Pre- Diabetes

[Fedup]

How do you know you don’t have diabetes even with low A1C number? Can we trust these numbers. What other test can you run to confirm that you don’t have insulin resistant?

 

[braumeister]

Try asking your doctor.

 

[SecondCor521]

Try asking your doctor.

+1

Also, you can google pre-diabetes symptoms and see how many of them you actually think you have. Then discuss those symptoms with your doctor.

A friend of mine also mentioned you can test your blood sugar at home with testing supplies (I guess for actual diabetics) - so you could do that a lot if you thought for some reason that the number at the doctor's wasn't representative for some reason.

Personally I trust my doctor's lab results for my fasting glucose and A1C (which are both normal but close to pre-diabetes levels).

 

[Fedup]

Try asking your doctor.

I don’t really like asking him. He tried to push medicine on me. Last time I told him my uncle died of a heart attack at 50, he did that. I try to gather my information first. Both my husband has low or decent A1C, but that doesn’t mean anything. I try to take care of things naturally before it gets too late. I’ve heard insulin resistant can do damage for years before it shows up in the A1C number.

 

[Fedup]

+1

Also, you can google pre-diabetes symptoms and see how many of them you actually think you have. Then discuss those symptoms with your doctor.

A friend of mine also mentioned you can test your blood sugar at home with testing supplies (I guess for actual diabetics) - so you could do that a lot if you thought for some reason that the number at the doctor's wasn't representative for some reason.

Personally I trust my doctor's lab results for my fasting glucose and A1C (which are both normal but close to pre-diabetes levels).

I did but some symptoms could be overlapping with other problem too. But is there a test for insulin resistant?

 

[braumeister]

Don't you have access to a search engine like Google?

 

[Lukeee]

I don’t really like asking him. He tried to push medicine on me. Last time I told him my uncle died of a heart attack at 50, he did that. I try to gather my information first. Both my husband has low or decent A1C, but that doesn’t mean anything. I try to take care of things naturally before it gets too late. I’ve heard insulin resistant can do damage for years before it shows up in the A1C number.

Perhaps it’s time to look for a new doctor. Perhaps a DO is more appropriate

 

[Fedup]

Perhaps it’s time to look for a new doctor. Perhaps a DO is more appropriate

Yes, I thought about that last time he pushed high blood pressure medicine, somehow it was high after a trip to Hawaii. I told him to let me lose weight and exercise first. I did manage to lose 15lbs and bought down my bp to normal level. He did threaten to drop me as a patient. I was very tempted to lose him too. But eventually he did mark on my file as a result.

 

[Rianne]

Don't you have access to a search engine like Google?

Google Scholar if you can read detailed health studies and results. They are filled with medical jargon but I've gotten some questions answered there. I'm skeptical of doctor advice sometimes. I can certainly share where skepticism has proved to be right. Keep digging and asking questions. Doctors are not always up on current studies.

 

[swakyaby]

How do you know you don’t have diabetes even with low A1C number? Can we trust these numbers. What other test can you run to confirm that you don’t have insulin resistant?

I had a borderline abnormal HgbA1C for 2 years. So my primary care doc ordered a 2 hour glucose tolerance test. It involves having your fasting blood drawn as a baseline. Then drinking a very sugary concoction within 5 minutes in front of the lab technician. Then having your blood re-drawn 2 hours later to see how your body handles a glucose load.

Both of my glucose levels fell within the normal levels for that test. "You don't have pre-diabetes," my doc informed me.

 

[FIRE'd@51]

What other test can you run to confirm that you don’t have insulin resistant?

There is a test called an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT), where you are given a fairly large dose of carbohydrates and your blood glucose levels are measured over the next several hours. This will tell the amount of insulin resistance you have.

 

[Fedup]

Don't you have access to a search engine like Google?

No I don’t, jk. But some of my relatives found out the hard way by believing the net too.
What I’m looking for is someone here confirm to me that they have low A1C but later found out they actually have diabetes. Maybe low A1C is not such a reassurance after all.

 

[Fedup]

Google Scholar if you can read detailed health studies and results. They are filled with medical jargon but I've gotten some questions answered there. I'm skeptical of doctor advice sometimes. I can certainly share where skepticism has proved to be right. Keep digging and asking questions. Doctors are not always up on current studies.

They do often suggest medicine to cover their arses. One nurse I’m friend with in my art class said that’s what she often does. He pushed me to take Statin. I didn’t even have high cholesterol in the first place. Also I’ve read more problem with statin on the net too. My uncle could be a smoker, I don’t remember if he didn’t or not for sure, but the other brother was a lifelong smoker, overweighted, never exercised nor eaten lots of veggies either. So what if they were my blood relatives, that doesn’t mean anything.

