Trying to cut out the sugar

[Kazy B]

Hi, I’ve recently been diagnosed with pre diabetes and after some research, have found I may be able to reverse this by cutting out as much refined and added sugars as possible. I’m about 5 stone overweight and a female aged 57. I have already lost 10 Ib and I’m slowly getting there. But since my diagnosis last year, I’ve noticed I keep getting cuts that won’t stop bleeding for ages and are slow to heal. I’m on B12 injections to help with my tiredness also. Are these symptoms common for pre diabetes?

 

[Resurgam]

Being in the prediabetic range your dietary changes might help you back into the normal range, but I find the recommendations of a 'healthy' diet are far too high in carbs for me - they are starches as well as sugar, and the bread, pasta and starchy veges, the high sugar fruits as well, are all too much for me to cope with.
I would certainly advise seeing your GP about the bleeding and not healing. It is not anything I've seen mentioned in association with diabetes.
Are you also taking Metformin? I found I could not live with that stuff and threw it out along with the Atorvastatin after only a few weeks - and the most miserable month of my life.

 

[catinahat]

Welcome @Kazy B
Congratulations on the weight loss, 10lb is an excellent start, well done.
Don't get too fixated on sugars, carbohydrates are what we need to concentrate on. When carbohydrates are digested they are converted to glucose, sugar is just another form of carbohydrate.
Food manufacturers love to put "no added sugars" on their products in an attempt to convince us that their high carb products are healthy, but the reality is that those carbs will cause our blood sugar to rise.

 

[KennyA]

Hi, I’ve recently been diagnosed with pre diabetes and after some research, have found I may be able to reverse this by cutting out as much refined and added sugars as possible. I’m about 5 stone overweight and a female aged 57. I have already lost 10 Ib and I’m slowly getting there. But since my diagnosis last year, I’ve noticed I keep getting cuts that won’t stop bleeding for ages and are slow to heal. I’m on B12 injections to help with my tiredness also. Are these symptoms common for pre diabetes?

Hi Kazy

Be aware that all carbohydrates, not just sugar, will raise your blood glucose. So by all means avoid the refined and added sugars, but you will need to reduce carbohydrate intake as well.

I had exactly the sort of "slow healing" and bleeding problem you describe. Blood with a lot of glucose in it does not clot well, and it is associated with diabetes for some people. My problem started at BGs around 44 or 45 and went as soon as I got my blood glucose back to normal. However there are a number of other possible things that cause problems with blood clotting, so I would strongly advise you to get a medical view.

One of the issues for me is that doctors these days will not diagnose diabetes unless blood glucose is 48 or above. However people often report diabetic symptoms long before their levels have reached 48, which is why the "pre-diabetes" category was invented. According to Bilous and Donnelly in the "Handbook of Diabetes" 48 was picked (comparatively recently, around 2008) because diabetic retinopathy is rare (but therefore still occurs) beneath that figure.

 

[CatsFive]

I would say that all ready meals, low fat & low calorie foods are suspect, and alcohol is a very easy and pleasant way to take in lots of calories. I don't know if you live with a partner and/or children. I don't, that made almost entirely cutting out carbs fairly easy, and doing that has lead to a substantial weight loss. I didn't have much in the way of sugary things and have less now. I did treat myself at Xmas though - got a 4-portion Xmas pud and ate it over 4 days with a goodly healing of crème fraiche!

However you need to see the doctor about the bleeding & slow healing. Slow healing can be a symptom of diabetes and is listed both here and on the NHS website.