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Not diabetic

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debbie24

Member
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19
Is there any diabetic consultants out there that have an open mind and can think outside the box ?

My partner was diagnosed with type 2 nearly 4 years ago when he had a heart attack. He has never ever displayed symptoms of hypo or hyper when not on any meds and can go all day without anything to eat without this affecting him. If he takes his meds, his BG can be between 7.0 and 20.0 mm/l and he feels the symptoms of hypo but when he has a barley sugar, within 15 to 20 mins he feels much better. The GP is adamant that he's NOT suffering from hypo's. Can anyone shed any light on this phenomenom ?
 
debbie24 said:
Is there any diabetic consultants out there that have an open mind and can think outside the box ?

My partner was diagnosed with type 2 nearly 4 years ago when he had a heart attack. He has never ever displayed symptoms of hypo or hyper when not on any meds and can go all day without anything to eat without this affecting him. If he takes his meds, his BG can be between 7.0 and 20.0 mm/l and he feels the symptoms of hypo but when he has a barley sugar, within 15 to 20 mins he feels much better. The GP is adamant that he's NOT suffering from hypo's. Can anyone shed any light on this phenomenom ?
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Your GP is absolutely right, 7 is nowhere near hypo territory. I spend my life high 4's-mid 5's and that isn't hypo territory either. I know, or can guess exactly what the problem is here. He is so used to running at very high levels, when he hits 7 his body is crying out for sugar, it's called a false hypo. He needs to get his levels down and quickly. 20.0mml/l is very high and he is heading for all the awful diabetes complications. 7-8 should be around the highest he ever goes not the lowest, and that figure after meals. Giving him sugar in the form of barley sugar when he is displaying the symptoms of a false hypo is the worst thing you can do. His body needs to get used to lower level, not kept so high. Can you post an average days meals, so we can advise you better?
 
Typical meals are:- porridge made with goats milk then mid morning a vegetable juice, lunch will be some type of meal with lentils or pulses (ie pea soup) then a banana mid afternoon and evening meal is either fresh fish (halibut or haddock) or fresh chicken with plenty of fresh green vegetables and occasionally new potatoes. Our diet is very varied and healthy, he doesn't eat any type of sugar but has Agave as a substite if he needs to. We drink plenty of bottled water and fruit teas. Suppers are cream crackers with small amount of cheese or some weetabix or a sandwich although we don't eat a lot of bread but what we do eat is homemade spelt bread. If his sugars are below 5, he has difficulty functioning, ie symptoms of hypo's. Personally, I don't think he is a diabetic, my father was and he displayed 'classic' symptoms of the disease.
 
debbie24 said:
Typical meals are:- porridge made with goats milk then mid morning a vegetable juice, lunch will be some type of meal with lentils or pulses (ie pea soup) then a banana mid afternoon and evening meal is either fresh fish (halibut or haddock) or fresh chicken with plenty of fresh green vegetables and occasionally new potatoes. Our diet is very varied and healthy, he doesn't eat any type of sugar but has Agave as a substite if he needs to. We drink plenty of bottled water and fruit teas. Suppers are cream crackers with small amount of cheese or some weetabix or a sandwich although we don't eat a lot of bread but what we do eat is homemade spelt bread. If his sugars are below 5, he has difficulty functioning, ie symptoms of hypo's. Personally, I don't think he is a diabetic, my father was and he displayed 'classic' symptoms of the disease.
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With levels of 20 he is certainly diabetic. Sorry to be the barer of bad news, but if you as a non diabetic checked your levels, you wouldn't see a 20.

He needs to reduce his carbs, while he is running such high levels, he really is in danger of blindness and amputation. Porridge is hig carb depending on the variety, but even the lowest in carbs is possibly still to high. Veg is perfect for a diabetic, but watch out for any grown below ground, potato's are the absolute worst, parsnips and carrots better, but still quite high. Banana's are an absolute no-no, they are possibly the highest carb fruit there is. Berries are much better. You will also have to watch the pulses, some are very high carb, I don't eat them now, so not sure of the total carbs in each. meat is perfect too, including the fat, by cutting carbs, he should try to replace the calories with healthy fats, dairy, fat on meat, olive oil et, but full fat versions, not light or diet, they are bulked out with sugar. The crackers are also high carb, and if I say eek to weetabix I think you get the message, all cereals are very high carb. Homemade bread is fine, but not if it's made with wheat flour, the lowest carb bread is Burgen Soya and Linseed, and even that is around 11g of carbs per slice. I make my own bread with almond flour.

I am diabetic, but if you were a fly on the wall here, you would never guess, I am fit and healthy and show no signs of any diabetes at all, that applies to most of us here. Please, take time to read the posts here, he needs to get his diet and levels sorted out, and believe me, the folk here will be more than happy to help, but he must, must, must reduce his carb intake.
 
I completely agree with everything Defren has said and would highly recommend this website which is what I used to get me started; www.dietdoctor.com/lchf

A lot of people on this forum have found that managing carbs is the single most effective way to manage our diabetes - and we have healthy debates about superfoods and supplements also. You would never know I have diabetes, I do everything I can to control symptoms, and have no intention of having amputations, kidney disease or blindness. I have just joined a gym and started Spinning Classes. (I'm not very good at it mind you :) ) I'm somewhat overweight but working on it. Diabetes is obviously a very serious disease but you can have some measure of control over it, especially if you start to manage it when you are newly diagnosed.
 
Anyone whose BG goes up to 20 has definitely got abnormal sugar metabolism. However if you become accustomed to high sugars in the long term, yyou will feel hypo if you drop back to normal ,It's called false hypo.
Many people have no symptoms if their BG is too high. I think I'm probably one, but since I test regularly and never let mine go over 6, I don't know.
Whatever this is needs further investigation and at the very least, An oral Glucose tolerance test.
Hana
 
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