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Hello from a newbie

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Valerie L

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hello, I am 73 and was diagnosed with type 2 in
November After years of weight yo-yo . Have lost one and a half stone since then and blood sugar is at a prediabetic level and need to complete this! Am main Carer for husband so my health matters even more. Looking forward to learning more from this forum

Valerie L
 
Welcome to the forum Valerie from a fellow T2.
 
Thanks for that Ralph YK. I still haven’t got my head around the alternative ways of registering numbers! Blood pressure is recognisable but numbers under 10 versus the higher version. I am not sure of. I am metformin twice daily and Atavastatin at night . Is the increase in Jan ok for you?
 
Ah - let me try and explain that Valerie!

UK blood glucose monitors, ie 'meters' report their results in mmol/L. Abroad, they use mg/Dl. So to convert UK to 'abroad' figures, it works out approximately to multiplying by 18, or if the other way about, divide by 18. Hence if a USA meter says 90 - the UK one would say 5. Recently there have been a quite a number of links on the forum to various articles and research papers using 'non-uk' parlance, so 'non-uk' figures are used in them.

We have also used a different scale for reporting HBA1c blood test results for I dunno, is it getting on for 10 years by now? which used to be expressed as a percentage, but is now a much larger higher number, and there's no easy way of converting them back and forth. However if you happen to be a 'Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy' fan, where the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything was stated by the author to be 42 - handily that is also the HBA1c figure that marks the cusp between non-diabetic and 'pre-diabetes' with 48 being the cusp at which it spills over from 'pre' to an actual diagnosis of diabetes.
 
This is so helpful Jenny . I Thank you. I was 3.4 this morning which is the lowest I have been Fasting- but two hours after breakfast am 4.9 . Will know tomorrow if this is due to weight loss and pancreas working more or if i overdid exercise! I did love the Hitchhikers guide!
 
Valerie L said:
I Thank you. I was 3.4 this morning which is the lowest I have been Fasting- but two hours after breakfast am 4.9
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I take it you've started self testing, doing a finger prick test. Those are pretty low figures. Are you on insulin or gliclazide? I suggest you ring you're the person you're under for your diabetes.
Have you been a record of your levels? And a food diary?
 
Thank you for that. Yes. I Have a daily food diary, take a prick of my finger every two weeks and am having 1200 Cals a day. Speak to a dietician fortnightly and my doctor every few months. Called the dietician this morning who says if it is that low tomorrow she will speak to my GP and check if i should still be on metformin .
 
Valerie L said:
Called the dietician this morning who says if it is that low tomorrow she will speak to my GP and check if i should still be on metformin .
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Good that it appeares to being dealt with. I'd suggest you follow up with the doctor yourself, to save waiting on it going through the system.
What sort of BG level do you usually get?
 
Welcome to the forum @Valerie L 🙂 - I’m sure you’ll find lots of support and information here. Be interesting to see what your GP thinks.
 
Thanks so much Lucy. It has already helped. Ralph Yk- my bg was 8 when first diagnosed in Nov. 8 months later and two stone lighter it was .
6.1 . Two weeks ago 5.7.
 
Valerie L said:
Thanks so much Lucy. It has already helped. Ralph Yk- my bg was 8 when first diagnosed in Nov. 8 months later and two stone lighter it was .
6.1 . Two weeks ago 5.7.
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Is that HbA1c? Or finger prick spot check? If HbA1c, then 6.5 and above is diabetic range (You're still down as diabetic if you go below this!)
 
Hi Valerie

Congratulations on your fantastic weight loss! Very impressive!

I don't mean to burst your bubble but your BG can vary between 5.7 and 8 in a matter of an hour let alone months depending upon the time of day, when you last ate and what you ate, any exercise you did and countless other factors, so those BG readings don't necessarily mean anything on their own, they are simply spot tests which have little relevance.
Testing every 2 weeks just doesn't tell you a great deal
Here on the forum we recommend a more intensive testing system of before eating and then 2 hours after each meal to see the effect the food we ate had on our BG levels and depending upon the result, adjusting our diet to keep it within set guidelines.
 
Thanks so much. It is just the spot test. Just did it now before eating or metformin and it is 5.4. So relieved it is not 3.4. My GP wants a proper test by end of August and it was a friend sending me a spot prick test etc and a dietician saying doing it first thing every two weeks could be helpful. Will do it again two hours after breakfast
 
Welcome to the forum @Valerie L

Well done on your weight loss. Many on here find that testing and then adjusting their diet and or portion size helps them to manage their levels.

Keep in touch and fire any questions that you have.
 
Welcome to the forum @Valerie L, and great news in the weight loss! That is likely to be helping your BG numbers in itself.

With your BG fingerstick checks, I have also heard it suggested that if only taking one reading every once in a while that the waking reading is likely to be a reasonable average.

However as @rebrascora suggests, BG, like blood pressure, rarely stays still for long, and will be significantly affected by food (specifically carbohydrates), and also by activity.

It sounds like your HbA1c is somewhere between 42 and 48, and if you are interested in which meals are helping, and which meals are keeping your HbA1c in the prediabetes range, then the suggestion of before-after BG checks around food is a helpful one. It can be quite intensive, especially at the start, but you will quickly build up a picture of where most of the carbs in your diet are found, and how your body is coping with the different types and portion sizes.

Good luck and keep asking questions!
 
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