• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Had blood test - and row with doctor !

I have been showing my doctor ketones on urine strips and readings up to 19.4 mmol for months + have symptoms but he says I'm not diabetic. They don't believe in prediabetes either.
Click to expand...

Thats terrible Littlewolf. So, what are you doing, self testing and modifying diet etc? Is it working?
 
Yes, I'm testing daily and trying to eat to my meter. Ie, if I see anything 10 and over I just won't eat.. I try to cut carbs but it's hard in your typical working class kitchen where my dad is doing his best filling the freezer with battered fish and every meal being pasta or sandwiches. I can/do cook for myself but It offends him. It's also hard to explain to people why you can't eat out with them, or why you fall asleep after eating, or restrict yourself when you have an eating disorder, no diabetes diagnosis and do everyone including you thinks you're going crazy/paranoid. I exercise like hell. Sometimes readings appear to go down, sometimes they shoot up, or go down between meals but my spikes are bigger. I've worked out a lot myself from this site but I can't quite get it all under control myself.

Don't mean to hijack your thread though the whole **** site is probably sick of me ranting about the same old thing...


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Hi Littlewolf, you may already know this but I've found that if i'm a bit high or if I've eaten more carbs than I'm comfortable with then if I exercise at a level that is between 50-70% of my theoretical max heart rate that is much more effective at bringing my BG down than if I exercise at a higher rate, which seems to create an additional spike before going down later.

For any that don't know their max heart rate this is usually calculated as 220 minus your age, although individuals do vary depending on health and current fitness. So for me age 56 my theoretical max is 164. So the 50-70% range is 82-115. I do also exercise at a higher rate but I always do the first 10-15 minutes at the lower rate, and warm down at the lower rate also. I use a heart rate monitor but if you don't have one there are apps available for camera equipped smartphones which are very cheap and surprisingly accurate

I obviously cant guarantee this will work for everyone, but it works for me.
 
Hi Thommothebear, long gone are the days when I used to do the max heart rate stuff - god I was fit :lol: :lol: I used to maintain effort at about 95% max for bursts of 10 -15 mins, the rest of the time at about 85-90% :lol: :lol: :lol: No now though.

Its interesting about the spikes though. The other day I was gardening in the morning, hadn't had breakfast, just forgot, I was busy. Anyway, as it was gone midday I expected a liver dump, these normally happen when I get to the high 3s or low 4s and take me to about 6-6.2mmol. Anyway, felt a bit wooozy, tested to check, and I had either an 8 or a 9 (can't remember which), its never gone that high with a liver dump before . So I assume that it was because I was working and my body thought that I would be needing the extra ! ! Anyway, had to wait for lunch, it did come back down fairly quickly though.
 
hi sorry nothing to say I just want to do the glucose test and want to be able to find this post :)
 
Thanks for the exercise tip. I'll test the theory. You're a fountain of knowledge Thommothebear

Half pint you have hypos and highs too? How do you usually feel in the 3s? I was a wreck when in that territory. Now so have a liver dump below 5.6 usually. Do you find the heat sends you unusually low?

I'm sorry you're having a tough time with your doctor, too. I think a lot of people here feel like theyre talking to a brick wall. I can't offer much practical advice, but I can offer hugs...




Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Hi Littlewolf. 3s or 4s are not unusual for me, my normal fasting is 3.2 mmol, its now flagged up as too low , but its not really low, as I am not on meds there is absolutely no danger of a hypo. I feel absolutely find with bgs in this level. People usually only feel bad at this sort of level if their body is used to consistently much higher numbers, then its called a false hypo, as the body is objecting to being much lower than its used to. Because I have to take thyroxine for the thyroid, you are not supposed to eat for at least half an hour afterwards, so I get busy doing things . By the time I have fed the chickens, done the watering in the green house and the plants out side, then see something else that needs doing etc. etc. its invariably 2 or 3 hours before I get round to eating, then if I have a late morning its getting on for lunch time, so I don't bother. Anyway ,this particular morning I thought I would lift some of the spuds and just got carried away. Normally a liver dump will put a couple of mmol into my blood, thats all, but on this particular day it did a lot more than that . oooops. If you can catch it before you get a dump, then your bloods are low, then you can eat a few more carbs without any adverse affect. I have found that bread is the biggest culprit for me (or any wheat) so mainly steer clear of it. But all carbs like potatoes, rice, pasta etc are not good for me. So rather than eating those I substitute other veggies, carrots, celeriac, broccoli, cauliflower, loads of salads etc. etc. Keeping my carbs to around 20 or so max per meal, I can usually have a pre-meal level of low / mid 5 s, and a +2 of 7.5 max, often lower. They are higher than a normal person would get eating the same a mount of food, but its an acceptable level for me at the moment. I am producing insulin, but its the low end of normal, which I think is the maximum that I can produce. So, for now , its wait and see time. A part from the possibility of putting me on Met . there wouldn't be anything else that would be done at the moment even if its LADA.
 
That's incredibly unusual... I've been rushed to hospital at those levels, even non diabetics are wobbly at under 4. I can't string a sentence together usually in the 4s (twice I went to the supermarket having not eaten much and blood sugar dropped 3 points just from seeing food) the funny thing is today I had my first reactive hypo in a long long time. It was only 3.7 but felt like I wasn't entirely here, like my head was spinning... I do not understand how you could be so low!

As long as you feel like you're not in any danger. Considering the amount of times I've passed out on public transport or gotten myself lost in the street hypoing, I'm sort of concerned for you. I dont mean to be patronising :( It's not your fault your BG is erratic though


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Hi There Folks,
As type 1 diabetic, anything below 4 means that you are having a hypo. Sometimes I begin to feel light headed between 4-5 and i need some sugary/carbs to eat.
 
Hi nigelho. You are quite right, anyone, type 1 or type 2 on insulin, or insulin stimulating drugs, or someone that over produces insulin, needs to be careful because they can drop uncontrollably low very rapidly if their meal / insulin is not spot on. Its a bit different with those that are only diet controlled. I am sure that someone will correct me if i am wrong, but I think its impossible for a person to suffer a life threatening hypo when they are not one of the above. You may feel a bit weak and wobbly, a bit disorientated, light headed, blurred vision etc. or as I used to describe it as 'being off with the fairies ' with a very low bg reading, but unless there is any reason why either you will continue to produce insulin or that your liver will not produce the goods, then you will not be in any danger from levels even down to 3 s. In fact often normal people with very healthy insulin responses can fall as low as 2.4mmol after a glucose tolerance test, at which point their liver will kick in and dump to bring them back up to about 3.5mmol. So, unless your liver is completely depleted of glucogen and therefore can not dump, it will always manage to do so in a diet controlled person, unless you are producing an uncontrolled amount of insulin.

Don't forget 'normal ' people often have HbA1cs in the range of 4.5% so, to get that sort of reading, taking into account all the raised numbers after normal food intake, they must be dropping much lower than that for long periods of time to achieve that level.
 
Back
Top