 

[NW-Bound]

Through our life, my fasting blood glucose hovered around 95-100, while my wife's was about 85-95. Then, last year, we both shot up to above 120. Of course we were alarmed.

We immediately instituted some changes, such as cutting out morning coffee with sugar and creme, avoiding bread and simple carb, etc..., and walking for 10 minutes immediately after a meal.

To monitor the progress, we make fasting blood glucose test each week. Slowly, it went down to below 90 for both of us. For me, it was amazing because I was never below 90 before.

We now do the finger pricking test every 2 weeks, to make sure that we do not fall into complacency.

 

[Fedup]

Through our life, my fasting blood glucose hovered around 95-100, while my wife's was about 85-95. Then, last year, we both shot up to above 120. Of course we were alarmed.

We immediately instituted some changes, such as cutting out morning coffee with sugar and creme, avoiding bread and simple carb, etc..., and walking for 10 minutes immediately after a meal.

To monitor the progress, we make fasting blood glucose test each week. Slowly, it went down to below 90 for both of us. For me, it was amazing because I was never below 90 before.

We now do the finger pricking test every 2 weeks, to make sure that we do not fall into complacency.

Maybe I should do that too. But I swim every day for at least half an hour. I do badminton twice a week and belly dancing once a week. On top of gardening and stuff. But I notice these metabolic problems can be related. Like if you have high blood pressure, you may get pre-diabetes. My sister has this problem. But she rarely exercises. I try to watch out for this problem because I’ve read dementia is type 3 diabetes or something like that. This is for both my husband and I and not just me.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/

 

[NW-Bound]

It was from this forum that I learned about a study that showed a 10-minute walk immediately after a meal was more effective in lowering blood glucose compared to more exercises at other times.

So, we did that as a test, and if it did not help, it surely could not hurt. I cannot separate the effect of that walking from the effect of our being more careful with the diet.


PS. The discovery of the fasting blood glucose above 120 was due to our annual blood test. We never did home finger pricking test before this.

And as reported earlier on this forum, I later discovered that our episode of high blood glucose coincided with the sweet corn season. That first happened in 2017, but we did not know why. Our blood glucose shot up above 100 again in 2018 when we ate in-season corn. This time, I was able to make the connection.

 

[Murf2]

No I don’t, jk. But some of my relatives found out the hard way by believing the net too.
What I’m looking for is someone here confirm to me that they have low A1C but later found out they actually have diabetes. Maybe low A1C is not such a reassurance after all.

You do know this is "the internet", right?
I'm not sure medical advise from a retiree website would necessarily be better than a physician's. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Fedup]

You do know this is "the internet", right?
I'm not sure medical advise from a retiree website would necessarily be better than a physician's. Maybe I'm wrong.

I’m not looking for advice as medical advice on the internet. When I refer to internet I mean I gather general medical information, I never actually went online asking for anybody before. No I don’t take everybody advice literary, so there is no need to be snarky. You must have faith in doctors. I’ve told my doctor when I first met him that I don’t like doctors because they killed my mother. One of my brother who’s also a doctor was threatened to sue her doctor. My mother trusted doctors implicitly, almost as if they are God, maybe you are one of those. Hope they don’t kill you. Some doctors are now upsell a lot of unnecessary procedures. I can sense it when I talk to them. Some are just dead wrong. Have you read about doctors who misdiagnosed many problems. The trick is to find a really good one. And they are lousy regarding nutrition. Speaking from experience as I have 4 doctors in my intermediate family.

Bottom line is that I don’t appreciate your snarky post. I’m sorry, if you just sign on to post that, not very helpful.

 

[joeea]

I don’t really like asking him. He tried to push medicine on me. Last time I told him my uncle died of a heart attack at 50, he did that. I try to gather my information first. Both my husband has low or decent A1C, but that doesn’t mean anything. I try to take care of things naturally before it gets too late. I’ve heard insulin resistant can do damage for years before it shows up in the A1C number.

So get a second opinion from a qualified medical professional.

Medical DIY is risky business.

One of my brother who’s also a doctor was threatened to sue her doctor.

If your brother is qualified, maybe you should talk to him.

 

[joeea]

But is there a test for insulin resistant?

https://www.healthline.com/health/diabetes/insulin-resistance-symptoms

 

[RAE]

Fedup, I hope you will overlook the snarky replies. I have received a lot of bad advice (and also no helpful advice) from doctors over the years, so I always do my own research on my blood test results (in addition to listening to whatever the doc has to say about them). I had a blood test result a couple years ago that turned out to be very abnormal (when I did my own research), but my doctor thought it was fine. That abnormal result led to some fairly serious issues that were later confirmed by a different doctor, and I was able to do some things to correct the problem. So I make no apologies for taking a proactive approach to my health, and I certainly won't criticize anyone else for doing the same.

