Is this a low blood sugar reading?

[Foreo]

The past five years, I have been feeling constantly hungry and thirsty.
During that period the doctor performed a couple of tests for diabetes, all came back well.

Symptoms continued but due to blood test arriving back as normal, I just got on with it i.e, carrying snacks and water everywhere I go.

Fast forward to the last couple of months, my symptoms are just a nightmare.
I can't concentrate at work because I'm just constantly obsessing over sugar and how soon the 'next hit is'
My heart is also leaping around and my mouth feels dry as a dessert and I struggle to talk (although a chocolate bar seems to make me feel coherent, pathetic I know)

I just took a reading from a Glucose Meter purchased on Amazon and all seems ok, although I'm wondering if 4.8 is a normal reading two hours after eating? Any advice please.

I do not have low iron, ferritin and thyroid came back normal 6 months back.

Blood sugars should be between 3 and 7, so yes 4.8 is a normal reading.
www.nhs.uk/conditions/high-blood-sugar-hyperglycaemia/

I'm type 2 diabetic and start feeling a bit wobbly if mine drops under 4.

Why did you buy a glucose meter? That particular reading is in the 'normal' range of 4-7 but individuals vary and a single reading is pretty useless. If you want to measure your BM you should measure regularly and keep an eye on any patterns emerging.

It can depend what you ate 2 hours ago?
has the doctor checked your electrolytes? It could be a hormonal imbalance too.
Or it could be as simple as a sugar addiction?

You might be addicted to sugar, hence the "next hit," but diabetic you are not.

That reading is nothing to worry about

As a type 1 diabetic- yes this is a pretty normal reading. Mine is expected to be between 4 and 7, although allowed up to 10 after eating.
Your symptoms don't seem consistent with diabetes to me- with the onset of diabetes you would tend to have very high blood sugar and be needing the toilet all the time as well as thirsty.

Your blood sugars are likely perfectly fine. However your hormones that tell you to eat are clearly used to you going from hit to hit of sugar - we have far less control over what we eat than we think!

If you have tended to eat sugary foods then your body will expect it and after the hit, it will be sending you messages that 'I am about to die if I don't eat''Give me chocolate or I will pass out in the next 20 minutes'

Despite the fact that you in no way look like you are about to die of starvation. Our bodies are good at making us eat, but when we have unlimited access to sugar it all goes a bit wrong.

Have a look at your diet - is it made up of plenty of fluids, protein, whole grains and long acting carbs? Get rid of the sugar.

You could try replacing your snacks with high fat/protein foods - nuts, hard boiled eggs, ham, cheese. Foods like that will keep your blood sugars steady as they release energy slowly. Chocolate will cause a quick high blood sugar, you will release insulin and it will drop again really quickly causing you to crave high sugar foods to bring it back up again.
Low blood sugar isn't a symptom of diabetes, diabetics get low blood sugar readings because of the insulin or other medications they take to treat the diabetes.

Completely normal

I was wondering if my symptoms matched hypoglycaemia rather than diabetes.
The 4.8 reading is also AFTER eating.

Definitely not a sugar addiction because I stopped eating sugar for a few months and substituted with fruit.

I'm finding that I will literally eat a meal and the brain will not register that I have eaten and I'll still be hungry. The thirst is also driving me nuts.

Because I am a size 8, my friends just find it highly amusing watching me shaking, shovelling in food but I feel utterly shite.

Diet wise, I am a vegetarian, porridge in the morning, pulses galore, brown rice.

Eating chocolate is a new thing for me due to the symptoms I mentioned:
Thirst, hunger, sweats palpitations

How old are you? Has the pattern of your periods changed at all?

I felt very like you described during peri menopause.

Isn't fruit full of sugar?

Interestingly Delbertian my mother had an early menopause (49) and I'm 46.

Although my periods haven't changed in length time, I have many peri symptoms.

You're not hypoglycaemic. Your blood sugar is normal. Might be worth dealing with your health anxiety instead. Buying a glucose meter when you aren't diabetic is odd.

If you're a size 8 and constantly hungry.. maybe you just don't eat enough.

Have you tested your sugar levels when you're feeling shaky?

Yeah but a few strawberries and blueberries are hardly going to turn me into a sugar junkie with palpitations, hunger and thirst now is it.

Non-diabetics (amd diabetics with good BG control) would expect their blood glucose to be back to pre-eating levels, 2 hours after eating. Hypoglycaemia is below 4.0 (at the highest, most people are fine at 3.7). So 4.8 two hours after eating is an excellent, healthy number.

and yes, fruit is full of sugar. Berries are the lowest, I think bananas probably the highest.

What do you think is wrong with you though? Hypoglycaemia isn’t a condition in itself. You probably just aren’t eating enough, or eating high GI foods and having a sugar crash afterwards. The treatment for hypoglycaemia is to eat something!

@Foreo You may have an overactive thyroid, you certainly have many of the symptoms - eating lots but not gaining weight (or in fact losing weight), sweats, thirst, shakes, feeling unwell? Do you feel anxious as well or have more bowel movements that usual ? Do you feel warmer than you did? Is your pulse fast?

The thyroid affects sugar metabolism and while a blood glucose of 4.8mmols isn't low taken on it's own, if you've just eaten a huge carby meal before you test you would expect it to be higher. An over active thyroid can cause your blood glucose to be low.

If I were you I would DEFINELY see a doctor and ask about blood tests to check your thyroid function.

@Foreo Sorry I just re-read your post and see you mention palpitations.

4.8 two hours after eating is pretty perfect I think?

4.8 is excellent yes.

If you are craving sugar the easiest way is to swap your diet slightly to things with a lower GI index.

All these food will take longer to be absorbed in the gut and it spreads the glucose load to the body. You'll find you are hungry when your body needs food rather than when you've finished absorbing the glucose.

Look up the Glycemic index and choose foods that are low and mid range.

If you’re only a size 8 and regularly go shaky and are hungry and craving sugar then you are probably just not eating enough
You seem quite hung up on having diabetes but … you just don’t
if you had uncontrolled and unmediated diabetes you’re blood sugars would be sky high, DDs were 42.9 when she was taken to hospital in an ambulance and put in intensive care with failing kidneys at 7 years old
Yours are well within the normal range, just eat a biscuit and you’ll be fine