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.

I got quite a few test things but only have four left. Couldn't get the stupid thing to work at first so wasted quite a few strips and needle things until I realised I was just doing it wrong! I can always buy more though. They are quite expensive however.

I did a fasting reading first thing this morning and got a reading of 5.0 which I think is a normal reading.

I will take your advice and do another reading after a carby lunch. How long after? Straight away? 10 minutes? 1 hour? 2 hours?

Ilove morning :)

Did you see the bit in my long rambling post where I said about getting the Contour monitor (and some strips) free? I'd do that if I were you. You get the monitor, lancets & 10 strips. It's a bit bigger than the nano and the finger pricker is not as user friendly, but for the little you will be using it, it's absolutely fine (of course you can use any finger pricker, but unless you find out you definitely have diabetes, this one would do the job).

5 is in both 'normal' and 'diabetes 2' range for fasting - so although it's promising, don't count your chickens OK. As I said, I'd really hate you to go through what I went through.

HIGH's hit most people 2 hours after a meal, mine are usually back to their pre meal level by 2.5/3 hours, so I'd try 2.

However, all the signs are good so far - I'll continue to keep my fingers crossed for you & wait for your post lunch update :)

Thanks MyHead. I will try to get the Contour monitor. Sorry I did miss that bit on your post.

I won't be able to do a 2 hour reading today as I'll be in meetings after lunch and my tea is soup today which I don't think is carby enough for this kind of reading.

I will definitely do it tomorrow 2 hours after some pasta.

I am feeling positive after 2 ok readings but will keep testing as I know it doesn't mean everything is ok.

Don't be sorry, you did well to make it to the end of that mega post

It only takes a minute or two to 'go in for the draw'.

Just done a reading and it was 8.9. Did another straight away and it was 7.2 (This was nearly 2 hours after a sandwich and chocolate). I am going to do another in a minute just to check an average. Worrying results.

Bloody error message on this one - Blood put on too quickly. I am now out of test strips.

Luckily Boots was open at 8.30am. Just done a fasting reading and it was 4.9 (after a 20 minute round trip walk to Boots).

Will do one two hours after breakfast. I was a bit teary last night after those 2 readings. Panicking a bit really.

ilovesunflowers those two readings after eating a sandwich (carby) and chocolate aren't particularly worrying, especially the 7.2? If you eat sugary food then of course your blood sugars will be higher?!? Your fasting readings look fine, if you are concerned you need to see your GP who will send you for a glucose tolerance test which is what can determine whether you have diabetes or not. In my non-medical opinion it looks like you possible have some insulin resistance but probably not diabetic.

My targets for bloods are 4-5.6 fasting.
Under 8 one hour after eating and under 7 two hours after eating.
These are slightly stricter than NICE/diabetes UK targets.

However if I ate a chocolate bar or similar, especially along with a carby meal there is not a hope in hell of me meeting them!!!

Thanks MrsHercule. Is insulin resistance reversible? Things online seem to suggest it is.

I've done a few readings this morning.

fasting 4.9.
1 hour after breakfast 7.8.
1.5 hours after breakfast 6.8
2 hours after breakfast 6.2.

Think these look relatively ok (7.8 a little high?) I know the chocolate was a daft idea yesterday but I wanted to test after something sugary. I read that your blood sugar shouldn't go about a set blood glucose level though, even after carby foods and mine was definitely above if the 8.9 yesterday was accurate. This is definitely above the level that can cause nerve damage etc.

I think you are right MrsHercule that it might be insulin resistance rather than prediabetes or diabetes. I am really working on lifestyle changes. Exercise most days, a better diet.

Ilove, if accurate, those readings are a bit high.

Your fasting blood sugar reading for this morning is not valid! Walking to the pharmacists shop and back on an empty stomach will have dropped your blood sugar reading - best to do his reading just after rising, and before you do any significant activity.

Although a controlled, diagnosed diabetic might be happy with your after meal readings, because for a diabetic, they are within the guidelines, a normal, non diabetic person with no insulin resistance shouldn't be getting readings which are at the top end of "normal.

Even a bowl of sugar should not move the bs reading of a "normal" person above about 8.0 at 1hr post meal - but actually a fairly large % of the population are insulin resistant to some degree and at very high risk of developing full diabetes.

For "normal", bs tends to peak about an hour after eating, and by 2 hrs it should be dropping again (any 2 hr reading of 7.8 or more is indicating a problem). At 3 hrs, bs should have returned to baseline (close to fasting level).

Even if you are within the non diabetic range, its a warning sign that insulin resistance is developing (prediabetes), if the bs spike lasts for hours, and does not return to baseline, so it is worth having a look at your levels 4 or 5hrs after a carby meal (pasta or rice or potato based).

And yes, at the level you are talking about (high normal/just a bit over normal), diet can reverse/control it, but only if you commit to changing your diet long term

Ilove, I was referring to yesterday's readings, not your breakfast ones today which are fine - but what was breakfast?

And agree with Mrsp comment, probably Some insulin resistance but not diabetic ... Now is the time to act to stop it progressing further.

Thanks Scotch. I will do the 4/5 hour test tomorrow. My fingers are starting to resemble pin cushions! My breakfast was cereal today.

I am beginning to think 8.9 was just inaccurate. I tested again after about 30 seconds and it was 7.2. Will keep testing for a couple of weeks and hopefully the readings will go down anyway once I've lost more weight.

