Oral Glucose tolerance test results

[Digsysdinner]

update on my story and advice please. I have all the symptoms of diabetes and struggling with weakness and suddenly falling asleep like a 90 year old lady even tho I am a slim 30y old and keep fit, desperate to get my life back. I had a glucose tolerance test on Thursday my over night fasting blood was 4.7 and 2hr after the glucose drink my blood was 4.1. My hBA1C was 130. Rang doctors for results and receptionist said everything fine not diabetes no further action. I’m not sure what the numbers mean .. would you agree with this result or should I speak to the doctor? And look elsewhere why I am feeling so bad?

 

[Rokaab]

I had a glucose tolerance test on Thursday my over night fasting blood was 4.7 and 2hr after the glucose drink my blood was 4.1.

Those are perfectly good non-diabetic numbers

My hBA1C was 130.

Are you sure it was 130? or maybe it wasn't the HbA1c value? That would be very very high and no doctor would ignore an HbA1c that high - they'd have contacted you asap (unless they were complete idiots).

 

[Digsysdinner]

Sorry not 130. Correction It’s HBA1C 120

 

[Alexandra100]

I had a glucose tolerance test on Thursday my over night fasting blood was 4.7 and 2hr after the glucose drink my blood was 4.1.

The OGTT does not take into account the fact that running high blood glucose levels over a period of time often leads to nerve damage including damage to the vagus nerve, causing gastroparesis / delayed stomach emptying. This means that the bg level can go down 2 hours after a meal because the food has not yet been digested, only to rise hours later. I don't know if you test your own bg, but if so I suggest you check this out by testing after a meal at 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours and so on until you see a rise and fall.

An A1c of 120 would still be very high.

 

[Rokaab]

Sorry not 130. Correction It’s HBA1C 120

It which case I'm suspecting there is an error (or you've been told the wrong numbers) somewhere as an HbA1C would mean an average of 18.3 from a normal blood glucose finger prick test which doesn't quite correlate with your 4.6 and 4.1 readings (even if its only two tests)
A non-diabetic HbA1c is less than 41, anything as high as 120 I expect would not classed as fine even by the stupidest doctor

 

[Antje77]

Your blood glucose numbers, both fasting and after the glucose tolerance test, and the number you quote for your hba1c don't line up in any way.
Can you call them again tomorrow to ask if you got the hba1c number right?

 

[Digsysdinner]

Thankyou for your reply’s. I’ll give the doctor a call in the morning and find out what’s going on

 

[Lamont D]

By those fasting numbers you are definitely non diabetic.
I was misdiagnosed T2 in 2009 because my blood glucose levels from a finger prick glucometer read very very high. The reason I was so high was because at that time my blood glucose levels were really out of control due to the diet my numerous doctors and dsns told me to eat, I had insulin resistance, insulin levels were high, I had hyperinsulinaemia and my fluctuating blood glucose levels were up and down. I was very ill due to the insulin I was producing.
It wasn't until I had a hypoglycaemic episode did I get a referral.
The point I'm making is, just because a two hour OGTT didn't show any reason why you are having your symptoms. That doesn't mean that you are fine, cos clearly you are not!
Because, we haven't got a clue about what you are going through, ask your doctor about getting an insulin test or a full panel of blood tests, that will give your doctors a clue. Also ask for a referral to a specialist endocrinologist, the tests necessary for most unusual metabolic diagnosis can only be done in hospitals under supervision.
If it is food related, I would recommend keeping a food diary and get myself a glucometer (ask your doctor if he can supply one but don't be surprised if they say no!) And regularly test before and after meals.
There are more blood glucose conditions than the two types of diabetes you hear about.

Keep safe.

 

[Digsysdinner]

Spoken to the doctor this morning and he said over night fast I was 4.7 and 2hr after I was 4.1. I asked about my hBA1C and he said they didn’t do one this time. Asked about getting an insulin test and said they don’t do that test. Asked about to be referred to a endocrinologist he said he can only ask them for advice and if he referred me it would be over a year to see them. ‍

 

[DCUKMod]

Spoken to the doctor this morning and he said over night fast I was 4.7 and 2hr after I was 4.1. I asked about my hBA1C and he said they didn’t do one this time. Asked about getting an insulin test and said they don’t do that test. Asked about to be referred to a endocrinologist he said he can only ask them for advice and if he referred me it would be over a year to see them. ‍

Hi again - I'm pleased your A1c wasn't running at over 100!

Did you ask your Doc if he was going to ask the Endos for advice?

I don't know where you are in the country, but my GP utilised that specialist advice process when my thyroid gland was causing some horrible issues. It worked very well, with the Endo able to order up any investigations my GP couldn't.

 

[Lamont D]

Even if it is a year down the line or your doctor getting advice, this is where a diary of what is happening to you can help so much. So don't think that it is a long time, it took me over a decade to get a true diagnosis. Get a referral, you never know, something may happen if you insist.

