Prediabetic-Carnt get rid of the thirst

[Angiebond]

Hello all

I was diagnoised prediabetic 2-3 weeks ago, I changed my diet and reduced my carbs, no potatoes, white rice pasta or white bread and reduced chocolate, i have broke it about twice in the three weeks. I have purchased a ccu-Chek Mobile Blood Glucose meter and my readings upon waking are 5.2 -5.4 and 5.7 after food, I persumed these levals were ok but I have had dreadfull thirst for 3 weeks, i drink gallons of water day and night and can not quench the thirst, im forever on the loo and its so disturbing at night, im absoultly exausted with the disturbed sleep. I am looking for some simple advice as i am newly diagnosided and dont understand all the tech, the only readings i understand is the mmol/L on my meter but still dont know if the readings are good or bad and ive not heard anyone talking about this thirst its so uncomfortable, could somebody please answer the question below in laymans terms.

Thank you all in advance.

ps: before being diagnoised i was a chocaholic, eating the big bars of chocolate at least 3 times a week with cream chocolate cakes sweets coka cola on top of that, plus potatoes and white bread daily

I have now changed my diet: Only had potatoes once and chocolate 3 times in small amounts, no fizzy drinks, no white bread, no pasta, and white organic rice because it had less carbs than the brown.
I also get a weekly delivery of organic veg so 3 time a week i juice spinich, kale apples blueberries carrots and have swapped the pianapple for grapefuit as i found out the pianapple was not good for sugar levals..

I am 5ft 2in and was 60 kilos so not overweight but did have the belly fat, I have lost 3 Kilos so now 57 kilos

• Can i please get advise on what the normal range is for a healthy individual
• What the range is for prediabetics
• any idea on why I carnt get rid of the thirst
• If i get to a lower leval will the thirst go

 

[Engineer88]

I would probably be looking at a dr visit with a thirst at those levels.

Generally the need to drink only starts over 11mmol as that's when your kidneys start passing excess sugar.

 

[Angiebond]

I would probably be looking at a dr visit with a thirst at those levels.

Generally the need to drink only starts over 11mmol as that's when your kidneys start passing excess sugar.

Thank you for replying, I will go and see my doctor, its so strange though, the readings on the machine are only 5.5 and i am following all the instruction, washing and drying my hands before i take the reading, also six months ago my option gave me a letter to take to my doctors, it said suspected diabetis as i had burst blood vessels behind my eyes, something like that but when i got tested it came back negative but 6 months latter i have come back prediabetic, could it be possible that my reading arnt coming out right.
Like i said i sit here all day with water and carnt leave the house with out water, even writing this i need to reach for my water its ridiculous, if its false reading, any idea what might cause that.
Thanks again for the reply

 

[Bluetit1802]

Thank you for replying, I will go and see my doctor, its so strange though, the readings on the machine are only 5.5 and i am following all the instruction, washing and drying my hands before i take the reading, also six months ago my option gave me a letter to take to my doctors, it said suspected diabetis as i had burst blood vessels behind my eyes, something like that but when i got tested it came back negative but 6 months latter i have come back prediabetic, could it be possible that my reading arnt coming out right.
Like i said i sit here all day with water and carnt leave the house with out water, even writing this i need to reach for my water its ridiculous, if its false reading, any idea what might cause that.
Thanks again for the reply

Do you have any issues with your red blood cells, such as anaemia or similar problems? The HbA1c test relies on us all having normal, standard red blood cells that live for around 120 days before being replaced with new ones. If we happen not to have normal standard RBC the HbA1c is likely to be inaccurate. This is a well researched and well known fact.

 

[Angiebond]

Im not sure if i have any issues with my red blood cells, I dont think im anaemic. I will have to go and see my doctors, not looking forward to it as they are not very good, told me i was prediabetic and sent me home, no information, probably just persumed i knew all about diabetis, which i dont and i said in my post it was my options that picked it up six months before but when the docters tested they said my test was negative so dont understand whats going on, any way if the results are showing up false and i am above 11as the thirst is extreme, any idea how to get rid of the thirst? and if it is over 11 does that mean i am diabetic? appreciate your feedback. Thank you

 

[Bluetit1802]

Im not sure if i have any issues with my red blood cells, I dont think im anaemic. I will have to go and see my doctors, not looking forward to it as they are not very good, told me i was prediabetic and sent me home, no information, probably just persumed i knew all about diabetis, which i dont and i said in my post it was my options that picked it up six months before but when the docters tested they said my test was negative so dont understand whats going on, any way if the results are showing up false and i am above 11as the thirst is extreme, any idea how to get rid of the thirst? and if it is over 11 does that mean i am diabetic? appreciate your feedback. Thank you

If I were you I would ring the surgery and ask for a print out of your last lot of blood tests (you are entitled to these). I would also ask for the print out of the previous tests 6 months ago. If you are in England you can also enquire if your surgery puts test results on line and ask how to register for this. These should include full blood counts, so you can look to see what your red blood cells are doing - and if you don't understand, we can help you. It will also show all your glucose tests, which ones you had, and what the figures were, plus other stuff such as cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglycerides, and kidney and liver functions.

