RH & Prediabetes

I am pretty certain that the two long bouts of illness and antibiotics not working when I was in my teens and early twenties started me on the path to diabetes.
I used to have what I now know were hypoglycemic symptoms in mid afternoons which I am sure affected my exam results, and caused me trouble at work. I went low carb out of necessity, despite opposition as everyone knew how essential carbohydrate is for good health - even though it was killing me. On low carb I was fine, full of energy and no afternoon 'crashes'.
When I was diagnosed a year ago I was eating my meals fairly close together, and that brought back the same symptoms.
When I ate earlier in the day and later in the evening with most of the carbs at dinner time the lows went away. I was never diagnosed with RH and was never given a blood test for diabetes until it was done accidentally in place of my annual thyroid check. I was 65 at the time.
Rather than the dense carbs I would recommend a dessert such as Greek yogurt with berries or desiccated coconut added and left to stand for a few minutes. I get frozen fruit mixes so I can keep the portions to what I can handle and not waste any.

1Kirstygrace said:

Is there a link between RH being a form of 'not working properly' and being the early signs of diabetes???
I keep seeing this mentioned online and there seems to be very mixed opinions/science on it. Is there any factual evidence that is reliable anybody knows about on the subject at all?

Should I be worried that I feel so bad when my BS rise to the 7' & 8's after a meal - when it's comfortable in the 4.8/5's after a meal usually???
When it goes in the 8's - I usually get 3'after... if I stay in the late 5's or so after a meal, I'm usually ok. They aren't astronomical spikes - yet I feel so bad and dizzy/sickly when it happens!!! Its usually after carbs/rice/porridge if the portions are a little larger or if I eat carbs in the morning, which I try to avoid as much as possible. I completely void sugar and I'm more underweight than over - should I be worried about it all turning to diabetes later on???

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Yes, there is a link!
@Brunneria has been diagnosed with T2 diabetes but has episodes of reactive hypoglycaemia for most of her life.
But if you gain the control like I have then there is no reason why you should develop diabetes at all.
I haven't! If your hba1c levels are below diabetes levels then you are not diabetic or prediabetic.
Your fasting levels should be in normal range now! So you should be ok, just your pancreas misbehaving after carbs.
Remember no hyper, no hypo!

I'm only speculating but having uncontrolled blood glucose levels, along with hyperinsulinaemia (high insulin) and high circulating insulin for a long time will almost certainly lead to hyperglycaemia (high blood levels).
Having hypos on top of that lot the symptoms will be dreadful and I remember them vividly.

I know what you mean when you feel your small hyper levels. I get symptoms which are enhanced because of the low levels we maintain.
Like you I try to avoid these by avoiding food that leads to them.
Porridge is particularly bad for me, and I've spiked into double figures with both rice and porridge from normal levels, both with small portions.
It does seem that you are becoming more aware of changes in blood glucose levels and this is good, knowing that your awareness is part of control.
If you feel off you can test your blood glucose levels and then see where that comes from. Then eliminate the food or lower the portion size, if I know, I just stop eating that meal again. If you have a food diary, you should be recording everything that you seem appropriate. Such as hypers, hypos, time after meals and portion size.
This will help in the coming months, and give your doctors and yourself an idea which foods you are intolerant to.

Best wishes, the important thing is you are doing the right thing to keep your blood glucose levels in control as much as possible. Well done!

Best wishes.

Although I would love to see the actual data, I know that for me and my sister they are linked.

After my sister was diagnosed T2D, I started checking my blood glucose levels and HgbA1C and found I was pre- T2D. I insisted on an OGTT with insulin assay and found at 1 hr my glucose was 220 or 12.2 and ar 3 hr my glucose was 38 or 2.1. If nothing else, this explains why I always joked about not having a stop button. Skipping meals after waking was never a problem, but once I started to eat I couldn’t stop. At work people were always amazed at how much I could eat, but now I realize it was stress seeking carbs, which triggered reactive hypoglycemia, which led to eating more carbs, and on and on and on until I went to sleep. They also didn’t understand that at home, where I only keep low carb foods, I didn’t get hungry or eat much.

I also know my sister has always had hypoglycemic episodes. Actually, the way I understood it growing up was if she was being a witch , give her a cookie and suddenly she was nice. LOL

I hated and don't miss those hunger issues.
It's absolutely brilliant not wanting to eat, and pleasing to have food if I want and no longer eat at breakfast, lunch, tea, supper.
So liberating after my battle with my hypo hell!

Kailee56 said:

Although I would love to see the actual data, I know that for me and my sister they are linked.

After my sister was diagnosed T2D, I started checking my blood glucose levels and HgbA1C and found I was pre- T2D. I insisted on an OGTT with insulin assay and found at 1 hr my glucose was 220 or 12.2 and ar 3 hr my glucose was 38 or 2.1. If nothing else, this explains why I always joked about not having a stop button. Skipping meals after waking was never a problem, but once I started to eat I couldn’t stop. At work people were always amazed at how much I could eat, but now I realize it was stress seeking carbs, which triggered reactive hypoglycemia, which led to eating more carbs, and on and on and on until I went to sleep. They also didn’t understand that at home, where I only keep low carb foods, I didn’t get hungry or eat much.

I also know my sister has always had hypoglycemic episodes. Actually, the way I understood it growing up was if she was being a witch , give her a cookie and suddenly she was nice. LOL

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