Can anyone advise please?

[coppercolouredtop]

Hi
I'm 46 and just had a raft of tests including a blood test. I've had the results today - I'm very low in iron and folates but also had a raised glucose result and the go has advised that I'm borderline diabetic and to repeat the test in 3 months.

I'm still a bit confused. It was a fasting test and I'd gone 12 hours without food/drink and my result was 7.5.

I am not overweight but have put a bit of weight on recently which seemed odd and I've also had a uti and felt very very fatigued but that could also be down to the lack of iron.

They've prescribed me iron And folate but are not doing anything about the diabetes....except repeating the test in 3 months ....

Does this sound normal? Should I be taking this more seriously? Should they? I don't even know the difference between type 1 and 2 but my diet is really really healthy. Due to the fatigue I have struggled to exercise lately.

Can anyone advise please if I should be doing something more than waiting 3 months for a repeat test?

Thanks in advance.

A fasting blood sugar of 7.5 indicates type 2 diabetes. I would look at making healthy changes to your diet and increase exercise. If you google how to eat healthily with type 2 diabetes you will get an idea of what you need to do.

This is the problem.....I eat squeaky clean. Everything from scratch and absolutely no sugar/cakes/sweets at all plus I have to be fit for my job so I exercise regularly and run - the fatigue has really hit me the last few weeks and I've done less but I really don't cheat on my diet and I'm within a healthy bmi so I don't know what changes I could honestly make.

I also work 24 hour shift pattern but I still eat really well

Breakfast is overnight oats and fruit or cereal (adult ones not surgery ones) and skimmed milk

Lunch is always a geeen salad with either fish or chicken and balsamic dressing and maybe a yoghurt

Dinner always from scratch- last night was a lamb and bean stew.
Night before was home made mousaka
Night before that was cod and veg with brown rice

My diet seriously couldn't be better

I don't touch sugar or sugary drinks

I do drink wine or gin & slimline tonic.

I'm very confused

Tho my dear sis just rang to say low iron and high blood sugar can be linked
Not sure what on earth to think

A diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, requires 2 separate glucose results of over 7mmol, if there are no symptoms.

In the absence of symptoms, a repeat fasting glucose is required- so that is why another appt has been made.

Diabetes can be genetic. You might just be unlucky. My uncle was diagnosed with T2 aged 40; he is active, a healthy eater etc.

I'm type 1. It's nothing to do with eating badly or lots of sugar, anything that is carbs will raise your blood sugar. Oats, fruit and milk all contain carbs, so although healthy, they do raise your blood sugar.
Try to eat complex (slower release) carbs (so the oats you are eating are great) rather than simple (fast acting) carbs.
If you are diagnosed you will be sent on a course called DESMOND where they will teach you how to manage it, but definitely glean as much advice and information from other type 2 people as they will know about it better than anyone!!

Ok thank you that's helped clarify things a bit ,

Guess I just try and tackle the low iron and have that repeat blood test and be patient.

The thing is I've had symptoms but I can't tell what's the possible diabetes and what's the low iron as the symptoms can be quite similar.

I'm exhausted being the biggest thing. I can sleep 12 hours and still feel fatigued. I'm regularly not waking until mid morning if I'm working lates . I cba to do anything at all in my time off even lifting an iron feels too much.

Just be aware that a new diagnosis of Type 1 can often be misdiagnosed in GP care; sometimes there's an assumption that it's always T2 in over 40's - that's not the case at all.

And you are correct in saying that symptoms of anaemia & diabetes can be similar.

So if your symptoms persist despite treatment for anaemia - then you should go back sooner.

Watch out for blurred vision, weight loss, excessive thirst, thrush/UTI's. These are diabetes-specific symptoms.

If you can't get a GP appt you can always ask for a quick finger prick test in a Lloyd's pharmacy.

Have you had a HbA1c test? It measures an average for the last three months. Doing a diagnosis on one fasting blood test seems quite flippant.

im not sure what the test i had was tbh pesty but they requested a repeat for march.

symptom spotting is difficult - i am shortsighted so always have blurred vision, (i wear specs all the time)

no weight loss just an unexplained gain of about 5lb

i get thrush often and have cream on a repeat prescription
im always thirsty and take a pint of water to bed which is usually gone by morning as every time i wake i take a gulp

hadnt thought of asking for a test at a pharmacy - i think i will try that.

thanks this advice is really useful.
just one more thing i was wondering - how do they diagnose which type it is anyway? can they tell between type 1 and type 2?

