High A1C

jcgutierrez

I am so upset. I have been trying to get help for the last year and nothing until today. I gained about 20 pounds in 5-6 months even though I have been trying to eat healthy. I was going through my previous insurance and no help. I just changed gain and had an appointment with my ob/gyn on October 2nd, where he told me that he didn't think metformin was helpful to me to discontinue its use(even though i had not been taking it already for 6 months for lack of attention from my previous providers. )And he told me I would benefit more from micorgestin birth control pills. He asked for few labs and I got them done on Monday. I received the results yesterday and my A1C if 6.6. I am frustrated because I have asked for help because I can feel something not being right in my body, but not one doctor has helped me. I have an appointment today with an endocrinologist, hopefully they have some helpful advice to help me. According to what I have read an A1C of 6.6 is considered diabetes neutral: A few years ago, to be exact in 2011, I was able to lose 60 pounds with diet and exercise. I became pregnant with my baby girl and all my hormones have been wack since them. I have tried doing the exact same thing I did before but no progress. actually instead of seeing weight loss I would gain weight. With the results I retrieved also came my thyroid results. Which have doubled as well from last time I was checked. Sorry for the long vent. Put I needed to get all this problem out.

KnitOrMiss

Okay, the A1c is high, but not crazy so. Do you know what your fasting glucose and fasting insulin levels are?

After my pregnancy and delivery, my PCOS flared up into full force, but I didn't even know I had it back then. I checked into the hospital at 9 months pregnant, 200 pounds. Other than a blip with a fad diet, I never lost below that again. I got all the way up to 319, and I'm finally back down to 250 (I just went back up a bit due to a weekend of my eating plan)... My daughter just turned 15 this past weekend.

I don't remember a lot of bloodwork back then, but my A1C has never been crazy out of control, but my insulin resistance has. I don't know why Microgestin would affect your A1c, but as far as a hormonal balance, effective birth control with no breakthrough bleeding, this is the one I take, and it's the best one for me that I've ever been on.

When your insulin or glucose are high, and you're stalling or gaining with normal weight loss attempts, I personally recommend going to a low carb diet. My endocrinologist told me to start at 100 grams of carbs per day and drop until the cravings stopped. I started around 50-70 grams a day, dropped to 35 or so to control the cravings. Then after a month, I realized I was pretty close to keto numbers and dropped to 20 grams of carbs a day. I've recently increased that back to the 30-45 grams range, so as to include more ferment foods, but I'm still considered low carb...

Since I started this in January, I've only lost about 20 pounds, but I've dropped 3 pants sizes, shrunk out of my undergarments, and lost 1/2 of a shoe size. My A1c, glucose, insulin, thyroid, cholesterol, and all those numbers have improved. I have bloodwork to prove it if you'd like me to share my labs...

I'm sure you have more you need to get out, so rant away. Inositol and Vitex can help balance out the hormonal side... And I'm sure @Dragonwolf can chime in with some great suggestions, too.

In the meantime, hugs, take a deep breath, vent some more, and ask all the questions you want!

jcgutierrez

Thank you for taking the time to respond and listen. I have not done my fasting glucose yet. It has been ordered but I go in to work at 7:30 and the labs don't open until 8. I just started a promotion position and really don't want to miss unless its an emergency. I was planning to go out and get it done this weekend. But my insulin levels came back at 13. But I believe the same thing. Once my baby was born PCOS came back in full effect.

KnitOrMiss

13 is pretty high for insulin... Maybe look up the symptoms of Insulin Resistance and see if they apply?

jcgutierrez

I had already been diagnosed with insulin resistance. My appointment overall went well yesterday. The Doctor was able to give me so much advice and his words were so calming. He gave me 2000 iu of vitamin D to bring up my energy and help with my mood. He also put me on 2000mg of metformin, but I will be slowing working up to it. I feel like I finally received help from someone who knows how to treat PCOS. He told me that my thyroid was high but that we will run all blood work again, he believed my high levels of insulin and glucose are due to the bad treatment of my condition, so he didn't want to call it diabetes until we run tests again. If after 6 weeks my thyroid hasn't change I will also be getting thyroid medication. Plus he took me off the BC pills.

KnitOrMiss

with the metformin, to avoid most of the bad complications, you'll want to ditch most sugary foods and cut your carbs. You'll also want to avoid dairy 2 hours either side of your pills. Good luck! It's it awesome to find a doc willing to actually work with you???

jcgutierrez

Thank you @KnitOrMiss. So far so good. I threw away the scales I owned because I was tormenting me. But very few side effects with the metformin.