Happy and frustrated -- blood test results two years after diagnosis

Bluetit1802 said:

I didn't realise your higher FBG impacted on the rest of the day. Yes, you are right, this is physiological insulin resistance or PIR (different from diabetic insulin resistance) and is your body preserving what little glucose there is in your body for the brain. Exactly the same thing happened to me about 18 months ago. Exactly the same - a rise that remained throughout the day but the actual rise from before to after eating remained the same. I did a lot of reading at the time and found it is temporary, and I resolved it by upping the carbs very slightly for a few days, just to give my body a small amount extra of glucose. That worked for me, and when my levels went back to normal I went back to my normal level of carbs. It hasn't happened since.

I can't say anything about the ketones because I have never measured mine.

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Thanks so much for this, @Bluetit1802. It puts me a bit more at ease. Today, I got the highest fbgs ever since I started testing about a year ago. So, the process is a bit nerve wrecking for me.

How long did it take for your blood sugars to settle after you upped the carbs a bit?

Would it be possible that the same thing might happen after upping the protein? My thinking is that more protein leads to increased neoglucogenesis -- the body senses that more glucose comes into the system, physioglogical insulin resistance will decline and blood sugars will drop to a slightly lower level again. That's at least what I am hoping for.

I was thinking about continuing this experiment for another week to see what happens.

By the way, ketones last night and this morning were hovering around traces to weak -- so eating more meat definitely has an impact on ketones -- but I am still not sure that I should actually worry all that much about ketones. Until my GP raised the issue and panicked me, I never did.

In the end, however, if the choice will be between prediabetic blood sugars and fewer ketones or non-diabetic blood sugars and more ketones, I will go for the latter.

Bluetit1802 said:

@ziggy_w You may be interested in this as regards protein, keto diets and such like.
http://www.tuitnutrition.com/2017/07/gluconeogenesis.html

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Thanks, @Bluetit1802. I just had a short read of the article. Definitely, a thoughtful and insightful discussion of protein consumption and gluconeogenesis. So, the gist seems to be that protein doesn't directly turn into sugar, but that protein causes an increase in insulin be acting directly on the beta cells, the insulin response in return causes release of glucagon to counterbalance the insulin. This again causes the liver to release glucose. Over the next few hours, the protein then serves to restore glucose in the liver.

I am still wondering, however, whether the higher blood glucose levels in the blood that I am observing due to more protein in the diet will lower the physiological insulin resistance after a couple of days.

I have also just taken my blood pressure and it is definitely up. Normally, my average is about 110 over 70. Today, I've seen something in the range of 135 to 145 over 80 to 90. (This is even higher than what I am usually observing directly after strenuous exercise) This really scares me.

In essence, the question is: Am I trading one maybe slightly bad issue (higher urine ketones) for two issues (higher blood glucose and higher blood pressure) that we all know are bad in the long term?

Bluetit1802 said:

I've just looked back at my records. It took a month or two, so for me it wasn't quick. However, I only increased the carbs very slightly and only for about a week. I have always eaten a lot of protein. My FBG and all the other pre-meal levels suddenly notched down to where they had been. It just happened on its own. Magic? Mysterious certainly.

So what are you attributing the higher BP to? Could it just be your worry and stress with the ketone issue?

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Thanks again so much, @Bluetit1802. This is really valuable information. Two months is rather a long time -- so I guess, I must be more patient.

Actually, just had another meeting with my GP (bless him for his patience). He suggested it might be the physical stress due to my body coping with the change in diet/lifestyle or as you suggested the mental stress of trying to balance blood sugars and ketones. To be honest, it's not easy to see my blood sugars rising.

Another reason, though, that might actually lead to higher blood pressure might also be the higher insulin levels. My GP actually suggested that he could prescribe a medication to lower my blood pressure -- but I really don't want to go down this route. First, I am not really in favor of taking medication, unless absolutely necessary, but secondly last time I took this medication, I couldn't get off the sofa because I felt so dizzy.

So, I will be probably giving this new diet another week and see if my body adjusts. If not, I will probably dial back some of the changes I made.

It might also be a good idea to try to introduce a couple of more carbs -- maybe go up to 30 or 40.

By how much did you increase your carbs when you say you increased them slightly?

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, @Bluetit1802.

You don't fathom how much your advice is appreciated.

Fleegle said:

Hi @ziggy_w
Have you seen that you can buy a urine dip stick that gives you 10 responses. I am sure one of those is PH or acidity. I got mine from Amzaon, hardly ever use them but maybe worth having a look.

I think I am only going to tell you what you know - but do not forget that stress and worry can impact BG and BP. At the moment you are super sensitive to information you have and you are trying to figure it all out and I am sure that in itself will have an impact so try your very best just to relax for one or two days over the weekend and see what happens.

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Hi Dean,

Thanks so much for your kind words. You are definitely right -- my worry and concern probably contribute to higher blood sugar readings and higher blood pressure. I will try the new diet for another week and see whether blood sugars and blood pressures adjust downward in this time.

Could you give me a link to the urine dip sticks you mentioned? If they were able to measure acidity, that would be grand.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Brussels for two days to scour the flea markets there. This definitely should take my mind off things, but I'm still taking blood pressure monitor, blood glucose monitor and dipsticks along.

Thanks, @Fleegle. Really appreciate it. By the way, the GP called off the kidney test and said there was nothing to worry about. Guess that's a good thing.