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JackieM

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At risk of diabetes
Hello,
I found out on Wednesday following a routine blood test that I am at high risk of diabetes. My HbA1c is 42.

This came as a total shock to me. I didn't think I had any of the risk factors and I am slim with a BMI of 18.

My GP told me in a quick phone call and said he would refer me for a NHS course, but didn't say much else. I have found the information on this site invaluable so far, and have spent ages reading the forum since then as well.

I have bought a blood glucose monitor and started testing to find out which foods are a problem for me so I can look at my diet and make changes. I am hoping that now I am aware of the problem I will be able to control it by diet.
 
You are right on the bottom rung of 'at risk' so some modest changes should be all that is needed. Looking at your carbohydrate intake and maybe just cutting down on portion size of some of the higher carb foods and as you are not needing to lose weight making sure you have enough protein and healthy fats otherwise you may lose weight and muscle if you are not careful.
Have a look at this link which may give you some low carb meal ideas but bear in mind it is for people with a diabetes diagnosis who likely need to lose weight. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/product/freshwell-low-carb-manual/
People tend to think of managing the condition rather than controlling it.
 
Welcome @JackieM The good news is that this has been picked up. You can now see if you can improve things. You are indeed slim. I say that as someone very slim myself. So you’ll have to make changes carefully to make sure you can maintain or increase your weight while controlling your blood sugar.
 
Welcome to the forum @JackieM

We have several members who didn’t quite fit the classic expectations at diagnosis, or whose diabetes has veered off in an unusual direction after a while.

Atypical presentations do sometimes prompt questions though. And it’s interesting that your case was identified following a routine blood check, rather than because you were experiencing symptoms and had them checked out.

I’d suggest it may be worth keeping an open mind about the type of diabetes you may have, particularly if the steps you take to try to manage your glucose levels don’t respond in the way you expect. It may be that you have one of the rarer forms of diabetes, bit that it was picked up really early, so that it hadn’t yet had time to develop?
 
As above… it would be a good idea to ask a few questions and prompt your doctor to do the same. I was diagnosed type 2 with a hba1c of 55. The year before it was completely normal. I was slim and very fit so one test were done and I did have antibodies for type 1. Saying that I doubt anything would be checked out unless you actually tippy toed into diabetes number. Just be careful cutting back too much with such a low BMI, I tried to keep my BG in check with diet and it was brutal. I’m now on insulin. Another consideration is any recent illnesses you may have had that could have temporarily pushed up your numbers and your iron status as anemia can falsely raise hba1c, also any steroids ? Just chucking about some ideas lol
 
You may like to consider getting an app like NutraCheck or MyFitnessPal to keep your daily food diary. They will show your calories and carbs, amongst other measures. That will help you keep your calories up, but your carbs down. The suggestion for daily carbs is less than 130gm. Hopefully with minor tweaks you will soon be back in the normal range.
 
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