Newbie of Pre diabetes, needing advice

Hello @Laura1988 Welcome to the forum.

I'm tagging @Lamont D who I think has essential tremor, and may be able to help.

Laura1988 said:

Hey Everyone,

I was diagnosed 3 weeks ago as pre-diabetic. I’m female, 34, Irish with few stones to lose with Neurological Condition – Essential Tremor.

“Essential tremor is a nervous system condition, also known as a neurological condition, that causes involuntary and rhythmic shaking. It can affect almost any part of the body, but the trembling occurs most often in the hands, especially when doing simple tasks, such as drinking from a glass or tying shoelaces.”

I’ve had essential tremor since birth, my dad & sister also have it. I am on a beta-blocker along with Botox injections, every 2 months for tremor.

My hbA1c is normal but I have a glucose intolerance – level of 9.3mmol/L after 2hrs. It was advised to me to start a low GI Diet, no medication. Wasn’t given much to go on, other than Google it.

I don’t take my glucose levels, as with a tremor it is quite hard to do. Over the past two years tremors have gotten much worse.

Neurologist was worried about tremor progression, so sent me to hospital for tests, where they did the 5hr mixed meal test. Endocrinologist says they will see me again in 6 months.

So for past three weeks, I’ve been eating salad, protein, fruit & veg which tremor has calmed down. I ate brown rice today and tremor went wild again, so no more brown rice.

I’ve cut out potatoes, pasta, noodles, bread etc. I exercise, but have lost no weight so far. I don’t drink alcohol, nor have I had a takeaway in over 2yrs. My intake of sugar is very low (the odd dark hot chocolate, no salt added to my food).

I understand it’s trial & error and everyone is different but feeling a bit overwhelmed and lost. No clear direction, a lot of sites contradict each other as what is classed as low GI. GP isn’t much help & I won’t be seeing neurologist until end of May.

I feel as though it’s a sink or swim situation. Did it take others long to notice changes? I still have no energy. Any help appreciated.

Click to expand...

Low GI is usually mainly used for type one's, so they know whether they need to split a dose of insulin yea or nay. Just make things easier on yourself and go for low carb. Means a little less research (not much, but still, some), and if your tremors get worse on rice, it would seem like a logical way to go. https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html might help some, and yeah, it's another site that probably clashes with 20 or 200 or 2000 others you've read. But that's the thing: trial and error. You just try stuff and see whether it works for you. If it doesn't, find out why and try a different tack or adjust the used method to your needs.

Also, testing is really important, so you know what's going on. Would a Continuous Glucose Monitor be an option for you? It's a patch that keeps an eye on you all the time. No finger pricking required, unless you really want to. (Sometimes it helps to check the meter and see whether it's accurate, but you're not in danger of hypo's, so... Not really an issue.)

Also, lack of energy... If you're low carbing, you're probably getting slightly dehydrated. Add some salt into your meals, maybe take an electrolyte supplement or coconut milk. Fatigue can be part of carb-flu, when you start losing water -and electrolytes get flushed out as well- because carbs don't retain it anymore, and your body needs time to get used to things. Also, there's lots of salt in bread and such, and without bread and other foodstuffs that have salt added in the process of making them, you could be a little low. Blood pressure too. (Seeing dark spots when you stand up, for instance?) Not saying you are... Just putting it out there that low salt might not be doing you favours right now. Another thing to experiment with, maybe. I had a normal blood pressure before low carb/keto, and now I'm a bit low if I don't add enough salt into my meals. Might not be true for you though.

Bottom line, everyone's unique. And normally I'd say, listen to your meter, it won't steer you wrong, but since you don't have one yet that's kind of moot... But try to find a way that suits YOU. It takes a little time, but it is worth it.

Hugs,
Jo

Laura1988 said:

Hey Everyone,

I was diagnosed 3 weeks ago as pre-diabetic. I’m female, 34, Irish with few stones to lose with Neurological Condition – Essential Tremor.

“Essential tremor is a nervous system condition, also known as a neurological condition, that causes involuntary and rhythmic shaking. It can affect almost any part of the body, but the trembling occurs most often in the hands, especially when doing simple tasks, such as drinking from a glass or tying shoelaces.”

I’ve had essential tremor since birth, my dad & sister also have it. I am on a beta-blocker along with Botox injections, every 2 months for tremor.

My hbA1c is normal but I have a glucose intolerance – level of 9.3mmol/L after 2hrs. It was advised to me to start a low GI Diet, no medication. Wasn’t given much to go on, other than Google it.

I don’t take my glucose levels, as with a tremor it is quite hard to do. Over the past two years tremors have gotten much worse.

Neurologist was worried about tremor progression, so sent me to hospital for tests, where they did the 5hr mixed meal test. Endocrinologist says they will see me again in 6 months.

So for past three weeks, I’ve been eating salad, protein, fruit & veg which tremor has calmed down. I ate brown rice today and tremor went wild again, so no more brown rice.

I’ve cut out potatoes, pasta, noodles, bread etc. I exercise, but have lost no weight so far. I don’t drink alcohol, nor have I had a takeaway in over 2yrs. My intake of sugar is very low (the odd dark hot chocolate, no salt added to my food).

I understand it’s trial & error and everyone is different but feeling a bit overwhelmed and lost. No clear direction, a lot of sites contradict each other as what is classed as low GI. GP isn’t much help & I won’t be seeing neurologist until end of May.

I feel as though it’s a sink or swim situation. Did it take others long to notice changes? I still have no energy. Any help appreciated.

Click to expand...

Hi @Laura1978 and welcome to the forum.
I just can't imagine what the tremors have been like for you all your life.
My essential tremor started after a breakdown during covid, when my life was turned upside down. I was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety. This affected my nervous system and my neurological state.
Of course, since counselling and meds, which I have now stopped, for a few reasons, my anxiety and depression have been much more manageable.
My essential is much worse first thing, everything shakes as I get up,, it does take a while to calm down, but my left hand shakes all day, and other symptoms develop, depending on my anxiety.
The shaking happens as well, if I do too much work, pottering about, housework.
When my neurologist suggested I look at dietary recommendations on the essential tremor internet. I told him that there was no way I could eat a low GI diet, because of my RH. Which is a condition that means I am carb intolerant. So no carbs for me.
He replied that, I should discuss it with my endocrinologist.
I told him, that my endocrinologist agreed with me!. He then asked how I was doing, I showed him my latest hba1c, my latest full blood panel results. He was impressed. He then told me, to carry on with what is working, and he would look at others who are using low carb diet and or a keto diet.
The keto diet has become a treatment for other neurological conditions such as epilepsy.

I won't add to @JoKalsbeek post, but I agree that how you treat the essential tremor, is to what food doesn't give you symptoms, my glucometer has helped so much, along with my food diary which I have been keeping since 2012.

I have also heard of food anxiety, with essential. I mean, I can't hold a fork or spoon in my left hand and even though the grandkids laugh, it can be discerning when in company, embarrassing at times. So it is understandable that anxiety is a part of essential and on top of that with the prediabetes, to make it even worse, the correlation between nerves, food, anxiety, blood glucose levels are something to be controlled and treated.

I have found with my conditions, that intermittent fasting helps with the anxiety with food and decisions around my choices.
Eat to your metre. Is a great way to advise someone, with blood glucose levels issues.
And the knowledge you get from it.

My best wishes.
Keep asking.