• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

HBa1c

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
S

Snowflower

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
3 months ago my test result was 6.5. Im not on any medication and agreed with the diabetic nurse that I would follow a reduced sugar/carb/etc which I followed strictly. My test result has just come back at 6.2. I don’t know what to expect to be honest. Is that a good reduction for a 3 month test? I think in my heart I was hoping for a drop to below 6.0. Any experience out there of what is actually achievable over the 3 months?
 
You have been given your result in the old units of % rather than the mmol/mol that is now used. There is a link below with a conversion.

What is HbA1c?

HbA1c is your average blood glucose (sugar) levels for the last two to three months. If you have diabetes, an ideal HbA1c level is 48mmol/mol (6.5%) or below. If you're at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, your target HbA1c level should be below 42mmol/mol (6%).
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk

But 6.5 would have put you on the first rung of the diabetes ladder so you have done OK in getting it down. It maybe that there are certain high carb foods which you are still having portions which are too much or some snacking.
Keeping a food diary will highlight any areas which you could tighten up on. Also using a blood glucose monitor would help you identify any particularly problematic meals.
Getting your levels down further is very possible but it most likely needs a bit more effort on diet and exercise if you can increase that a bit it will all help.
I went down from 50mmol/mol to 42mmol/mol in 3 months with 70g carb per day and down to 38mmol/mol in another 6 months.
 
Thank you so much..! Sometimes its hard to see the wood for the trees. I am definitely not exercising enough and I think I need to review my food choices. Im on the right path there but will start weighing and calculating to get down to 70g.
Im new to this forum and it is really interesting. There is so much to take in and everyone’s input helps.
 
Hi and welcome
You are going in the right direction and that is great. I've got mine lower without meds, still new to this really, but have gained so much knowledge here and everyone is helpful and there are years of first-hand experience to tap into - you can't beat that. Do you have a blood glucose (BG) meter so you can check your level before a meal and 2 hours after, doing that along with keeping a food diary online helps you "see" how you are doing, where you might need to make food changes, be it a smaller portion of a substitute. There are plenty of free food diaries. It is unlikely that you will get a BG meter from your GP. we T2s mainly have to fund them ourselves. One of the cheapest right now is the GlucoNavii at about £10 for the starter kit, though you will need to order some more lancets and test strips as it only comes with 10 a-piece and they won't last long at all - their test strips are currently the cheapest. All are available from their website or Amazon, and even if bought from Amazon you still get the discount code included to use on their actual website - swings and roundabouts depending on how many test strips you wish to order. I do find test strips take about a week to arrive, so keep that in mind for re-ordering 🙂 If you have any questions, queries or concerns, just ask away, nothing is ever silly as we have all had to learn from the bottom up 🙂 Keep up the good work
 
Snowflower said:
3 months ago my test result was 6.5. Im not on any medication and agreed with the diabetic nurse that I would follow a reduced sugar/carb/etc which I followed strictly. My test result has just come back at 6.2. I don’t know what to expect to be honest. Is that a good reduction for a 3 month test? I think in my heart I was hoping for a drop to below 6.0. Any experience out there of what is actually achievable over the 3 months?
Click to expand...
Snowflower

Mine was 17...I changed diet and the next 3 month was 8.9.....
 
Hi @Snowflower .
You are heading in the right direction so please don’t get disheartened.
as you learn more about what can affect your own blood glucose levels your Hb1ac should come down more, but youhave only just crossed the threshold into diabetes so don’t worry, ok. You don’t have to go really low carb if you don’t want to, as has already been said, keeping an hones food diaryand using a BG meter can help identify where you can make suitable changes.
 
Thank you everyone - what a difference a forum makes!!! I have treated myself to a BG testing kit and am keeping a food diary. It does help me to focus on potential troublesome foods.. Best wishes to all
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top