Symptoms at not-that-high glucose levels

Has anyone else experienced this? I've been diagnosed pre-D for almost a year and been able to keep things within the pre-D range with a combination of LCHF diet and eventually metformin. (Was already thin and active, so that kind of advice was not helpful.) Seems like things have gradually been getting worse and know I may be LADA eventually, but hoping to delay progression as much as possible.

SO, my big issue right now is that I get all the classic diabetes symptoms at blood sugar levels that are not that high. Things like thirst, frequent urination, swollen feet and hands, etc. The worst of it, however, is the horrible mood I get. My partner and child can tell when my blood sugars are up by my mood, which makes me feel like a terrible person! However, as you all likely know, blood sugars are the biggest mystery and frustration in that (while I can certainly make things go high by eating something like apiece of bread or oatmeal), I can do the exact same thing 2 days in a row and have different outcomes.

None of this is so odd, except that I start to get these symptoms when I'm just in the high 5's (mmol/L). A 5.8 fasting, for example, or 6.5 2-hr postprandial, are not that bad #'s, but set me up for terrible grouchiness and sad outlook. When I am at 5.0 (or, when I used to be able to have fasting #s in the 4's!) I feel great, like a totally different person--the optimist I used to be before all this started.When I was first diagnosed and went LCHF I felt great for a while, but then my #s started creeping up again and bringing back symptoms (hence the metformin).

Apparently we're not "supposed" to have symptoms like this until much higher #'s, like 11 or whatnot. Because of this I'm not really sure how to manage things better. I'm on metformin (just increased the dose, oh my GI!), and hardly eating any carbs at all (~50-75 g gross carbs/day, mostly from veggies; maybe 20-25 net if you subtract fibre). I've been a bit less active lately because a frozen shoulder has restricted my ability to lift weights and bike long distances, but more exercise never seemed to help reduce my sugars anyway.

I guess my question has 2 parts:
1) Does anyone else here have experience with diabetes type symptoms at relatively low glucose levels?
2) Any advice for avoiding these low-highs, which are low enough that my clinician isn't worried, but really affect my/my family's quality of life?

Thanks for any insight you can lend. As far as my clinician's concerned, I'm fine unless/until my sugars get back to over 7 fasting on a regular basis or over 11 post-prandial. But I want to feel better now.

Andrew, I am not sure what you mean by do not eat the carbs. My carbs are mostly coming from things like nuts, broccoli, zucchini, spinach, lettuce, and occasionally a small amount of raw carrot, raw beat or cooked sweet potato. I don't know how much more I can cut back and still be eating anything other than meat, fish, and eggs. However, I think you may have a different thing going on from me, as when I exercise 30 min after eating it also drives my glucose up higher.

Kesun, unfortunately I am unlikely to get tested for anything unless/until my sugars get much worse. I tried to get GAD testing (b/c LADA seemed likely) but with no luck. It was a big deal just to get a script for metformin because I'm thin and was able to bring the sugars into sort-of-control with a pretty hardcore LCHF diet (although the effectiveness of that waned somewhat over time). However, I will take your advice to test individual foods. I have done some of that and it's how I figured out I could tolerate 12 bites of sweet potato, although then I lost that after some months (although metformin may have brought that tolerance back?). I have a lot of food allergies, and maybe there are some weird sensitivities that I'm not aware of that are pushing things up? I dunno; I guess it's worth a try.

I'm not low calorie. I make sure to get plenty of fat. I'm not really supposed to be losing any more weight. The metformin does seem to be helping, especially with the fasting #s, which I just could not get down any other way. But, I hoped the medication would help more than it has been! I had fantasies of being able to eat small amounts of grains or pumpkin type things again. So far that seems not to be the case, although the combination of metformin plus the strict LCHF diet does seem to have gotten my fasting and A1c down, so that's good. I do get hungry a lot anyway, because the only trick I really have in my bag for when the #s are high is to just not eat until they go back down again (I mean, a glass of wine or a nap help too, but that's less practical most of the time!), so I just skip meals and go hungry whenever things are dicey.

I don't know about ketosis. I've never tested. I know I had weird breath for a while last summer when I first went on the LCHF diet, but I don't notice it now and the weight loss seems to have stopped or at least dramatically slowed. I don't really know what those other things are, so I guess I'll look them up in some medical databases and see what I can figure out.
Thanks.

Wow, thanks for all the responses. Mostly, I'm relieved that it's not just me being sensitive to the low-highs. My doctor makes me feel like I'm a crybaby because I have #s many diabetics would love to have. I just--I work had for those #s and I wish they would hold a little more consistent. They seem maybe sensitive to stress and hormones? I feel wonderful when I'm in the 4's and low 5's (mmol/L).

I have had serious food allergies (milk, soy, tomato, peanut, lamb...) for several years, so I've done a number of elimination diets over the years and am fairly accustomed to restricted diet eating.

I don't have a food scale. I logged all my food (carb estimates by volume, not weight) for several months after initial diagnosis (July - Nov). I stopped when it became apparent that it was just making me feel crazy and not improving my sugars (in fact my sugar were gradually getting worse, after initial dramatic improvement with the LCHF diet). It's entirely possible that my carb estimates are off; I've just looked up online things like how many grams carb in a cup of lettuce or chopped broccoli.

I typically eat mostly protein for breakfast (couple of eggs or sausages) or occasionally flax-egg "waffles" with almond butter, a green salad with avocado or leftover supper for lunch, and another salad or sauteed veggies (e.g. zucchini, broccoli & cabbage) with a cooked veg side (like cauliflower or kale) and some fish or meat for supper. If my sugar is high in the afternoon I sometimes just have a few celery sticks for supper, or skip it all together. I drink a lot of water and a fair bit of coffee, mostly black, occasionally with almond milk. I snack on nuts and celery. I saw a dietitian last fall, but she was unhelpful. She took my novel-length food log, and suggested I try eating barley, which was (perhaps obviously) a disaster. Then she told me to eat an avocado when I'm hungry, and that she had no other ideas.

Since starting the metformin and seeing some improvement in my #s I've let myself use a small amount of grated carrot or beet for garnish on my salads, and an occasional few bites of broiled sweet potato or squash with supper (sweet potato seems to go okay in very small amounts, whilst white potato is always a disaster for me!). Before starting the metformin I had to watch things more closely and had started to have to cut out things like onion, large portions of broccoli. Maybe I should go back to that again, although I'd rather not -- I'm so bored of salad! I used to be an avid cook of various cuisines and quite a baker -- "healthy" baked goods, but not healthy for me (us!) any more. Sigh.