Could this be type 2?

[Gardengnome]

Hello, I’ve not been here for some years now. I was told I was prediabetic over
ten years ago when a health check discovered hypertension for which I take losartan 50mg. I have a check up annually and the hba1c has been rising steadily until last September it was 47. I’m not overweight and my bmi is 21. I was alarmed about that but given my age my dr (who knows me fairly well) wasn’t unduly worried. I’m 82 years and an active female. I do try and eat a healthy diet, certainly no fizzy drinks, little alcohol, or take aways. Probably too much fruit which I know is full of carbs. I do eat butter and try and keep off sugary snacks but that all went out of the window over Christmas.
I have a glucose meter and test from
Time to time but generally have managed to have ok readings pre and post mealtimes. Recently the gap pre and post meals is widening: this evening it was 6.5 up to 12.7 post meal and this not just a one off. This is alarming and I feel an hba1c taken now definitely would be a diagnosis of type 2. Not sure if it’s connected but I do seem to sleep a lot during the day as well as night…and my sight is becoming blurry. Not good signs.
Clearly my pancreas isn’t working properly but given my age and the fact that my gp isn’t too concerned should I be too worried. My feeling is that life is short and I do enjoy my food. Carrot sticks really don’t cut it!

 

[Melgar]

Sometimes @Gardengnome you can do everything right and still it bites you. In all honesty I think as we get older our pancreas’ are not as efficient at clearing out the blood sugar as they once were. Plus as we get older we lose muscle mass too. Muscles utilize a lot of blood glucose so that may impact your blood sugars. 47 is not a big number and you are still, technically, in the Prediabetes range. As you say life is too short to eat carrot sticks ! Diabetes affects us over time. It takes many years for high blood sugars to start really impacting our vascular system. If you wanted you could cut down on your carbs a bit. At 47 it would not take much to bring them down a tad, or do some light exercises with weights that will help tone up your muscles. I have an older friend, she is 97 and she uses weights, just the small light weights. Just to keep herself toned up. She also does a lot of walking. Every bit helps. If you want we do have a lovely low carb recipe section. Members post photos of their meals, so you don’t have to eat carrot sticks to bring your blood sugars down a tad.

 

[Gardengnome]

Thank you for your reply. Maybe I will try the low carb way. I’ve dallied with it in the past but there are so many hidden carbs in almost everything except protein and fat aren’t there. And I do love fruit, I’ve noticed even an apple sends my glucose sky rocketing.

 

[Chris24Main]

@Gardengnome - I essentially drove myself into T2 by eating too many grapes - I was at my ideal weight, but downplayed the fruit, "because it's natural sugar"

If you are monitoring - I would try seeing what things look like without "probably eating too much fruit" - that "natural sugar" can drive a process that makes it look like you are having a problem with your pancreas. I have no idea whether that is the case or not, but as a first step - I know that I was shocked at the difference eating too much fruit makes.

And it doesn't have to be all carrots (in fact carrots have a little too much sugar for me...) but there are lots of foods that can come onto the menu that you can enjoy...

 

[MrsA2]

Some of us manage a little fruit. I do because I want the vitamins, fibre and variety.
Berries, blackberries and raspberries for example are lower carb than all the tropical fruits.
A little apple or pear eaten with some fat eg cream or peanut butter, and a as part of a meal rather than a standalone snack may raise your bg less than if you eat a whole plain fruit mid morning, for example.

I grow my own raspberries but have a freezer full of locallly foraged blackberries. About 8 berries a day doesn't seem affect my bg, and satisfies my "source local and seasonal wherever possible " aim.

If I were 82 I wouldn't be wanting to deny myself things I liked, but there's usually a portion amendment or swap that means you can still enjoy food and life, even with diabetes