Low carb diet and rising blood readings

[Birchwood]

I have been type 2 for over 10 years and last year got my HBA1C down to 5.2 by eating low carb. Of course, my diabetic nurse cut my meds down from 240 mgs per day to just 60 mgs per day. Guess what, my last HBA1C was 6.0. To say the least I am not happy. She says I should eat more carbs as Gliclazide ( the meds I am referring to) needs carbs to be effective. Has anyone else come across this.

 

[Docb]

Hi @Birchwood and welcome to the forum.

HbA1c's of 5.2 and 6 sound to me that they are quoted as percentages and not the current preferred unit of mmol/mol. I also find the idea that you need to carbs to make gliclazide more effective a bit odd although I can understand the idea that you might need sufficient carbs to prevent hypos when taking larger doses of gliclazide.

I'm wondering if the DN might not be up-to-date with her thinking.

Either way up, an HbA1c of 6% equates to 42 mmol/mol which is well below the diagnosis level so what ever the reason for it, you are doing OK.

 

[Ljc]

I too am finding the statement by your DN , that Gliclazide needs carbs to work, very odd indeed. I am sorry to say she does not know how Gliclazide works.

I forces the beta cells in the pancreas to produce more insulin. Whether or not you eat carbohydrates.

If you check out this Hb1ac coversion chart between the old and not so new Hb1ac measurements you will see by the colour coding how well your control is , so please don’t despair as you are doing very well

http://baspath.co.uk/Hba1c_table.pdf

 

[Birchwood]

Hi @Birchwood and welcome to the forum.

HbA1c's of 5.2 and 6 sound to me that they are quoted as percentages and not the current preferred unit of mmol/mol. I also find the idea that you need to carbs to make gliclazide more effective a bit odd although I can understand the idea that you might need sufficient carbs to prevent hypos when taking larger doses of gliclazide.

I'm wondering if the DN might not be up-to-date with her thinking.

Either way up, an HbA1c of 6% equates to 42 mmol/mol which is well below the diagnosis level so what ever the reason for it, you are doing OK.

I am well aware of the conversion numbers, in fact I have the app on my phone. To me though, as my meter gives me readings in "old Money" I'll stick with it. I future I'll put both readings on, so as not to upset anyone.

 

[Docb]

You will not upset anyone @Birchwood. Number confusion is something we see quite often so sometimes it helps if somebody like me tries to clarify things so that people new to diabetes and have still to get to grips with the numbers can see what is going on.