Am I prediabetic

EllieM

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Messages
9,208
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
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Hey guys
My fasting bloods are anywhere from low 5.6 to 6. The occasional carb heavy treat a bit higher.
(I really think it’s dawn phenomenon)
My 2 hours post meal is always below 7.8.
my last hba1c was 5.4 last test.
Had done oral glucose test. Was in normal range.
It’s only my fasting that makes me think I am prediabetic. My dr says I’m not. Any thoughts??
Thanks

Levels at which diabetes and prediabetes officially kick in vary from country to country. You're not prediabetic by the definition of your doctor and the country you're in, which is good. If you have a family history of T2 or are starting to build up weight (particularly round your middle), you might benefit by watching your carbs for a bit. (But most people on typical modern diets could benefit from watching their carbs a little.) Most doctors use a slightly high FBG as a reason to do the other tests (all of which seem to have good results for you) than a reason to diagnose on its own.

But honestly, your risk of suffering from health anxiety might be more than your risk of having diabetes at the moment, so bear that in mind.
 

Grothenberg

Member
Messages
10
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Levels at which diabetes and prediabetes officially kick in vary from country to country. You're not prediabetic by the definition of your doctor and the country you're in, which is good. If you have a family history of T2 or are starting to build up weight (particularly round your middle), you might benefit by watching your carbs for a bit. (But most people on typical modern diets could benefit from watching their carbs a little.) Most doctors use a slightly high FBG as a reason to do the other tests (all of which seem to have good results for you) than a reason to diagnose on its own.

But honestly, your risk of suffering from health anxiety might be more than your risk of having diabetes at the moment, so bear that in mind.
 

Grothenberg

Member
Messages
10
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Thanks for your input. It’s very reassuring. I guess I will use this as a blessing in disguise. Getting my diet and exercise sorted has made me feel a lot better. I just miss the odd pasta or rice.

In my family my grandmother has prediabetes. And she has since she was in her 20s. Now 93. No progression into diabetes . I recently found my mother has prediabetes.( thanks for the heads up ) She is 63. She also has had it for years. Mum is heathy and fit. Which helps.So maybe we as a family have a high blood sugar as a base? I am quiet tall and thin. I think I am fit. My bmi is perfect according to my dr. But I did start to get a little pot belly. I just put that down getting a dad bod I am back on track now. Probably the fittest I have been. Thanks again for your response
 
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Carpetsalesman

Active Member
Messages
41
My scores are slightly higher than yours - 6months average FBG of 5.8 on low carb. My GP says I am definitively not diabetic. I saw an endo privately and was told that I am slightly outside normal, but that I’m not diabetic. I should carry on with a healthy diet and avoid processed food. The advice on low carb was do it if it makes you happy but don’t replace one problem with another.

I would like to think that if I had your scores I would be totally relaxed, but you’re not quite perfect and I know from experience that the difficulty of control is frustrating.

I’m taking a break from testing and relaxing on the food a little bit, but I’m permanently giving up bread, pasta, pastry, cereal, rice potatoes, fruit, sweets. Except for situations where you just have no other choice like a party or whatever.

There is so much contradictory information out there that you feel like you’re going mad, particularly around diagnosis. Remember that even on here these guys are driving scores down to perfect because if they don’t hold firm they’ll be up at 15 and going blind. Everyone is different but full blown t2s need to be militant about their control. Personally, I have accepted that I can’t get near 5.0 whatever I do - six months low carb didn’t shift the long term average. So I’m going to try and relax, avoid the real bad stuff and choose low GI healthy food.

I’ll be back here and off my head again in three months.
 

Donought

Active Member
Messages
41
@Grothenberg I know how you feel. Doctor's have told me over the years I'm fine, despite the fact I know I am not. Even when I said my post meal BG was 9 at 2 hrs I was told to stop testing and just ignore the problem. 7 years later finally got the insulin resistant PCOS diagnosis, along with high blood pressure and so forth. I reckon I might also 'pass' a glucose test as pure sugar/ glucose and my body actually copes pretty OK, not great but OK. Carbs on the other hand, or lentils (strangely) and I'm spiking for a good few hours or experiencing reactive hypo's. Sounds as though you're keto/ low carb anyway so stick with that and keep going. Keep checking the BG every month or so. Also stress does affect BG as about 2 weeks ago I could not get my fasting BG below 6. Was around 6.5 etc. Finally down now and I'm a lot less stressed this week.

