Just been told I have prediabetes

[Launderetta]

I'm reeling.
HBAC1 (?) at 45.
Not seeing GP until Monday.
Help, please!

Hopeful bump -
I'd appreciate any advice including questions that I should ask my GP
Thanks

The key thing to ask is whether it is type 1 (insulin dependent) or type 2 (usually treated with metformin tablets and cholesterol lowering drugs and a recommendation to lose weight).

If Type 2, I and other people I know including one who has had type 2 for years, have had great success using Michael Mosley's blood sugar diet. I turned my bloods around in 6 weeks using it and am no longer classed as diabetic. Basically all carbs = sugar.

For some reason doctors are still lagging a bit on this even though there is quite a body of evidence now and the formal NHS advice is to eat a balanced diet with plenty of wholemeal carbs. Even wholemeal carbs are still sugar of course.

My view on the Mosley diet was that it could not do any harm and I liked the logic of depriving your body of all sugars as there is then no need for insulin. I honestly did not expect it to work as well or as quickly as it did. Way better than being stuck on tablets.

I still watch the carbs and generally eat a low carb diet, though not as strict as the blood sugar diet. I consider it well worth it and the weight loss is a nice bonus.

Ask about an appointment with a diabetes nurse where you can discuss your diet and exercise.

Pre diabetes is reversible,

Basically what Balearic says but I used the 5:2 diet

Don't panic it's a kick up the backside / warning shot which can be dealt with x

You're classed as type 2 diabetic when your HbA1c is over 48, and mine hovered around the 60/70 mark before I was diagnosed so you are very much in the "warning" band. With good diet control, you will be able to sort this out so don't panic. I found that losing weight and watching carbs as well as sugar intake helped massively. And start doing some gentle exercise. I've lost nearly 4 stone, am now taking Metformin and my last HbA1c blood test was 42 so they were really pleased with me.
Do you have anyone else in the family that is diabetic? I have a strong family history so knew it would bite me on the arse at some point.

If you are pre diabetic, you are NOT diabetic but you could become type 2 diabetic. You need to change your lifestyle and exercise before you become diabetic. People with type 2 diabetes may need insulin also (isn’t just medication).
You are unlikely to be type 1 as this is caused by something attacking their pancreas and the clinical presentation, health outcomes and other risk factors are slightly different.
People with pre diabetes are now being invited to do education courses which have been rolled out by the government and currently being run by a private company (surprise surprise).
Unfortunately the bad news is that if u are in the U.K. you will now be on a pre diabetes register (again government requirement).

Have you looked at the lifestyle advice? For most people, there is a long list of things you can start doing right now.

The key thing to ask is whether it is type 1 (insulin dependent) or type 2

It's neither. The op is PRE diabetic.

OP who is diagnosing you without offering support?

I’ve been told the same thing this week and am now changing my diet and doing more exercise I do a bit but not enough apparently especially as their is a family history of it. I’m far too fond of carbs especially bread, and have now cut back on them.

DH has bought us the Hairy Dieters books so we can lose weight as we both need to my BMI was 26.

are you overweight? many medics think prediabetes is an attempt by the drug companies to invent a new disease. If you're overweight do your best to lose it and it might well revert to normal.

Pre diabetes is a warning sign, not a new disease. It means you are borderline and need to sort your eating habits out before you develop type 2 diabetes.

I would be interested to know what kind of medics bought this was made up by drug companies, particularly as there are no drugs involved

*thought not bought!

I was in your situation this time last year.

I was invited to do a pre diabetes prevention course, before it started I actually did my own research.
I started on a low carb high fat diet (with the support of bootcamp on mumsnet) and after just 3 months I had a normal hba1c. I also have lost 8 stone!
It can be done, the difficulty will be not slipping back into bad habits!

Wow, so many positive messages there, thank you all. It does sound like MMs book may be the way to go.
The result came from bloods I had done via a separate consultation (I have other complex chronic health conditions) where my consultant thought some symptoms could be explained by diabetes. However the result was not communicated to me very well hence I made my own GP appt.
Yes I am overweight (bmi 31) but this is as a direct result of the other conditions & the meds necessary to keep me functioning.

I had GD a couple of years ago so had a very good taste of diabetes. It is not something you want!

I did a load of reading and saw some consultants and my conclusion is that there's no such thing as prediabetes. Your body either responds normally to carbs - or it doesn't. In prediabetes you might not be that bad, but you're not normal either.

However with weight loss, a low/moderate carb diet and exercise, you might be able to lower the readings and avoid a full diagnosis. But honestly - your days of eating whatever you like are probably over. HOWEVER, being honest again, when could you really eat whatever you wanted without any penalty anyway?!

I also think we might have it rather back to front in some respects. Rather than being prediabetic because we are overweight, in fact we are more overweight/slim with bigger stomachs precisely because we don't handle carbs very well. The resulting excess of insulin makes for the stomach that's so hard to shift - and makes you want more carbs!