Spoken to the doctor this morning and he said over night fast I was 4.7 and 2hr after I was 4.1. I asked about my hBA1C and he said they didn’t do one this time. Asked about getting an insulin test and said they don’t do that test. Asked about to be referred to a endocrinologist he said he can only ask them for advice and if he referred me it would be over a year to see them. ‍

Keep safe

 

[KK123]

Hi @Digsysdinner, would you mind telling us your actual symptoms (besides tiredness and 'weakness' - not sure about that one to be honest). How long have they been going on for? Obviously you are under your Dr and doing all the right things, and we can't diagnose etc, but it may help to tell you of our pre diagnosis experiences if we know your history. x

 

[Digsysdinner]

It’s a long story but I’ll try explain best I can. It started 3 years ago, I broke my foot and while at home I watched this program about zero sugar diet and thought I would have a go at it so I didn’t put weight on while off work. I started to loose loads of weight dead easy but also noticed I kept falling asleep but didn’t link it to the diet I thought it must be cos I’m home and can’t do exercise and would be fine once I went back to work. I stayed on the diet for about 3 weeks and gave it up, I was still feeling rubbish, I would go for a drink with my friends and would suddenly start feeling like I needed to sit down. Anyway after 6 weeks my foot had healed and I went back to work, I was happy to go back to work , I thought once I get back I’m sure I’ll start feeling better I had a very physical and mental job. Unfortunately I didn’t feel better I felt worse I would start feeling weak in my arms and legs like a rushing feeling and then I would have to sit down and pretty much fall asleep as soon as I did. I would say to my boss I’m sorry I had a late night last night even tho I hadn’t. On my drive home from work my sight would go blurry would keep slapping my face so I didn’t fall asleep it was only a ten min dive home. As soon is I got home each night I would collapse on the settee until my husband brought my dinners for me, still not realising that food was my cure. We were both really worried and couldn’t understand what was going on and I also had started collapsing when I had strong emotions. Cut a long story short I ended up leaving my job and never told them the real reason why cos how could I tell them I was falling asleep..I felt ashamed. Eventually I was sent to a respiratory doctor and told him about my sleep problem nightmares, waking up at 4 every night, sleep paralysis and randomly falling asleep through the day, hart palpitations every morning and randomly throughout the day. He diagnosed me with narcolepsy with cataplexy I thought great get me on the meds and I can have my life back but unfortunately it wasn’t the case. The meds didn’t work but he kept saying keep going with them. Then in spring last year he put me on venafaxine which is supposed to stop cataplexy episods..I took 2 tables and shortly after started throwing up really bad and I had had so much pain in my legs I kept having to massage them. I rang and told him what was happening he said I should keep going with them so next day I took another and same thing happened, I told him and he said he didn’t think it was to do with the venafalxine but I new it was so didn’t take anymore. Eventually he gave me another one to try this time clompamine same thing happened and I told him and he said I need to keep going with it so I took for a week but couldn’t take any more. After taking for only 1 week I had pains in my legs so bad every day on and off throughout the day for 2 moths after. Anyway at home my friends and family started to notice if they gave me a can of coke when I was in a mess I would be my normal chatty self for a short time and said are u sure u don’t have diabetes so I went to the chemist and had a finger prick test but was told all normal. Then a few months later my eyes started to go blurry on and off and now have constant buzzing in my lower legs and feet. So decided to buy a sugar monitor and the first day I used it my blood was in the 20s and then dropped down to 3s needs less to say I was in bed all the rest of the day feeling terrible on Monday morning I rang the doctor told her what had happened and she said there must be something wrong with the monitor. She gave me another monitor and I tested my self that week it only went up to 13. But I still felt so **** from the weekend hight blood sugars I pretty much stayd on the settee all week. So she said it’s normal to go up to 13 if u have a chocolate bar I said I don’t have a chocolate bar for breakfast... eventually she did a hBA1C which came back normal so that was the end of it. But I carried on testing my blood and noticed if I have hart palpitations it’s usually when my blood is in the 4s I noticed if I feel week and tired if I eat I don’t fall asleep . I’m actually getting my life back yay but the problem is when I go ride my horse do hard exercise and eat after my blood sugars will rise to 20s and down. Symptoms... crazy thirst day and night especially if I go for a walk or exercise. Buzzing in legs sometimes notice more after eating. Sometimes restless legs at night. Quite often pain in back at night. Sometimes hot sweats at night. Hot swets when I drink so much that all my makeup will come off. Pain in side when drink alcohol. Pain stabbing throbbing in lower abdomen. Tonsillitis all the time especially comes on at night. Thrush. Tingling in lips and end of tongue after sleep ep. Cold nose. Red eyes on and off. Toilet all night. It’s not that I don’t think I have narcolepsy cos I must because I have cataplexy but I really feel like something has coursed it and coursed sleep issues leading to narcolepsy unfortunately. I feel it’s something to do with food and blood sugar x

 

[Lamont D]

Hi again, you need a specialist endocrinologist.
I believe that you are having hypoglycaemic episodes.
Speak to your GP and ask for a referral to a specialist who has experience with Hypoglycaemia in non diabetic Hypoglycaemia conditions. Such as I have, which is reactive hypoglycaemia.
Your description is very similar to what I went through before diagnosis.
We have a sub forum on RH. Do have a read, let me know if you can't find it.

What to do now? Is limit your dietary intake to as few carbs as possible, it can be hard, it will be a battle with your body, to lower your carb intake, and it won't happen overnight!
Eat more protein and increase your saturated fat gradually, in other words eat more dairy such as cheese if you can.

If you read the threads on the rh forum you will see that my Hba1c levels is normal, my glucose levels if I eat carbs will go into double figures, the symptoms happen just as you describe, my blood levels drop down quickly and I have a hypoglycaemic episode. It is not nice!

Let me know what you think or if you have questions.

Keep safe