Chemist tested me for diabetes - sent me to the Dr TODAY urgently...please come and talk to me...

[MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot]

These are my questions

1: The reading the chemist got was 20 - can anyone tell me what this means (ie how 'serious' it is) and if they think it could be controlled and/or preferably gotten rid of through diet and exercise.

2: What will the Dr do today.

The rest is whittering background.

Also, I just wanted to say that I'll have to go in about an hour and wont be able to get back on line until tomorrow afternoon, but I haven't done a runner and will be grateful for any help/advice.

[I'm a regular - I've namechanged because I'm not sure yet if I want to tell anyone or not and I have a few RL friends on MN. It's not that I mind people knowing as such it's just that I don't want it to turn into A Big Deal]

I have been wondering for quite some time if I might have diabetes. A few things have made me wonder about it such as

• Excessive thirst (always having to have a bottle of water on me)

• Eyes a bit blurry at night (been blaming the overhead light and the small tv screen with tivo bright red background and only a problem at night and spending too much time looking at screens)

• Occasional 'shakes'

• I am overweight and struggle with feeling like my 'blood sugars' aren't right

...but what made me 'man up' to getting tested was that last week & yesterday I had a couple of episodes of light headedness/feeling faint when doing things such as changing a lightbulb, I had also been having them in the shower, but put that down to it being hot/steamy etc

I called the chemist about a year ago to see if they did the tests, but ended up not going

I also went to my Dr about 3-4 years ago with constant tiredness and no real reason for it.... he put it down to my weight (which although I'm overweight was not stopping me doing anything, being reasonably fit etc), he really wasn't interested in looking further. I haven't been back, but am and have been pretty much constantly tired since before then. I know I should have seen another Dr but it's hard when you are overweight and they don't seem interested in seeing past that and accept their might be something other excess weight causing the problem.

I wonder now how long I might have had it for and thus how much damage I might have done already to my body, especially my eyes, that's pretty scary.

I was already overweight, but I was pretty fit - then something quite lifechanging happened and I've put on more weight, stopped exercising and I am not unfit. I'm certainly not can't move off the couch unfit - I could still easily walk 4 miles, run for the bus (i'd be panting but I could do it and would recover pretty quickly) - but something else I've noticed (just yesterday I really 'thought' about it) is that I have been putting off doing stuff like walking places (now I take the car), running up the stairs (now only ever walk), kicking the ball about with the kids etc and I realised yesterday it's because when I do I feel awful - not just tired/worn out but light headed and a bit pukey - it's been a gradual thing.

I am totally committed to exercising - a minimum of 30 minutes every day without fail (have just been for an hours walk - about 3 miles) and to improving my diet (which I fully accept hasn't been great for a while, since this 'thing' happened and for a wee bit before then).

I'm not looking for any magic cure - I just want to know if I can get rid of the diabetes through diet and exercise.

Thank you if you made it this far - or even if you didn't wade through it all but can help.

My eyes are also bad - I'm having to move things 'into the light' and I'm still squinting. That's a really new thing. They'd been getting a little bit like that at night, but it's in the daytime too now. Funnily enough, since they put the drops in at the test the other day...

BIWI - I was drinking loads (thirsty all the time, with a thirst that wasn't quenched by drinking and an inability to go anywhere without a bottle of water (it was one of the main things that made me think 'diabetes?', but funnily enough since I started lower-carbing I've not felt so thirsty all the time, so I'm drinking less. I'm trying to remember to drink water. I'd say only about 2.5 litres and it should be more for my weight.

... and some of that is carbonated, but it shouldn't matter should it?

Myhead - glad your readings are coming down with eating low carb. I echo what BIWI says, plenty of water (like litres of it), add salt to food and eat foods high in potassium etc.. I would also recommend a vitamin table - I use the pregnacare conception one as we are ttc, but your doctor/pharmacists might suggest one for you?

Could the tiredness, be the emotional stress of it all, not sleeping well last night etc... even though you think are aren't stressing about it, your body might think otherwise?

The drops should stop causing any problems, unless you have a reaction to them, it could of course be something unrelated. Perhaps mention it to the doctors tomorrow and see what they say?

I am really glad the low carb is working for you, and if you are able to keep your carb levels like this your bloods will stay lower. However, if you decide that you need at add more carbs in later, you might find that is when you will definitely need the metformin to keep things on a more even keel at that point.