When you say "above 11", is this referring to the oral glucose tolerance test (the one where you have a drink of glucose beforehand) The normal test is the HbA1c.

Under 42 is non-diabetic
42 to 47 is pre-diabetic
48 and above is diabetic.

 

[Angiebond]

If I were you I would ring the surgery and ask for a print out of your last lot of blood tests (you are entitled to these). I would also ask for the print out of the previous tests 6 months ago. If you are in England you can also enquire if your surgery puts test results on line and ask how to register for this. These should include full blood counts, so you can look to see what your red blood cells are doing - and if you don't understand, we can help you. It will also show all your glucose tests, which ones you had, and what the figures were, plus other stuff such as cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglycerides, and kidney and liver functions.

When you say "above 11", is this referring to the oral glucose tolerance test (the one where you have a drink of glucose beforehand) The normal test is the HbA1c.


Under 42 is non-diabetic
42 to 47 is pre-diabetic
48 and above is diabetic.

Thank you, I will ask for the results, i am not above 11, my readings are 5.5mmol another user said i should not be getting intence thirst with them reading, he said that usually happens when the readings are over 11 so maybe i have some other issue causing the results to be low whilst having the intense thirst which has lasted 3 weeks and i carnt get rid of it, so uncomfortable and tireing as i my sleep is disturbed drastically. Thank you very much for your advice, i will take it on board and get an appointment with my doctor.
ps. its not the test were you have to drink anything, its just the one i took on accu chek mobile glucose monitoring machine, New to this so the only thing this is measuring is my blood glucose levals in mmol/L. Thank you

 

[AdamJames]

Hello all

I was diagnoised prediabetic 2-3 weeks ago, I changed my diet and reduced my carbs, no potatoes, white rice pasta or white bread and reduced chocolate, i have broke it about twice in the three weeks. I have purchased a ccu-Chek Mobile Blood Glucose meter and my readings upon waking are 5.2 -5.4 and 5.7 after food, I persumed these levals were ok but I have had dreadfull thirst for 3 weeks, i drink gallons of water day and night and can not quench the thirst, im forever on the loo and its so disturbing at night, im absoultly exausted with the disturbed sleep. I am looking for some simple advice as i am newly diagnosided and dont understand all the tech, the only readings i understand is the mmol/L on my meter but still dont know if the readings are good or bad and ive not heard anyone talking about this thirst its so uncomfortable, could somebody please answer the question below in laymans terms.

Thank you all in advance.

ps: before being diagnoised i was a chocaholic, eating the big bars of chocolate at least 3 times a week with cream chocolate cakes sweets coka cola on top of that, plus potatoes and white bread daily

I have now changed my diet: Only had potatoes once and chocolate 3 times in small amounts, no fizzy drinks, no white bread, no pasta, and white organic rice because it had less carbs than the brown.
I also get a weekly delivery of organic veg so 3 time a week i juice spinich, kale apples blueberries carrots and have swapped the pianapple for grapefuit as i found out the pianapple was not good for sugar levals..

I am 5ft 2in and was 60 kilos so not overweight but did have the belly fat, I have lost 3 Kilos so now 57 kilos

• Can i please get advise on what the normal range is for a healthy individual
• What the range is for prediabetics
• any idea on why I carnt get rid of the thirst
• If i get to a lower leval will the thirst go

I had a heck of a time with urination and drinking in the night when I changed my diet a while ago. I know what you mean about being exhausted with lack of sleep.

I never did work out why, but it seems to have gone away now. It was confusing at first, because I was used to the problem of urinating with high blood sugar, but never with low blood sugar, and I was getting good numbers like you.

I had some ideas:

* Possibly too much salt. I was definitely eating a lot of salty stuff, and even sometimes artificially adding sodium and potassium to my diet because I thought I was in ketosis and apparently you need to replace electrolytes. I think I possibly had gone too far with salt.

* Possibly too much protein. The body does need more water to deal with protein, so maybe it's worth checking your 'macro ratios'. Typically it seems you can be safe on as little as 50g protein a day, but people often have much more than this. It might be worth trying a few low protein days (keep carbs low also, and replace with fat).

* I may have been 'slipping into and out of' ketosis. Urination and thirst are a known phenomenon when you enter ketosis. It may be worth keeping an accurate log of your carb intake. If one day you are having 20g and the next you are having 100g this might possibly explain it. If you try keeping it at one end of that range for a few days maybe things will get better.

As I say I really don't know why my particular problem 'cleared up' but I'm relieved it did. It may not be related to what you are going through. I really hope it gets better for you, I know how miserable it is!

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Silly question maybe, but you say you tested after your meals. But how long after? When you just finished, or 2 hours after first bite? It takes a while for sugar to spike after a meal, after all. (Between an hour and a half and two hours, on average). If you see any big spikes, you might want to drop rice, bread and pasta alltogether. I'm easing myself into keto right now and I'm thirsty and in the loo all the time now, but that's temporary, as my body adjusts. So that might be the case for you too. For now, don't panic. Just keep an eye on your meter, check before eating and 2 hours after first bite, and keep hydrated!

