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Confused about readings...help!

C

Clairelbrooke

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6
Hi there, am new to this forum and would just like a little advice if possible (I know a doctor is best but rather than sound neurotic at the doctors I thought I'd ask somebody who actually deals with this on a day to day basis) a bit about me...
I'm a 27 year old female healthy apart from daily headaches for the past 10 years, when I was pregnant with my son who is now 5 I was borderline gestational diabetic they didn't test me until 36 weeks as they thought I was just over eating bad things (which I wasn't) he was born weighing 9lb 7 half ounces, it wasn't really monitored and was left to it. During labour I was on drips (not sure what for) my ketones were through the roof and I had an emergency c section, 2 years later the doctor had a revelation that I should be checked every year or so, I did a ogtt first time and last year they just took a blood sample, I didn't hear anything back so must have been ok.
I started some new medication for my headaches (amitriptyline) but three weeks in I started to feel really really sick an hour or two after I ate yet I'd still feel hungry, and shaky like knowing I need to eat something, and what can only be described as that feeling you get when you feel drunk woozy,this has carried on for nearly 2 weeks. 3 days ago I went to my doctor who looked in his book and said the meds can cause nausea, told me to stop taking them which I did and to go back if the sickness carries on.
I was curious as to if it was related to blood sugar so tested myself at intervals for a couple of days, thinking it may be low my diet isn't the greatest but I am working on improving it I purposely ate what I would typically have as to not get different readings

Tuesday I ate a slice of toast with chocolate spread and 2 small glasses of oj, 2 hours after 7.5
Lunch was a chip butty from the chip shop ( I know I know) 2 hours after 8.5
Dinner 1 slice plain White toast half a tin of beans- before 7.0 2 hours after 8.3 which it stayed around until be time

Wednesday I did my own little mini ogtt out of curiosity I know the results aren't accurate my fasting was 4.7 and after glucose drink it was 7.9 I then ate toast with Choc spread and it went to 6.7 2 hours later for the rest of the day it stayed between 4-5 which is what I'm led to believe is normal?

This morning my son asked me to read something and I could barely see it so I did my fasting which was 3.9 the question I have is that is it normal for non diabetics to go and stay at 8.5 even with a poor diet? From what I've read my pancreas should kick in and bring it back down to normal which is 4-5 regardless of food eaten, yesterday seems normal and i felt better and full of beans, but is 3.9 low for fasting for a non diabetic? I've read that a normal range for fasting is 4-5.5 below is hypoglycaemic, can anyone help as to why it would be quite high ( I know not high for a diabetic) and then low? I understand that non diabetics can have hypoglycaemia but I dot get how it could be high one minute normal the next and low the next.
 
Hi Clairelbrooke,
I am new here myself (and new to diabetes) but it sounds like you need to go back to your GP for a proper check up. I am assuming you aren't being monitored. I think that some foods can cause a rapid rise in blood sugar followed by a rapid fall, and I think one way to help that is to eat foods that release glucose slowly. But this is a complex issue and I don't feel confident in advising you until the picture is clearer about what is going on medically. I just wanted you to know though that you aren't alone and people will answer your questions. Good luck :)
 
Thankyou for your quick reply, I'm hoping it's just a reaction from the medication as with anybody who wants to be diabetic, I kinda understand it's to do with carbs etc I think it would blow my mind knowing all of that, it's just a huge puzzle as to why one day I'm 8.5 post prandial which is supposedly pre diabetic and the next day distinctly average and today I'm technically hypoglycemic! I hope you are doing well, it must be like a whole new world having to think about everything you eat, best of luck x
 
yes, a bit like knitting fog! I went on a Desmond course which I found very helpful, but not everyone does. They gave us lots of information about how diabetes affects the body, and what treatments are available. There was a dietician who gave us information about what the basic food groups were and said she did not advocate a diet as such, just to learn to balance food intake, medication (if on it) and exercise. So far I've lost half a stone, and come to realise that I don't actually need to eat all the things I was eating prior to my diagnosis. Now it feels that I have more choice in one way, but in another it's a bind checking food labels and working out low-fat versions of recipies! Ah well, it's all part of life's rich tapestry!! :)
 
Hi, Clairelbrooke

Have you read up on the side effects of amitriptyline? Some drugs can affect blood glucose readings, either way.

