High Blood Sugar (Hba1c)

Thanks Eileen, I normally do keep a diary of all food intake and calorific value (if I can get it).  When I am not well with zero energy I just eat comfort food like the chocolate, ice cream ect, but that has stopped now.  There is a shop just across from me and it's too handy.  I have put my sensible head on now, so will be eating healthy foods from now on.  I don't have a great appetite so it's more difficult to choose what to eat.  I will do my best until I see the dietician.  Thanks again.

Calorific value doesn't matter - if they know food and weight they have a programme that works it all out. 

I know what you mean about the comfort food but that is probably what has been doing it - the Hba1c is an average of the levels over the last 3 months or so so if you hadn't had your "comfort breaks" it would have been a bit lower and they probably wouldn't have bothered. Cucumber isn't as good for that is it!

Oh Eileen I was off the radar for about 3 weeks and that is when I did the damage.  Dr. explained to me about the Hba1c over 3 months.  I didn't plead guilty to him about the comfort food but will when I see the dietician.  I think he thinks that the pred has given me a big appetite but I didn't correct him.  Now I feel like a naughty child who has been caught with her hand in the cookie jar   Cucumber doesn't cut the mustard with me.  But when I put my mind to something, I do, I carry it through.  So onwards and downwards (weight loss).   Thanks again  

I love cucumber - but it wouldn't do the trick as comfort food for me either! I wonder if anyone has found a low carb equivalent 

Thank you Paula, I am on 10mg statin and have been for many years also aspirin 75mg and a water tablet 2.5mg.  I was diagnosed last November with PMR and started on 20mg of pred and am now down to 9mg.  14 years ago I was diagnosed with ME/CFS.  I used to be able to walk 4 miles in just over an hour but I cannot even get to the bottom of my street without my left calf muscle pulling and i have to turn and come back (that's why I have my son come with me, so as I can take is arm)  I also used to do Zumba and loved it.  Hopefully one day this PMR will go into remission, I am optimistic.  In January this year I started a slimming club which I have been a member of, off and on for 7 years.  I followed the plan and also cut out carbs for 3 weeks and over a period of 7 weeks I lost 1lb.  It started to mess with my head so I left.  I even attended Endocrinology for approx 10 years off and on the problem not being able to lose weight.  The consultant said that she couldn't figure it out.  I appreciated her honesty.  Every blood test has been done, over and over again and everything shows up normal.  I also had a drs. referral for 12 weeks at a local gym and was assigned a personal trainer.  I wore a heart rate monitor as well as the readings on the machines which she recorded.  I was burning up to 526 cals in 1 hour, she put me through my paces.  I also had to fill in a weekly food diary.  I lost about 7lb and in the end my personal trainer asked my permission to ring my dr.  she said there was something wrong internally as the training I was doing and my calorific intake was excellent but no weight loss as such after the 7lb loss.  I trained 3 times a week.  Sent back to Endo and again every test showed normal.  Also my skin was paper thin and was picked up by a Professor and that was about 10 years ago.  No answers just puzzles and my thyroid is normal.  I really have gone on and on, sorry about that.  

 

Hi Pat,

Hi Pat,

No need to apologize. It is interesting to know about you.

Sounds like you have it very tough. I cannot imagine both ME and PMR! I have a friend who has ME and from one day to the next, she can feel well and then awful and weak the next. So debilitating.

That you are down to 9 mg Prednisone sounds good, though. For most people, it does go into remission, but takes time and patience. I know 3 people in my circle of friends and acquaintances, who are Prednisone free and well for a number of years.

I wish you all the best.

Paula

But indeed, you are a medical puzzle, as with all that effort one would think the pounds would just fall off.

The figure 48 is mmol/mol Hba1c or glycated haemoglobin, also expressed as 6.5%. In the UK 100 mg/dl is accepted as normal fasting blood glucose, so yours would be perceived as fine.

My husband's fasting BS is 109 - despite being very underweight - and after a lot of messing about it was decided that he is just one of those people who run a high fasting BS. 

Nothing would induce me to go on a statin on the basis of that - but then, I've had a really bad response to statins and nearly ended up needing a wheelchair! And that was after about 10 days, taking it on alternate days. Never again!

There was an article in the press recently that it was now thought that obesity could be linked with a genetic problem and was not just calories in and calories out. The research is being done in the US and they are working on an injection to tweak the DNA to sort it out which sounds like good news.

