To ask for advice about blood sugar, I’m scared

[Pixydust]

Posting here for traffic. I’ve been feeling a bit off and my tummy has been upset for months. I had some blood tests and the doctor has phoned to say my blood sugar is “a bit high” and we need to talk about how to bring it down.

I am shitting myself thinking I must be diabetic. The receptionist said it doesn’t say that on my record, it just says we need to discuss it. I have to wait two weeks for an appointment.

Please can anyone advise? I’m so scared. I know I’m a stone overweight and eat too many biscuits but I’m only 42 and I didn’t expect this.

It sounds as though you could be pre diabetic. Did they do stool samples?

No just a blood test.

Did you eat anything before the blood test?

No, I had just been swimming and hadn’t eaten anything for a few hours.

Don't be scared. Slightly high blood glucose takes a very long time (years and years) to cause any significant harm to you. They've caught it early and it can be controlled with some changes to diet. I've been type 1 (where my pancreas produces no insulin at all) for 25 years and I'm still not seeing any complications.

Have the appointment with your doctor to get some guidance then if you can afford it, buy a Libre flash glucose monitoring device (they were about £50 a couple of years ago, probably gone up a bit). You wear it on your skin and it continually measures your blood glucose. Use the app on your phone to log what you eat and you can see the impact of various foods on your BG so you know what to cut down on.

Only carbohydrates affect BG, not fat or protein. So mostly it's about reducing carbs and switching to low GI options. The things to completely avoid are sugary drinks - liquids get into your blood very quickly and spike your BG - and things made of pure sugar like Haribo-type sweets.

If you’re prediabetic, drink more water, exercise a bit more (walking is enough), cut out carbs as much as possible, and where you must have carbs, try wholemeal versions if you don’t do that already. It takes some getting used to but you’ll have to do it if you’re diabetic so give it a go.

@ItsNotRocketSalad thank you. I have health anxiety and this phone call has just terrified me.

Okay… get a grip. Don’t do anything until you have seen your doctor. They need to be told that you had been swimming and hadn’t eaten. (This is important.) Don’t change your diet, drink extra water or exercise like a wannabe Olympian. Don’t have a blowout and eat an entire cheesecake the night before in a crazed attempt to bid adieu to sugar. They may order another test to follow up and get an accurate picture. (I suspect that this is the case.)
Once you have spoken to your GP, they will suggest the next move, which should be done only with medical supervision. If you do discover that you have diabetes, you could cause further problems if you don’t know what you’re doing, try and follow too many trains of thought, etc.

No need to panic,@Pixydust . It's likely you may be pre-diabetic, but this can be reversed with diet and exercise.

Read The Sugar Solution by Dr Mark Hyman. You'll get a thorough understanding of the damage caused by simple carbs and sugar, and how to wean yourself off these foods and eat healthily.

Cut out sugar and UPF. Don't drink calories (sodas, fruit juices or alcohol). Eat mainly plants, plus moderate amounts of lean protein and small amounts of healthy fats (EVOO, avocados) and complex carbs (lentils, quinoa, starchy vegetables etc). In other words a Mediterranean diet..

Exercise 4-5 a week for 30-45 minutes, especially weight-bearing/resistance based workouts (try Caroline Girvan) and HIIT (Growingannanas).

Sorry, you posted the last comment while I was typing. I wasn’t telling you to get a grip due to health anxiety. I understand how real that is. I meant just don’t put the cart before the horse. See your GP. (I’m a nurse, and my next round of study is to specialize in diabetes and renal health, and I am concerned about too many people popping in with simple solutions to a problem that may not exist.) Please don’t increase fluid intake atm either. That could affect results AND overload your kidneys.

Again, sorry for the bold type. I’m really not yelling at you! I have no idea how I did that!

Thank you @Fraaahnces why is it important that I’d been swimming and hadn’t eaten? I was in the pool for 2 hours and hadn’t eaten for about 5 hours.

It isn't.
The hba1c blood test diagnoses diabetes and pre diabetes and gives an average blood sugar over the past three months.
Fasting and swimming are irrelevant.
Low carb, cut out added sugar, weight loss. Get your BP and cholesterol checked too.
There are millions of pre diabetics. Many unknowing. No panic needed.
Practice nurse.

It is not be the hba1c test as that looks at level of glucose in blood over a three month period. It is relevant for a one off test for monitoring during the day. If it were high enough to be into the diabetic level your appointment would be more urgent.

I've been pre diabetic for 7 years and it runs in my family

I'm not overweight (I've lost 5 stone) and I walk a lot - I've just done the Zoe and it picked up it was still there (which I'm gutted about) so now I have to go back to the doctor - maybe for medication now

Speak to your GP. In the meantime look up the Fast 800 diet and ask your GP about it.

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/enjoy-food/eating-with-diabetes/whats-your-healthy-weight/low-calorie-diets

Sounds like she's had an hba1c so no the swimming etc isn't relevant and yes she should start reducing sugar intake immediately although I agree there's no need to panic and start cutting out whole food groups.

Take a walk every day OP and ditch sugary foods like cakes and fizzy drinks etc, your blood sugar will hopefully come down nicely for the next blood test which should be in 3 months.

I totally get that a phone call like that is scary but try not to panic yet. Pre-diabetes is incredibly common and can generally be reversed with diet and exercise - it's not a death sentence and doesn't necessarily mean that you'll even develop diabetes in the future.

Pre-diabetes is extremely reversible with diet and you can turn this around very fast.

A stone overweight is very easy to deal with.

Look at Jason Fung on YouTube. He specialises in diabetic kidney disease and helps treatment with diet and fasting.

It’s brilliant OP.

If you had had a simple blood glucose test that had read a bit high even several hours after eating that might be an indication that your blood glucose would be even higher after eating, which might be relevant.

However I would think (and more importantly so does a practice nurse on here) you had a H1bac test which is a kind of long range summary from the past several weeks, which is more useful than a point in time test.

If that’s the case “a bit high” isn’t terribly worrying. You may even be able to reverse that yourself with diet and exercise. Try not to panic - this is not a catastrophe.

@cptartapp sorry to hijack but when the hba1c indicates low blood sugar what is the treatment generally? My doctor said to up my sugar content but it's really not that with me... I have severe crohns, dumping syndrome and short bowel.

Any advice would be gratefully received :)

I’m a clinical nutritionist and work with people exactly like you.

No need to panic. You can start to help yourself today by cutting carbs as much as possible.

Cut out grains and cereals and radically reduce sugars and starches. Eat as much above ground veg as you like. Eat protein as a priority with each meal, especially breakfast. It will help balance your blood sugar during the day.

https://www.dietdoctor.com has amazing meal plans so you take out the guess work.

I’ve seen people’s fasting glucose come down in as little as 2 weeks.

Low blood sugar is generally not an issue if you’re eating low carb.

Do you get low blood sugar symptoms like sudden hunger, sweating, nausea, trembling or shaking, anxiety or feeling like you might faint?

@Stomacharmeleon meant to quote you there, no idea what happened