I know this is a strange topic but this is my situation: A number of years ago (10?), I was told I was pre-diabetic with a reading of 6.1. I can't remember if that was the fasting number or if I had further testing. Between then and now, I lost and regained 100 pounds, losing mostly through low-carbing, gaining back by falling back into old habits. After having some symptoms, I've been monitoring my blood sugar with my husband's kit and have seen a random 12,8 as well as morning fast numbers in the 7s. I understand this puts me as a diabetic.
I have jumped right back onto Low Carb with a vengeance. I'm experienced in how to eat low carb so it feels like putting on an old shoe - comfortable and safe. My last off-program food was two date squares on Thursday night and it's Sunday now. After getting morning readings in the 7s for the past few days, today seems better and I've had 5.9 and 5.1 postprandial after lunch and dinner respectively.
This is in some ways an ethical question. I do believe that I am diabetic. I haven't been to my doctor for about a year for any blood testing and at that time, my blood sugars were perfect since I was pretty strictly low carb. I do hope that my readings will return to normal in a relatively short time with low carbing.
My dilemma: I can wait a few months, go to the doctor, and possibly have perfect numbers with regular testing. To him, there would be no flags for diabetes. This would have a positive impact on some things like insurance. But the down sides of not being diagnosed? I would assume that things like going for surgery would be hazardous if the surgeon and anesthetist are not aware beforehand. And checking for secondary damage -- if I can get the numbers on track, do I have to worry about it? I did have an eye exam recently for something unrelated and the eye doctor asked if I am diabetic. My response at that point was "not that I am aware of" although I strongly suspected it.
Being labelled is a for-life thing. I don't know whether it's better to just get labelled and get it over with or hold on to the non-label as long as I can.
I'm basically a very honest person so this is a bit of a dilemma for me. Comments?
I have jumped right back onto Low Carb with a vengeance. I'm experienced in how to eat low carb so it feels like putting on an old shoe - comfortable and safe. My last off-program food was two date squares on Thursday night and it's Sunday now. After getting morning readings in the 7s for the past few days, today seems better and I've had 5.9 and 5.1 postprandial after lunch and dinner respectively.
This is in some ways an ethical question. I do believe that I am diabetic. I haven't been to my doctor for about a year for any blood testing and at that time, my blood sugars were perfect since I was pretty strictly low carb. I do hope that my readings will return to normal in a relatively short time with low carbing.
My dilemma: I can wait a few months, go to the doctor, and possibly have perfect numbers with regular testing. To him, there would be no flags for diabetes. This would have a positive impact on some things like insurance. But the down sides of not being diagnosed? I would assume that things like going for surgery would be hazardous if the surgeon and anesthetist are not aware beforehand. And checking for secondary damage -- if I can get the numbers on track, do I have to worry about it? I did have an eye exam recently for something unrelated and the eye doctor asked if I am diabetic. My response at that point was "not that I am aware of" although I strongly suspected it.
Being labelled is a for-life thing. I don't know whether it's better to just get labelled and get it over with or hold on to the non-label as long as I can.
I'm basically a very honest person so this is a bit of a dilemma for me. Comments?