Simon’s health story

Simon (57) is a part-time flying instructor and discovered he had type 2 diabetes during a yearly medical. Read his story to find out how he uses Medichecks to monitor his blood levels.

“I first came across Medichecks in April 2018. I am a part-time flying instructor and when I went for my medical that year the examiner noted a couple of things that he wanted following up before he issued my medical.

I foolishly told him that I drank 20 units of alcohol per week at a time when the WHO guidelines had been reduced to 14 and also the urine test showed elevated sugar levels.

I booked an appointment with my GP initially for an HbA1c test but the CAA doctor also wanted me to have a Carbohydrate-Deficient Transferrin (CDT) Blood Test to prove that I wasn’t an alcoholic!

My GP couldn’t offer this, so I searched online and came across Medichecks.

To cut a long story short the HbA1c test came back at 55 which led to a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes which was not good for my flying medical.

I immediately started to follow a low carbohydrate diet to reverse the diagnosis which seems to have had the desired result. 

I decided that as well as having a test with my GP, I would start taking the Diabetes (HbA1c) Blood Test with Medichecks. This meant that I could track my progress and also ensure that my blood sugars remained at a normal level.

The graph below shows the results since 2018 and as you can see, they have remained in the normal range. I have sent this to the Aeromedicine Department at the CAA and they have now conceded that I am no longer type 2 diabetic which is a good result. Their only condition is that I continue to supply HbA1c test results every 6 months.

It is important that my results continue to be normal and Medichecks gives me peace of mind that this is the case without having to see my GP all the time. It also gives me the opportunity if the results were going in the wrong direction to take action before it was too late so to speak!

If I am honest whilst the doctor's comments are useful it isn’t anything I haven’t heard before, I have become quite the expert in type 2 diabetes over the last few years so I know that I just need to be sensible with the amount of carbs & sugar that I eat and keep monitoring by regular testing.”

Back to customer stories