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Hi, Another newbie here

A

Ashleigh

Well-Known Member
Messages
152
Hi,

I haven't been diagnosed as yet, but I think my figures mean i will be. I've tried to eat low carb for some time now, when i do, i lose weight (i've lost two stone since christmas - diet and running - but my routine has gone out of the window recently due to other things), feel better, can concentrate, have loads more energy and my digestive system is fine.

Recently i've noticed that when i deviate from my normal diet, i get a really bad belly - which lead me to believe that i am wheat intolerant or celiac, so i went and registered at a new dr's last week and they sent me for blood tests. As well as the intolerance tests they sent me for all routine blood tests and my glucose came back as 10.3, when the nurse said it should be no more than 6. They also said that my celiac/wheat readings were fine and that my cholesterol was borderline.

Now, as i thought i was just being tested for wheat/gluten intolerance, i've been eating carbs/sugar/wheat as you need the gluten in your system for anything to show up, and i didnt know that i wasnt supposed to eat anything prior to the test and i ate caramel biscuits that i had to buy to get change for the parking meter right before the test.

I have an appointment to see the Dr next week and the nurse said that they will send me for more tests.

Could my reading be just because of the biscuits that i ate & junk in the weeks beforehand, or is a reading that high definitely diabetes?

I have been thinking of changing from what is pretty much the induction phase of atkins to a paleo type diet anyway (gut depending), so hopefully this will help.
 
Hi Ashleigh and welcome to the forum :)
I'm sure you will get some help from the members here, but, in case you are diagnosed diabetic or pre-diabetic, here is some information we give to new members, which I think you will find helpful. Carry on asking questions as there is always someone who can help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS


Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find well over 30,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes ... rains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
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Please sign our e-petition for free testing for all type 2's; here's the link:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/petition/

Do get your friends and colleagues to sign as well.
Click to expand...
 
If you have Type 1 diabetes and have more than 20mmol/l of glucose in your blood, you should use a urine strip to check for the presence of ketones.

One of the blood glucose meters available also allows you to check your blood for ketones.

If ketone bodies are present in your urine or blood, it's a warning sign of diabetic acidosis. If this is the case, you should consult your doctor immediately.
Click to expand...

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/diabetesbloodsugar.htm

I dont understand how a low carb diet can help diabetes, but then being in ketosis can be dangerous? Can anyone explain or point me in the direction of a site that does please?
 
Ashleigh said:
dont understand how a low carb diet can help diabetes, but then being in ketosis can be dangerous?
Click to expand...

Basically, ALL carbohydrates turn to glucose in the blood, so reducing the amount of carbohydrates you eat reduces your blood sugar level which, of course, is the main thing we have to control with diabetes.
Ketosis - if you are on a low carbohydrate diet, and your blood sugar is also therefore low, ketones are not a problem. These occur when you are in ketosis, again not a problem. They are simply a sign that your body is burning fat for fuel rather than glucose (which is what you want)
Ketones are a danger sign if you have high blood sugar levels at the same time, because they are a sign of ketoacidosis, this is not good. This occurs when your blood sugar is high but you have no insulin to bring it down. This normally occurs more with type 1 diabetics or type 2s in the later stages if their pancreas has given up so again no insulin is present.
 
Thank you, that makes sense.

So, for instance, if i've been low-carbing and am in ketosis, then have a blow-out on junk and send my blood sugar sky high - and had diabetes - i'd be at risk of going in to ketoacidosis?

Can you give yourself diabetes by low-carbing then eating what you like over the weekend for instance? by messing about with your sugar levels, surely you're bound to do some damage, no?
 
Ashleigh said:
So, for instance, if i've been low-carbing and am in ketosis, then have a blow-out on junk and send my blood sugar sky high - and had diabetes - i'd be at risk of going in to ketoacidosis?
Click to expand...

No, that wouldn't happen. Your blow out would simply take you out of ketosis. Ketoacidosis is only really a problem (potentially) if you can't produce any insulin, or very little. You won't be in that situation when you get your diagnosis looking at the figures you showed us in your post.

Ashleigh said:
Can you give yourself diabetes by low-carbing then eating what you like over the weekend for instance? by messing about with your sugar levels, surely you're bound to do some damage, no?
Click to expand...

