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Full introductory story with questions. "Detectives" needed! :)

xJK

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Diet only
Hello everyone! Trying to understand what exactly happened to me. So here's my story (problem started ~7days ago):

I am quite lean, just 70kg for 183cm. I am 25yo. Male. Caucasian. I was eating almost a vegan diet (with just a little dairy and fish really rarely) but ate lots of chocolate and other sweets (~200g milk chocolate daily was the minimum) and didn't do much sports. Tried to compensate by sometimes eating raw broccoli or spinach. Ate lots of vegetable stews, beans, rice.

So anyway, I started going to a swimming pool to get back into sports.
Then one day, I was at a poetry evening and I was squatting most of the time (I don't like standing long as I'm flat footed) and when I got up, my left foot started to hurt really bad when I moved it in one direction, although it was a very weird feeling. It was not numb or anything, either. I then remembered I had similar pain in my RIGHT foot the day before. It was really painful to walk, but the pain went away soonish. However, with the left foot, things were different. The extreme pain DID go away, but some kind of lingering pain remained every day. Nothing bad, but just like something's wrong in the foot. So since I ate so many sweets and couldn't find the reason of that pain, I got two hypotheses:

1. It could be diabetic neuropathy
or
2. I could have somehow sprained my tendons in the foot in the swimming pool (I use my feet when swimming very fast) and could also have been triggered by a tendon trauma in that foot that I had many years ago. (tendon was cut) so perhaps the constant movement returned the tendon problem.

So as I don't think Nr2 reason wouldn't be much of a trouble, I decided to check if it's not Nr.1

I bought a glucose meter called "Glucocard X-mini plus" with 60 test strips.
So I started testing myself with it. To average things up:

My fasting glucose (first thing in the morning): 4.2 to 6.1, I think (could be 4.4 to 5.5).
Which is not THAT bad and sounds like mild prediabetes?

However, after eating a full dish, I get high glucose of up to 9.6 (ussually 8.1 - 9.2) after an hour. Then it gradually lowers. The problem is, it's not that I'm eating something bad. In fact, these measures are after I ate hard-to-digest carbohydrates with lots of fiber. Example:
Today I got 9.4(!) after eating this:
A soup of carrots + tomatoes + chickpeas + himalayan salt + curcuma + asafatida + curry
I was eating raw sunflower sprouts and raw "sunchoke" with the soup. So as you can see, really very little carbs and lots of fiber. Still, 9.4. I also got 9.4 the first day I tested the meter by eating some soup with wheat bread, which I guess was normal, considering wheat increases blood sugar.
So my question is, why the crazy spikes even after such healthy foods? Luckily, they get lower in two hours (after starting to eat)

Otherwise, for anyone interested, my diet (for the past 5 days):
100% vegan (~50% raw)
Almost no fats (by suggestions from Dr Neal Barnard
) (I only get them from cashews I eat every day ~70g), perhaps a little in chickpeas (in said soups)or flax seeds (in oatmeal)
I don't eat no starchy foods, no wheat, no rice, no bananas, no potatoes.
I eat fruits semi-liberaly - I eat kiwis, apples, strawberries. Lemon-grapefruit juice with warm water. Barley and wheat grasses (powdered) with water and cinnamon.

Supplements, daily:
2 x 500mg slow absorbing vitamin C
1x 100mg vit C + selenium + zinc + 250mg echinacea + 100% RDA vitamin E + 100% RDA vitamin A.
1x 1000mg Cassia cinammon + 200mg ALA + 60ug Chrome
1x ~1000% RDA of every vitamin B + magnesium
1x ~30mg Noopept

I also make strong astragalus + gynnostema + fennugreek + blackseed teas every day. I drink it liberally.
I go to the swimming pool/sauna every second day. Almost daily I do some minor sports after I see my high blood glucose after eating...
Another interesting note here: I work from home and I get up at ~6PM and go to sleep at ~7AM give or take a few hours. I read this could affect diabetic affairs negatively... Something to do with melaning imbalances, I think.

Current situation:

* An ulcer appeared in dorsal knee, popliteal fossa. Apparently for no reason. Note: it happened before, because I have eczema that likes to migrate through the body. However, this time, timing is bad, so I don't want to underwrite it as eczema. I'm not sure. I read it's a usual place for diabetic ulcers to appear.

* Pain in my foot subsided. After the changes in my diet (no more easy carbs, lots of fiber, fruits, veggies, supplements) the foot pain only got better. Today, the pain is almost not there. But there's still something there. Not numb at all.

* Three nights ago, in the middle of the night I felt my RIGHT foots sole (the very base of the foot only) being slightly numb. That was very weird but went away in several minutes. Could be just bad pose of sleep or something? Otherwise, no numbness anywhere in the body.

* I don't really feel tired.

* I'm not feeling thirsty.

