Looking for advice

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Nat0483

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At risk of diabetes
Hello, new here! I am 47, slim and have never had diabetes-related issues previously. I had a brain haemorrhage in August last year which I’ve recovered well from but it has knocked my system out of whack and some things, eg blood pressure and blood sugar regulation, aren’t working as they should be. I monitor my blood sugar levels with a monitor and they seem to vary a lot. They are often ok (around 5.5/6) but also often pretty high (8+). I just tested now, 1.5 hours after eating, and the level was 12.2. My GP got me to do the hba1c test in November, which came back normal. I wasn’t convinced so repeated it - result came back today, normal. My question is - can the hba1c test get it ‘wrong’? For example, if my blood glucose levels see-saw, could it be taking the average of the highs and lows and coming out normal?
Any advice gratefully received. Thanks
 
What did you eat to give you a 12.5 reading?
 
A 12.2 could be a reasonably normal reading after a meal, depending upon what you ate?
I think it is important to understand the BG levels naturally vary quite a lot, even in non diabetic people. It is something that many diabetics new to testing find hard to grasp.
 
Nat0483 said:
Hello, new here! I am 47, slim and have never had diabetes-related issues previously. I had a brain haemorrhage in August last year which I’ve recovered well from but it has knocked my system out of whack and some things, eg blood pressure and blood sugar regulation, aren’t working as they should be. I monitor my blood sugar levels with a monitor and they seem to vary a lot. They are often ok (around 5.5/6) but also often pretty high (8+). I just tested now, 1.5 hours after eating, and the level was 12.2. My GP got me to do the hba1c test in November, which came back normal. I wasn’t convinced so repeated it - result came back today, normal. My question is - can the hba1c test get it ‘wrong’? For example, if my blood glucose levels see-saw, could it be taking the average of the highs and lows and coming out normal?
Any advice gratefully received. Thanks
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The sort of reading you would be aiming to get with your monitor would be 4-7 mmol/l before meals and fasting /morning reading and less than 8mmol/l 2 hours post meal.
What you have eaten will have a big influence on the reading so if you have had a very high carb meal then you could potentially get 12. Bit if that seems unusual from what you have eaten then it is best to check after washing your hands as you may have had something on your fingers.
Have you had any advice about diet.
The HbA1C being an average will tend to even out low and high levels but as somebody mentioned in another post the result is weighted towards more recent weeks. This link explains the test which might help.

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 to answer your question, there are circumstances where HbA1c is not a true reflection of what is going on. For example, if you are suffering from anaemia or the opposite, which I can't currently remember the name of, that will compromise the HbA1c because it measures the amount of glucose stuck to the red blood cells in your blood. These have an average lifespan of 10-12 weeks normally but if you have too few red blood cells or too many it can skew the result. Also there is a condition called Reactive Hypoglycaemia where your body is too slow to produce insulin when you eat and then when your levels sky rocket., it then sometimes over compensates and produces too much insulin and drops you too low, which makes you feel pretty rough as your levels see saw between high and low all day after each meal.
 
Welcome @Nat0483 🙂 Was using the blood glucose monitor your doctor’s idea? As said above, blood sugar goes up and down in people without diabetes. If your HbA1C is normal and you’re not having hypos, then I wouldn’t worry. If you want to, you could do occasional monitoring yourself just so you can keep an eye on things for your own reassurance. It would be best to test at 2hrs after your meal as that’s the measure usually used and so makes it easier to compare your results with the norm.

Blood glucose meters aren’t meant for diagnostic purposes and have a margin of error so you did the right thing having the HbA1C done.
 
Inka said:
Welcome @Nat0483 🙂 Was using the blood glucose monitor your doctor’s idea? As said above, blood sugar goes up and down in people without diabetes. If your HbA1C is normal and you’re not having hypos, then I wouldn’t worry. If you want to, you could do occasional monitoring yourself just so you can keep an eye on things for your own reassurance. It would be best to test at 2hrs after your meal as that’s the measure usually used and so makes it easier to compare your results with the norm.

Blood glucose meters aren’t meant for diagnostic purposes and have a margin of error so you did the right thing having the HbA1C done.
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Thank you. No, I decided to get a monitor as my blood pressure was affected after I had a brain haemorrhage and I found out that blood sugars could be affected too. Thanks, I will measure at 2hrs from now on.
 
travellor said:
The other thing to take into consideration is meter accuracy.

The actual spec is a reading of 10 can actually be between 8.5 and 11.76 in reality.
a reading of 12 can be between 10.20 to 14.12

Some meters are better than others.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that’s useful to know.
 
rebrascora said:
But to answer your question, there are circumstances where HbA1c is not a true reflection of what is going on. For example, if you are suffering from anaemia or the opposite, which I can't currently remember the name of, that will compromise the HbA1c because it measures the amount of glucose stuck to the red blood cells in your blood. These have an average lifespan of 10-12 weeks normally but if you have too few red blood cells or too many it can skew the result. Also there is a condition called Reactive Hypoglycaemia where your body is too slow to produce insulin when you eat and then when your levels sky rocket., it then sometimes over compensates and produces too much insulin and drops you too low, which makes you feel pretty rough as your levels see saw between high and low all day after each meal.
Click to expand...
Thank you, good to know!
 
Leadinglights said:
The sort of reading you would be aiming to get with your monitor would be 4-7 mmol/l before meals and fasting /morning reading and less than 8mmol/l 2 hours post meal.
What you have eaten will have a big influence on the reading so if you have had a very high carb meal then you could potentially get 12. Bit if that seems unusual from what you have eaten then it is best to check after washing your hands as you may have had something on your fingers.
Have you had any advice about diet.
The HbA1C being an average will tend to even out low and high levels but as somebody mentioned in another post the result is weighted towards more recent weeks. This link explains the test which might help.

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
Click to expand...
Thanks very much for this info.
 
Nat0483 said:
Sausage roll, chips and (low salt/sugar) beans. Not a typical dinner for me but I was eating with the kids.
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That is lots of carb rich foods in that meal so not surprising you spiked into double figures. ie chips, pastry and beans are all quite high carb foods, even with low sugar sauce on the beans. The fat in the chips and sausage roll and the fibre in the beans may have delayed the release of the glucose from the carbs which is why you were still quite high at the 1.5 hour point but great that you were back down to 6.2 2.5 hours later and then 6.1 at 3hrs. Those are good normal numbers and the food you ate would explain the 12.
I don't think there is anything there to be concerned about, except perhaps a slightly less than healthy diet! 😉
 
rebrascora said:
That is lots of carb rich foods in that meal so not surprising you spiked into double figures. ie chips, pastry and beans are all quite high carb foods, even with low sugar sauce on the beans. The fat in the chips and sausage roll and the fibre in the beans may have delayed the release of the glucose from the carbs which is why you were still quite high at the 1.5 hour point but great that you were back down to 6.2 2.5 hours later and then 6.1 at 3hrs. Those are good normal numbers and the food you ate would explain the 12.
I don't think there is anything there to be concerned about, except perhaps a slightly less than healthy diet! 😉
Click to expand...

Carbs aren't an issue in a normal diet.
 
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