So I'm a 6'1" 35 year old who was, at least in my own mind, in excellent health until about September of last year, when I started getting random stabbing chest pains. Went to ER, they checked me out and say they couldn't find anything wrong besides very high blood pressure (200/130). Got checked out by my primary care physician who prescribed me some lisinopril for the BP, told me to come back in 3 months for a followup. Fast forward to early December when I got the chest pains again (they had mostly subsided), got put on hydrochlorothiazide in addition to the licinopril for bringing my BP down further, as it was still around 150/120.
At this point I signed up on my health network's website to look at my own test results, including blood tests. The blood test from late September, and the one from early December showed my blood glucose level at 133 and 134 mg/dl, respectively. This is considered just below the pre-diabetic cutoff but only if you've eaten recently, which is probably why it didn't throw any red flags. But I know that both times I had my blood drawn, I had not eaten for at least 12 hours.
So I called up my doctor to have an A1C test done. Lo and behold, 7.7%.
Up until this point I had been eating one big meal per day for a couple years, around 2500-3000 calories, loaded with untold numbers of carbs and sugars. It worked great for me, was convenient, kept my energy levels up throughout the day even when going on long (40+ mile) bike rides, etc.
But now with this diagnosis, the doctor said to change my diet and see if we can control my blood sugar levels without medication. I'm freaking out because for all I know, I could have had this very high blood sugar average for years and caused permanent organ damage. But at least according to the several marker tests they've done, my heart is fine, and I don't seemingly have any problems peeing, etc.
Anyway, at this point (2 weeks ago) I was around 195 lbs and feeling pretty good physically, aside from the random chest pain that's still undiagnosed (having a cardiac stress test done next week). I immediately cut down massively on my food intake and have tried splitting my meals up into two per day, about 6 - 8 hours apart. I'm trying really hard to avoid carbs but still eating about 40 - 60 grams per day, which I'm sure is probably about 1/6th of what I had been eating.
My doctor did not tell me to get a glucose monitor, but I did anyway despite being deathly afraid of needle sticks. I have been forcing myself to check my glucose levels before and after meals, experimenting with exercise and its effects on my levels. Every time I check it, I feel like I'm dying, I hate it so much.
So far the absolute highest number I've gotten on my glucometer (a ReliOn Prime) was 180 mg/dL, taken just 5 minutes after I got back from a vigorous half hour, 2 mile walk, about an hour after I ate a peanut butter sandwich (one slice whole wheat bread folded in half) and an orange. I didn't yet know that I should have waited a little while after exercising to test, because moderate to intense exercise can raise blood glucose temporarily.
Most of my readings have been between 100 and 140 mg/dL, before and after meals. I've found that exercising an hour after a meal does bring the level down from near 140 to around 110-115. But to my dismay, I checked my level this morning after a 12 hour fast and it was back up to 123 from a 110 last night, 2.5 hours after a meal and an hour after an hour-long, 4 mile walk. So my body is increasing my blood glucose level on its own, without any food intake whatsoever, in a resting/sleeping state.
Just as importantly, on this new diet I am tired all the time. I get light-headed whenever I stand up, sometimes to the brink of passing out (though I haven't actually passed out yet thankfully). My BP has gone down to an average of 100/60. I feel miserably exhausted throughout the day, and it takes all the energy I can muster just to finish my walk after a meal. I've lost 5 lbs over 10 days (down to 190 lbs now). I know this is not sustainable, but I'm terrified of doing (more) damage to my body by eating more and raising my glucose level.
On the plus side, many people on my mom's side of the family have had type 2 for decades and they mostly manage it with just metformin, which is probably in my future as well. None of them have needed insulin injections, which would devastate me if I needed them due to my fear of needles. And internally I know I'm already keeping my levels significantly below the 7.7% or ~174mg/dL average that my last A1C test revealed. But is it enough? Is it sustainable? I don't know if I can keep living with multiple finger sticks every day, every meal, and forcing myself to exercise to exhaustion after each meal.
Thanks for reading my probably-too-long first post. I just needed to vent, I feel like my whole world is crashing down around me.
At this point I signed up on my health network's website to look at my own test results, including blood tests. The blood test from late September, and the one from early December showed my blood glucose level at 133 and 134 mg/dl, respectively. This is considered just below the pre-diabetic cutoff but only if you've eaten recently, which is probably why it didn't throw any red flags. But I know that both times I had my blood drawn, I had not eaten for at least 12 hours.
So I called up my doctor to have an A1C test done. Lo and behold, 7.7%.
Up until this point I had been eating one big meal per day for a couple years, around 2500-3000 calories, loaded with untold numbers of carbs and sugars. It worked great for me, was convenient, kept my energy levels up throughout the day even when going on long (40+ mile) bike rides, etc.
But now with this diagnosis, the doctor said to change my diet and see if we can control my blood sugar levels without medication. I'm freaking out because for all I know, I could have had this very high blood sugar average for years and caused permanent organ damage. But at least according to the several marker tests they've done, my heart is fine, and I don't seemingly have any problems peeing, etc.
Anyway, at this point (2 weeks ago) I was around 195 lbs and feeling pretty good physically, aside from the random chest pain that's still undiagnosed (having a cardiac stress test done next week). I immediately cut down massively on my food intake and have tried splitting my meals up into two per day, about 6 - 8 hours apart. I'm trying really hard to avoid carbs but still eating about 40 - 60 grams per day, which I'm sure is probably about 1/6th of what I had been eating.
My doctor did not tell me to get a glucose monitor, but I did anyway despite being deathly afraid of needle sticks. I have been forcing myself to check my glucose levels before and after meals, experimenting with exercise and its effects on my levels. Every time I check it, I feel like I'm dying, I hate it so much.
So far the absolute highest number I've gotten on my glucometer (a ReliOn Prime) was 180 mg/dL, taken just 5 minutes after I got back from a vigorous half hour, 2 mile walk, about an hour after I ate a peanut butter sandwich (one slice whole wheat bread folded in half) and an orange. I didn't yet know that I should have waited a little while after exercising to test, because moderate to intense exercise can raise blood glucose temporarily.
Most of my readings have been between 100 and 140 mg/dL, before and after meals. I've found that exercising an hour after a meal does bring the level down from near 140 to around 110-115. But to my dismay, I checked my level this morning after a 12 hour fast and it was back up to 123 from a 110 last night, 2.5 hours after a meal and an hour after an hour-long, 4 mile walk. So my body is increasing my blood glucose level on its own, without any food intake whatsoever, in a resting/sleeping state.
Just as importantly, on this new diet I am tired all the time. I get light-headed whenever I stand up, sometimes to the brink of passing out (though I haven't actually passed out yet thankfully). My BP has gone down to an average of 100/60. I feel miserably exhausted throughout the day, and it takes all the energy I can muster just to finish my walk after a meal. I've lost 5 lbs over 10 days (down to 190 lbs now). I know this is not sustainable, but I'm terrified of doing (more) damage to my body by eating more and raising my glucose level.
On the plus side, many people on my mom's side of the family have had type 2 for decades and they mostly manage it with just metformin, which is probably in my future as well. None of them have needed insulin injections, which would devastate me if I needed them due to my fear of needles. And internally I know I'm already keeping my levels significantly below the 7.7% or ~174mg/dL average that my last A1C test revealed. But is it enough? Is it sustainable? I don't know if I can keep living with multiple finger sticks every day, every meal, and forcing myself to exercise to exhaustion after each meal.
Thanks for reading my probably-too-long first post. I just needed to vent, I feel like my whole world is crashing down around me.