Also your diet seems quite high in carbohydrates, all of which are turned to glucose in the blood. Some, like white bread, do tend to produce fast high spikes, whereas a wholemeal multigrain (for example) would hit your blood slower and not push it so high. Orange juice also hits the blood pretty fast.

Fasting range for a non-diabetic is between 3.5 and 5.5 mmol/l (NICE guidelines).

If I was you I would definitely go and talk it over with your doctor - and make sure s/he remembers that you were borderline diabetic during your pregnancy! More tests might find nothing and re-assure you - but if I was in your place I would work on the assumption that diabetes might be a problem in the future, and adjust your diet and exercise now in the hope that you never will be!

Let us know how you get on :D

Viv 8)
 
Thanks Viv, I am trying with my diet but I am a serious fussy eater, mixed with working shifts and being a single parent I don't tend to eat as well as I should. Although that's not an excuse, I think I will see how I go with a change in diet, and if I'm still feeling rubbish in a few weeks then I'll go back, give the amitriptyline a chance to get out of my system
 
I just checked with the GP surgery on my last test which was January the results for that were 4.6, hopefully it's just the medication fluffing me up!
Thanks guys x
 
Not a doctor, but I'd be very suprised if you were diabetic given the results you shared with us. Low readings at fasting great, NOT hypo, spikes not high given what you're eating/drinking, your self-administered OGTT was a great result, discuss with your GP certainly but there are no diabetic markers I can see.
 
Thanks for your reply, I think the confusion comes in at the difference between "normal" levels for a non diabetic which may seem high but be good levels for a diabetic, I know the astronomical numbers diabetics can have, it was a query as from reading about non diabetics levels 8.5 is a little high as regardless of what I ate I should regulate myself back to " normal" two hours afterwards.
 
It should regulate back to normal after 2 hrs yes - PROVIDING there's nothing else raising the sugar level - snack, cup of tea or coffee with sugar, drugs for other illnesses - if you're in doubt, get a PROPER set of tests done. A fasting test at the GP would tell you nothing because you said that's 4.5ish, (normal), so you'd need proper OGTT test. Regarding your tests - are you sure there couldn't be errors in them; did you wash your hands first etc? You're obviously concerned so a trip to the doc is called for eh?
 
It's not so much a concern that I have diabetes, I know they're not high enough for that, yes I washed my hands and was no snacks in between, I only drink water occasionally diet drinks, I'm hoping it's just the medication I was taking, and was after some info on what is actually normal as I know they should come back down to 4-5 after eating which they don't seem to be an like you say my fasting is spot on so they would more than likely send me for a fasting blood test like last time which if there are some issues it wouldn't show, I do not want to be diabetic at all, and I hate going to the doctors and avoid it unless really necessary. I'm not after a diagnosis just some advice re numbers. 
 
The NICE guidelines for non-diabetics are:

3-5 - 5.5 mmol/l fasting/before meals;
less than 8 mmol/l, 2 hours after meals.

Jenny Ruhl, on bloodsugar101 website, gives 3.5 - 4.6 mmol/l fasting/before meals;
less than 6.6 mmol/l 2 hours after meals.

It seems to me we should be coming down 2 hours after eating, but not necessarily to exactly the same level. I'm always below 7, 2 hours after, and that doesn't worry me particularly.

Viv 8)
 
I was on Amitriptyline for IBS, it definitely put my blood sugar levels up.

I also had borderline gestational diabetes twice, nobody told me that I should get checked regularly, 15 years later I got diagnosed with Type 2.
 
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