Any ideas?

[halfpint]

Hi
Well, the last few days I have reduced my carb intake and felt much better - normal I have probably cut my intake by about a third on what I was eating a month ago, about half of what I was eating a year ago, so not a huge sudden change.

Anyway, today, had a chunk of french bread (about 80g in total weight, not sure how many carbs), and cheese for lunch, 2 hours later it hit me like a wave. Sudden light-headedness, blurred vision, generally disconnected, slightly sicky, hot, sweaty, tingly hands, felt rubbish for a couple of hours then it passed. (Only used to get this on a really heavy carb meal - e.g. spuds, dumplings, followed by pudding with custard - you know the sort of thing).

I don't have a test kit (have sent off for one), any ideas what is happening. Did it indicate BG up alarmingly or down? I have no idea. I just know that it put me off eating.

 

[borofergie]

Almost certainly a "spike" in which the carbohydrates in the bread turned into sugar in your blood.

I'd really try to get my hands on a BG meter if I was you.

 

[BioHaZarD]

Hi
Well, the last few days I have reduced my carb intake and felt much better - normal I have probably cut my intake by about a third on what I was eating a month ago, about half of what I was eating a year ago, so not a huge sudden change.

Anyway, today, had a chunk of french bread (about 80g in total weight, not sure how many carbs), and cheese for lunch, 2 hours later it hit me like a wave. Sudden light-headedness, blurred vision, generally disconnected, slightly sicky, hot, sweaty, tingly hands, felt rubbish for a couple of hours then it passed. (Only used to get this on a really heavy carb meal - e.g. spuds, dumplings, followed by pudding with custard - you know the sort of thing).

I don't have a test kit (have sent off for one), any ideas what is happening. Did it indicate BG up alarmingly or down? I have no idea. I just know that it put me off eating.

When you only had this after a very carby meal, it was because you ate carbs normally. As you now have reduced carbs, you body is used to less carbs and sugars, so now a slightly higher carb intake will spike you and cause you to feel it.

 

[Sanober]

I learned that French baguette is very carby and a decent chunk is around 20g I was surprised to find. It's also white bread typically so will hit your blood sugar pretty quickly, despite the cheese to slow it down.

Also, if you're low carbing this could have been a short sharp hit to your blood sugars. So either reduce the 'chunks' or avoid it and maybe have crackers and cheese instead.

 

[halfpint]

Thanks for the replies. As I have only reduced the carbs for a few days I didn't think that that would have so much effect. But it was French bread not home made, maybe there is a slight difference! But I do get the feeling that maybe I really need to avoid that stuff. Thanks.

 

[halfpint]

Just had a thought - I do occasionally. Please explain. If the bread put too much sugar into my bloodstream - and in reality this was only a small amount, it was not half a loaf, just a few inches, I take it that my response would not be considered 'normal' for a non-diabetic?

 

[Squire Fulwood]

Just had a thought - I do occasionally. Please explain. If the bread put too much sugar into my bloodstream - and in reality this was only a small amount, it was not half a loaf, just a few inches, I take it that my response would not be considered 'normal' for a non-diabetic?

In my case my problems are with flour based products in particular and not all carbohydrates. In other words if I eat bread it causes me a great spike and this may be what is happening to you.

Again, in my case it was considered enough to place me in the diabetes clinic so I don't think it is normal.

I should point out that although I do have problems with the other major carbohydrates (rice, potato) I can eat a reduced portion of these so maybe the OP has a varied response as well.

 

[Grazer]

Bit confused half pint. Certainly, french bread is a killer for high Bgs, about the worst I've found. But your profile says you are not diabetic. Your symptoms could thus be misleading. If you're not sure, you need to get a formal diagnosis at the doctors or, as you say, get a meter and check a few readings; THEN get a proper diagnosis if your readings suggest things aren't right.
You also say your HbA1c was 6.3? however. That suggests you are pre-diabetic at least, so you would get high readings after french bread. Can you clarify? Not being nosy, but we may be able to help more if we had a clearer picture.

 

[bedshaped2000]

Try a piece of cheese or ham with the bread to slow down the one hour spike. Also you didnt say which burgen bread you had. there are many different types now and the carbs do vary i think the soy and linseed is the lowest

 

[halfpint]

Hi Grazer. I am not yet officially classified as pre-diabetic, or diabetic. I was getting regular blood tests because I've got thousands of anti-bodies which are causing problems with my thyroid. We seem to have got the thyroxine dose about right now though. Anyway, as I had had several strange effects following a relatively normal meal, I talked to my brother about it. He has been diabetic for many many years and I figured that he would be a good starting point. I have also got a sister with diabetes, and two nieces that have had gestational diabetes, so I think that you could safely assume that the family has a slight pre-disposition to it. He suggested that it was a carb thing and my best advice would be to cut down and get the quack to do a Hb1ac test, that came back as 6.3 in Dec 2011. I had another test March 2012, the same reading. The doctor says don't worry about it, its all fine.

It was much the same thing for years with the thyroid problem, because I am small, with a very healthy bmi, I get the impression that they are caught up on the 'fat' theme, i.e. you can't be hypo-thyroid 'cos you are not fat, or you can't have diabetes because you are not fat and you do loads of physical work. Its a bit like saying you can't have a heart attack because you are eating healthy food. - Sorry - its in the family.

So I have decided to maybe start reducing carbs to see if I can get the blood sugar reading a bit lower. I was drinking loads of fluid, mainly tea - with one sugar, that was something that I changed a year ago. Still drink loads of tea but with one sweetener instead of the sugar. I view my current situation as kind of knocking on the diabetes door, I do not particularly want to joint the party!

However, over the last couple of months I have been experiencing similar feelings, light-headedness, tingling in my arms and legs, woosy, blurred vision etc. much more frequently, normally about 1-2 hours after eating. So, a week ago I cut the carb intake a bit more, not drastically, just a little, and felt much better - until the french bread !

Anyway, sent off for a meter etc. and will get advice on when to use the test and what the results show or not as the case may be.

 

[Grazer]

Understand.So although the doctor says "don't worry about it", i'd definitely say pre-diabetic. French bread really is a killer though, as I said in my previous post. Some white breads have been shown to have a glycemic index as high as glucose almost, so AVOID! And lovely fluffy, crunchy, refined french bread is amongst the worst unfortunately. Stick to something like Burgen soya and linseed bread which you can get at sainsburys and tescos; low in carbs and GI. Just not so nice!

 

[hanadr]

As borofergie says, get a meter
But it's often difficult to tell if hypo or hyper, by feelings alone. I personally don't have hypos and wouldn't recognise hyper symptoms, because I avoid that too. Definitely you need a meter.
I'd recommenrd the "Freesttyle Lite" which I have. The meter's good and simple and the service from Abbott Diabetes Care is outstanding
Hana

 

[halfpint]

Its on order, being sent to brother in UK, he will send it on to me. (They are half the price in the UK) I figured maybe keeping things much same diet wise, small meals with not too much in the way of carbs 20-30 per meal, until I get the meter. I'll do some tests - with a bit of advice, and see what shows up. It just seems daft letting things go until my blood sugars are through the roof and damage is done, when I can be a bit pro-active. I am due to go back to the quack for some more thyroid pills anyway, so will probably ask for another test (actually they are very good at that sort of thing here, in France, and you get a copy of everything, plus figures from your last test, all standard practice.

Thanks you all for your input. Once I've got a bit more info/results, I will be back on here for some advice on best way to go forward. Cheers.