Could I have diabetes

[Beeboop]

Hi im new here and I'm hoping I can get some advice please.

I'm 33 and For years since age 14 I've had reactive hypoglycaemia confirmed on my glucose meter and a few years back on glucose tolerance test. They measured insulin at the time too and said it was excessively high at the two hour reading but my glucose was borderline.

To cut a long street short I get a lot of low blood glucose levels, so I would eat something it would go high at about 1 hour day to 10mmol and then drop low by three hours say to about 3mmol. I was so tiered of this I decided to go low carb but I now realise I went to low, for a year I've been only eating salad and carrots as my carbs and absolutely no other carbs sugar nothing, it was nice not to experience the dramatic swings but I was always be running between 3.5-4.5 all day and I felt I was drained.

Iv recently decided I need to eat more carbs and actually try to sort out properly any underlying problem there may be.

I'm only eating a max 4 tablespoons of whole grain rice or a. Purple of small pots it's now with a meal.

So these are examples of what's been has happening since iv introduced some carbs the past few months.

For lunch I usually eat salmon, cucumber lettuce I egg and 3 tablespoons rice and I feel very sleepy after.

Dinner I eat similar kind of things meat fish with veg and three nights ago I eat roast chicken carrots green beans and 3 small roast potatoes I felt extreme fatigue fell asleep and my partner tested my glucose and it was 14.8 at 90 minutes.
I woke and felt extreme hunger and had to eat so instead of binging on carbs I eat bacon and egg.

Last night I eat a small bowl of high protein cereal and a small bag of walkers plain crisps as I keep craving salt and I was very hungry after dinner again , I then Got very sleepy and went to bed This morning my fasting is 6.8 and when I was eating no carbs it would run in low 4

I'm finding when I don't eat my glucose gets too low but as soon as I eat anything with carbs I feel unwell. But if I eat low carb I just run at nearly hypo and have no ebergy either.

Here's symptoms I have but unsure if linked at all

Excess sleeping after eating any carbs apart from salad

Blurred vision especially in the evenings can't see the tv properly or read the writing on it

Mood swings

Breaking out in sweats (I usually find it hard to sweat)

Excess hunger after meals

Underweight,( I thought you put on weight but I'm under and can't keep it on)

I don't feel excessly thirsty but if I don't drink 2 litres a day I feel very dehydrated.

I don't think I go to wee any more than other people. And I do drink 2 litres water a day so I would wee

Many thanks for reading my lengthy post and your help would be much apreciated. Thanks

 

[Guzzler]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I am sorry I cannot advise you on RH as I know so little about the condition but hopefully members with a lot of knowledge on the condition will be here soon to answer your questions. Until then, why not read around the forum and ask questions that may be of interest to you.

 

[andcol]

Hi beeboop

From what you wrote I think you need to go back to the low carb. Your body is definitely not handling cabs well. I am not getting into a diagnosis discussion and you will need to discuss this woth your doctor. However, you know the low carb works for you so why not stay with it? I may be the reason you were feeling lethargic may have been you were not getting enough protein and fats to compensate for the reduction in carbs.

I will tag @daisy1 she will provide some background information for you. I will also tag @Brunneria who was an RH sufferer for many years

 

[Brunneria]

Hi @Beeboop
Sorry to hear your problems.

From what you say, it looks like your body doesn't handle the carbs at all well.
As @andcol says, I have had RH a long time, and found something similar. The only way I could stay RH symptom free was by keeping my carbs very low. And, like you, introducing even small amounts of carb would send things really wangy.

However, over time, I learned a few coping mechanisms which may help you if you try them.

- adding fibre and fats to a meal will slow digestion down, which will help with that sleepiness after meals. I have found that coleslaw is particularly effective at this. There is the raw cabbage, and the mayonnaise, when they are mixed in your stomach (the chewing slows down the arrival time too), then the carbs hit your blood stream a bit more slowly. Other options are low carb nut breads, psyllium husks in water, nuts, plenty of veg like cabbage and green beans.

