand...
That looks very good and well within what people would be looking for 4-7mmol/l before eating and no more than 8-8.5mmol/l 2 hours after eating.
It is quite unusual these day to have a glucose tolerance test as it is been replaced by the HbA1C but he must have a reason.0
 
Leadinglights said:
That looks very good and well within what people would be looking for 4-7mmol/l before eating and no more than 8-8.5mmol/l 2 hours after eating.
It is quite unusual these day to have a glucose tolerance test as it is been replaced by the HbA1C but he must have a reason.0
Click to expand...
I think it's because I have beta thalemessia minor along with borderline thyroid which is getting gradually worse. This can apparently have a minor impact on Hba1c levels, so Dr wants to make sure. Although the lab confirmed the way they test the thal minor shouldn't have an impact on results.
 
So I had my gulcose tolerance test results come through this evening. Fasting was 5.0 and 120 minutes after taking the glucose the level was 6.4. The GP has recommended to have the gulcose tolerance test done yearly rather than the Hba1c to avoid confusion.
 
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