I think if you are eating that low carb you are in ketosis and not ketoacidosis. You could check this by eating some higher carb meals for a day or two, but I wouldn't recommmend it. Ketoacidosis is more likely in type I and advanced type II - although of course not impossible.

Lastly I just want to say 5.7

Afternoon MrsHP :) I'm working on the water, honestly! I've always drunk lots of water and other than a latte (some/most days), the odd social 'cup of tea' and alcohol it's all I drink. I don't drink juice or soda or lots of tea and coffee - so everything going in right now is water.

Why add salt to food? (just to increase my thirst?)

I'll check out foods high in potassium - but once again, why?

No, I don't think the tiredness is just emotional stress (though no doubt adds to it). I have felt like this for years now and that's really starting to get me down.

I will talk to the Dr about my eyes tomorrow too. I'm going to have to 'speed talk' aren't I!!

I hear what you are saying about the metformin.

5.7 I want to see it again now Only the one reading under 6 so far!

6.6 - 2 hours after lunch

When low carbing you don't tend to eat so much processed stuff, and through habit often don't add salt to things. My understanding is that this along with lots of water can sometimes lead to people being low in electrolytes, which can make you feel weak and shaky and generally isn't good for you. My understanding, although BIWI is m

Much better at the science is that we need to add salt and eat potassium rich foods to help combat this a little.

numbers are all good ex ostritch

MrsHP OK - I will have a look into that. I nearly bought some low salt when I was at the supermarket the other day as I know lots of the lowcarbers use it, but I thought mostly if they got cramps and I never use salt so I thought it would lurk in the cupboard unused.

Tazzle hello :) Have you had a nice weekend?

ROCKING 3 hours after lunch 5.7

SCOTCH BIWI anyone else...

Do you think it would be good to add Flax seed oil to my salads? It's cold pressed, 11g of carbs per 100 - so that's only .5 per 5ml, so say 10ml a day = 1 carb.

Sainsbury link if anyone else wants to have a look at it Organic Flaxseed Oil 260ml here

op what I don't understand is why the chemist measured your BG level as 20. Your finger must have been contaminated in some way or did the chemist use a lance previously used on someone else?

Mirry, at the time the pharmacist checked bs, Head was eating uncontrolled amounts of carbs - the reading was checked, finger was cleaned and dr's reading wasn't that much different - 15

Head has made a huge amount of progress in a short time - and she has been RADICAL with her dietary changes

Head, flax will be a good omega 3 veggie source, did you know aldi or maybe it was lidl sells milled flax and flax mixes, great to sprinkle on salads, the carb content is fine, a table spoon on that on a salad will average out as less than 5g carb per 100g as there is not much on salad.

Your headaches and feeling ill may just be down to your very recent diet change - before diagnosis, those symptoms may have been due to your high blood sugar and high blood pressure (which I'd expect is coming down too, you may get a much better reading at your next check up). But now your symptoms may be to to withdrawal from for example sugar, wheat, caffeine.

I wonder though if its the blue cheese? The very high tyramine content of blue and aged cheese, yeast products and aged meats (not meats in your case obviously), make a lot of people headachy and ill (for me it's a migraine trigger). Are you eating more of these foods now than you were before diagnosis?

You are doing fantastically well, keep it up

And salt, "low-salt" with potassium and sodium in it might be a sensible addition to your diet, us carnivores get plenty of salts from the meat we eat - as an almost vegan, you may need to add in some to your diet. Some cheeses are quite salty but others are not... Your feeling unwell could be down to a electrolyte imbalance (salts).

Oh I see mrsH already had the electrolyte thing covered!

Mirry I hope she wouldn't use a lancet previously used on someone else I really wasn't paying attention, but I think it was one of those small single use ones - disposable. I do remember that she wiped my finger with (I assume) an alcohol wipe, I remember at the time because she said 'it's to make sure there aren't any sugars on your skin'. I had eaten about 30 mins beforehand, at the cafe nearby as I'd had to go down early to take my car in to be looked at - they only needed it for an hour or two so I decided to stay down there and treat myself to breakfast out - they were out of wholegrain so I had 2 slices of white toast, tinned tomatoes and a tiny triangle hash brown & a latte afterwards.

I then did the 'random' blood test at the doctors the next day, I think I ate before I went, but I can't remember what - possibly crumpets? - which I think came back at 15, but I really can't remember?!

