GP appointment- what to expect

Hi Tammy, 

I am not a diabetic and haven’t been in the position that you currently are but from a little research on forums I can tell you what to expect. 

A hba1c reading of 49 isn’t ‘ridiculously’ high. It is nearing a diabetic diagnosis however. So your doctor may discuss this with you, they may also discuss diet plans and/or weight loss plans (if you are overweight). I doubt you’ll be put on any medication right now unless they are convinced that you cannot lower your hba1c naturally. So in short they may attempt to reverse your hba1c naturally and hopefully get it at a healthy reading again. Discuss with you diet etc. Then they may take another reading in 3 months or so to see any improvement. Worst case scenario you may be put on medication.

Hope this helps, and best of luck to you, hope it goes well  

Your readings are at the top end and obviously haven't dropped to the levels that the prescribed medication should have produced. Your doctor will probably want to discuss this and your lifestyle and eating habits because something is interrupting the efficiency of the medication, Rather than worry about it, why not try and work with your doctor so that they can get the prescription balance right. A chat can only benefit you and reduce the impact of this disease.

I would be really interested in the outcome so please kept us all updated - and good luck!

Hi Tammy, you must be in the UK. Our numbers are done a little differently here in the US. Here, 6.5% or above is diabetic, owever people here get really freaked because they recently lowered the test ranges. So all of a sudden, tons of people who weren't diabetic before, are now and they’re really confused. But that’s here. 

I found this explanation online, but I think this is more for glucose testing: ‘For the majority of healthy individuals, normal blood sugar levels are as follows: Between 4.0 to 5.4 mmol/L (72 to 99 mg/dL) when fasting. Up to 7.8 mmol/L (140 mg/dL) 2 hours after eating.’

I found this information about a1c test levels:

‘Indications of diabetes or prediabetes are given under the following conditions:

Normal: Below 42 mmol/mol (6.0%)

Prediabetes: 42 to 47 mmol/mol (6.0 to 6.4%)

Diabetes: 48 mmol/mol (6.5% or over)’

So it looks like you’re just at the start of diabetes. Not to worry, get some new food habits and increase your exercise. You’ll need to do a lot of research on hiw to eat properly, but its worth the effort- you’ll not be able to eat a bunch of sweets, but with a strict diet and exercise program, you can drastically reduce the risk of diabetic complications, which are truly horrible. 

Any extra expense you incur from higher food costs are made up for by better quality of life, better longterm health and lower medication costs. Also all the meds have tons of side effects and can cause irreversible health conditions. You’ll wsnt to check the list  of manufavturer’s side effects on any meds you take.

If you find diet and exercise do not improve the problem after three months, you may want to look into possible underlying illnesses, such as chronic pancreatitis, or hypothyroid disease.

Good luck!!!!

Hi Tammy.

As Brendon said it's not massive. In the UK the diagnostic point for type 2 is 48 or above so your very much borderline. They probably at this stage want to discuss diet, activity, weight to stop progression to full blown and needing to take medication etc.

Hope all goes well.

Expect: talk about diet, talk about exercise, talk about losing weight, and possibly an offer to give you metformin pills in a minimal dose.  Suggest you take it all seriously, even though the numbers are actually still very marginal.  Just the diet and exercise may fix it and prevent tons of trouble downstream.

Oh, and for extra credit, ask about getting your own BG monitor at home.  No reason to wait until you have diabetes to get one, when getting one now can help *prevent* you from getting it at all!