Newbie: Hello. Anybody here prediabetic pls?

[AMcFa2]

GP took HBA1C bloods after reporting excessive thirst at night & polyuria. She said I was probably sleeping with mouth open!
I'm 3 stone overweight post menopause & have been dieting (cut out most carbs & sugars). GP took HbA1c (3 month average blood sugars), explained I eat very little carbs, but result came back just borderline.
So not considered prediabetic. When eat carbs, get very thirsty & pee a lot. Despite being very active, walk everyday average 3 miles, including hill walking, but can't lose fat. Never had this problem before. My energy levels are low, even when pushing myself.
I'm sure I'm prediabetic, that the blood test was flawed bc eating very few carbs or suger.
Anybody have any expertise on this pls?
Feel I should ask glucose tolerance test.

 

[Inka]

Yes, a number of people. Recent ones are @Rozb and @BigWelsh Welcome to the forum 🙂

Are you testing your blood sugar at home? That would show how your body is currently coping with carbs. Also, have you had your thyroid tested recently?

 

[AMcFa2]

Hi thanks 4 reply. GP said I was not diabetic or prediabetic. So not on their records fir having bloods taken. After I suggested my thirst & polyuria after eating carbs may be diabetes, an HbA1c was taken, which I was told was borderline. I have forgotten what it actually was (kicking myself for not remem ering). Because I've been trying to lose weight, the test was done after years of eating very few carbs & sugar. I'm reluctant to go back on higher carbs & sugar diet just to get my bloods up into range. Can I ask fir a glucose tolerance test instead?

 

[AMcFa2]

Oh not had thyroid test done.
I'm considering buying a finger prick test so I can eat high carb meal and test it 2 hours afterwards. If high, I could go back to GP.

 

[Inka]

The HbA1C is the diagnostic test. Glucose tolerance tests aren’t really used now. If you’ve been eating very few carbs for a while, you could have physiological insulin resistance (caused by the body thinking it’s starving). If you do, and now eat a high carb meal (or do a GTT) you could get a falsely high result.

 

[Inka]

Oh not had thyroid test done.
I'm considering buying a finger prick test so I can eat high carb meal and test it 2 hours afterwards. If high, I could go back to GP.

See my above post 🙂

 

[Maz2]

Do they mean borderline diabetic which could account for symptoms. Not sure whether GPs refer to borderline pre-diabetes as I think you are or you are not. Don't know for certain though.

When I was pre-diabetic I was not overweight and, despite losing weight unintentionally due to reduction of carbs and ending up at 7 stone 10 lbs, it did not alter it. My GP was horrified at the weight loss as i was not overweight in the first place and told me to stop. Firstly, as I was now seriously underweight and, secondly, the pre-diabetes was not weight related; he thought it could be increased insulin resistance with age. I am 70.

I returned to normal (albeit higher side)- my words not GPs) in 2019 and 2020, and again in 2023. They did another one a couple of weeks back but no results yet. They will only text or call now if abnormalities. Post Covid the "GP call backs" that I used to request have been stopped.

 

[AMcFa2]

Thanks that's useful info.

 

[AMcFa2]

I've also got gluten & lactose intolerance & hiatus hernia. All my abdomen was swollen for years until I took took myself off gluten which helped, then lactose too, which resolved the abdomen swelling, flatulence, burping and epigastric pain.
No more Rennies! Self diagnosed. (GP was going to send me for endoscopy).

 

[AMcFa2]

The HbA1C is the diagnostic test. Glucose tolerance tests aren’t really used now. If you’ve been eating very few carbs for a while, you could have physiological insulin resistance (caused by the body thinking it’s starving). If you do, and now eat a high carb meal (or do a GTT) you could get a falsely high result.

Thanks useful info.

 

[rebrascora]

I would definitely encourage you to get a BG testing kit to finger prick just before and after meals to see how your body responds. The symptoms of thirst and polyuria from diabetes don't generally happen unless your levels are exceptionally high, because the kidney's don't start overworking to remove the glucose until it gets persistently to mid teens or above which would give you an HbA1c near 100, so either there has been some error with the HbA1c test results or your symptoms are not associated with diabetes mellitus BUT it could be Diabetes insipidus which is a very different disorder and wouldn't show with an HbA1c. It is much rarer. Of course there are lots of other conditions and ailments which can cause polyuria and consequent thirst and your weight issue may well be thyroid related as @Inka has mentioned, so that is worth exploring with your GP but if you can do some finger prick tests around meals, that will hopefully give you a good indication as to whether this is diabetes mellitus or you can rule that out and push for other testing.

 

[s'nic]

You could contact your doctors surgery and just ask what the results of your last HBA1C were. I suspect that's the fastest and easiest way to check where you stand on glucose.

Low energy, excessive thirst/peeing .. I'd go back to the doctor and seek a reason for this. Also take time to consider if you have noticed anything else of note before the doctors visit.

I'm prediabetic (at the low end, HBA1C was 42), I didn't have any particularly noteworthy symptoms.

 

[AMcFa2]

I would definitely encourage you to get a BG testing kit to finger prick just before and after meals to see how your body responds. The symptoms of thirst and polyuria from diabetes don't generally happen unless your levels are exceptionally high, because the kidney's don't start overworking to remove the glucose until it gets persistently to mid teens or above which would give you an HbA1c near 100, so either there has been some error with the HbA1c test results or your symptoms are not associated with diabetes mellitus BUT it could be Diabetes insipidus which is a very different disorder and wouldn't show with an HbA1c. It is much rarer. Of course there are lots of other conditions and ailments which can cause polyuria and consequent thirst and your weight issue may well be thyroid related as @Inka has mentioned, so that is worth exploring with your GP but if you can do some finger prick tests around meals, that will hopefully give you a good indication as to whether this is diabetes mellitus or you can rule that out and push for other testing.

Thanks for that comprehensive answer. Really appreciated. Was thinking along those lines. Do own tests around mealtimes.

 

[AMcFa2]

You could contact your doctors surgery and just ask what the results of your last HBA1C were. I suspect that's the fastest and easiest way to check where you stand on glucose.

Low energy, excessive thirst/peeing .. I'd go back to the doctor and seek a reason for this. Also take time to consider if you have noticed anything else of note before the doctors visit.

I'm prediabetic (at the low end, HBA1C was 42), I didn't have any particularly noteworthy symptoms.

Thanks for input. Problem was consumption of carbs & sugar very low for many months when HbA1c taken (weight loss programme). So thought wouldn't be 'captured' by test. Previous Forum member suggesting own finger prick tests before & after meals. If high will go back to GP.

 

[JITR]

I'd say your best plan is to target 3 stone weight loss and then keep if off for good. That means finding a diet that will work for you.

David Unwin is a GP who has focused his Norwood Surgery's attention on T2Ds and pre-T2Ds for over 10 years, with remarkable success. Here is his Diet Sheet and his YouTube presentation on the Nuts and Bolts of Drug-Free T2D Remission - very interesting.

Professor Roy Taylor and his team at Newcastle University showed T2D and pre-T2D is reversible by diet in c.2008. Here he is in this video explaining to GPs why T2Ds and pre-T2Ds need to lose weight, 15 kg is the magic number.