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HbA1c is 102

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keith2904

keith2904

Active Member
About 18 months ago my body started rejecting all oral diabetes medication. I went on Ozempic which failed to do anything but make me unwell. I have lost 27 kilo in a year and hope to evenutally put diabetes into remission. My last reading was 102 and nurse saying I must go onto insulin immediately but I want to keep trying to reduce my levels through continued weight loss, diet and exercise. All other blood tests are normal. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks
 
It sure sounds like you might be T1, if you're still seeing a very high HbA1c after losing 27kg. Hav yr doc or nurse talked to you about this at all?
 
Hi, No thats not been mentioned. Ihave been type 2 for 16 years.
Eddy Edson said:
It sure sounds like you might be T1, if you're still seeing a very high HbA1c after losing 27kg. Hav yr doc or nurse talked to you about this at all?
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Hi, No they have not mentioned this. I have been Type 2 for 16 years and I think they just assume I'm useless at managing it. Managed it OK till about 18 months ago.
 
Inka said:
Hi @keith2904

Have your team ruled out late-onset Type 1?

Can you give us an idea of an average day’s food for you? And your blood sugar results during the day too?
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Small snack like meals. Crackers with cheese etc. Occasionally pasta bakes. I only do fasting blood sugar. Its come down from 20 to 13% recently.
 
keith2904 said:
Hi, No thats not been mentioned. Ihave been type 2 for 16 years.

Hi, No they have not mentioned this. I have been Type 2 for 16 years and I think they just assume I'm useless at managing it. Managed it OK till about 18 months ago.
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Somebody with more experience of LADA than me will come along, but I reckon it's worth looking into.

Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA)

Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults is called LADA for short. It's a different form of diabetes. What is LADA? It's a type of diabetes which seems to straddle type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Bits of it are more like type 1, and other bits are more like type 2. That's why some people call it type...
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk
 
Ok, do you know your daily carb intake? (Roughly)

Personally I’d be asking to have Type 1 ruled out. Ask for antibodies tests and C Peptide.

Even if you’re not Type 1, if nothing else is working then it might be the best option to use insulin. High blood sugars cause untold damage to the body and you really do need to reduce them.
 
I’d also be doing more blood tests during the day so you can see just how high you’re going and what effects your meals are having. Test before the meal and 2hrs after the start of the meal.
 
Agree with Inka, might make sense to do a couple of pre/post meal tests to see how you are reacting to food. If relatively small amounts of carbs are giving big rises which are taking time to come down then that would add weight to asking for more testing to make sure you have a correct diagnosis.
 
Eddy Edson said:
Somebody with more experience of LADA than me will come along, but I reckon it's worth looking into.

Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA)

Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults is called LADA for short. It's a different form of diabetes. What is LADA? It's a type of diabetes which seems to straddle type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Bits of it are more like type 1, and other bits are more like type 2. That's why some people call it type...
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk
Click to expand...
Thanks thats very helpful. I don't have any of the 'standard' diabetes symptoms yet have a high reading of 102. I'm very confused about it. Bottom line though is that the nurse may be right about transferring to isulin - I think?
 
keith2904 said:
Thanks thats very helpful. I don't have any of the 'standard' diabetes symptoms yet have a high reading of 102. I'm very confused about it. Bottom line though is that the nurse may be right about transferring to isulin - I think?
Click to expand...

Nobody here can give you medical advice but - yes 🙂
 
If your blood sugars have been gradually rising, your body can get used to the higher numbers and you feel ok even though you’re not.

Unless you’re eating vast amounts of carbs and thus having the high sugars, yes I think I’d listen to the nurse and start insulin. But do ask about Type 1/LADA. Getting the right diagnosis helps and can also allow you access to specific things eg pumps, and often a better choice of insulins more tailored to your needs.
 
Inka said:
If your blood sugars have been gradually rising, your body can get used to the higher numbers and you feel ok even though you’re not.

Unless you’re eating vast amounts of carbs and thus having the high sugars, yes I think I’d listen to the nurse and start insulin. But do ask about Type 1/LADA. Getting the right diagnosis helps and can also allow you access to specific things eg pumps, and often a better choice of insulins more tailored to your needs.
Click to expand...
Thats really good advice. Thanks a lot.
 
Thing is the bodily damage uncontrolled BG does, is normally both silent and impossible to see with normal eyesight and often till it's too late to successfully counterract it by the time you find out - so you definitely need to do something and asap.

Grab the insulin pdq, but request the blood tests with the same sense of urgency, please.

(in my own humble opinion obviously - but LADA, although it has been a Fact of Life for the best part of some time, is still not universally acknowledge by a lot of GPs not constantly 'up the sharp end' in either hospital diabetes clinics or in A&E)
 
Hi. Yes I will do that. All blood tests were normal 2 weeks ago. I think I have resisted Insulin for too long so thanks for the advice.
 
Good luck with this new chapter @keith2904.

We have a number of T2s who very successfully use insulin as part of their diabetes management toolkit, so ask away with any questions and I’m sure they will share their experiences.

Do let us know how you get on with any follow-up checks about your diabetes classification too. If oral meds (which often work by pushing the pancreas to produce more insulin) are no longer working, it could indicate that you have lost beta-cell function and don’t have much ‘home grown’ insulin production for those meds to boost?
 
Thanks for your reply. I asked the nurse about that and she said they don't check on insulin production in the Pancreas. This could be the reason why oral medication suddenly created very unpleasant symptoms. I have a telephone consultation next Friday so I'll report back . I will aske her about classification. Thanks . K
 
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