As to your original question, you might want to consider getting the fasting insulin test. Here is more info. on the test: https://fitness.mercola.com/sites/f.../vitamin-d-and-blood-test-health-factors.aspx Some doctors will not order a fasting insulin test unless there is some evidence that you may be pre-diabetic, but if that happens (and you still want the test), you can get it done for about $39 through Life Extension or one of the other blood testing services. I have done this a few times when I wanted a test that the doc would not order.

One last thing - any doctor that threatens to drop you as a patient for declining to start taking a prescription drug that he/she recommends is a doctor that I would glady say goodbye to. Too many doctors are quick to prescribe drugs to correct symptoms when things like modifications to diet and exercise will correct the problem, without taking another prescription drug. There are good doctors out there, of course, but it sometimes takes some searching to find one.

 

[Fedup]

So get a second opinion from a qualified medical professional.

Medical DIY is risky business.


If your brother is qualified, maybe you should talk to him.

He was wrong before so I’m not too keen on asking him either. Plus he doesn’t live nearby.

But according to my recent blood test early this year, I don’t have diabetes, so to get second opinion about a potential problem could be pretentious, seeing a doctor to ask if I potentially could have diabetes when the blood work doesn’t say so. I think he might think I’m a hypercondriac, and maybe I am.

 

[Fedup]

Fedup, I hope you will overlook the snarky replies. I have received a lot of bad advice (and also no helpful advice) from doctors over the years, so I always do my own research on my blood test results (in addition to listening to whatever the doc has to say about them). I had a blood test result a couple years ago that turned out to be very abnormal (when I did my own research), but my doctor thought it was fine. That abnormal result led to some fairly serious issues that were later confirmed by a different doctor, and I was able to do some things to correct the problem. So I make no apologies for taking a proactive approach to my health, and I certainly won't criticize anyone else for doing the same.

As to your original question, you might want to consider getting the fasting insulin test. Here is more info. on the test: https://fitness.mercola.com/sites/f.../vitamin-d-and-blood-test-health-factors.aspx Some doctors will not order a fasting insulin test unless there is some evidence that you may be pre-diabetic, but if that happens (and you still want the test), you can get it done for about $39 through Life Extension or one of the other blood testing services. I have done this a few times when I wanted a test that the doc would not order.

One last thing - any doctor that threatens to drop you as a patient for declining to start taking a prescription drug that he/she recommends is a doctor that I would glady say goodbye to. Too many doctors are quick to prescribe drugs to correct symptoms when things like modifications to diet and exercise will correct the problem, without taking another prescription drug. There are good doctors out there, of course, but it sometimes takes some searching to find one.

Thank you for your excellent advice. I might ask him to prescribe a pre-diabetic test. I agree with your second paragraph, all I did was asking him to give me two months so I could diet and exercise. I refused to take medicine at first, but if I couldn’t bring my bp down then I guess I would have to take it. I did manage to bring it down to normal before my trip, so that’s why I’m still with him. But I have been with him for 14 years since he was first out of school and I don’t have a lot of problem, only see him once a year for annual check up. I know it’s hard to find a good and kind doctor who is on time. I don’t know how good he is but he is kind, not arrogant and is on time. Plus I have not needed a lot of Medicare so that’s my reluctant.

 

[Katsmeow]

Well they could do a glucose tolerance test although I am not sure they will if your A1C is low.

I had borderline A1C. I wasn't diagnosed pre-diabetic but I felt I was close and I was worried about insulin resistance.

What I did was buy a glucose meter and I tested my blood. I tested it every morning (before eating). Then I tested it before meals and then 1 hour and 2 hours after eating. I looked to see how much my blood glucose went up.

I found helpful Jenny Ruhl's book on diabetes. I don't agree with all of her opinions but I found her suggestions on how to test for this kind of thing to be helpful. I bought her book on Amazon (I bought the Kindle version).

She has some stuff on her website:

https://www.bloodsugar101.com/what-is-a-normal-blood-sugar

But I found the book helpful in telling me how to test this.

Basically I looked for situation where my blood glucose would rise more than normal after a meal.

Oh -- I found that I was somewhat insulin resistant but I haven't yet developed diabetes. After modifying what I ate based upon my testing my A1C decreased the following year. It is still a little higher than I would like but hasn't been at the prediabetic level.

 

[joeea]

He was wrong before so I’m not too keen on asking him either. Plus he doesn’t live nearby.

Telephones...

I think he might think I’m a hypercondriac, and maybe I am.

Maybe.