How can a person be diagnosed with Neuropathy if they are not Diabetic

@laura1970

First off it seems that HA1c is not checked during normal physical exams where bloodwork is done. Right now I get them at no cost as part of my research participation at Mayo. WalMart offers them for IIRC about $35.
My last 3 were 03/05/25 6.8 06/05/25 2.7 11/25/25 6.0

As far as HG I can pretty much get it to happen at will. For lunch if I have oatmeal wtih milk and maybe some fruit and wait 2-3 hours to excercise like walking around shopping at WalMart I can feel it start to come on. I'll pop 4-5 4 gram glucose tabs and that usually tames it. Sometimes my eyes will start to flash. If I exercise after I eat it generally doesn't happen. I remember a 5 hour GTT from 40 some years ago. About 2 hours into it they told me to lie down as they were afraid that I would pass out. Nothing ever happened tho. Back then the doc called it reactive hypoglycemia.
I've never been advised to monitor glucose. FWIW I do see an endocrinologist, but she doesn't seem to be concerned about the HG. The couple times I mentioned it, it seems like she didn't hear it. I'm not THAT concerned myself tho I would like to know what could be causing it. Seems like once I get a certain demand for insulin the pancreas overproduces.

@bajjerfan early symptoms of high blood sugar are increased thirst, frequent urination, fatigue, and blurred vision, sometimes with a headache. I the frequent urination is in part, from sugar “spilling out “ of the kidneys into the urine. I believe there are at home test strips that you can buy without a prescription to check your urine. I don’t think you are at the point where you need them.

Very high levels can cause serious symptoms like nausea, abdominal pain, confusion, and fruity-smelling breath, which require emergency care. The fruity smelling breath, usually accompanied by heavy breathing is a sign of ketosis caused by insufficient insulin, leading to high blood sugar and dangerous ketone buildup. It primarily affects those with type 1 diabetes but can occur in type 2 under stress like illness or medication issues. Prompt medical treatment is essential to prevent life-threatening outcomes.

In essence, ketosis in diabetes results from insulin deficiency, prompting the body to break down fat for energy and produce acidic ketones. The blood becomes overly acidic which rapidly causes cascading symptoms until death or emergency treatment occurs.

I do not mean to scare you, just thought a little physiology lesson was in order. You most certainly will have type 2 diabetes, if you ever develop overt diabetes at all, and ketosis is much less common.

I hope that helps.

I would recommend starting a diabetes diet now and a consult with a good nutrionist the specialises or at least has a special interest in diabetes will make that easier.

Start educating yourself. I trust this website https://diabetes.org/

@bajjerfan first off, I think the HgA1C of 2.7 is a typo. I’m very surprised by your numbers. Are the researchers MDs or phDs? Are they sending your numbers to your endocrinologist?

I always considered a HgA1c of over 6.5 to be diabetes. Levels below 5.7% are normal, while 5.7% to 6.4% signals prediabetes. I guess it could be argued that one test is not enough and you only had one value over 6.5. Either way, I’m surprised your endo is not taking it more seriously.

Are you taking any medication? Supplements?

@laura1970
I wish this site could allow more time to edit posts. Yes it's a typo should be 5.7. Anyways the research involves a drug to normalize cortisol levels. The research is conducted by a Mayo MD endocrinologist. Mayo considers a HA1c over 7.0 as being onset diabetes. At 6.8 I made my own dietary adjustments to get it down to 5.7 We have discussed dietary things in the past. If need be she would get me involved in diabetic counseling I'm sure.
I don't take any meds like Metformin to control blood sugar. The last thing I need is another med that's taken by the shovelful. I take vit C flax oil, vit A & D cyanocobalamin, calcium citrate magnesium glycinate and low dose zinc picolinate.

My issue is MACS Mild Autonomous Cortisol Secretion. Basically excess cortisol production which can lead to diabetes among other things. After an adrenalectomy, it's still too high.

Wishing to find more info on MMP13 inhibitors.

Hello @gcapling, Welcome to Connect. Another member @txflower2023 asked the same question a couple of years ago in another discussion but I didn't see any responses so hopefully they may have some information to share. I did a quick search of Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/) and it turned up quite a few different research papers if you want to scan through them or change the search phrase for more specific articles - https://scholar.google.com/scholar.

Did you read something about MMP-13 inhibitors that sounds promising?

@johnbishop - I have been looking into MMP13 only recently. It sounds very promising but what I'm seeing to date is only a very new idea. I'm interested in finding a MMP13 inhibitor to try. Then it is necessary to consume a nerve regenerator.
For now I can try B12 - that has been known to help.

@laura1970
I wish this site could allow more time to edit posts. Yes it's a typo should be 5.7. Anyways the research involves a drug to normalize cortisol levels. The research is conducted by a Mayo MD endocrinologist. Mayo considers a HA1c over 7.0 as being onset diabetes. At 6.8 I made my own dietary adjustments to get it down to 5.7 We have discussed dietary things in the past. If need be she would get me involved in diabetic counseling I'm sure.
I don't take any meds like Metformin to control blood sugar. The last thing I need is another med that's taken by the shovelful. I take vit C flax oil, vit A & D cyanocobalamin, calcium citrate magnesium glycinate and low dose zinc picolinate.

My issue is MACS Mild Autonomous Cortisol Secretion. Basically excess cortisol production which can lead to diabetes among other things. After an adrenalectomy, it's still too high.