s/o - Prediabetes and A1C

[Kassia]

I had tests done earlier in the month and my A1C was 5.7%, which puts me at the bottom of the prediabetes range.  

 

In July, my serum glucose was 116, but I'm not sure if it would be considered fasting or not.  I was in the ER at night and hadn't eaten since late morning - so I think it was around 10 !/2 hours with no food.  This also puts me at the bottom of the prediabetes range.

 

Is this something I should be concerned about?  My doctor didn't even mention it.  I'm thirsty all the time, urinate frequently with a sense of urgency, and suffer from extreme fatigue.  I exercise and am not overweight, but my diet isn't great.  It isn't bad - in fact, I lost a lot of weight a few years ago by cleaning up my diet and I've been able to maintain that weight loss for several years now.  

 

 

[Jean in Newcastle]

I had tests done earlier in the month and my A1C was 5.7%, which puts me at the bottom of the prediabetes range.  

 

In July, my serum glucose was 116, but I'm not sure if it would be considered fasting or not.  I was in the ER at night and hadn't eaten since late morning - so I think it was around 10 !/2 hours with no food.  This also puts me at the bottom of the prediabetes range.

 

Is this something I should be concerned about?  My doctor didn't even mention it.  I'm thirsty all the time, urinate frequently with a sense of urgency, and suffer from extreme fatigue.  I exercise and am not overweight, but my diet isn't great.  It isn't bad - in fact, I lost a lot of weight a few years ago by cleaning up my diet and I've been able to maintain that weight loss for several years now.  

 

I would monitor it.  As in, get a low cost or free glucometer (Walmart or Walgreens are good places to get them).  You don't necessarily have to get a lot of strips but enough to monitor your reaction to foods for at least a week.  Take a fasting blood sugar reading when you first wake up (it should be under 100).  Take a reading two hours after each meal (should be under 120.)  Make a note of what  you ate to make  your sugars go up.  I would take the two hour after a meal reading more seriously than the fasting one since there are other factors that can affect your fasting reading (like your liver releasing glucogen).  That information should help you to tweak your diet in a good way to get foods that don't cause your blood sugars to spike.  Eat a bit of protein whenever you eat carbs and lower your portion of carbs as a way to help tweak your blood sugar numbers. 

[QueenCat]

Uhm..... My doctor, along with resources from reputable places online, says that 5.7% and below is normal. 6%-7.? is pre-diabetic. So 5.7 would not be the low end of pre-diabetes. It's the high end of normal. Your serum glucose is on the low end of pre-diabetic. That said, my doctor said that they don't diagnosis one as pre-diabetic until 3 tests in that range within a year. That said, with your symptoms, something is going on. It could be per-diabeties OR something else.

Edited September 1, 2017 by QueenCat

[Sara in AZ]

My son has an A1C of 5.9. He's been seeing a cardiologist for cholesterol issues and that doc referred us to an endo. My daughter has type 1, so I asked her endo about it and she said 6.5 is where they would diagnose diabetes. In the meantime exercise and diet...

 

I wouldn't worry about 5.7, but those symptoms do sound like diabetes. Couldn't hurt to ask your doc.

[SparklyUnicorn]

never mind...I read your post too quickly

 

 

Edited September 1, 2017 by SparklyUnicorn

[QueenCat]

Here's some info from the Mayo Clinic:

 

http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/a1c-test/home/ovc-20167930

[marbel]

I would monitor it.  As in, get a low cost or free glucometer (Walmart or Walgreens are good places to get them).  You don't necessarily have to get a lot of strips but enough to monitor your reaction to foods for at least a week.  Take a fasting blood sugar reading when you first wake up (it should be under 100).  Take a reading two hours after each meal (should be under 120.)  Make a note of what  you ate to make  your sugars go up.  I would take the two hour after a meal reading more seriously than the fasting one since there are other factors that can affect your fasting reading (like your liver releasing glucogen).  That information should help you to tweak your diet in a good way to get foods that don't cause your blood sugars to spike.  Eat a bit of protein whenever you eat carbs and lower your portion of carbs as a way to help tweak your blood sugar numbers. 

