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

Any ideas?

Beckiboo

Newbie
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi,

I'm after some expertise on my odd readings. I did a self-ogtt as seeing a Dr is difficult. My mum was reading something about insulin resistance and the dark patches people can get - it's a running joke in my family that I have 'dirty elbows' as they are always dark brown, no amount of cleaning and moisturizing helps. So I bought a meter and performed the test using 400ml Lucozade (which I read a lot of nhs places use). My readings were:

UK
Fasting - 5.2
1 hour post - 10.6
2 hour post - 7.2

Then I had a coffee and went about my day. 45 mins later I was very shaky, sweaty and panicky. Felt awful. I tested and my result was 2.9.

So my results were at the higher end of normal, but ok. But Is it normal to have such a quick drop down to 2.9? Or does that mean my insulin response is a bit out of whack?

I have hiereditary high cholesterol, but not on statins due to no other risk factors/starting a family. I'm 30, BMI 25.
My grandmother/father were both type 2. Tested me a few years ago as I was having recurrent yeast infections and morning numbers were usually low - 3.2-3.5 usually.

Thank you in advance!
 
hi, welcome,
i am not medical but i would say that your result is at very least a reason to go to the doctor and get this checked out, even if difficult, do what it takes

best of luck
 
Dear Beckiboo,
Having conducted your own home self diagnosis OGTT using a high concentration of Glucose as the test drink will load your Bloodstream with a heavy quantity of pure glucose. This is the usual procedure used in the OGTT but having reached the high initial peak level with some people it is quite common for their Blood Glucose level to rapidly drop below what is a safe level as you have discovered as their body tries to regain control of their elevated blood glucose level by pumping out increased insulin, and hence your low of 2.9 mmol/L a short time after the OGTT.
This characteristic is known as rebound or reactive hypoglycaemia and is frequently worsened if the individual exercises after the OGTT or it happens to be a hot day and the indivual becomes de-hydrated.
After a OGTT it is always wise to simply relax for a short time, and preferably avoid the coffe as this can act as a stimulus to the body, it would be much better to simply relax with a cup of tea and a simple snack to help obviate the reactive/rebound hypoglycaemic effect from occuring.
 
I once visited my friend who had her elbows on a desk, each on sitting in half a lemon, most of the juice squeezed out, in order to bleach them lighter!

On a more serious note it would certainly mean keeping an eye on things. Cutting back on carbs and increasing exercise will help. But only a GP requested HBAC1 test will confirm for definite.

Cara
 
If I were you, I would see see a GP for testing, especially since you have the T2 in your immediate family. I also have the genetic make-up for diabetes, (perhaps both type 1 and 2), and looking back I can see that my BG always fluctuated in weird ways, either hyper or hypo. I now wish that some MDs had taken notice of this years ago and didn't just flub it off to "normal-range" fluctuations, esp. since I have always been at risk for diabetes. ;)
 
Back
Top