Help understanding symptoms

[Cliff Town]

Ok, so I haven’t been diagnosed with any kind of diabetic illness, and I’ve returned several normal HBA1c tests. So, what am I doing here? I’ll try and explain as succinctly as possible.

I’m a 37 year old guy, father of two, and a few years ago I decided to lose a bit of weight. At the time I was about 16.5 stone, 6ft, so in the lower obese range in terms of BMI. I ended up getting myself properly in shape through diet and weight training, dropping to a very lean 11stine (10 - 12% body fat). It’s absolutely possible that for a period of time I was not eating enough, and training too hard.

At first I felt amazing, the best I had ever felt. Then things really gradually started to change. I began feeling really lethargic and fatigued. My concentration started to lapse and my head began feeling increasingly foggy. I also started getting incredible cravings for sugar, despite not having a sweet tooth generally (I’ve never been one for chocolate or desserts, even as a kid).

This has continued to get worse and worse, to the point where I feel incredibly tired, weak and generally ill almost all of the time. I find myself shaking for no apparent reason. Oddly, it does get marginally better if I indulge in my craving for something sugary.

I’ve also noticed that if I eat a big / not healthy meal (typically only at weekends) I get an insatiable craving for sugar a few minutes after. If I’ve had any alcohol with the meal (a couple of glasses of wine or beer) then the cravings, and potentially a little bit of shaking, are absolutely unreal. On Sunday I had a huge roast dinner in a restaurant, felt full, but still felt this huge itch to eat chocolate and biscuits.

I never used to be like this. It only began when I changed my diet and started training. It has progressed to really quite debilitating levels now.

The sensation is simply one of energy not getting to my cells, if that makes sense. I just don’t feel like my body is managing blood sugar as it used to.

I’ve had loads of bloody tests. Thyroid issues have been comprehensively ruled out, and as mentioned my HBA1c is apparently normal too. And yet I just feel as if my blood sugar is all over the place.

Does this make sense or resonate with anyone? I look healthy enough. I am a healthy weight. My blood test results seem normal. But something inside me has changed for the worse, and I feel really ill and somewhat down.

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read.

 

[KennyA]

Hi Cliff Town and welcome to the forums. First thing I'd say is that no-one on here is competent to diagnose anything. Second thing is that asking a bunch of people with diabetes about what you're experiencing is potentially going to skew the replies you get. Most of here have one form of diabetes or another, and that's where our experience lies. If you've had several recent normal HbA1cs (normal being a result in the 38-42 range), you do not have diabetes. What evidence do you have that your blood sugar is "all over the place", when the A1c shows it isn't?

I'm not suggesting that you aren't experiencing problems. Question: when you say "eating healthily" what exactly are you eating?

 

[Cliff Town]

Thanks Kenny, appreciate the response and apologies for any naivety or ignorance on my part in my original post.

Looking back at my latest HbA1c, my result is 35 mmol/mol, which is apparently ‘normal’ but lower than the range you reference above. Could it be too low?

Diet wise, I tend to stick to high protein foods like fish, chicken and lean red meat, along with boiled vegetables. I try to incorporate healthy fats and keep carbs moderate, avoiding processed foods wherever possible.

 

[KennyA]

Thanks Kenny, appreciate the response and apologies for any naivety or ignorance on my part in my original post.

Looking back at my latest HbA1c, my result is 35 mmol/mol, which is apparently ‘normal’ but lower than the range you reference above. Could it be too low?

Diet wise, I tend to stick to high protein foods like fish, chicken and lean red meat, along with boiled vegetables. I try to incorporate healthy fats and keep carbs moderate, avoiding processed foods wherever possible.

Your A1c is about the same as mine, and isn't too low. And your diet from my perspective doesn't have any red flags.

"Normal" in HbA1c terms simply means that most non-diabetic people fall into the 38-42 range. I'm attaching a graph that might help illustrate that, if you're a graph person. The A1c is a kind of average of your blood glucose over roughly the last three months. It doesn't directly measure glucose but counts the number of red blood cells that have had a glucose molecule attached to them. Red blood cells live around three months so it can only go back so far, and it's skewed towards more recent weeks.

Of course the problem with any average is that it can hide huge variation. You know the thing - player A scored 30 goals last season and no goals this season, while player B scored 15 goals in both this season and last. But both average 15 goals a season....

I guess it is possible that you might be experiencing dips in your glucose levels - I really don't want to speculate. As you don't know what your blood glucose is doing when you are getting these cravings the lack of information doesn't help. You could I suppose think about doing a few fingerprick tests, or trying a Constant Glucose Monitor for a while. Both have a cost attached, and will show you slightly different things.

 

[Lamont D]

Ok, so I haven’t been diagnosed with any kind of diabetic illness, and I’ve returned several normal HBA1c tests. So, what am I doing here? I’ll try and explain as succinctly as possible.

I’m a 37 year old guy, father of two, and a few years ago I decided to lose a bit of weight. At the time I was about 16.5 stone, 6ft, so in the lower obese range in terms of BMI. I ended up getting myself properly in shape through diet and weight training, dropping to a very lean 11stine (10 - 12% body fat). It’s absolutely possible that for a period of time I was not eating enough, and training too hard.

At first I felt amazing, the best I had ever felt. Then things really gradually started to change. I began feeling really lethargic and fatigued. My concentration started to lapse and my head began feeling increasingly foggy. I also started getting incredible cravings for sugar, despite not having a sweet tooth generally (I’ve never been one for chocolate or desserts, even as a kid).

This has continued to get worse and worse, to the point where I feel incredibly tired, weak and generally ill almost all of the time. I find myself shaking for no apparent reason. Oddly, it does get marginally better if I indulge in my craving for something sugary.

I’ve also noticed that if I eat a big / not healthy meal (typically only at weekends) I get an insatiable craving for sugar a few minutes after. If I’ve had any alcohol with the meal (a couple of glasses of wine or beer) then the cravings, and potentially a little bit of shaking, are absolutely unreal. On Sunday I had a huge roast dinner in a restaurant, felt full, but still felt this huge itch to eat chocolate and biscuits.

I never used to be like this. It only began when I changed my diet and started training. It has progressed to really quite debilitating levels now.

The sensation is simply one of energy not getting to my cells, if that makes sense. I just don’t feel like my body is managing blood sugar as it used to.

I’ve had loads of bloody tests. Thyroid issues have been comprehensively ruled out, and as mentioned my HBA1c is apparently normal too. And yet I just feel as if my blood sugar is all over the place.

Does this make sense or resonate with anyone? I look healthy enough. I am a healthy weight. My blood test results seem normal. But something inside me has changed for the worse, and I feel really ill and somewhat down.

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read.

Hi @Cliff Town and welcome to the forum.

Certain things do resonate with me but they would with many on here.

The hba1c is normal but again not unusual for some with dysregulation of hormones.

The best thing I could suggest is to get a glucometer or a CGM to actually see what is happening with your blood glucose levels. To see if you are having problems with food. Or even exercise.

If you have problems, other tests should be done depending on the results.

For example, I have a non diabetic condition, but am intolerant to carbs, and my dietary control is now part of the treatment I need to stay healthy and symptom free.

Let us know how you get on.