If I were you, I would get a glucose meter (the Bayer contour is excellent) and test:

Fasting - ie first thing in morning after at least 8 hours

1 hour after eating breakfast/lunch/dinner

This will show you how you are actually handling it and what is spiking your blood sugar. Eg I learned that I can tolerate chips but not mash; pasta but not rice. Any time your blood sugar goes above about 7.8 (assuming from your H1BAC that you're in the Uk; different measurements for other countries) you run the risk of damaging your eyes and nerves, so it's well worth it.

To quote one of the leading experts on it: "irrespective of what they eat, the blood sugar of a normal person is usually under 5.5 or 6.5 one or two hours after eating. Most truly normal people are under 5.5 after two hours".

The key there is "irrespective of what they eat". I can get decent readings if i am reasonably careful, but never again would i dare test it with garlic bread, pizza and ice cream!

All the above being said, this is meant to help you take control, not to depress you. If you cut carbs down and exercise, you will look and feel better. Focus on what you can have, not what you can't. So for example I don't have pudding any more - but I do have lots of lovely cheese!

The main thing is, you've caught it really early so you can deal with it. In a few more years you might well have been too late, so this is a good thing really 🤞🏻

Thank you Rebeccaslicker
I will get a monitor.
Hope you have a great cheese-filled Christmas

My dad has reversed his pre diabetes diagnosis by losing 10kg and keeping it off. I've heard good things about work being done by Newcastle university on specific diet plans but he just did it by general healthy eating advice and it's still had a great impact.

Do you mind if I ask what your symptoms are?

In no particular order:
Frequent headaches; I rarely have any.
Dizziness
Fatigue
Hunger c20-30 mins after eating
Extreme thirst (& urination)
Blurred vision.

@ Balearica gave good advice imo!

This time last year DH was diagnosed with T2 (scored 48) - 8 weeks on the blood sugar diet and score down to 32 - and DH no longer has T2! DH is tested every 3 months (but has stuck to a Mediterranean diet) and results still normal and no T2! Diet is lovely and highly recommend.

DH very proud of his medical notes which state ‘excellent self management by patient’. Also GP surgery is now promoting MM diet since DH & another patient reversed T2 in 8 weeks!

Good luck

Interesting post Rebeccaslicker so, in general, should a person's blood sugar never go above 7.8? Does every time it does damage your eyes and nerves?

If you are interested in trying Michael mosely, we have a lovely friendly thread running on here (although currently we are all slacking as it's Christmas week!) Lots of helpful friendly advice and I'd imagine a big surge in enthusiasm come January 1st
Blood sugar diet thread 8
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/fasting_diet/3020109-blood-sugar-diet-thread-8

Interesting hearing about people who have lowered it to normal levels. What we don't know yet is, are they "cured" or are they actually well controlled? So if they stick to a Mediterranean diet they are fine, but could they go back to eating lots of carbs? I suspect not - that's why I don't push it these days and try to stick to 50g of carbs or less per meal.

However, if you can have a lovely healthy diet and the odd treat, how can that not be for the best anyway?! Let's face it, pasta, rice, crisps, chips, cake - they may taste nice, but they don't actually give you anything you need nutritionally.

Jobergamot - I'm not a doctor but this is what I've read and what a friend who works on the Oxford uni team that's researching type 1 say. I'm not saying that the odd spike would make you go blind, but if you were regularly over 7.8, you would be at real risk of damaging nerves and blood vessels in eyes and extremities.

The problem is that the bastard thing is so insidious. You'd have to be up over about 11.0 before you started excreting glucose in your urine (i.e. Peeing all day and esp night!); you could cruise along and be way too high and have no idea. That's why testing is so important.

Most doctors will only do a fasting test (which you want under 5.5 and under 5.0 in an ideal world. Lots of studies say you're at a much high risk of developing T2 in the next 10 years if your fasting is regularly over 5.0), because it's cheap. But actually fasting is the last thing to go. If you test yourself for a week after eating, you can see for yourself what the food is doing to your body, and adjust accordingly.

I was the biggest carb addict out there and looking back I've made some real changes that I hardly even notice these days. Eg:

Curry - I now have something like salmon or paneer tikka with no rice and no naan, but I will have one bhaji

Italian - I have something like aubergine parmigiana rather than pasta

Pub - I don't eat the batter on the fish but I have some of the chips

Pizza - I make a fabulous low carb one, see either the fat head recipe or the BBC good food cauliflower crust recipe

Chocolate - I have a couple of squares, not a couple of packets

I never have sandwiches or bread rolls any more. It's shit at first but you adapt really quickly. And everyone tells you how good you look - that helps!

Lots of luck OP and anyone else in same boat ask Santa/amazon for a Bayer contour meter and strips, and take control! If anyone wants to PM me for non medical advice about how to do it, please do!

Jo - here's one of the studies:

mobile.dudasite.com/site/phlaunt1?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.phlaunt.com%2Fdiabetes%2F14045678.php&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2F#2745

I don't think lowering blood sugars to normal levels is a cure I believe it's control. Going back to the habits the causes the pre-diabetes in the first place will surely raise it again. I'm going to have to carefully manage my diet for life now.