Hack# 2: Slow-Rising Glucose Levels & Metformin

I was looking through my old blood test results recently to see what my glucose levels have been over the years. To my surprise I was able to see lab results as far back as 2013, through an app called Healow that my doctor's office uses.
     The only thing I remember being out of range way back then were my cholesterol levels, because they've always been out of range and the doctor or his nurse were always trying to get me to take prescription statins. But that's a story for another blog.
     My second surprise on the 2013 test results was to see that my fasting glucose 10 years ago -- a decade before I would be diagnosed as diabetic -- was 109 (the 'reference range' for glucose values back then was 78-100)! It's possible that I asked if that was okay, but typically my doctor would say "it's just a little over. You're in good shape and exercise and eat well, so we'll just keep an eye on it."  One less thing to worry about, right? In retrospect, I wish he had ordered an a1C follow-up test to see how much sugar was accumulating in my blood, but I wouldn't have known to ask at the time. 
    Looking back, I see that in 2019, my glucose was 114 (and now, the 'reference range' has become 106 at the top of the range vs. 100 a few years earlier). But the first time I can remember my brain engaging with the term "glucose" and learning about something called an a1C test was in 2021, when my glucose test came back as 123 mg/dL and my doctor decided we should look into that. The a1C test came back as 6.3 ('reference range' is 4.0 - 6.0%). I remember him saying that I was "pre-diabetic" that year, and again,  we would keep an eye on it and to come back in 6 months for another blood test. 
     I let 6 months pass and decided to wait for my next annual exam. I was exercising, eating a low-carb diet, and weighed 175 pounds on a 5' 9" frame, so I didn't think there was much else I could do to improve those numbers on my own. A year later, my glucose and a1C numbers came back exactly the same as the previous year, but this time, my doctor said: "It looks like you're officially a diabetic." We were going to keep playing the waiting game. But this time, I asked if he thought Metformin could be helpful. He replied that this "would be a pro-active way to manage my glucose. So he agreed and gave me a 500 mg daily dose. 
       To learn what happened next, go to: Hack #3