Leviset - a newbie/old retired Mathematician

[Leviset]

Ordinary Member of The London Mathematical Society since 2016
Blues Guitarist now retired from Studio Session Work
Aged 70, Born in Staffordshire but lived in Sheffield since 1990
Diagnosed with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis in 1996
Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes 2018

 

[Northerner]

Welcome to the forum @Leviset 🙂 Are you a left-handed guitarist? (from your picture 🙂) I lived in Crookes/Broomhill for 20 years 🙂 Let us know if you have any questions 🙂

 

[Leviset]

Thanks - no I can’t match Jimi I’m right handed. As in my post what do the different scoring systems mean?
My GP said my (H1Ab?) was 51, twice over 3 months and the normal range was up to 42, pre-diabetic up to 48 and over 48 was Type 2. I don’t need any medication but I’ve to see the diabetes nurse after Xmas. I’ve seen online people talking about a normal band between 4 - 7 so what does that score mean? I’ve had severe Rheumatoid Arthritis since 1996 (which has finally put paid to the Session work!) and I know there is a definite link between RA and Type 2.
I’m 5’10”, 11st 4lb giving a BMI of 22.6 although I’ve lost about 16lb in the last 2 months, always tired (but that is a major RA problem) and always thirsty. Don’t really (want to) go out of the house, get up at 10:00am sleep from 14:00 - 17:00 and then go to bed at 22:00 - bit like the 60/70s when the band was touring! Any help/advice would be appreciated - I know most patients aren’t medically qualified but if it’s like RA I listen to the ones, like me, who’ve had RA for 20+ years.

 

[Ljc]

Hi @Leviset . Welcome to the forum. I’ve found this forum is great for sharing what has helped, folks here have helped me a lot ! Though as I’m sure like in many other conditions Diabetes is very individual, so what works for one person may not for another, this is where self testing just before then 2 hrs after starting to eat is very Useful for finding out which carbohydrates our bodies can and can’t tolerate.

The 4 to 7 that you mention above sounds like the self monitoring test we do, however please don’t get hung up on those numbers, they are considered the ideal, but you see diabetes doesn’t know the rules because it can’t read and we are mere humans not saints
Tiredness is also a symptom of high BG (blood glucose) as is thirst and frequent peeing.

I don’t know if other have mentioned these threads blogs etc to you already, apologies if they have.
But you should find these helpful.

This one is very informative and rather long
maggie-daveys-letter-to-newly-diagnosed-type-2s


test-review-adjust.html by Alan S

If you decide you prefer to test yourself , its most likely you will not be provided with a glucose meter and very likely you will be given odd reasons why self testing is not needed
Many T2s self fund the ongoing costs of the test strips for the. SD Codefree glucose meter as it’s strips are around £8 for 50 , where high street brands are £15+ for 50
You need more test strips and lancets as starter packs only provide 10 of each

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Codefree-G...fm-21&linkId=f39210144fdc26c27738e45b6d957003

And ask all the questions you you need to about diabetes, we’ll do our best to help

 

[Bruce Stephens]

4-7 are blood glucose numbers, in the UK we use mmol/l. 51 is an HbA1c number in mmol/mol, see https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/managing-your-diabetes/hba1c and there are charts around that show how an HbA1c maps to average blood glucose numbers, though often they'll be US units. By the looks of it 53 maps to an 8.6 mmol/l average, so 51 is a little bit higher than you'd want.

 

[Northerner]

My GP said my (H1Ab?) was 51, twice over 3 months and the normal range was up to 42, pre-diabetic up to 48 and over 48 was Type 2. I don’t need any medication but I’ve to see the diabetes nurse after Xmas. I’ve seen online people talking about a normal band between 4 - 7 so what does that score mean?

As mentioned, both are measurements of blood glucose, but using different units. The HbA1c is a sort of 'average' measure of your blood's exposure to glucose over the 6-12 weeks prior to the test and is measured in mmol/mol. 51 is just above the level that is considered to be the 'tipping point' for a diagnosis. The 4-7 range is for blood glucose measurements taken from a finger prick test and measured in mmol/l. This is a 'snapshot' of your levels at that moment in time and can therefore be used to measure (for example) your waking blood glucose levels after you have not eaten for several hours, or to indicate your body's tolerance for the food you have eaten (see Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S for an explanation of how you can use finger prick tests to tailor your food choices to suit your body's tolerances, which can vary considerably from person to person).

 

[trophywench]

You will appreciate that when we eat, the body processes the food we eat - mainly the carbohydrates of all types, but also some protein and even some fat - into glucose which is what our cells (that's every single cell in our body) use for energy. Insulin is the hormone the body uses to open the locks on the cell doors to let the glucose in. If that process isn't working properly (and ours clearly isn't as we're both diabetic) then there's too much unused glucose floating round our bloodstream. Oops.

So what happens then, is that some of the glucose over a period of time, physically sticks to our red blood cells, our haemoglobin, which is clinically referred to as Hb. The test is called HbA1c and that's what it measures - the 'stuck' glucose on the red cells. Used to be called the glycosulated haemoglobin test and HbA1c is just the medical abbreviation for it. Hb cells live for between c 90 and c 120 days and when they draw a couple of teaspoons of whole blood to do the test some of them will only be a few hours old and some will be dying - so the test determines the mean average of how much is stuck. What has stuck in the month previous to the blood being taken counts for well over 50% of the final result, the month previous to that more than half the balance, and the final month back, the rest. (ISTR something like 65%, 25% and 10% from memory - but don't quote me on that, it's just approx.)

This test result is expressed in mmol/L and is the higher number you will see quoted in the UK.

The other test we can do is with a meter, from a fingerprick blood sample applied onto a strip, which is expressed as a percentage in units of mg/dL in the UK. This test measures the glucose floating around in the blood stream in that particular fingertip at that exact moment - prick another finger 10 seconds before or after and it's most unlikely to be identical.

To confuse the latter issue, other countries including the USA express the answer in different units so if I test in UK units and the result is 5.0 - had I used my American mate's meter instead of my own - hers would tell me it's 90 instead! (multiply by 18)

So whilst both being useful tests to do if you know what they actually mean and how to interpret them - you are comparing apples with peas if you don't.

 

[SB2015]

Welcome from another Mathematician

 

[KARNAK]

Very informative Jenny, thankyou.

 

[Eddy Edson]

What has stuck in the month previous to the blood being taken counts for well over 50% of the final result, the month previous to that more than half the balance, and the final month back, the rest. (ISTR something like 65%, 25% and 10% from memory - but don't quote me on that, it's just approx.)

I've seen this scheme in various places: 50% for last 30 days, 25% for 30 days before that, and 25% for the 60 days before that. That was the best fit for my HbA1c vs BG record last time around. Had another yesterday so we'll whether that scheme holds up.

Anyway, there's quite a lot of variability - if only because RBC half-life varies between individuals.