Results fro Hb1ac

[Catz63]

Hi all, I had a non fasting Hb1ac test done on 3rd of August. Before this my last one was February 2021. MY new surgery were very happy with my drop in BG level down from 74 to 62mmol. Had they done a blood test in June my levels were a lot lower. I was struggling to keep from getting hypo's while including exercise in my day . I dropped a pill but had to promise to go back on it if my bg levels raised again. which they did when a problem with my knees and shoulder meant I couldn't do exercise as often. My bloods sit in the 6's and raise to high 7's now and then. I am really trying to get back into some more exercise as walking doesn't seem to be helping much.
They were happy with it all but did mention my Serum Lipid Levels are borderline. I mentioned as I was on a low carb diet this was bound to happen and declined a raise in my medication.
Reading over my results there was a trace of Ketones in my blood. Do I take this as being good or bad? To me it means my body is actually beginning to burn fat for energy which is a good thing, but the nurse told me to keep an eye on that and to use the ketone test strips. I guess they are wanting me to avoid diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). I have the test strips and I've read the accompanying leaflet but it doesn't tell you how to balance whats okay and whats too much not until its up and I am told to seek help.I feel I need someone from the surgery to follow what I'm doing on this low carb diet and reduce my medication if and when needed.
My weight has also come down since February by half a stone. It's been settled for a month now so I feel I need to try to control calories as well as carbs.
Weight now 12st 8lbs
BMI 32
no changes to medication

 

[Leadinglights]

When you say you are getting hypos when exercising are you testing your blood glucose level at that time, and what symptoms are you experiencing. I assume you are taking metformin but that medication is unlikely to cause hypos but you may be getting 'false hypos' which are the body getting used to lower blood glucose levels or exercise can have the effect of increasing your level in the short term depending how vigorous it is so the symptoms could be cause by a high glucose level which is why it would be good to test when that happens.
Of course there could be other reasons as well.
What amount of carbs are you having on your low carb regime, you don't really need to watch the calories although I know some people do, But if you have reduced the carbs then you should increase protein and fat as your body has to get energy from somewhere and those won't increase your blood glucose as carbs would.

 

[Catz63]

Hi, thanks for the reply. I moved to a Low Carb lifestyle back in February as way of staying off Insulin. I have researched it and know what I need to eat. As I am on a raft of Diabetes medication I have to keep some carbs in the diet and they help to absorb the fluids too. I usually have the carbs more at breakfast time. This is after a 12 hour fast.

The specialist Diabetic Nurse I was under at the time requested I eat a minimum of 50g - 70g/day. I thought it high at the time but without a level of carbs, I was getting very bunged up. My sugars were sitting at 3-4 before a meal, I had to watch my readings before bed as they regularly went down to 3 before bed and my Diabetic nurse didn't want them so low before a 12 hour fast. So she dropped my meds by half a Glicizide. It helped a bit, but I found including a few more carbs in the evening meal helped more.
I only did low impact exercise but even this was a large improvement on what I was doing before. I always walked as much as possible but didn't exercise. I was new to the diet at the time of the hypos, I was obeying it to the letter and wasn't looking for snacks between meals (which was always my downfall-a quick fix). As I said above doing exercise straight after a 8000 step walk wasn't working. So I split them up. In April,Diabetic Nurse asked for a copy of my Bg levels (I had been recording meals and bg levels) she said I was doing so well she would pass my care back to the surgery.

Things improved until I had a flare up with my knees and shoulders. This took the exercises out, the most I could do was stretches. I still walked but that alone wasn't getting my sugar down as low as they had been. I was mid move and had to apply to a new Doctors Surgery which took a while. My diet suffered during this time too, my sugars were now sitting more 6 -7's and that's where they were when the Blood test was done. It was just while checking out my medical records and blood results I noticed the "Trace of Ketone in blood" as my diet has not been at its best I though it a tad strange.
My Doctor has got on the case with my joint pain and has asked for scans, x rays and an MRI, no idea when this will happen but I am gradually bringing exercise back into the equation and I am going to crack down on what I'm eating. Hopefully it will show another drop in my next Hb1ac in November.