No, you wouldn't give yourself diabetes doing that - you either have it or you don't. However, eating what you like at the weekend would counteract all the good work you'd done during the week low carbing. You need to find a lower carb diet that you can stick with to get proper control. Diabetes is for life if you have it, so you need to deal with it properly and consistently. Here's something I've sent to others that has helped:-
In general terms you will need to reduce the total number of carbohydrates you eat per day. All carbohydrates turn to sugar when we eat them, and no type 2 diabetic on diet only, or on diet and metformin only, can control their blood sugars (BGs) without controlling their carb intake. Even those on strong medication normally choose to control their carb intake to keep the level of medication they take down. The total number of carbs per day you can eat depends on how advanced your diabetes is. It’s perhaps worth starting at about 50% of normal levels for a non-diabetic then adjusting up or down according to how you get on. So that means eating 150 grams of carbs per day for a man, 125 for a woman. You can read the total carb content of food under “nutritional info” on the packet or wrapping, or look it up on the internet for loose food. Just google “carb content..”
You also need to stop or reduce the bad carbs; that is the starchy ones that make your BG go up quickly.
So obviously no sugar or glucose! But also no white bread, white rice, pasta, flour products like pastry, cake and batter. You can eat a little basmati rice, wholewheat pasta or the tri-color pasta fusilli ones in small quantities. Boiled new potatos (again not too many) are OK but not old pots mashed, boiled or in their jackets. (Roast is not so bad, the fat slows their absorption and conversion to glucose in the blood) Amongst other veg, parsnips are about the worst for BG, and carrots not great but ok in smaller amounts.
Multi grain bread (not wholemeal) is not SO bad, but lots of us eat Burgen soya and linseed bread from tescos and sainsburys, although all bread should be in limited amounts.
All fruit has carbohydrates, and needs to be included in the amounts of carbs you eat in a day. For most people, bananas are about the worst for pushing our BG up and berries (like strawberries, raspberries etc) are the least bad.
No sweeties!
Exercise is important. I tend to exercise about an hour after eating when I know my BG will be peaking. This helps to bring it down quicker and further. I do ten minutes hard work on an exercise machine, but you could run up and down stairs for ten minutes or go for a brisk walk.
Returning to types of food and quantities of carbs - you can only find out how many you can eat by testing. Most type 2’s are not given access to testing equipment, so you should get your own – although try arguing with your Doc that you want to manage to NICE guideline blood sugar levels, and can’t do that without testing! If you have to buy a meter, they are cheap and most manufacturers will give them away for free. They make their money on the strips you have to use! So go for the meter with the cheapest testing strips. The SD Codefree available on the internet is about the cheapest at the moment. Some people test before and after eating, on waking (fasting test) and before bed. But if you have limited strips because of cost, the key to me is testing 2 hours after eating. If your BG is above, say, 7.8 at that stage, you need to cut down on the carb content the next time you have that meal. Test after various different meals and you soon get to see a pattern of what you can and can’t eat, and in what quantities. Keep careful records of what you ate and when, together with the result, so you can refer back at a later date. You can then reduce your testing. I said “below, say, 7.8” because NICE guidelines are below 8.5 but most of us think that’s a little high. 7.8 is the max. level at 2 hours after eating that a non-diabetic normally gets to so is perhaps a better target. Some then set progressively lower targets.
Do ask lots of questions; there is normally an answer on here. The more you get to learn about your diabetes, the better it will be.
Good luck!
 
wow, thank you!

so you think my figures are ok then? I had eaten two caramel wafer biscuit things within the hour/hour and a half that i was waiting for the test. I bought them to get change but then ate them myself rather than give them to my mum/sister later, as i wanted to make sure there was gluten in me.

I'm giving up all the chopping and changing i've been doing with my diet, i'm going to follow a paleo/low GI type diet and introduce some fruit and try not to eat anything processed. I just ordered 'The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Foods You Were Designed to Eat' by Loren Cordain this afternoon so hopefully that will arrive shortly. Obviously, I might need to revise some of it if i do get a diagnosis, and depending on how my stomach reacts, but either way, its going to be healthier than i eat now.
 
Can't really comment on your figures. Your doctor will give you the results. I suggest though that you tell the doc about your little snack before the test because that would affect the interpretation of the figures. You might need the pleasure of doing the tests again! Your numbers don't sound horrendous though. I've heard/seen them much higher. If you ARE diabetic, it's not the end of the world and the actions you're proposing will help you get it quickly under control and lose weight (if you need to)
 
Yes, i told the nurse yesterday (my sister was registering and i hijacked her appointment after to find out which test came back abnormal) and she said i'd have to have more tests.

Its common sense really not to eat before your test, but i thought i was just having the celiac/wheat test - and i didnt expect any of the other test to come back dodgy.
 
Hi All,

Well, i saw the doctor again, who sent me for another blood test (without eating this time) and on Friday she told me the results were 6.7, so she's now sending me for a glucose tolerance test which i've booked for Friday morning.

Can anyone tell me what the glucose tolerance test involves, or tell me if there's a thread on it (- i'll do a search in a min)? The woman I spoke to told me to be prepared to be there for upto 3 hours, but i'm not sure whether that is just because of the amount of time i'd have to wait or if its the length of time that the tests take.

Also, where I generally low-carb, is it fine to carry on doing so? I am eating a small amount of free-from bread a day (i have a roll for my breakfast at work) and the occasional wrap or pitta bread.
 
in the hospital now for the glucose tolerance test.

fasting blood glucose was 7.3, had the glycose/lucosade and just got to wait for the two hour reading now.
 
SO annoyed! The hospital wouldnt do a 2nd finger prick test when they took my blood at 2 hours, as they arent allowed to give any results, so i have no idea what my 2nd reading was, and have to wait another week to find out :thumbdown: :problem: :x
 
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