help, not sure what to do

[chalup]

Hi all

Like many other diabetics I watched my slim 170 lb husband eat half a bag of M&M's this evening and asked if I could test him about 45 minutes or so later. I got 11.4 and he informed me that it was wrong. Went and got a wet cloth and made him wash and dry his finger before testing again and got 14.2 . He insisted that the meter was wrong so I tested myself and got 5.4 which is about what I expected. I waited another 45 minutes or so and tested him again at 9.7. Am I right to be very alarmed? He eats enough candy and potato chips to keep 20 diabetics redlined and that is on top of a high carb intake in his meals. He thinks I am being silly because I am a type 2 and that I am seeing diabetes everywhere. Any thoughts on what I should do?

 

[himtoo]

Hi there
while you cannot force him -- perhaps ask if he would be willing to go along to GP and get blood tested
just to put your mind at rest.

or ........... see if he will let you take a fasting blood sugar in the morning

here are what the result means

The results of a fasting test with respect to glucose levels in the body are as follows:

• Normal: 3.9 to 5.5 mmols/l (70 to 100 mg/dl)
• Prediabetes or Impaired Glucose Tolerance: 5.6 to 7.0 mmol/l (101 to 126 mg/dl)
• Diagnosis of diabetes: more than 7.0 mmol/l (126 mg/dl)

 

[chalup]

He is a baby about finger sticks lol. I said I do them like 6 times a day but apparently it hurts more for him. I am going to ask our doctor to add an A1c to his monthly bloodwork (for something else). Tonight he just pooh pooh'd me and grabbed a family sized bag of chips to add to the M&M's and half a bag of peanuts. All this after a large dinner. Can any non-diabetic hit 14 mmol ? I am so worried. Thank you for your reply

 

[Pinkorchid]

If a non diabetic eats a lot of sugary stuff especially sweets or has a very high carb meal then it would not be unusual to have BG levels like that but it does not indicate they have diabetes Other members here have tested their non diabetic relatives and found the same thing.

 

[Pinkorchid]

He is a baby about finger sticks lol. I said I do them like 6 times a day but apparently it hurts more for him. I am going to ask our doctor to add an A1c to his monthly bloodwork (for something else). Tonight he just pooh pooh'd me and grabbed a family sized bag of chips to add to the M&M's and half a bag of peanuts. All this after a large dinner. Can any non-diabetic hit 14 mmol ? I am so worried. Thank you for your reply

If he has monthly blood work done then I am sure that would show if his blood sugar was to high. That is how a big majority of diabetics do find out from a routine blood test for something else

 

[Squire Fulwood]

Hi all

Like many other diabetics I watched my slim 170 lb husband eat half a bag of M&M's this evening and asked if I could test him about 45 minutes or so later. I got 11.4 and he informed me that it was wrong. Went and got a wet cloth and made him wash and dry his finger before testing again and got 14.2 . He insisted that the meter was wrong so I tested myself and got 5.4 which is about what I expected. I waited another 45 minutes or so and tested him again at 9.7. Am I right to be very alarmed? He eats enough candy and potato chips to keep 20 diabetics redlined and that is on top of a high carb intake in his meals. He thinks I am being silly because I am a type 2 and that I am seeing diabetes everywhere. Any thoughts on what I should do?

Testing 45 minutes after M&M's will give you an alarming reading and not only for your husband. Another 45 minutes and 9.7. If you had waited until the 2 hour mark and got less than 8.5 then that is an ok reading according to officialdom. High I agree but ok.

It may be that you have alarmed yourself early but if he carries on eating the way he does he may well become diabetic. Getting an Hba1c reading will do no harm.

 

[sud5nala]

Can any non-diabetic hit 14 mmol ? I am so worried.

Sorry: according to the medical literature, probably not, although I've never seen hard numbers to prove the point.

The body has a last ditch mechanism for keeping plasma glucose down when metabolic control has failed. It's kidney spillover: the kidneys allow glucose to spill into the urine. The normal "renal threshold" is 10.0 mmol/l or so. When I myself drink a lot of sugar, my plasma glucose flattens out at 10.1, 10.2 for half an hour. The failure of this backup mechanism is one of the complications of diabetes. The diagnostic threshold of 11.1 mmol/l was set decades ago, possibly before kidney spillover was known about. Nowadays the 11.1 effectively errs in the direction of diagnostic laxity, slightly.

The only out that someone has who would insist they aren't diabetic is that a "random"/"casual" glucose that exceeds 11.1 is not by itself the definition of positive. The excessive value has to be accompanied by one of the "3P's" of high thirst, high hunger, or high urination.

I don't have either IFG or IGT (or at least if I did turn out to be positive for IGT, I would be not far over the line). I also am not insulin resistant at all. So I don't have prediabetes. My defect is a delayed response to a meal.

Conceivably, a person could get to 11 mmol/l and still be, like me, not prediabetic. I am totally skeptical that a person could rise to 14 without being officially prediabetic or diabetic. In any case, the reality is that you only exceed 8.0 after eating because your glucose control physiology is impaired, and you only exceed 10.0 after eating because your kidneys are impaired.

 

[tpaz]

I agree with @sud5nala

My D nurse told me that non diabetic people would get to an absolute high of about 9mmol after a lot of carbs.

 

[chalup]

Thank you for your replies. He certainly has the high hunger and becomes very irritable and hard to deal with when hungry. He also eats an incredible amount of calories and carbs without gaining weight. It is interesting that the one place on his body with a little extra padding is his gut. The rest of him is trim and very muscular for a small man. He works a very physically intense job.