 

[Angiebond]

I had a heck of a time with urination and drinking in the night when I changed my diet a while ago. I know what you mean about being exhausted with lack of sleep.

I never did work out why, but it seems to have gone away now. It was confusing at first, because I was used to the problem of urinating with high blood sugar, but never with low blood sugar, and I was getting good numbers like you.

I had some ideas:

* Possibly too much salt. I was definitely eating a lot of salty stuff, and even sometimes artificially adding sodium and potassium to my diet because I thought I was in ketosis and apparently you need to replace electrolytes. I think I possibly had gone too far with salt.

* Possibly too much protein. The body does need more water to deal with protein, so maybe it's worth checking your 'macro ratios'. Typically it seems you can be safe on as little as 50g protein a day, but people often have much more than this. It might be worth trying a few low protein days (keep carbs low also, and replace with fat).

* I may have been 'slipping into and out of' ketosis. Urination and thirst are a known phenomenon when you enter ketosis. It may be worth keeping an accurate log of your carb intake. If one day you are having 20g and the next you are having 100g this might possibly explain it. If you try keeping it at one end of that range for a few days maybe things will get better.

As I say I really don't know why my particular problem 'cleared up' but I'm relieved it did. It may not be related to what you are going through. I really hope it gets better for you, I know how miserable it is!

Thank you for your reply, I am a real newbee to all this so dont know what ketosis is but will look it up, as i am prediabetic i have reduced my carbs, no potatoes pasta and changed to white multigrain bread and brown bread, ive cut out the chocolate cakes and sweets and i have started juicing three times a week, tried brown rice but hated it lol, but my diet as altered drastickly already, sick of sweet potatoe, i dont count anything else only sugar and carbs, i just look on the products packets and look for low sugar and low carbs, as im newly diagnoised i havent acctually been counting carbs and sugar, i thought with the drastic change to my diet i would get good results immediatly, ive replace sugar with sugar substitute. I do like my salt so will look into that, i did have high blood presure but thats under control so maybe the salts not the issue but it looks like i have to look into alot of things but i hope mine just clears up like yours did.
Thanks for the advise x

 

[Angiebond]

Silly question maybe, but you say you tested after your meals. But how long after? When you just finished, or 2 hours after first bite? It takes a while for sugar to spike after a meal, after all. (Between an hour and a half and two hours, on average). If you see any big spikes, you might want to drop rice, bread and pasta alltogether. I'm easing myself into keto right now and I'm thirsty and in the loo all the time now, but that's temporary, as my body adjusts. So that might be the case for you too. For now, don't panic. Just keep an eye on your meter, check before eating and 2 hours after first bite, and keep hydrated!

Hello
Thank you for the advise, I am checking around 2 hours after eating but think i should be more precise with what im doing now and im going to look into keto as i dont know what it means lol, newly diagnoised pre-diabetic so just trying to educate myself.
Thank you for your support and advise, much appreciated everyone x

 

[AdamJames]

it looks like i have to look into alot of things

Unfortunately, yes. It wasn't too bad for me as I am quite happy logging things on a spreadsheet. But really, especially if you are having problems like this, making accurate logs can be very helpful.

It's horribly time consuming at first, having to check all the foods, weigh them etc, but it gets easier, and once you've found a 'way of eating' with a good amount of meals you know works for you, you can then relax!

Re ketosis, it's a phenomenon whereby if you reduce your carb intake to a certain level (differs for each person) your body starts running on fat rather than glucose. Various things change, but relevant to your problem, salt is flushed out of your body and you urinate a lot.

 

[Angiebond]

Unfortunately, yes. It wasn't too bad for me as I am quite happy logging things on a spreadsheet. But really, especially if you are having problems like this, making accurate logs can be very helpful.

It's horribly time consuming at first, having to check all the foods, weigh them etc, but it gets easier, and once you've found a 'way of eating' with a good amount of meals you know works for you, you can then relax!

Re ketosis, it's a phenomenon whereby if you reduce your carb intake to a certain level (differs for each person) your body starts running on fat rather than glucose. Various things change, but relevant to your problem, salt is flushed out of your body and you urinate a lot.

Thank you, I have just looked up keto so will take all this into account. i usually eat chocolate cakes and puddings daily, im a real chochaholic so thing my body as gone into some kind of shock with this diet lol.
Anyway thank you everybody, ive got more info here than at my doctors, I will keep you posted on how things go and if or when this thirst stops xx

 

[Bluetit1802]

As you are drinking so much, and urinating it all out, you will lose a lot of salt, so don't reduce your intake or you may be ill.

Make sure your testing regime is structured and consistent.
Test immediately before a meal
Test again 1 hour and 2 hours after first bite
Keep a food diary that includes all ingredients and portion sizes
Record your levels alongside the food eaten, along with any notes about how you are feeling, exercise, etc.
When you have a few days worth of records, post them on here and we will see what's what.

I think you need to speak to the doctor about your raging thirst. It really doesn't sound diabetes related. I could be wrong of course.