How Did I Get Here?!

[Speedbird]

Hello everyone. I was diagnosed with T2 in the spring of last year with an A1c level of 51 - not as bad as it could have been, but I was still a bit shocked (and also, strangely, offended). Following the good advice given here, I was able to get down to 43 in an early December blood test, but was told at a diabetic review yesterday my most recent test (last week) my BG has gone up to 45. Annoying, but there was Christmas...

Diabetic nurse looked back at my results over the past six years and said my personal "running range" has always been in the early 40s so she wasn't too worried, especially when I said I suspected that 51 came from indulging in quite a lot of white toast and honey during the winter months of last year (no idea why; I just fancied it at teatime).

 

[Leadinglights]

Hello everyone. I was diagnosed with T2 in the spring of last year with an A1c level of 51 - not as bad as it could have been, but I was still a bit shocked (and also, strangely, offended). Following the good advice given here, I was able to get down to 43 in an early December blood test, but was told at a diabetic review yesterday my most recent test (last week) my BG has gone up to 45. Annoying, but there was Christmas...

Diabetic nurse looked back at my results over the past six years and said my personal "running range" has always been in the early 40s so she wasn't too worried, especially when I said I suspected that 51 came from indulging in quite a lot of white toast and honey during the winter months of last year (no idea why; I just fancied it at teatime).

Welcome to the forum, your Xmas indulgence will only have made a small difference but it should be an easy fix by reducing your carb intake a bit more.
Have a look at this link for some ideas, recipes and meal plans which are a low carb approach https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
It has been successful for me and is now my new normal way of eating.

 

[Docb]

Hi @Speedbird and welcome to the forum.

How did you get there.....most likely by getting older. I'm in the same age bracket as you (at least I think so) and take a slightly more pragmatic view than some of the whippersnappers on the forum. As far as the pros are concerned, an Hba1c in the 50's is perfectly acceptable once you get past 70. Thats because you are unlikely to be getting short term symptoms at those levels and the risk of long term problems is so low that the chances are something else will get you first.

To keep in the 50's I control carbs, take some pills, watch my weight and get along just fine. I monitor my blood glucose regularly to make sure I will get early warning if for some reason my pancreas gets more creaky and will work out what to do, if and when, that happens.

 

[Speedbird]

Hi @Speedbird and welcome to the forum.

How did you get there.....most likely by getting older. I'm in the same age bracket as you (at least I think so) and take a slightly more pragmatic view than some of the whippersnappers on the forum. As far as the pros are concerned, an Hba1c in the 50's is perfectly acceptable once you get past 70. Thats because you are unlikely to be getting short term symptoms at those levels and the risk of long term problems is so low that the chances are something else will get you first.

To keep in the 50's I control carbs, take some pills, watch my weight and get along just fine. I monitor my blood glucose regularly to make sure I will get early warning if for some reason my pancreas gets more creaky and will work out what to do, if and when, that happens.

Thank you.

I've often wondered which bullet will have my name on it, but TBH, hadn't considered diabetes as a possibility - mainly because my career has been based on regular health checks (all clear) and I make a point of being active (I intend to die with my skis on!). Joking aside, I'd never given diabetes a second thought, let alone been aware of the serious consequences of uncontrolled BG. It was not only a shock, but quite a leveller in terms of mortality. However, based on the maxim knowledge is power, I've done a lot of reading over the past few months in the hope of absorbing enough information to be able to keep my BG levels in check for quite a while longer.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Speedbird

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but well done on your practical approach to tackling it with a combination of research, learning and action 🙂

@Docb is quite right - HbA1c levels do naturally rise with increasing age in individuals without diabetes. I’m not sure if the idea of adjusting diagnostic criteria based on the age of the person has been considered, or simply whether there‘s an understanding that sooner or later almost everyone will most likely need to consider some tweaks and changes to their menu to keep their glucose levels in line.

Well done on the reductions you’ve been able to make to your HbA1c - it sounds like whatever changes you made worked well for you.

In your shoes I’d consider 43 and 45 to be pretty much the same. Once you have a few more results you’ll probably see that your HbA1c just wobbles up and down a bit, and it’s only really when there’s a more definite direction of travel emerging that you may need to consider some further changes to your approach 🙂

 

[Speedbird]

Welcome to the forum @Speedbird

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but well done on your practical approach to tackling it with a combination of research, learning and action 🙂

@Docb is quite right - HbA1c levels do naturally rise with increasing age in individuals without diabetes. I’m not sure if the idea of adjusting diagnostic criteria based on the age of the person has been considered, or simply whether there‘s an understanding that sooner or later almost everyone will most likely need to consider some tweaks and changes to their menu to keep their glucose levels in line.

Well done on the reductions you’ve been able to make to your HbA1c - it sounds like whatever changes you made worked well for you.

In your shoes I’d consider 43 and 45 to be pretty much the same. Once you have a few more results you’ll probably see that your HbA1c just wobbles up and down a bit, and it’s only really when there’s a more definite direction of travel emerging that you may need to consider some further changes to your approach 🙂

Thank you.

I think the best way to tackle any problem, health or otherwise, is to acquire the knowledge to understand how to approach and (hopefully) overcome it. In the past, that would have meant a stack of books from the library; these days I find Google a very handy alternative as long as sources are checked and critical thinking applied. The internet has its downsides, but without it we wouldn't have access to some excellent advice, insights, and support from sites like this. Since diagnosis I've often wondered how people coped and managed their diabetes pre-internet.

The changes I've made have been fairly minimal, really; porridge is a non-starter, together with sweetcorn, but if I weigh the other culprits - bread, pasta, rice, potato (in any form) - mmol/l readings don't go into orbit. It's work in progress, though.