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strong.mints

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I have joined this forum to gain as much information as I can for my husband.

He has had a blood test which showed higher than normal glucose levels and he has been told that he must go back for a glucose test? This means he has to drink a glucose drink I think. Sorry to be so vague, but this is all new territory for us.

Meanwhile he has to change his diet, so I thought this forum might be the best place to start looking for good advice.

Minty xx
 
hya minty,
welcome to the forum,you will learn so much on here ,if you have any specific questions just ask and someone will give you the answer,your hubby is going to be having the glucose tolerance test to see if he is diabetic,they will need to find out if he is type 1 or type 2 which will make the difference on treatment,as i said before any questions just ask,i have found this forum a fountain of knowledge and great help
take care
amanda :wink:
 
Hi Minty,
No doubt they will give you instructions about the test, if they haven't already done so, but just in case not . . .

The glucose tolerance test is a standard test that doctors perform to determine whether someone is diabetic and whether they are Type-1 or Type-2. Before the test your husband needs to have not had any food or drink (except water) for a minimum of 8 hours. The first thing they will do is to check his blood sugar level before the test. Next he has to drink a glucose solution and wait for 2 hours. During the 2 hours again no food or drink. Then they test the blood sugar level again.

What they are looking for is not how high the blood sugar levels go after the glucose solution, but by how much the level comes down on its own within the 2 hours. That will show how severe the diabetes is and what sort of treatment (if any) will be needed.

As regards the change of diet, did they suggest what changes he needs to make?
 
Hi Dennis,

Many thanks for your reply.

Yes, he (my husband) has to fast for 12 hours beforehand. The GP also told him that he has quite a high reading of some fat thing in his blood (look I AM getting this secondhand :P ) and that is where the change in diet comes in. Basically he has to cut down on fatty foods and (OMG! This is the worst part) wine...ouch!

Is he likely to be diabetic and they are just trying to determine how diabetic he is? Or does it mean he is a borderline case and they are trying to define whether he is actually diabetic at all?

Sorry to sound so vague.

Minty xx
 
Hi Minty,

Sounds like the "fat thing in his blood" could be cholesterol, especially since he has been told to cut down on fatty foods. Shame about the wine though (especially if its red) because that is good at reducing blood sugars.

The glucose test will tell whether he is type-1, type-2, or borderline or pre-diabetic or whether it was all a false alarm.
 
If the "fat thing" is indeed cholesterol, then you might want to look into the wine ban in a bit more detail. Red wine is a good source of anthocyanin (that is what makes it red). Not only is there a lot of anthocyanin in red wine, but it is in a form that is easily absorbed by the gut. Now anthocyanin is really useful stuff - it is an antoxidant that reduces cholesterol levels and has been shown to make heart disease less likely (unfortunately the same is not true of white wines - there is virtually no anthocyanin in them).

Most medics tell you to cut down on drinking - because a lot of people drink way too much. However, so long as you are sensible, then there is no reason that modest drinking can't be a part of a healthy lifestyle and red wine might even help with cholesterol control. If your husband is diabetic then beer and sweet white wine will probably be bad news, but the occasional glass of dry white wine should be fairly harmless and red wine might even be beneficial. Try googling "red wine" & cholesterol and "red wine" & diabetes - you will get a lot of interesting reading matter to discuss with your doctor!
 
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