• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Am confused - any advice pls?

F

frosty

Member
Messages
19
hi there, i am quite new to this site and i wondered if anbody would be kind enough to answer a few questions. I have not been diagnosed with diabetes, but i believe i am pre-diabetic. I am 36 years old, i have had gestational diabetes twice with my 2 boys one is 2 and one is 6. I am 5ft 2 and weigh only 7.5 stone. have had normal gtt but hba1c has been 5.9, 5.8, 5.7 and latest one 5.4

I had checked my blood glucose at work a couple of times as i work for nhs and i had a sandwich and a very small piece of swiss roll, checked my blood sugars 1 hr after and it was 8.5. I got some good advice on here and got a sd code free metre and thought i would start testing. i have been quite careful with my diet, and results have been good so far, been testing for 2 weeks now and the highest it went was to 7.2, most of the time it is around 6. always about 5 2 hours after. i always check about 1hr 30 mins after a meal to try to see what it goes up to. I have been eating the burgun bread and the coop wholemeal multiseed the smaller loafs , i have been walking every day for about 30 mins. That was until today!. ate 2 slices of granary bread, had two boiled eggs mixed with salad cream, no exercise. tested one hour after a meal went up to 9.6.? have tested again and is down to 7.6 at nearly 2 hours ?

so what is going on, doctor says not pre-diabetic, however because i am so anxious about this the dr has told me to go and see the diabetic nurse at the surgery. So do i need to keep testing, shall i see the nurse and go back and see the gp?

ive had lots of funny feelings in my feet i am really worried this is to do with this pre-diabetes.

oh and i don't know if this makes any difference, i hadn't checked the metre with the check strip, i put the check strip in and it said 'ok'. after this i have been getting the high results. would this have made any difference to the metre or does this just check it is accurate? sorry if that sounds a daft question!

any advice would be gratefully received.

thanks
 
Your HbA1c readings are not pre-diabetic. They are normal and non-diabetic. Between 4 and 5.9 is normal.

It is normal for everyone to spike at 1 hour after a meal, including non-diabetics. As long as it falls again within an hour or so, there is no need to be concerned. The 2 slices of bread with salad cream will have spiked anyone, (Try real mayo next time) and the fat in the 2 eggs will have spread it out longer, hence still 7.6 at 2 hours. Did you have a drink with the meal or before testing? Anxiety will not be helping - stress increases blood sugar levels and I suspect that you are stressed about it all.

Are you testing before you eat? This is necessary to get the full picture.

For your own peace of mind, I would go back and see the nurse, but try not to stress about it.
 
frosty welcome.

I would keep testing at home to put your mind at rest. Your HBA1C trend looks fine. One rogue result can be put down to a myriad of issues that could be one off. See the diabetic nurse if you are worried about the feet, but as mentioned keep testing to put your mind at rest.

jim
 
hi there thank you so much for taking the time to reply. my blood sugars before a meal are normally below 5.5. I was told by a few people on this site i am pre-diabetic as they said normal people wouldn't get spikes like that, also on that website is it dr beirstine or something he said normally people don't go over 6.6. I remember when i was pregnant and seeing the diabetic nurse, she told me it isn't normal to go up to 8.5 1 hour after a meal as i was getting this alot at lunchtime. i'm just a bit confused as people are telling me different things, am i pre-diabetic or not? do i need to keep testing? i'm sure there are alot worse people out there, but because i am having these problems with my feet i am linking the two together. thanks again for replying!
 
thank you Jim, i think i will keep testing. it does seem odd that i would be pre-diabetic as i am like a stick insect! no family history of diabetes??? it just worried me that dr beirstine website it said an hba1c of 5.4 was 'bad control'. and that normal people don't go over 6.6. I do panic a bit. do you think the odd high blood sugars could cause problems with feet at this stage. when i mentioned this to the gp they think i am mad!
 
