Newbie with some concerns

Hi @SQ71 and welcome

Sounds like you need that GP appointment! In the meantime as you’re not taking any diabetes related medication the simplest way to reduce blood sugar levels would be to reduce your consumption of carbohydrates.

 

I strongly disagree. I am neither T1, nor LADA, nor (officially) T2, yet I have recorded blood glucose levels higher than the original poster mentions, and they have returned to base within 5 hours with no intervention by myself other than not eating any more carbs. No meds. No insulin.

 

@SQ71

Hi and welcome

Am very glad you are heading back to the docs. It certainly needs clarification, and further testing, and LADA could be a possibility. However, so could type 2 diabetes. Until you get the test results back, you won't know for sure.

You mentioned how unpleasant and frightening your symptoms were, and asked for how to allieviate them if they reoccur.
- well you have already worked out that the most straightforward way to do that is to avoid the carby stuff in the first place. Depending on your diagnosis, you may find that you can reintroduce carbs alongside medication, in future, but until then avoidance is a good choice.
But I do get that we are all human, and that occasionally temptation strikes.
When that happens, drinking plenty of water, and going for a walk, or climbing a few flights of stairs can help. Not talking about running up the side of a mountain, but just enough to get your muscles moving and warm. If my blood glucose goes high then exercise is the last thing I want to do, but if I force myself to actually do it, I feel better afterwards.

Hope you get proper answers soon, because once you have a diagnosis, then you can focus on a regime that is best suited to your individual situation.

 

@SQ71 - It makes a great deal of sense to have a discussion with your Doc about your recent experience, and see what he says.

From my own experience, I was diagnosed in 2013 with an HbA1c of 73.

I started watching my diet straight away and bought myself some testing kit. When I started testing, I saw some very shocking numbers. I was never, ever a big consumer of sweet things, but a bag of Salsa and Mesquite Kettle Chips were to die for.

Anyway, as I say, when I started testing my numbers were high, and sometimes, in the very early days higher than yours.

By taking note of my meter readings, I started to learn what I could, and couldn't tolerate in my day to day diet.

You say yourself you had a bit of an excursion and consumed "quite a large sugar/carb intake". That would just be like fanning a fire. It would just rev up.

Keep an eye on things, and certainly do try to give the big carb/sugar hits a swerve, for the time being at least.

Over time, you are likely to notice your numbers generally trimming back.

Yes, do go back to your Doc. Yes, do learn about other styles of diabetes, and the big risks, and finally, I would suggest you buy some test strips for measuring ketones. For the time being, urine strips would be fine.

Depending on the levels of carbs you are eating, and your blood sugar numbers, you may see some ketones.

If you have a blood sugar reading on, say 13+, and ketones, it's time to seek help.

 

Apologies, @SQ71 , I meant to add my HbA1c history, since diagnosis. I have never taken any medication for my diabetes:

HbA1c:
October 13: 73 or 8.8% (How did that happen?)
February 14: 37 or 5.5%
May 14: 34 or 5.3%
August 14: 32 or 5.1%
November 14: 33 or 5.1%
May 15: 31 or 5.0%
October 15: 33 or 5.1%
September 16: 31 or 5.0%
November 17: 33 or 5.1%
March 18: A "bonus", unexpected test due to other bloods - 30 or 4.9%. I joined the 4s club! I hadn't expected a reduction, having got used to toggling 33<>31<>33<>31 for the last 3 years, literally.
March 19: 27 or 4.6% Another surprising reduction.
February 20: 29 or 4.8%. I'll take that

Work in progress, but GP has taken me off the Diabetes Register.

As you can see, my HbA1c reverted t non-diabetic levels within 4 months and has never gone back.

I'm fortunate, and not everyone is able to replicate this, whether by virtue of other health conditions, their attitude to risk , their ability to reduce cabs enough, or a million and one other reasons.

I'm not posting that to show off, but to demonstrate that in T2, much can be possible, without medication of any sort in the mix - never mind injected insulin.

 

Loads of folks have done as I did, and from much higher numbers.

To be clear, my view is, we were lucky having systems that could repair themselves sufficiently to support the better numbers, once we found modified eating regimes.

Nothing is a race. Nothing is a competition. In my head, I'm going for the best me I can be, within the bounds of my wider life, family, stresses, and other conditions (for me that's "just" a wonky thyroid and an inability to deal with gluten). When others do better than me, I feel happy for them, but don't beat myself up.

It's important, along the way, to find a "ticking over" way of living that doesn't strain you, challenge too much and where we can maintain a decent weight (whatever that is for each of us). Once that ticking over place is found, things get a lot easier.

Take it steady. Don't beat yourself up. For most of us, our fiercest, and least forgiving critics are ourselves, so we need to tame those unreasonable expectations and plough our own furrow.