 

I agree with Jean but I would just add something to it - which was advice given me by folks on this board when I had an A1C of 5.9:

 

Test often for a bit.  For a while I would test at one hour, 1.5 hours, and then 2 hours (and occasionally 2.5 hours) after eating, particularly if I was eating pretty carb-heavy foods (like pho, which has rice noodles).  My 2-hour reading was almost always fine but some foods caused me to go to about 160 at the 1.5 hour mark.   Through this I decided to just avoid some foods completely so I wouldn't even have to think about portions.    

 

Basically, testing frequently for a time helped me to calm down and see that most foods I was eating, if I controlled portions correctly, were fine but that a few foods were problematic and best avoided altogether.   

 

It took 8 months but I got my A1C down to 5.5.  Thanks again, Hive!  :-)

 

Also, lots of things can cause a temporary spike.  I would think the stress of being in the ER might?  Also I think things happen overnight sometimes. I will often have a pre-diabetic reading if I test right when I wake up - say, 110.  If I start my day, but don't eat, and test again after an hour or two, it's in the low 90s - mid 80s.

 

I keep meaning to have my stuff ready to do a test when I wake up with anxiety in the middle of the night, just to see if it's high then.  

 

I would follow up on other symptoms. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

I agree with Jean but I would just add something to it - which was advice given me by folks on this board when I had an A1C of 5.9:

 

Test often for a bit. For a while I would test at one hour, 1.5 hours, and then 2 hours (and occasionally 2.5 hours) after eating, particularly if I was eating pretty carb-heavy foods (like pho, which has rice noodles). My 2-hour reading was almost always fine but some foods caused me to go to about 160 at the 1.5 hour mark. Through this I decided to just avoid some foods completely so I wouldn't even have to think about portions.

 

Basically, testing frequently for a time helped me to calm down and see that most foods I was eating, if I controlled portions correctly, were fine but that a few foods were problematic and best avoided altogether.

 

It took 8 months but I got my A1C down to 5.5. Thanks again, Hive! :-)

 

Also, lots of things can cause a temporary spike. I would think the stress of being in the ER might? Also I think things happen overnight sometimes. I will often have a pre-diabetic reading if I test right when I wake up - say, 110. If I start my day, but don't eat, and test again after an hour or two, it's in the low 90s - mid 80s.

 

I keep meaning to have my stuff ready to do a test when I wake up with anxiety in the middle of the night, just to see if it's high then.

 

I would follow up on other symptoms.

Yes, I agree.

 

Some things can cause blood sugars to go up temporarily. Stress. Illness. I wouldn't worry so much about those. And really, with your numbers I wouldn't worry but as Marbel said, I would gather information and would use that information to tweak things.

 

Doctors (and insurance companies) have number cutoffs but it is a process where your body gets less and less able to handle carbs. The earlier you respond to that process, the easier it is to prevent it from progressing. And the farther along you are in the process, the harder. And that's when you see other symptoms like fat retention. Insulin is a hormone that signals the body to retain fat. Btw- thirst and frequent urination can be symptoms of other things other than diabetes, so I would mention them to your doctor.

[harshtiwari]

i think this is a prediabetes symptoms :

read more about pre diabetes at healthcureplus.com

Edited April 5, 2018 by harshtiwari

[Soror]

I'd want to work on getting it down before it gets any higher. I don't understand our current model of waiting until someone has a disease to worry about it, especially in the case of diabetes. The A1C is an average of 3 months so would not be due to just 1 bad day. I completely agree w/ Artic, Jean, and Marbel get a monitor and see what your fasting and after meal levels are- if they are in range- you're good, if not tweak your diet until they get in range. Diabetes is a horrible disease better to stop it before things get worse.