Glucose Tolerance Results

tsher60

Member
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10
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Hi everyone,

Want to ask a questions if I may and TIA for your replies.

I had a fasting glucose tolerance test last week and got the results today. My bsl prior to the test was 5.3 and after 2 hours my blood tested at 7.3. I just called the surgery for the results and was told that this is normal and that no follow up was required.

Last night I treated myself to meringue, cream (no added sugar) and mango. After 4 hours I had the most horrific headache and tested my bsl and my reading was 13.9. Is this normal? If I am not a diabetic (according to my doctors) then what is going on with me when I cannot eat normally :(.

Thank you in advance of your replies, feeling very low today.

Theresa x
 
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Hi, meringue can have a lot of sugar in it and the mango fruit as well. Please go and see your GP with your results, because 13.9 is high and should be investigated further.
Good luck.
 

Brunneria

Guru
Retired Moderator
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21,889
Type of diabetes
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Welcome to the wacky world of glucose intolerance.

Off the top of my head, I am assuming that you ate other stuff last night too? Maybe meat, veg, potato rice or pasta?

Digestion is slowed by fibre (veg and whole grains) and by fat.
Depending on how much those two affected the speed that the glucose hit the bloodstream, the peak reading may take hours to arrive.

This is why the OGTT test is specifically designed to give you a set amount of fast absorbing sugar, ingested within a very short time, and then precisely timed tests at 2 hours. No fat, no fibre, on an empty stomach, so that they are effectively eliminating as many variables as possible.

Your evening may have had far more carbs than the OGTT, or less, but the other factors are what has made a difference.

There is also the in-built inaccuracy of the test meter itself. They are only accurate to within + or - 15% of the true reading.

'normal' people have widely varying blood glucose levels, but I would say that your 13.9 is near the top of normal.
Definitely worth watching.

Do you know what your fasting blood glucose is in the morning, and have the doctor's given you a timescale for another test?
What prompted them to run the OGTT in the first place?
 

tsher60

Member
Messages
10
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Welcome to the wacky world of glucose intolerance.

Off the top of my head, I am assuming that you ate other stuff last night too? Maybe meat, veg, potato rice or pasta?

Digestion is slowed by fibre (veg and whole grains) and by fat.
Depending on how much those two affected the speed that the glucose hit the bloodstream, the peak reading may take hours to arrive.

This is why the OGTT test is specifically designed to give you a set amount of fast absorbing sugar, ingested within a very short time, and then precisely timed tests at 2 hours. No fat, no fibre, on an empty stomach, so that they are effectively eliminating as many variables as possible.

Your evening may have had far more carbs than the OGTT, or less, but the other factors are what has made a difference.

There is also the in-built inaccuracy of the test meter itself. They are only accurate to within + or - 15% of the true reading.

'normal' people have widely varying blood glucose levels, but I would say that your 13.9 is near the top of normal.
Definitely worth watching.

Do you know what your fasting blood glucose is in the morning, and have the doctor's given you a timescale for another test?
What prompted them to run the OGTT in the first place?
Hi Brunneria, thank you and thanks also to Robinredbreast for your replies.

My history is this: hba1c readings started with 49, then further hba1c's were 46 then 47. I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes (or impaired glucose). I sometimes get the shakes and feeling of starvation if I haven't eaten and this prompted a glucose tolerance test from my GP where the readings were 5.3 then 2 hours later 7.3 and was told by the doctors receptionist this was normal and no further action was required (today).

Yesterday prior to the 13.9 test. I had a roast dinner at 12 noon yesterday but only ate 1 small roast potato. I then ate the meringue, cream and mango at 9pm last night. I am a bit of a night owl and was up doing web design work until the wee hours of the morning. Around 3am I started to have the most horrific headache and thought ah I wonder if my blood sugar is up as when previously high has made me feel nauseous and on taking it, it showed the 13.9. I drank a glass of water and took some pills to try and get rid of the headache and went to bed. 1 hour later my head was still hurting so I check to see if bs had come down, it was 9.3. My concern was that after so many hours my bs was so high.

Best wishes
Theresa x
 

ButtterflyLady

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Hi Theresa, based on your HbA1c results, you have prediabetes, and you may find that reducing your carb intake makes you feel better and reduces your HbA1c result so that you are no longer prediabetic (41 or lower). If you were to continue eating a lot of carbs over a long period, then your HbA1c result may well increase. If it reaches 48, then that is the threshold for T2 diabetes. Both prediabetes and T2 can be treated the same way, by reducing carbs.

@daisy1 has some welcome info she can post, which has further information about this.
 

tsher60

Member
Messages
10
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Hi Theresa, based on your HbA1c results, you have prediabetes, and you may find that reducing your carb intake makes you feel better and reduces your HbA1c result so that you are no longer prediabetic (41 or lower). If you were to continue eating a lot of carbs over a long period, then your HbA1c result may well increase. If it reaches 48, then that is the threshold for T2 diabetes. Both prediabetes and T2 can be treated the same way, by reducing carbs.

@daisy1 has some welcome info she can post, which has further information about this.
Thank you for your reply, it makes more sense now. I shall watch the carbs and behave :), so not more meringue, cream and mango x have added daisy and will read what she has written. Thanks again x
 
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ButtterflyLady

Well-Known Member
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3,291
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Acceptance of health treatment claims that are not adequately supported by evidence. I dislike it when people sell ineffective and even harmful alternative health products to exploit the desperation of people with chronic illness.
Thank you for your reply, it makes more sense now. I shall watch the carbs and behave :), so not more meringue, cream and mango x have added daisy and will read what she has written. Thanks again x
Cream is ok :) Berries and full fat Greek natural yoghurt or clotted cream have become some of my favourite foods.
 
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daisy1

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@tsher60

Hello and welcome to the forum :) Here is the information we give to new members which contains advice on diet and carbs. I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 

tsher60

Member
Messages
10
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
@tsher60

Hello and welcome to the forum :) Here is the information we give to new members which contains advice on diet and carbs. I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Thank you so much Daisy xx
 
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