Going through the tests

[Catherinegf]

Hi everyone! I hope you are all enjoying a great weekend. I'd love to get a little advice. I have recently moved to Spain. I had a blood test done as part of a well employee event at work and my bloods came up a little high. I went to see my GP in Spain and they did a one off blood test when I came in at a reading of 7 mmol after fasting for 13 hours. They dismissed this as being acceptable. Both my Mum and my Grandad have/had diabetes so I had done some research and thought this was a high reading. So I asked them to do a more in depth test. They then took a blood sample. This came back as running high and they have asked me to return every 2 weeks to get a spot test done. I have a blood glucose monitor at home and for the past few days I've been recording my fasting blood glucose. So far I've had the following results:
13 hour fast - 7
8 hour fast - 11.8 (I had had a berroca about an hour earlier so this may have swayed the results)
9 hour fast - 8.9
10 hour fast 9
13 hour fast 8.
I'm worried that these are pretty high. I eat a very healthy diet. I don;t eat junk food. I rarely eat sugar. I only use whole grains for bread and I don't eat much. I do drink wine, not every night and only a moderate amount. I avoid rice and am not a huge pasta eater. I always choose sweet potato over standard potato. To give an example a standard lunch would be a vegetable curry with no rice if I"m at work, bought from M&S. Then for dinner I have a home cooked meal, normally something spicy with butternut squash or quorn. I rarely eat desert. I rarely have chocolate. I do like houmous and doritos! My guilty pleasure. Should I be worried?
I'm around 5ft9 and weigh about 67kgs so I'm not over weight. I have stopped running over the last 6 months due to a knee injury. I'll be back at it again soon.
Sorry to send an essay. I appreciate any comments or advice I may get. Thank you all.

 

[xfieldok]

A spot check every couple of weeks is not going to tell you anything. You need to ask for an hba1c. This will give you your average over the last 12 weeks.

If your family has a history of T2 you would do well to check it out.

We have a metabolic disorder and we cannot process carbohydrates in the normal way.

If you have a glucose meter I would suggest you test before you eat and 2 hours afterwards. A rise of more than 2mmol means the meal had too many carbs.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi Catherinegf,
If your body tends to have high Blood Glucose, then There are various possible reasons, however the most likely is that you have a low tolerance to carbohydrates (both sugars and starches).
Other things that raise Blood Glucose are:
1. Infection
2. Injury
3.Stress
4. Lack of sleep
5. either lack of exercise or intense exercise (if measured just afterwards).
6. Medication including but mot limited to Statins.

After diagnosis I bought a BG meter and test strips then tested before and 2hrs after every meal until I knew which carby food I could tolerate and in what quantity.
Unfortunately the answer was not many and only in very small quantities.
So I went for a low Carb (bordering on Ketogenic) lifestyle 20gms to 40gms of carbs per day (least carbs at breakfast when most sensitive to them). For me the standard government healthy eating guidelines are completely wrong:

I am a Thin Outside, Fat Inside Type 2, so I didn't fancy long fasts or ultra-low Calorie diets (in fact not dieting at all).
I slightly increased my Protein, cut out all grains, legumes and below ground vegetables and added traditional fats and Oils to make up the Calorie deficit from my prior way of eating. That is Eggs, Avocado, full-fat Cheese and Cream ,Yogurt, Walnuts, Brazil nuts, Macadamia nuts. Also added in more Olive Oil and switched to fattier cuts of meat. Cut out all fruit juice and indeed all fruit except for berries (eaten with double cream or full fat Greek style Yogurt).

I still lost weight without trying a, without more exercise, without any Calorie restriction. I found I had more energy and lower appetite. Now my HbA1C is down into the 'pre-diabetic' range.

 

[VashtiB]

Hello and welcome,

I agree with the previous people. Random checks won't be enough to give a diagnosis, however, I always believe that if you have any concerns you should go to your doctor and be tested. When you have the results you can act If your results show that you are either diabetic or prediabetic then you should act

If you need to act you should test prior to a meal and 2 hours afterward. You will need to be aware of all carbohydrates not just sugar. The testing will tell you how much carbs your body can tolerate. When you know that you can work out what is healthy for you to eat.

Good luck.