Hi there, I’m a nineteen year old male living in the UK. I’m quite overweight, maybe obese even. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink. The only ‘health’ conditions I have are Acid Reflux and recently diagnosed with pre-diabetes after taking the HbA1c test. What I’m worried about is that I asked the doctor to do a full blood count to check my overall health - everything came back normal, except the HbA1c (it was at 43 mmol which indicates pre-diabetes as normal range is between 20 - 42). Upon reading the letter the doctor printed out, I noticed that there was an exclamation mark next to Haemoglobin estimation, Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), and Mean corpuscular Hb. concentration (MCHC).
Now, here’s where the question lies. Yes, I know I’m overweight/obese and I’m currently doing something about it by going to the gym and eating more healthily to try and tackle the pre-diabetes (if I have it), but I want to know why those values were low? Do I have anaemia? The doctor ordered for a HbA1c test to be done and it came back 43? So surely if I did a test to test for haemoglobin and I have anaemia - it would affect it in a way, right? Now, although I may have mild anaemia, I’m just wondering if it would still affect it? Right now, the symptom I have are pale nails, shortness of breath, my hair falls out sometimes when I brush it, and awful fatigue. What shall I do? Is it the anaemia that’s affecting the HbA1c test or is it genuinely prediabetes? My doctor doesn’t seem to tell me, all he said was lose weight. I need answers because I’m sick and tired of Googling the answers.
I'm sorry I can't help you but was interested when I went on the link you suggested. I have only recently been diagnosed with prediabetes. As I was suffering with restless legs a blood test showed I was anaemic. After being put on a course of iron the symptoms eased but are one back. I have these pins and needles in my feet, legs and arms. My doctor suggested I drink tonic water a couple of hours before bed. I found the link very useful and thank you for passing it on. I hope you will get the answers you are looking for.
1. It is good that you are serious about your health and doing research to understand your conditions.
2. It is highly unlikely that mild iron deficiency will affect your HbA1c result, given your other condition like overweight/obesity.
3. HbA1c is not the only test to diagnose diabetes. You can take fasting blood glucose test and OGTT (Oral Glucose Tolerance Test) if your GP agrees. These tests are not affected by the iron deficiency in the blood. Talk to your GP about this. He may not agree for OGTT.
4. It really does not matter the exact cause of your conditions because the bottom line remains the same - YOU HAVE TO IMPROVE YOUR DIET AND LIFESTYLE. That will fix your both conditions - blood glucose and iron deficiency.
5. Your primary focus should be on diet to lose weight, overcome iron deficiency and reverse pre-diabetes. The aim of exercise should be overall well-being of your health. Any weight-loss benefit through exercise should be considered as bonus.
6. Learn about LCHF ( Low Carb High Fat ) diet. You can achieve all the three goals as I mentioned in (5) above following a well formulated LCHF diet along with some exercise.
Take this as an opportunity to take charge of your health and enjoy life. Follow the link below for more information:
Hello anon ! 1st thing well done for coming on-line. We are a very understanding forum. In a simple way go for a walk regularly. To the bus stop or shops, work or school. Up & down stairs. Its the simple things that make the difference. Really good luck & keep going.
From my experience, go to gym is great! but sometime doesn't help with weight loss.
Maybe you should try to find some sport which you enjoy and stick to it. For me I have been
practicing regular Ashtanga yoga for 6 months and I really see a good results. I also took a Nutri DNA test, and that how I learned how to Eat healthy way based on my genetic.
I have no answers for you. I too was dealing with anemia when I was diagnosed in 2001. I have been on little to no insulin or pills. My A1C is currently 6.7. Morning fasting blood sugar is 109+ range. I have been anemic at times since being diagnosed. First I ate adequate protein at each meal to keep stable, then I am older and my taste for meat changed I'm eating more, legumes, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruit. I am still overweight and have been the entire time. Exercise very little. I have had times when I've walked an hour a day most days and felt better. I have to watch my denial as I can talk myself into eating things I don't usually eat when exercising, and when the scale shows weight loss or lower a1c. I was recently told to go gluten free by my doctor after some testing. Difficult but I'm doing okay so far... hasn't been a month.
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