Dinner - 1 vegetarian sausage, courgette & brocolli stems sauted in olive oil, some lunch leftovers & some steamed cauli with philidelphia mashed into it.

+1hr 7 & 7.2 (took it on two different fingers to see the difference - I think I may develop a favourite finger

I can't keep this constant testing up though - my fingers hurt :( Any suggestions of things to help them?

SCOTCH - No, I didn't know that Aldi/Lidl sold it, I have both near me. I was just thinking about the oil as I like something 'wet' on my 'salad' and I don't want that to be mayonaise or homous everyday, so thought this might be OK with some vinegar etc

What do you think about the oil? It's cold pressed.

Your headaches and feeling ill may just be down to your very recent diet change - before diagnosis, those symptoms may have been due to your high blood sugar and high blood pressure (which I'd expect is coming down too, you may get a much better reading at your next check up). But now your symptoms may be to to withdrawal from for example sugar, wheat, caffeine So damned if I do and damned if I don't I'll be patient and see how it goes...

I wonder though if its the blue cheese? I doubt it, I have only had that today and the headaches started either just before or just after I went to the chemist - I can't remember now. I think before. It's unusal for me because even though I've felt like crap for a very long time, I'm not prone to headaches.

The very high tyramine content of blue and aged cheese, yeast products and aged meats (not meats in your case obviously), make a lot of people headachy and ill (for me it's a migraine trigger). Are you eating more of these foods now than you were before diagnosis? No, less if anything. I'm certainly missing my marmite - I need to think of something else to have it on - maybe raw carrot?

You are doing fantastically well, keep it up Thank you - all support has been amazing.

And salt, "low-salt" with potassium and sodium in it might be a sensible addition to your diet, us carnivores get plenty of salts from the meat we eat - as an almost vegan, you may need to add in some to your diet. Some cheeses are quite salty but others are not... Your feeling unwell could be down to a electrolyte imbalance (salts)

I've had a look into it and I think I'm probably OK as far as the potassium goes - I'm eating a lot of cheese, carrots, hummus, spinach & yogurt - what do you think?

[Hummus, made primarily from potassium rich garbanzo beans, is a near perfect health food. It is super easy to make, and loaded with protein, minerals such as magnesium and iron, and vitamins]

[Carrots, raw carrots contains 689 mg of potassium]

[Spinach 830mg]

[Plain yogurt]

Bananas, Baked Potatoes, Raisins, Tomatoes, Butternut squash - all off the menu for now but I was eating plenty of them before.

• 2hrs 6.2

myhead I would say no to a virus or something making your fasting one high. DH has tested his bloods at the same time to me after a meal, even with similar before levels mine are always much higher than his. He appears to be able to eat all sorts of carny and sugary things without much of an effect on his blood sugars in comparison to me and certainly not after overnight fasting. That did make me realise that actually being type II does mean my body is a bit fucked and I need to be much more careful in comparison. Your hab1c was still high, not quite as high as your fasting but high which is your average blood sugar level over the last three months (in simplified terms!). Of course Christmas probably didn't help for at least one of those months, but that breakfast you described send your sugar reading upto 20, and that wouldn't have happened to a non-diabetic. This is the reason I think metformin would benefit you.

Glad your readings are going OK, hope your doctors appointment goes well tomorrow.

MrsHP - but if I just eat differently and keep my bloods low that way, then surely taking metformin isn't necessary and would only be necessary if I wanted to eat more carbs?

I'm considering doing the Newcastle diet or a food version of it (800 calories a day for 8 weeks), it's apparently a really good way to stop your body being insulin resistant and quite a few people have effectively reversed their diagnosis of D T2. I just think it has to be worth a go before starting on medication.

Cold pressed sounds fine - should have all its omega 3 intact and yes, tasty for salad dressings!

Good it's not the cheese causing your symptoms- probably withdrawal from "crap" in the diet then!

Tomato within reason, and some sweet potato (not too much), should still be ok but experiment and see how they affect your bs.

+3hrs - 6.2

SCOTCH - yes, I'll test those things and a few others - bananas, onions, berries (in yogurt) etc but not for a few days as I'd like to see how 'stable' my readings are, so will try to keep the food pretty much the same.

One bit of advice - I know from experience, some carby foods can raise bs for several days, especially if Eaten regularly, so try to test one food at a time and eat it daily for 3 days and see what happens (banana is likely to be a no-no, but might be fine as an occasional treat once your weight comes down a bit more).