Managed to do a 4 1/2 hour test afterall (4 1/2 hours after a tuna sandwich). Reading was 4.1 which is good. Seems weird that it's lower than my fasting readings over the past 2 days though. Is this odd? I repeated it to be sure and it was the same 4.1. Pleased it's a good reading though.

??No not odd because you are losing weight and eating less carby things! And that can quickly bring down bs that is just little bit on the high side of normal. The 8.9 may have been error - important to wash and dry hands properly before tests but also to try and use the same pressure each time as this seems to give better readings.

That was supposed to be a smily no a string of numbers!

Thanks Scotch.

Hi Ilove I've just got home & wanted to see how you'd got on today :) I'm sorry you were upset by it last night, it's a shock to the system isn't it, but it sounds like you might have 'caught it in time' hopefully.

As I said in an earlier post, one day I had a very mixed 'set' of readings - something like 7.2/5.8/8.5/6.4 all taken one after the other - when I rang Aviva they looked at their chart and that was 'within range' for a monitor?! They have a 15% tolerance. Mad I think.

Have you now bought a monitor? What did you get? I hope you didn't buy the test strips in the chemist - you'll soon go broke doing that, eBay is much better (ie I get mine for about £10 for 50m they're almost £30 in the chemist!).

I didn't have a glucose tolerance test - I'm going to ask for one next time (in another couple of months when my next review is due). They only did fasting bloods for me and from what I understand, that's not so accurate a test of diabetes.

Let us know how you get on tomorrow
x

You don't need one these days I don't think MyHead, I've just double checked and when I was diagnosed in 2004 you had to have the GTT (glucose tolerance test) to diagnose diabetes. So I had a fasting blood test, then a repeat one when it was high, and then had the GTT to confirm the diagnosis. Now with the advancement in the accuracy of the HbA1c test, they changed the reccommendations so that you are just diagnosed on the basis of that since 2011. I'm not sure if they would send you one as I am not sure what a GTT would tell you - you could do it yourself I think anyway. Test your fasting blood sugars, drink a can of lucozade then test it again two hours later - that is all the GTT does!

They did your HbA1c though didn't they myhead? That will be what they diagnosed you on then rather than one fasting blood test.

Ilove I agree completely with what SCOTCH said. Make sure you wash your hands carefully. I only have readings that vary by a lot if I haven't washed my hands, even if I think they are clean. Probably the most they vary by is about 0.5 ish I should think.

With the insulin resistance, my understanding is that if you make long term changes to your eating and exercise, then yes you can improve the situation. However it is likely you will always be that way inclined so that as you get older etc.. it might get harder for you. I don't think it is possible to 'undo' it and then go back to eating crappy carbs and sugar if that makes sense.

Thanks guys. Fasting reading this morning was 5.0.

My monitor is an Aviva Chek Nano.

So in terms of diet I know I need to try to low carb now but my problem is I hate most protein foods. I only really like chicken, tuna and eggs. Does this mean I can still eat pasta but smaller portions and less often? What about chocolate, a small bit as a treat a couple of times a week or never? My readings seem ok and will hopefully get better as I lose more weight but I'm also aware I do need to make long term changes to avoid diabetes in the future. Low carb forever or sensible everything in moderation diet?

I have a really poor 'gag reflex' so can not eat foods I dislike as I will literally vomit (I've been like this since I was little) so I couldn't eat meat except chicken and possibly turkey, I can't eat nuts or seeds, I don't like fish except tuna. What on earth can I eat that is protein based/low carb?

Finally did a post meal reading (after pasta and chicken) and it was 5.8 so I am quite relaxed about myself.

BUT - DH was 12.7 and 12.8 yesterday after meals - and 9.8 fasting this morning. His next appointment is not until 18/3 - do you think I should be pushing him to get another appointment, or just up his pills to 4 a day.

Ilove - I would like to get DH low carbing but we don't eat red meat, only chicken and turkey, and whilst he will eat fish, it is only when it is wrapped up in a scrummy fish pie with lots of buttery potatoes and cheese on top. I tried suggesting he gave up bread - he says he might give ryvita a go.....

exit I would 't up his pills without medical advice. He is on metformin I think? This needs to be taken with food so wouldn't want to up it without knowing the best way to do this.

I think that if your DH is diabetic (which sounds highly likely based on your comparative readings) you might want to rethink meals where pasta or rice are the main ingredient. As a rule of thumb, if eating carbs, you want to have no more than a fistful. Eg make your hand into a fist - that is the size potato, it pasta or rice you should have at most each meal, a similar amount if protein and then the rest veg/ salad. If you decide to eat low carb then basically more protein, more fat and veg/salad. I can maintain stable blood sugars under either way but I am more likely to fool myself/ eat too many carbs the first way so for me low carb proper works best (and I need to lose weight so that helps too).

exit you could low carb without red meat but you'd probably have to eat more dark green vegetables to source extra iron and stuff? Perhaps the fist measuring system would work for him? It worked for me for ages.

Exit - good luck getting your husband on board. Men sometimes live with their heads in the sand don't they. I am certainly no expert but wouldn't riveta not be very different from bread - both quite carby?

I haven't got through the whole thread yet. I am guessing your busband has been diagnosed diabetic. Is he fully aware of the risks if he doesn't keep blood sugar levels down to a good level? It is particularly the eyesight bits that would scare most people I think.

MrsHercule -I like the idea of the fist of carbs. So I could have a fist of pasta with tuna chunks and tomatoey veg. or chicken dinner with a fist of potato.

2 hour post dinner reading today 5.0.

Yes that's right it just seemed to me to be a straightforward way of thinking about it!