* My urine doesn't taste sweet, even when it's darker yellow (don't ask)

* I'm otherwise healthy, however, when my foot first started to hurt, I was sick with bad cough and running nose. However, that day I only ate two bananas and went to swimming pool before that poetry evening. Weird circumstances to get a neuropathy?

So my question is:
What is happening with me? Is this just normal prediabetes? Should I do anything differently? Why the blood sugar spikes only after eating a little more (doesn't matter what) and are my feet/ulcer problems from diabetes/sugar?

Thank you all for reading this long introduction/question!
 
Have you been tested for B12 / folate / ferritin deficiencies? They are all pretty common in vegetarian/vegan peeps and B12 deficiency is strongly linked to neuropathies.

We're not doctors here, so I'd take your concerns to a doctor as it's the only way you'll get a proper diagnosis. Ulcers definitely need medical treatment.

Welcome to the forum.
 
Thank you for your reply, Indy51 !
Fortunately, I'm a vegetarian only for two years and I've been drinking lots of B12 supplements and my current daily dose is exactly 1000% RDA (25ug) Same goes for folate. As well as I eat lots of foods with folate. As for ferritin, that's a good suggestion. Although I believe I do eat foods with iron, I guess there's no way to know if I'm not lacking in it.

Doctor or not, your suggestions are very welcome! At the moment I'm without health insurance so I can't really get tested.
 
Visit the GP. I don't like those readings all that much (the high ones that is), nor the ulcers. You may be OK with a review of that diet so by all means, ask questions.

You've posed plenty but I see bread and bananas mentioned. That alone would bother me and others with this condition ... maybe not you though.

Mike
 
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Indeed I'm hoping to see a GP as soon as I get that insurance. Will probably happen in two weeks only. Will try to manage until then...
I've mentioned I quick all bread, bananas and similar really high-carb products. I suppose I should also lower portions of everything else I eat. Thank you for your reply! Please let me know if you have any suggestions.
I also wonder why my after-meal spikes are so high, yet my fasting glucose is almost normal, hmm...
 
Thank you for your reply, Indy51 !
Fortunately, I'm a vegetarian only for two years and I've been drinking lots of B12 supplements and my current daily dose is exactly 1000% RDA (25ug) Same goes for folate. As well as I eat lots of foods with folate. As for ferritin, that's a good suggestion. Although I believe I do eat foods with iron, I guess there's no way to know if I'm not lacking in it.

Doctor or not, your suggestions are very welcome! At the moment I'm without health insurance so I can't really get tested.
I'm clueless, but 1000% more than RDA doesn't seem necessary. can you overdose on B12?
4.4 to 5.5 fasting is very normal
8.1 - 9.2 after 1 hr doesn't sound too bad either..normally a 2 hr test is taken and for normal it should be under 8, preferably under 7 and I think this could be the case with you.
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045524.php

as to the pain in your feet, If it was me, I'd see a Dr.. i'd be looking at something else for the reason, I wouldn't be worried about diabetes and it's related complications with your BG results, if accurate.
 
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Thank you for your replies! Indy51, I understand now. Now I'm wondering if prolonged fasting (like not eating anything for a week or eating just greens, cucumbers and broccoli for ~14 days) would do anything good for diabetic conditions.

jack412 B12 practically cannot be overdosed, even with 50000% of RDA. Perhaps with prolonged use of 6 figures RDA of B12. It is generally stored in the body for a long time and it is sometimes even recommended to take really huge doses, but only rarely.

As for 8.1 - 9.2, I read some papers saying that they could also be very dangerous. All kinds of bodily disfunctions happen even on prolonged 6.7 mmol/l. Luckily these high values of blood sugar do not stay high in me. After two hours readings are generally lower than after an hour. So I suppose my body absorbs glucose, but at an impaired rate.
 
As for 8.1 - 9.2, I read some papers saying that they could also be very dangerous. All kinds of bodily disfunctions happen even on prolonged 6.7 mmol/l.

Don't believe everything you read. Sure, it's great to be in the 4s or the 5s or even low 6s, and that is what we should all aim for but single figures are a good start and anything a bit lower is fine. Read many times here that if you remain under 7.8, you should avoid complications PROVIDED you have a good diet, exercise and you're not overweight. Others may care to correct me on that point.
 
As a T2 myself who is now diet controlled .. I cannot eat chick peas ..any kind of bread or apples without it raising my blood sugars .. I think you should try to get to see a Dr for a full assent of your Heath problems.
 
Hi. Your blood suagr figures aren't too far from normal but might indicate possible pre-diabetes. Testing 1 hour after a meal is too soon. Try 2 hours. The foods you list are high carb e.g. carrot soup, tomatoes, chick peas, bananas etc. Some veggie foods can be high carb and it's the carbs that raise blood sugar. Try to have more fat, veggie (non-carb) protein and less carbs. So on the diabetes front don't panic and just get your blood tested over the coming weeks. For your others issues do see the GP.
 
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