- I found that some foods affect my blood glucose much more than others. That means that for me, if I eat foods with gluten in them, my bg spikes and drops much worse than the same amount of carb in the form of potato. No idea if this is the case for all RHers or whether it is different foods for each of us, but I know that Lamont D finds that potato is a problem for him, where as it isn't for me. In my case, by working out the gluten thing, and being gluten free for about a year, my RH is hardly present (and I can now tolerate a few more carbs). Which is wonderful. Maybe worth trying to work out if you have a 'problem food' or group of foods?

- RHers seem to be either slim and struggling to put on weight, or overweight and struggling to lose it. Some of us start slim and then gain over the years as our body struggles to cope. If you are finding it hard to gain weight then you can try adding in extra protein and fats as Andcol suggested. Can you eat nuts? They are incredibly calorific and slow to release what few carbs they have, so snacking on them will help on several levels.

If you are keeping your carbs low, then please try adding in more fat otherwise you will feel all floppy and lethargic. Protein helps too because it digests slowly and gives energy release over several hours. Butter on veg. Oil in stir fries. Cheese, nuts, pate, etc. These are all slow digesting, slow releasing, satiating and high in calories. There are also a lot of low carb baking recipes around nowadays which mean we can eat muffins and brownies and cake and desserts, which are great for adding in extra calories and fat and even fibre. Here is a link to show you how easy they are:
https://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2015/12/30-best-low-carb-cookie-recipes-gluten-free.html

Hope that helps!

 

[daisy1]

@darrenjallen

Hello Darren and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope this will be useful for you. Ask more questions when you need to and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 250,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. They're all free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.

 

[Beeboop]

Hi many thanks for all the information that's much appreciated and informative.

Whilst on low carb I was eating a lot of protein and fat and eat lots of nuts all day which I'm still doing now since increasing the carbs. It's the only way I can maintain some kind of weight and prevent to many hypos

When I eat low carb my blood glucose is constantly in the 3 and 4 range and I keep feeling hypo, shaky, irritable no ebergy, I feel utterly drained but I just don't get the high blood glucose spikes causing excess sleepiness and blurred vision, etc...after I eat like I would do eating carbs. I feel it's benefited me in that way but I feel iv no energy reserves and on off feeling hypo all day. Hence why iv tried to increase my carb intake but now I'm back to high glucose symptoms to but not much hypos

Im thinking if I'm possibly insulin resistant then I'm imagining my cells arnt utilising the glucose effectively be that I eat low carb or high so I thought I should eat a bit more carb so there's more there to give me some kind of ebergy.

Are those post meal levels of readings and symptoms I'm getting following carbs usual for a non diabetic person? Or would this suggest possible diabetes and therefore I may benefit from treatment?

Many thanks

 

[Brunneria]

type 2 diabetes is usually diagnosed on the HbA1c nowadays, but it can also be diagnosed on an oral glucose tolerance test or a random high blood glucose reading. Different doctors often take slightly different perspectives on it, and may or may not run repeat tests to check the results.

Really, you are better taking your concerns to your doc, and asking them to run their tests. I will say that 14mmol/l at 90 mins is higher than non diabetics usually read, but all the rest of your readings are well inside the normal range. I know that @Lamont D was wrongly diagnosed as T2 for years, but it then turned out that he was not T2, and had been RH all along. So it appears that there is a lot of overlap with both symptoms and blood glucose readings, which leads to a lot of confusion for the medical professionals!

Edited to add: below 4 is considered a hypo for people using glucose lowering drugs. However, non diabetics may spend time in the 3s and 4s on a daily basis, with no ill effects. Other people's bodies seem to regulate to levels in the 4s, 5s and even 6s. So there is a lot of variation, I wouldn't say that 3s are automatically a problem - unless they make you feel dreadful. There isn't really a lot of information around on what is normal (aka normoglycaemia), but if you do a bit of googling you may find some information. There is some on www.bloodglucose101.com but it is mainly used to discuss T2 diabetes and keeping bg down to normal levels, not up to normal levels, so it may not be much help to you.

 

[Grateful]

Welcome @Beeboop. This is a great place and an excellent source of information and support for those with RH, diabetes and related conditions. You have chosen well.