Totally agree with Carpetsalesman, so much contrary info and everyone is different so find what works for you and stick with it. All the best.
D
 

DanW13

Well-Known Member
Messages
119
My scores are slightly higher than yours - 6months average FBG of 5.8 on low carb. My GP says I am definitively not diabetic. I saw an endo privately and was told that I am slightly outside normal, but that I’m not diabetic. I should carry on with a healthy diet and avoid processed food. The advice on low carb was do it if it makes you happy but don’t replace one problem with another.

I would like to think that if I had your scores I would be totally relaxed, but you’re not quite perfect and I know from experience that the difficulty of control is frustrating.

I’m taking a break from testing and relaxing on the food a little bit, but I’m permanently giving up bread, pasta, pastry, cereal, rice potatoes, fruit, sweets. Except for situations where you just have no other choice like a party or whatever.

There is so much contradictory information out there that you feel like you’re going mad, particularly around diagnosis. Remember that even on here these guys are driving scores down to perfect because if they don’t hold firm they’ll be up at 15 and going blind. Everyone is different but full blown t2s need to be militant about their control. Personally, I have accepted that I can’t get near 5.0 whatever I do - six months low carb didn’t shift the long term average. So I’m going to try and relax, avoid the real bad stuff and choose low GI healthy food.

I’ll be back here and off my head again in three months.

My scores are slightly higher than yours - 6months average FBG of 5.8 on low carb. My GP says I am definitively not diabetic. I saw an endo privately and was told that I am slightly outside normal, but that I’m not diabetic. I should carry on with a healthy diet and avoid processed food. The advice on low carb was do it if it makes you happy but don’t replace one problem with another.

I would like to think that if I had your scores I would be totally relaxed, but you’re not quite perfect and I know from experience that the difficulty of control is frustrating.

I’m taking a break from testing and relaxing on the food a little bit, but I’m permanently giving up bread, pasta, pastry, cereal, rice potatoes, fruit, sweets. Except for situations where you just have no other choice like a party or whatever.

There is so much contradictory information out there that you feel like you’re going mad, particularly around diagnosis. Remember that even on here these guys are driving scores down to perfect because if they don’t hold firm they’ll be up at 15 and going blind. Everyone is different but full blown t2s need to be militant about their control. Personally, I have accepted that I can’t get near 5.0 whatever I do - six months low carb didn’t shift the long term average. So I’m going to try and relax, avoid the real bad stuff and choose low GI healthy food.

I’ll be back here and off my head again in three months.

Did you get your cholesterol check done in the end? I know you mentioned you were going to get it done last time you posted. Think you’re right to chill out a bit on the testing, sounds like you’ve made pretty big dietary changes so you’re in a better place now than 12 months ago.
 

DanW13

Well-Known Member
Messages
119
Thanks for your input. It’s very reassuring. I guess I will use this as a blessing in disguise. Getting my diet and exercise sorted has made me feel a lot better. I just miss the odd pasta or rice.

In my family my grandmother has prediabetes. And she has since she was in her 20s. Now 93. No progression into diabetes . I recently found my mother has prediabetes.( thanks for the heads up ) She is 63. She also has had it for years. Mum is heathy and fit. Which helps.So maybe we as a family have a high blood sugar as a base? I am quiet tall and thin. I think I am fit. My bmi is perfect according to my dr. But I did start to get a little pot belly. I just put that down getting a dad bod I am back on track now. Probably the fittest I have been. Thanks again for your response

That’s interesting as my Dads prediabetic and he reckons he has been for 15 years +, I’m not entirely sure he’s right on that but he hasn’t gone on to develop T2 Diabetes, despite not particularly modifying his diet! I think you’re right in that we’re all different and some of us naturally do probably have higher BG levels or spike after eating certain foods.
 

Geordie_P

Well-Known Member
Messages
849
Type of diabetes
Type 2
With the obvious caveat that we can't diagnose anything etc, I'd have to say you look pretty healthy and normal from those numbers, and the doctor's agreement should also help in this regard. I do think, however, that you're right to seek out a little more info beyond the doctor's opinion- it's not at all rare to get a doc who dismisses anything short of diabetes as 'nothing much to worry about' until you eventually drift into it. Best course of action is probably to not worry, but lay off the carbs as a rule and try to continue to keep yourself out of the pre-diabetic range.
 

Carpetsalesman

Active Member
Messages
41
Did you get your cholesterol check done in the end? I know you mentioned you were going to get it done last time you posted. Think you’re right to chill out a bit on the testing, sounds like you’ve made pretty big dietary changes so you’re in a better place now than 12 months ago.