Also I was talking to someone from Pfizer who said that Simvastatin and pred can be contra indicative, I think they may even mention it on their website. I am not sure if that is also true of other statins.

There is one hospital, in the northern USA I think, which has simvastatin on a banned list. They do use other statins though. In my case it was Lipitor/atorvastatin that did the damage. Luckily my cardiologist said I didn't need it and I needn't try another. My cholesterol is back into normal range having cut carbs - it is not the fat in your diet that does it.

Simvastatin is the one statin I know of which actually has PMR as a listed side effect - so hardly an ideal one for us. There are also reports in the medical literature of studies which show a clear association of PMR with statins - PMR is about 10 times more common amongst patients on a statin (all sorts) than patients who are not taking one.

Pat, what sort of statin?

If Simvastatin insist on a change.

There is a Professor up here (cardio guy) who won't have Simvastatin at any price, for anyone.

Well Paula sure I am alive and kicking and here to fight another day.  I was bedridden more or less for about 3 years with ME and over the years had very good remissions.  I put it all down to stress.  My youngest son 33 has kidney disease, he lives at home with me.  Also had my late mother live with me for 2 years (she was in the early stages of dementia which I didn't know) Anyway Paula, sure what can you do only keep putting one foot in front of the other.  Good luck from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Eileen there goes the one size fits all theory blown out of the water.  My statin is Antorvastin 10mg.  A couple of years ago I went off the statin as I was eating very healthy food and walking 2 and sometimes 4 miles.  I actually forgot about going off them.  I was getting bloods done (cannot remember what for) and I got a letter to see dr.  My cholestral is always around 4.2 or 4.5 but this time it had raised to 7.8 and my drl and I couldn't understand why.  Then I remembered not taking statin.  So I went back on them and now cholesteral is good 4.2  I did talk to dr. about statins and damage to heart and she said its up to me but heart damage can be caused by not taking them, she left me to make my own mind up and I did, I went back on them.

My son is on 40mg of Lipitor due to his high blood pressure due to his kidney disease.  

Not everyone gets on with statins and its great that you got off them asap.  Scary stuff when side effects are major production.

Hi lodger it's antorvastin 10mg.  Read my reply to Eileen about statins and my experience.

Hi Eileen and Ptolemy,

Thanks for weighing in. I wonder if I should start every other day, also. The doc says that 20 mg is a low dose.

The doc warned me that if I have any side effects from the statin, specifically pain, I am to stop. I also asked the pharmacist and she concurred and said to stop taking it and call the Doc. She knows what other meds I take and did not warn me not to take the statin. (Premarin, Prednisone, Pantoprazole and Gabapentin)

I really would prefer not to take it, but am giving it a try, in view of the future. 

Hearing about your husband's normal 'elevated' blood sugar, Eileen, I wonder if mine could be my physiology. I think prior to being on Prednisone, my normal ranged from 86-90to 90s (something). My white WBC is always below the range, and is considered normal for me. (The only reason I know this, is that my Grandfather died of Leukemia and my cousin had it, so my family gets blood tested periodically.) I rarely get infections.

Cheers,

Paula

 

There is quite an amusing book called The Great Cholestoral Con by a Scottish GP.  It is for the man in the street and is quite an eye opener and very easy to read.

Do you mean by Malcom Kendrick?

I'll look for it. I prefer to walk into things eyes wide open.

Even though my spelling stinks. Malcolm.

Normal ranges cover 95% of the population with the famous bell-shaped curve - that means there are 2.5% in the little triangles at each end who are perfectly normal BUT their personal normal reading is slightly lower or slightly higher. You cannot say the borders are immoveable.

Thank you, Eileen!!

I think I may stop taking the darned statin, being so borderline in need for it. I went on line and did some checking. 

I read that if you get a yeast thing (thrush), while on a statin, you cannot take some of the antifungals. Thrush can be a side effect while on prednisone and I have gotten it after taking an antibiotic.

Also, you cannot take Erythromycin (Ery-Tab) or Clarithromycin (Biaxin) or Flagyl (antifungal). I am allergic to Sulfa, and won't take Cipro ever again, especially not while on Prednisone, so these are often the antibiotic of choice for me.

That’s the book. I really enjoyed it.

I ordered it. The library does not have it. Looking forward to reading it. Thanks for the suggestion.

I do hope you enjoy it. I got it from the library, then bought a copy for my brother for Christmas. I have lent his copy to all my friends since!