Branded - PREDIABETIC

[Major Tom]

Perhaps there's something magical about eating a real apple as opposed to those ingredients. A lot of people believe that. For me, it's not worth the risk.

I guess that debunks "An apple a day keeps the doctor away"

Next you'll be telling us that a stitch in time saves closer to 3 or 4.........

PS - this comment was made in a rather off-the-cuff fashion. No offense intended to anyone who is having to deal with diabetic tendencies.

 

[Amethyst]

I would like to ask a question that I hope is germane. The title says the OP was "branded" pre-diabetic. I know this has to do with pre-existing conditions and health insurance. So my question is: Is there never any going back, once branded? Or can a person ever un-brand himself?

Amethyst

 

[TromboneAl]

I would like to ask a question that I hope is germane. The title says the OP was "branded" pre-diabetic. I know this has to do with pre-existing conditions and health insurance. So my question is: Is there never any going back, once branded? Or can a person ever un-brand himself?

Amethyst

There are really two questions here: Can you get your blood sugars back to the non-prediabetic state, and if so, will the insurance company recognize you as non-prediabetic?

My take is that it's true that you can improve your numbers with diet, but if you go back to the old diet, the numbers may be bad again. I wouldn't consider that reversing the condition.

Here's a relevant quote:

If they can eliminate that fat by exercising and limiting carbohydrates and alcohol, then many can drop their glucose levels. And for some, they can drop them back into the normal range.

This is also true for people who are prediabetic. According to the CDC, 79 million Americans are prediabetic, which means their glucose readings fall between 100 and 125 while fasting. According to the American Diabetes Association, normal glucose readings are 100 and below when a person has not eaten anything. Numbers above 125 while fasting are considered to be in the diabetic range. So when you're prediabetic, it's easier to turn those numbers around. And that's important, because once you become a diabetic, even if you drop your numbers, you will always be classified as a diabetic, making it difficult to acquire good insurance.
"Once you fall into that glucose range, you are considered at high risk for developing the condition again," says Magee.
​

Here's an article

 

[jerome len]

I was a prediabetic and have dropped substantially below that level and if tested, today, would not register as a pre-diabetic. Here is the challenge; My Doc wants me to continue with Metformin, a diabetic drug. So, I'm a former "pre" and remaining on drugs as a precaution.

Since the drugs are cheap, my medical insurance doesn't increase and my next health insurance will be Medicare, it doesn't matter to me. What does matter is controlling the disease that has killed my father and some of my closest friends. I haven't had any problems since I was diagnosed, then started excercising, gave up most processed sugars and lost 45 lbs. If I can continue this way I'll have it beat......Yeh, and many of you can do it as well. For me at least, diet, excercise and cutting out processed sugars worked......I'm thankful it did.

 

[banister]

Why hemoglobin A1c is not a reliable marker

I don't know if this applies or not to your specific case. But it's worth reading.

Why hemoglobin A1c is not a reliable marker

The theory behind the A1c test is that our red blood cells live an average of three months, so if we measure the amount of sugar stuck to these cells (which is what the hemoglobin A1c test does), it will give us an idea of how much sugar has been in the blood over the previous three months. The number reported in the A1c test result (i.e. 5.2) indicates the percentage of hemoglobin that has become glycated (stuck to sugar).

While this sounds good in theory, the reality is not so black and white. The main problem is that there is actually a wide variation in how long red blood cells survive in different people. This study, for example, shows that red blood cells live longer than average at normal blood sugars. Researchers found that the lifetime of hemoglobin cells of diabetics turned over in as few as 81 days, while they lived as long as 146 days in non-diabetics.

In a person with normal blood sugar, hemoglobin will be around for a lot longer, which means it will accumulate more sugar. This will drive up the A1c test result – but it doesn’t mean that person had too much sugar in their blood. It just means their hemoglobin lived longer and thus accumulated more sugar.