Normal AIC, high blood glucose.

Mykal4444
Mykal4444 Posts: 1 Member
edited December 24 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everybody. I went in for a metabolic blood panel and no one told me to fast so I had a huge lunch (ice cream included) four hours before they took my blood. Stupid move, I know. The blood glucose test came back at 122 mg/dL. This scared me but I thought perhaps eating four hours beforehand might have caused the BG to be high.

My doctor then had me take the A1C and it came back at 5.5% which he said was "perfectly normal" and ruled out prediabetes and diabetes. He told me I didn't need to worry and that I should just retest in a year.

I guess I don't understand why my doctor doesn't seem to be concerned about the BG reading of 122 since it is technically in the prediabetic range. Does the AIC negate the blood glucose and show that I don't have prediabetes/diabetes and is that we he doesn't seem to care about the high BG reading?

Also, is a 5.5% a relatively healthy A1C level? My doctor made it seem like it was great but reading certain things on the internet makes it seem it is on the higher end of everything and definitely leaves room for improvement? In the last year I've become very healthy. Completely changed my diet, started exercising about 8-10 hours a week, and I even lost 40 pounds. Hoping 5.5 is the good results my doctor made it seem to be but just want to check and see what others thought. Thank you in advance for any responses.

Replies

  • kam26001
    kam26001 Posts: 2,794 Member
    Your blood glucose spikes after a meal (especially a large one with ice cream for dessert). If your level is <140 1-2 hours after a meal, you are ok. So yours sounded about right after 4 hours. Doctors look at the entire picture. If something is just a bit out of range they might not even mention it. Also if you were in a rush or running errands beforehand, that can raise your blood glucose levels as well. I always like to get blood work done first thing in the morning.
    Did your doctor have previous results to compare it to? I'm guessing your markers improved with your new lifestyle changes and might even continue to in the future. Congrats.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    edited December 2019
    Forget about the BG. The A1C counts much more. :)
  • cosmichvoyager
    cosmichvoyager Posts: 237 Member
    5.5 a1c isn’t bad imo. I like mine to be a bit lower because my mom has diabetes and I’m paranoid. I was prediabetic and I have been checking every 3 months because I’m very focused on maintaining a good level with no slide back towards prediabetes :)
  • candylilacs
    candylilacs Posts: 614 Member
    5.5 is considered normal.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Mykal4444 wrote: »
    Hello everybody. I went in for a metabolic blood panel and no one told me to fast so I had a huge lunch (ice cream included) four hours before they took my blood. Stupid move, I know. The blood glucose test came back at 122 mg/dL. This scared me but I thought perhaps eating four hours beforehand might have caused the BG to be high.

    My doctor then had me take the A1C and it came back at 5.5% which he said was "perfectly normal" and ruled out prediabetes and diabetes. He told me I didn't need to worry and that I should just retest in a year.

    I guess I don't understand why my doctor doesn't seem to be concerned about the BG reading of 122 since it is technically in the prediabetic range. Does the AIC negate the blood glucose and show that I don't have prediabetes/diabetes and is that we he doesn't seem to care about the high BG reading?

    Also, is a 5.5% a relatively healthy A1C level? My doctor made it seem like it was great but reading certain things on the internet makes it seem it is on the higher end of everything and definitely leaves room for improvement? In the last year I've become very healthy. Completely changed my diet, started exercising about 8-10 hours a week, and I even lost 40 pounds. Hoping 5.5 is the good results my doctor made it seem to be but just want to check and see what others thought. Thank you in advance for any responses.

    5.5 A1C is normal. Your doctor isn't worried because A1C supersedes a singular blood test...also, you weren't fasted so obviously it would be higher.
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,365 Member
    Mykal4444 wrote: »
    Hoping 5.5 is the good results my doctor made it seem to be but just want to check and see what others thought. Thank you in advance for any responses.

    So wait, you don’t believe the doctor that had a dozen years of medical education, that you chose to provide care to you and instead are looking for internet randos to diagnose any lurking metabolic disorders you might have?
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
    Having lived with glucose fluctuations for most of my life, and a father in law with out of control diabetes, I might be desensitized, but 122 doesn’t seem like a big deal to me. The “over 100” red flag for diabetes is when fasting. When I had my glucose test the first time as a teen I hit 240 a couple hours in, not labeled as diabetic, but hypoglycemia and pre-diabetic. The concern didn’t come from that number, but how quickly I crashed after it spiked (the cut testing short). 20 years later I have actually settled down and leveled out.

    My daughter can range from 60/70 to over 200 and the pediatrician wasn’t overly concerned since her fasting numbers were OK (I was testing randomly due to other symptoms, we were trying to see if there was a correlation).

    The A1C is definitely the number to look at for long term tracking.
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