I’m going to wait until I can get a full health check done after covid finishes and everything opens up. Right now the system is perhaps rightfully kicking nutcases like me into the long grass.

The endo said they thought I was actually very insulin sensitive, on the back of passing oral glucose perfectly and then hypo’ing on the way home. Perhaps similar to Donought, just can’t cope with carbs. I also struggle with lentils in particular.

I have no idea what any of it means anymore so yeah I’m going to keep the basic diet rules in place and get a1c and chol in a few months. Endo has recommended gp does an annual check from now on. Another benefit of waiting and relaxing is that the results will be vs a very sustainable diet rather than what I put myself through in the early months (although losing 2stone was welcome). So I’ll have a sustainable benchmark if the scores are all ok.

I hope you and everyone else is doing well? I’ll keep checking in from time to time.
 

Donought

Active Member
Messages
41
I’m going to wait until I can get a full health check done after covid finishes and everything opens up. Right now the system is perhaps rightfully kicking nutcases like me into the long grass.

The endo said they thought I was actually very insulin sensitive, on the back of passing oral glucose perfectly and then hypo’ing on the way home. Perhaps similar to Donought, just can’t cope with carbs. I also struggle with lentils in particular.

I have no idea what any of it means anymore so yeah I’m going to keep the basic diet rules in place and get a1c and chol in a few months. Endo has recommended gp does an annual check from now on. Another benefit of waiting and relaxing is that the results will be vs a very sustainable diet rather than what I put myself through in the early months (although losing 2stone was welcome). So I’ll have a sustainable benchmark if the scores are all ok.

I hope you and everyone else is doing well? I’ll keep checking in from time to time.
Interesting you have the same lentil issue @Carpetsalesman Thought I was the only freaky one ;) I had some last week in a soup I made and had my 'funny hour' for the first time in ages - passed out about 1.5-2hrs after eating the soup. I'm guessing it was a hypo, wasn;t wearing a CGM unfortunately.

Hope the full health check up goes well when it happens. Take care.
 

Cocosilk

Well-Known Member
Messages
818
Type of diabetes
Gestational
Treatment type
Insulin
Totally understand what your saying Estragon. But to be honest I don’t really have to much faith in a doctor in relation to diabetes. Most drs have to much to know about . And specialise in nothing. I have had two doctors completely balls up 2 blood tests in a row.

First one diagnosed me being prediabetic. Problem was I had a major leg infection on antibiotics. I actually asked him if blood sugars would be higher with a major infection? We still did the test. Again voiced my concerns. He then thought it was best to do blood test a few weeks later. Bloods came back normal. Shouldn’t he have known beforehand not to test me yet?

2nd test. New dr. Oggt was performed. Dr knew I was in ketosis as I discussed it with him . Wanted to see what ketosis did for my bs.
Failed test. I done some research. Found out I should of had instructions to be on a normal balanced diet with carbs included. ( during test my pancreas was in park mode as it hadn’t needed to do anything a few weeks in keto) Mentioned it to the dr. Dr agreed. Re done the test. Bloods came back normal. Or at-least passed. Dr Left it at that ( almost like he was embarrassed) So I feel like I’m not reassured with the results entirely. I feel like I would rather hear from other prediabetics to what they think.

Can I ask what your OGGT results were while you were in ketosis?

I am in a similar position where the last one I did, I don't think I'd eaten quite enough carbs in the lead up, although I wouldn't have been in ketosis anymore for sure, but just hadn't eaten the recommended amount of carbs.
My results came back with the one hour at 12 mmol, but back to 6.4 mmol by the 2 hour. Fasting was 4.4 mmol I think. They just wrote suspected impaired glucose tolerance but to test again in a year.

But I went back onto some carbs again recently and ate something equivalent to pizza, which affects your results in a different way, but also saw worrying numbers, and compared to a non-diabetic. I know when I see 12 mmol at one hour and 9 - 10 mmol at the 2 hour mark, my body ain't handling the carbs anymore. A non diabetic posted results after eating 6 - 8 slices of pizza and was worried to see 7 mmol at 1 hour and 6 mmol at 2 hours because usually they were in the 4s. But it goes to show that excursions as high as mine at the one hour point to a problem, even if I might not be diagnosed just yet as even prediabetic (although maybe I would be if I did another OGGT). Either way, it makes sense to eat more sensibly from now on.