The key difference between T1 & T2 is the presence of Ketones (blood acids which are very dangerous).

A pharmacy blood test won't diagnose you (only proper lab blood tests will do) but might give you a pointer.

You are describing diabetes symptoms. Do you have any autoimmune disease? Are you in any repeated prescription? T1 is autoimmune, T2 is a multifactorial ie central/visceral obesity, ethnicity, insulin resistance, age, stress... Have they checked the thyroid levels? If you eat so much green it is unusual that the folate is low...

I had gestational diabetes twice so at high risk of type 2.

You can get finger prick blood glucose testing kits in Boots though not sure if you need a prescription for the lancets. I have one from pregnancies and still use it occasionally to check in. That could be useful for seeing whether your blood sugar spikes (rises a lot) after a high carb meal. (Healthy doesn't necessarily mean low carb and diabetes is essentially an inability to process carbs slash glucose into energy, so sugar builds up in your blood stream and you feel tired.)

For the repeat test, I would be asking for a full glucose tolerance test, which is a fasting test followed by drinking a high glucose drink followed two hours later by a second blood test. That will give you more info and be more definitive. Also, as pp said, a hba1c rest will tell you more as well.

A good read on the subject is Michael Mosley's The Blood Sugar Diet. He talks about 'TOFIs' - people who are thin on the outside, fat on the inside. My BMI is 21 so I think I fit into this category.

I've had low iron too and what you described sounds exactly what that felt like. So I'd try not to worry for now but rest and get those iron tablets into you. If you do turn out to have diabetes, there seems to be a lot more known about type 2 these days and lots of people seem to be able to essentially reverse it by making specific changes to their diet.

Good luck

I remember reading once about what they call type 1.5, which is partly auto immune partly type 2. That can be diagnosed in adulthood, but in my understanding it's unusual for type 1 to be diagnosed in adulthood

thanks again all

its funny as i used to be super super slim with a bmi of around 19 but its now 24 - and try as i might i cannot ever shift any weight.

i dropped to 1000 calories to try and lose some but had very little result despite this and really hitting the gym (i went from 3 times a week to 5 times a week and nothing! )
i wonder if this could be linked to my elevated sugar levels?
do i need to put myself on something like the atkins diet i wonder?

i think i probably am fat thin.
as it is now i am 10st 5 and size 12 but for most of my adult life i was 7st 4lb and size 8. so even though i look fine for me this is a 3 stone weight gain i guess. trouble is i just cant lose it and because i am "ok" ive given up trying and tried to focus more on health and fitness than weight.

would meds assist me to lose some weight if i am diabetic?

I was on metformin when pregnant, it helps improve insulin sensitivity. Don't know if it helps with weight.

Again, I'm not an expert/ healthcare prof but I think that weight gain can be a symptom of insulin resistance, where your body has to increase its insulin output to deal with decreased insulin sensitivity in your body's cells. It's a precursor to prediabetes /diabetes.

Atkins is one of a few different types of low carb diets. The Michael Mosley book has a different on be, healthier I think. Lots of fibre is important too ... think there was an article in the guardian today about that ...

amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jan/10/high-fibre-diets-cut-heart-disease-risk-landmark-study-finds?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCCAE%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Flifeandstyle%2F2019%2Fjan%2F10%2Fhigh-fibre-diets-cut-heart-disease-risk-landmark-study-finds

That is a long link!! Think they're getting a bit carried away by saying it's bad news for low carb diets as you can get tons of fibre in a low carb diet if you are careful about it but interesting how good fibre is for you though ... including re diabetes

God this is gonna be a mine field....

Some medications don't make you gain weight or Metformin others sulfonylureas can make you put on weight. Is there any other symptoms that you can recall? Thinning of hair, extra facial hair, puffy face, stretch marks... Etc? I would cut my alcohol intake, it has lots of sugars and empty calories. Good luck

• Ie Metformin not or lol

Bloods prob just elevated due to the UTI. I wouldn't be too concerned as yet. My Mum super slim eats well had a high of 9.7 at the GP but she also had an infection. They did a 3 month average blood sugar test and it was fine and she's been fine ever since. I'm type 1 so test her regularly.

The uti was gone well before I had the blood test snowie so don't think that would have made any difference. I've got a chest infection now so they've said wait to repeat the test anyway.

I'm on iron/folates now so I guess I just wait , retake the test in March and see what happens.