Diabetes (type 2) Query

[Verbena17]

So for the past 3 months I’ve been trying to lower my HCA1C test of 49. Had my retest, having been really good, cut out almost all processed sugar and lowered carbs, walked more when my feet aren’t painful etc.

Got my results back and it’s literally gone UP to 50 😩.
What does this mean?
In the past week, I’ve been feeling shaky when exerting myself/dog walking, feeling like I need to eat to stop that ‘low blood sugar’ feeling but actually I just took my blood sugar 3 hours after brekkie and whilst having symptoms before I ate lunch, and it was 6.4.

Does this likely mean I’m diabetic? In addition I I’ve requested another blood test to check if my iron is still low (was 10 a year ago) because low iron can obviously affect the A1C test- making readings higher. My shaky/weak/no energy/slight cough symptoms are also the symptoms of having low iron….as well as being the same for low blood sugar.
Im overweight and losing any weight is really hard even though my diet is really quite good.

Really this won’t be full blown diabetes but I had a 2 week course of dexamethasone in 2021 and you can get steroid induced diabetes, either temporarily or long term. There is new research from the Recovery Trial saying patients who had dexamethasone whilst in hospital were prone to acquiring diabetes. When I was on it, they had to give me insulin injections to regulate my blood sugar.

Keto is not no carb though. It’s like getting a prescription pain killer vs over the counter. Keto is extremely effective.

If you can afford it, spend £55 on wearing a freestyle libre for 2 weeks and note down everything you eat and what happens to your blood sugar. It will make much more sense when you can actually see what happens rather than just guess based on a lifetime of conditioning about grains being good.
Brown rice is barely any different to white in terms of blood sugar response BTW. Pearl barley is much better than both

@PosiePerkinPootleFlump I think that they always suggest brown rice and whole grain spaghetti because 'most' people with type 2 or pre diabetes (not all I know) could do with shifting a few pounds/stone - and it makes you fuller much quicker. My response wasn't much different either, but I noticed I ate far less of it and hence I did lose weight

Yes I might do this once I’ve talked to diabetic nurse.

But as the research says, I’m not now going to focus as much on my BG as I need to more importantly fix my iron intake.

Chatted to the diabetic nurse today - she reckons the low iron isn’t linked unless you have ‘in the red’ levels. That’s a contradiction to what the research says (low iron levels can give a high BG reading).

Anyway, she said to take 4 (pre meal/bed) readings a day for a week then she’ll chat to me again next week.

So I took my pre lunch reading and it was 5.8 - yay.
For brekkie I ate some 0% fat Greek yoghurt with seeds and chopped apple.
Then other than water, had a cup of tea mid morning.

She said yes, they would say I’m type 2 diabetic but hopes I can reduce the number down from 50 without meds.

Yay on 5.8.
Did your breakfast keep you full until lunch?

It did thanks, although I’m still feeling shaky not long after having breakfast.
But straight after tea tonight, I took the dog for a longer walk and felt pretty much ok.

Took my BG before tea and it was 5.4.
Then took it just before coming to bed at 10:45pm and it was 7.0

So still seems pretty low.

Oh and for tea I tried sour dough - 2 thin rounds with butter on and cooked mushrooms, courgettes & pepper with some grated cheese on top.

So even having that sour dough for tea, my bedtime reading was only 7.

From what you’ve just posted I expect you can bring it down with diet, especially this type of diet (rather than the nhs one)

Hopefully @HairyKitty - it’s just another stress of thinking of what meals to make and ingredients to buy. Exhausting with already having an autistic child with ARFID and a DH who tries not to eat any red meat or food with purites (gout) 😩

Spoke to nurse today - she was really pleased with my daily readings and using her conversion tool, worked out that in 3 weeks, I’ve bought my HBA1C down to approx 43 ! Obviously only an approximation as my 4 x daily BG readings have slightly varied but she’s happy not to diagnose me as type 2.

Then in September I have to have another A1C test to make sure.
I’m so pleased and couldn’t have done it had I not listed here and got all your advice! I’m still finding it tricky to find nice foods I love eating that are low carb but doing ok and finding new stuff every day.

This was a definite wake up call and so I’ll now be eating like this for life.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions /advice. 😊

Well done @Verbena17 - I managed down from 44 to 38 in 4 months- I realise I used to eat pretty well , but far too many carbs- and nearly all white bread/white rice/pasta etc -

Thanks @Crikeyalmighty - yes, I was similar. Vegan for almost 2 years up to October 2021 but then had a 2 weeks stay in hospital where if I didn’t eat dairy I couldn’t have eaten and then very low iron after that, so choose to go back to eating non vegan/non veggie.

And like you, my diet was pretty good but for me, I had too many carbs and too many snacks - I think that began when I was feeling low on energy with the low iron but also cereal or toast for supper didn’t help 😬.

So have you stayed eating a very low carb diet for the foreseeable future too?

@Verbena17 yes- although I blew that tonight on sausages, baked beans and a few chips

@Crikeyalmighty blowing it one night does not matter, just get back on it tomorrow.

@Verbena17 keep doing the very low carb for six months or so and then start to build them up a bit. You should be able to level off at 200-300g of carbs a day. But you are also unique and need to find what suits you.

That’s really interesting @Itisyourturntowashthebath . I just assumed I’d be very low carbs forever. At least even if I don’t go back up to 200g/300g a day, I can go out for dinner and have a careful but slightly more enjoyable dinner and get back on it the following day. I don’t drink alcohol hardly ever so at least I’m not having to give that up.

My reading before tea however was 7.9….but about 20 mins before I took blood, I ate a pear 😬. I’m thinking that probs did it.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
I've had clients turn around pre-diabetes in six months and others spend five years struggling.

Your journey will be unique. If you go in eyes wide open, it will be easier.

Ok so quick update - the low carb plan has been working really well no I’m not finding it hard anymore, as I’ve spent time finding alternatives. Pretty sure I’ve lost a few pounds too, which feels good.

However, I think there’s an issue with my (new) Sinocare finger prick kit.
For the past two days, I’ve tested first thing (which is often usually higher than rest of the day) and yesterday it was 7.7 and today 7.8

So on both mornings, I retested on the other hand and the results were significantly different ….7.0 and today, 6.9.
I make sure to wash my hands straight after moisturising in the morning and always use a 70% isopropyl alcohol wipe before testing.

Anyone else had this issue? I don’t know now whether to trust any reading!

Oh and one other little bit of info that I found annoying /interesting….when I spoke to the lovely diabetes nurse at the end of July about how everything was going, she had been called that morning by the admin staff at my GP surgery and they told her to hurry up and ‘code’ me as type 2 diabetic.

She told them no, she hadn’t chatted to me yet and she wasn’t just to going to code for it before she had discussed how my readings were. I said ‘why would they be pushing you to code me as Type 2?’ Her reply….’funding’. 😲