Introduction - new member with post prandial spikes

[Vania8]

Hello,

I recently discovered this forum and learned some very useful information already - thank you to all active members. Sorry in advance for the language issues. I am not a native speaker.

I am male, in my 30s. I haven't been diagnosed with diabetes yet but I found out I have some issues related post prandial blood sugar. A few months ago I started having weird hypoglycemia events regularly (near fainting) and decided to buy a glucose meter to monitor this. The meter helped me decide when I had to take a high-carb snack before my next meal. I also adopted the standard dietary advice for bloog sugar control (lots of legumes, whole bread and rice, no sugar, etc.).

More recently I started feeling unwell after meals - blurry vision, racing heart, sweating, etc. I started testing more regularly and was shocked to discover that my post prandial blood glucose levels at the 1 hour mark are way too high (often around 190mg/dL, and sometimes as high as 230 mg/dL), even after meals that look very healthy to me (e.g., a breakfast with one small banana + a few spoonfuls of oat flakes with almond milk and berries). At the 2 hour mark my BG is much lower, though still a bit too high (between 120 and 140). My fasting levels are normal.

I understand that I need to address this to avoid severe issues down the road. I am thus starting a low carb diet, and adopting the advice of "eating by the meter". Here again, the information on the forum has been super helpful.

If anybody has any advice to share, in particular regarding whether/how I should seek medical help, I would be very grateful. I mentioned the numbers above to my GP recently but she didn't take it seriously and insisted that fasting levels are the only thing that matters - which seems incorrect to me. I am wondering whether I can/should convince a doctor to investigate for T1/LADA etc. I should also add that I have no risk factor for diabetes (I am very skinny, don't smoke nor drink alcohol, exercise regularly, and no one has diabetes in my family).

Thank you very much for reading.
Vania

 

[HSSS]

I’d start by ignoring the advice you’ve been listening to thus far. Many of the items you list as “healthy “ are full of carbs and as such will be the ones sending your bgl high. I take it you mean hyperglycaemia with those numbers as opposed to hypo. The only other thing to consider would be reactive hypoglycaemia where you go high then low quickly in “over”response to the high. Again the solution in its simple terms is not to go high.

It is normal to rise after food. What’s maybe not normal is how high and for how long.

Take a look at these to understand how many of us control our bgl.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/basic-information-for-newly-diagnosed-diabetics.26870/


https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog/jokalsbeek.401801/ for info including low carb made simple

 

[Alexandra100]

My fasting levels are normal.

What are they? "Normal" is a moveable feast, varying between countries. I believe in America what is considered normal by the American Diabetic Association has recently been changed, following years of pressure by American endocrinologists.

 

[Alexandra100]

I understand that I need to address this to avoid severe issues down the road. I am thus starting a low carb diet,

Congratulations. I and many others here will consider this an excellent and very important decision.

 

[Alexandra100]

If anybody has any advice to share, in particular regarding whether/how I should seek medical help, I would be very grateful. I mentioned the numbers above to my GP recently but she didn't take it seriously and insisted that fasting levels are the only thing that matters - which seems incorrect to me. I am wondering whether I can/should convince a doctor to investigate for T1/LADA etc

Most doctors are simply not capable of giving up to date advice about diabetes. This is not surprising given how complex the subject is and how many other health problems they also have to manage. There are 3 acknowledged ways to diagnose diabetes: (1) a fasting morning reading of 5.6 and up (2) An A1c test which takes an average of roughly the past 3 months of bg. In the UK 42 mmol/l = pre-diabetes and 48 diabetes, but in the US 38.8 = pre-diabetes. (3) An OGTT (Oral glucose tolerance test) https://www.diabetes.co.uk/oral-glucose-tolerance-test.html

IMO at this point you could ask your doctor for an A1c test, which would give you a good baseline against which to measure your progress with your lower carb diet, and maybe a prescription for Metformin / Glucophage. If you have a problem with insulin resistance Metformin might help to lower your bgs a little, but not nearly as much as the low carb diet which is in your own control. If on a lower carb diet your symptoms vanish and your meter readings improve dramatically, it will seem likely that you have some glucose intolerance. If despite reducing your carbs drastically your high readings persist, it may be time to ask your doctor for a fasting c-peptide test to see if your main problem is insulin insufficiency (T1 / LADA) rather than insulin resistance (T2).

 

[Vania8]

I’d start by ignoring the advice you’ve been listening to thus far. Many of the items you list as “healthy “ are full of carbs and as such will be the ones sending your bgl high. I take it you mean hyperglycaemia with those numbers as opposed to hypo. The only other thing to consider would be reactive hypoglycaemia where you go high then low quickly in “over”response to the high. Again the solution in its simple terms is not to go high.

Thank you very much. This is sound advice. I actually meant hypo, not hyperglycemia - I was suffering from reactive hypoglycemia (finding myself in the 70 mg/dL region a few hours after meals). This is why I bought the meter and found out about the post prandial spikes. I hope the low carb diet will fix this.

 

[Vania8]

Thank you so much for your advice, Alexandra - I really appreciate it. My fasting blood sugar levels are between 4.4 and 5.5 mmol/dL, which seems to be in the normal range. All what you wrote makes perfect sense, and I will try to convince my doctor to do these tests. Hopefully I will have a success story to write here some time ! All the best to you.

 

[Alexandra100]

Hopefully I will have a success story to write here some time !

Indeed! But don't wait to let us know how you are getting on.