Talk to me about pre-diabetes

@mikaylar To answer your first question, the answer is NO. Type 2 diabetes is affected by weight, age to some extent, eating habits and other factors. However, pre-diabetes is a warning sign that you must make lifestyle changes like exercise, diet, and most especially food changes as carbs change to sugar as well as your other eating sugary vices. Diabetic doctors can send you to diabetic meetings where you can learn more or you can see a dietitian who can guide you. The most important thing to do today is learn more about this disease as it is totally preventable as the end result over time could be kidney dialysis or heart conditions and more.

The time to change your eating habits is now or you you won’t have the opportunity to have pre diabetes. Monitor your glucose

With HbA1c 5.7 you have early prediabetes, which is good news (relatively). I think you can reverse it with simple steps, before more serious disease arises. The provlem with prediabetes that it is almost always associated with insulin resistance, which leads not only to diabetes but also to high blood pressure, fatty liver and lipid disturbances. So it is the root of heart diseases. The best thing you can do for yourself now is to control prediabetes/insulin resistance now, this needs only lifestyle modification as reducing carbs, intermittent fasting and exercise. I have the same problem as my HbA1c was 5.8 and I had high blood pressure and am trying to follow these simple steps and retest after 3 months to see if these steps are sufficient. Good luck for you.

Thank you for the info

I believe my issue is I cannot exercise because of another medical condition. Hopefully, once this is resolved I can start to walk my 2-3 miles a day again. Thanks for your advice.

When you say monitor your glucose what exactly do you mean? Is there a daily test ?

My regular blood work monitors glucose levels.

You can get a kit to check your glucose level.

I was responding to this discussion while in the midst of an urgent care appointment. Today I see that I failed to post the comment I thought I posted. (I was being checked out for a bladder / UTI and got interrupted with a bladder scan! Yes I’ve got something and was sent to get an antibiotic. Now I’m back to Mayo Clinic Connect trying to remember what I thought I posted yesterday!)

Pre-Diabetes does not necessarily lead to Diabetes. Think of it as a warning that you may be heading in that direction. This gives you an opportunity to start researching the disease and making necessary changes that could be helpful towards prevention. I’ve been diabetic for nearly 50+ years and my husband is pre-diabetic. Don’t become too obsessed with “types” of diabetes. A Mayo Clinic endocrinologist told me “diabetes (regardless of the type) is having too high a blood sugar”.
As other members have pointed out, you have a chance to start making helpful changes:

1) monitor blood sugar - ( @scspalding ) a glucometer is a simple device you can use at home to check blood sugar.
2) diet and eating habits - your provider can refer you to dietitians/nutritionists to help you customize a plan that works for you. In regards to the candy, cake and ice cream; I would suggest that you reduce the frequency from twice a day to once a day and gradually even less down to a couple times a week. Start experimenting with swapping these treats out for things that have a lower carbohydrate level. Be careful of portion size. Teach yourself to savor just a taste. Take it slow and easy. Training should be gradual. Cold turkey and other methods are too drastic and will set you up for failure.
3) exercise - this doesn’t have to be Olympic level anything. Any increase in body movement is helpful. Your provider can point you in the direction of a trainer or program that can help you customize an activity that you can do without aggravating your other medical condition.

Hopefully something here will be beneficial to you. Will you keep us posted on your progress?

Depending on age every three months