Your aic sounds good but it would be a good time to learn how to not become diabetic. The highest glycemic foods we eat on a daily basis are grains, potatoes, and rice. Start cutting down on these and you should stay under 6.0 on your a1c. And yes you are right to be concerned as diabetes is much easier to prevent than cure. Get a book on glycemic loads of food and become educated on how to protect your blood sugar levels from getting out of hand.
 
thank you everyone for your replies. tested again after lunch at 1.hour 45 mins. 8.2? so whats going on. only ate 2 slices of multiseed brown bread, total carb count 26. my results have been fine up until now.?
 
Hi frosty, you are not diabetic - yet. I would say you are beginning to get warning signs though. A truly normal person would not move with just two slices of bread. Yes normal people will still get spikes if they eat a heavy carb meal i.e. let go to MacDs and do a large coke, Big Mac and chips, plus apple pie, and throw in a mars bar on the way home - yes they will spike a bit. If they did it every day they would eventually get ill ! ! ! OK, my bgs are a bit odd, but my reaction to glucose is normal, and that test as you know is 75g glucose, I didn't go above 6.3 mmol/l the whole time, but I can't deal with food, that gives me spikes, don't know why, yet. If I were you I would keep yourself away from too many carbs, its possible you have a gluten problem, might be worth looking at.
 
hi harper that sounds like me, i did the glucose tolerence test, first one after my son isaac was fasting 4.4 2 hours later 5.1 did it again, fasting 4.9 2 hours later 5.9.
i seem to have a problem with lunch, any bread will send my bs levels sky high, however, normally during the week i am more active, walking to school picking kids up etc, i don't seem to get the high levels, but when in the house just ironing or something they seem to be sky high. So would a gluten problem cause high blood sugars?
 
Gluten can cause an elevated response if you happen to be sensitive to it. With your OGTT did you self monitor as well, you might have had an unrecorded spike. I know a lot of places only do the before and +2hr tests, but every 30 mins would be better as often there is a spike at 45 mins - 1hr. Often the test for gestational diabetes is only 50g, although sometimes they might do 75g. A couple of poached eggs and 2 small slices of bread will easily take me to 11 or 12, but I also get bloating, headaches, sickness, thyroid flare, etc. etc. and feel **** for several weeks or longer afterwards. I wouldn't be unduly worried at the moment with your numbers, but it could be worth being proactive with diet etc. you might be able to avoid a problem down the line, especially as you had gestational diabetes which can mean that you are more likely to become diabetic in the future.
 
thanks again harper for your time, i didn't self monitor as well as doing the gtt, i don't think mine was 75gs, it was a small carton of the glucose drink not lucusade. its weird as i ate the same thing during the week and the week before, and my blood sugars were around 6 so i just don't get it why they are spiking so high. i would like to see a dr at the diabetic clinic but they won't refer me. i am very slim , only just over 7 stone, i am wondering if this could be late onset type 1 diabetes or somethiing, i have no family history its all a bit weird and worrying me to death!
 
Harpar said:
<snip> I know a lot of places only do the before and +2hr tests, but every 30 mins would be better as often there is a spike at 45 mins - 1hr. <snip>
Click to expand...
When I do my annual OGTT, I test at 15 min intervals & and also at 5 min intervals between 50 & 70 minutes to check my spikes. Would not show up on conventional t=0 & t=120 test!
 
It could well be LADA, thats why it would be a good idea for you to keep monitoring, without getting too stressed about it. I can't see why your GP is being a bit 'unhelpful' . . . you are young, slim and had gestational diabetes twice. Keep a diary of what you eat and test before, +1 and +2hrs. You really only need to do this on meals that are suspect e.g. bread, spuds, pasta, grains etc. If you can keep those well under control and keep your numbers under the 7 mark by reducing the carbs, you will be fairly safe. You could always have a GAD test done privately, if that is what it takes to put your mind at rest. LADA can take many years to develop into a problem, or it can take as little as 6-18 months, its a bit like, how long is a piece of string. The main thing is don't stress too much. See how things go, if your BG levels continue to rise, and your doctor isn't being helpful, can you change your doctor? Trouble is, they often look straight past you if you are slim, because there has been so much in the media etc. about diabetes being a disease of the obese etc. etc. etc. which isn't true.
 
Back
Top