Am I diabetic?
Hi All! My name is Marcia. I'm 57, 5'9", and 179... I've been LCing since the first of the year, lost 20 lb., but I'm scared!
I had my physical in late Feb.my Dr. ordered, among others, a FBG test. The nurse called me a few days later and said the result was 105, it was the high side of normal, but was OK. When I received the written report of all my results it read that I was in the normal range for FBG and I did not have diabetes. So I thought great and went on my merry way. There was something in one of the LC forums that I frequent that led me to, I believe Jenny's site that got me thinking about my result. I went out and bought the ReliOn Meter and have been testing my BG. I hope you don't mind if I post my results. Sat: 126 when I first woke up ( I am hypothyroid so I have to wait an hour after I take my pill before I can eat) 142 - before breakfast ( I had coffee) 167- 1 hr. (had 1/2 small red grapefruit with eggs and bacon) 105 - 2 hrs 97 - before lunch 101 - 1 hr 107 - 2 hr. 102 - before dinner 104 - 1 hr. 120 - 2 hr. 120 - before I went to bed Sun: 115 - first woke up 125 - before breakfast 126 - 1 hr. 109 - 2 hr. 105 - before lunch 113 - 1 hr. 100 - 2 hr. 94 - before dinner 93 - 1 hr. 109 - 2 hr 117 - before bed Mon: 118 - first woke up 134 - before breakfast 126 - 1 hr. 100 - 2 hr. 100 - before lunch this day I decided to take the test on Jenny's site. I had 2 cups of white rice with soy sauce. (70 carbs) 193 - 1 hr. 151 - 2 hr. 137 - 3 hr. Then I had dinner. Tested again right before I went to bed and it was 104 Today: 109 - woke up 120 - before breakfast 123 - 1 hr. 121 - before lunch 106 - 1 - 1/2 hr 105 - before dinner 106 - 2 hr. Sorry for such a long post, but I guess you can tell that I'm a bit afraid! Looks like I have to eliminate fruit and even coffee... some of those morning readings were with decaf. Didn't seem to help! Not too happy about that :cry: I did buy Dr. B's book and read it in 1 day. I've been pretty much under 20 carbs for nearly 3 months... I hate to think of what my BS was then, all I ate was garbage!!! This is all my fault, I let it happen and now I have to pay the price... So, what do you think? Am I diabetic? Pre-diabetic? Sure would like your input and advice! Thanks so much for listening! |
Hi, and welcome, Marcia :wave:
First, don't be scared. Knowledge is power, and if you're willing to work at it, you can control these numbers. Officially, the ADA says: Quote:
Whatever you choose to call it, you do have an issue with your blood sugar. But, if you tackle it now, you can whip it. My FBS was 339 when I was diagnosed, now it stays in the 80s. |
Hi Daryl! :wave:
Thanks so much for the welcome and the encouragement! I really feel so much better with just those few words! I am definitely willing to work at it! I was so surprised and I must say disappointed to see what effect coffee has on my BS! Grrrr! Tomorrow will be my first morning without it... I can do this... I quit smoking 4 years so I know I can do this... I'll see what happens to my BS. I want to do whatever I can to take control. I have a lot more years in me and I want to be able to enjoy them! :) Thanks again... Daryl, I meant to ask you... are you on any medication or are you able to control it with diet and exercise? |
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That's the attitude :agree: I miss soooo many things, but none of them mean more to me than my health. When I was diagnosed, I started out on 4 pills a day; after going low carb, I was able to completly get off meds, haven't had to take any in several months :) I was terrified of the thought of having to take insulin, but if it ever comes to that, I will. Are you on meds? (edited to add: surely you aren't, if you haven't been diagnosed -- duh me, it's been a long day :lol: ) |
Welcome and keep coming back Marcia... lots of wisdom, experience, and hope here.
/smile |
Sunflwr1:
It's possilbe if you're really feeling stressed about being a diabetic, those numbers can be up by 10 points or so more than they normally might be... I'd err on the side of caution, consider I might be pre-diabetic at the least and get a second opinion, but knowing what I know now, I wouldn't rely on Doctors for my health, but rather I'd start getting involved in learning all I can, changing my lifestyle accordingly if necessary and while learning not to stress over my life's situation... |
Coffee may not be the culprit: I would suspect dawn phenomena: See Dr: Bersteins book.
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Thanks again, Daryl... I will definitely have to keep that thought in mind. It is so true! Quote:
Korban... Thanks for the welcome! I really appreciate it! Cajunboy... I happen to agree with you, my doctor said I was not diabetic, not to worry. Perhaps I'm not, but I'm pretty darn close so that's why I decided to test on my own. I'm going to keep testing this month and then determine if I need to get her involved for more testing. I don't want "Diabetic" in my medical record if I can help it. Quote:
I thank all of you for responding... you've been so helpful! |
Welcome.
The best thing you can do is to follow all the suggestions you have read. Whether you are "officially" diabetic or NOT isn't the point. You are headed that way. So, gain control right now. My Doctor saw the warning signs for me in the early 2006 and made a very small statement to me about losing weight. My A1C had gone over 6. It was 6.3 or something in that range. But he didn't sound the alarm. So I went about my business for a whole year. I switched doctors late 2006 early 2007 and went for another physical; I go annually and this Doctor sounded the alarm. My A1C had gone from 6.3 up to 9.6, I believe during 2006 early 2007. My BG levels were over 300 and probably were over 300 for most of the year 2006. Had I known in 2006 I would have been a year wiser and controlling much sooner. So my point is be happy you have someone who cared enough to sound the alarm. So, become your own advocate. Learn and read. Poke around all over the place in this forum. You will find so many people with so much "real" experience to share. You will end up more educated on diabetes than the typical Doctor believe it or not. Many people can control this with diet control, some do natural methods and some do medicines. I have tried many. I ended up on insulin, both basal and fast acting. It works for me now based on where I am at. My goal is to have an A1C under 5.0. Normal is 4.2-4.6 according to Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution book. Also, I am learning to keep spikes from happening in my BG. This is when the damage can occur to your vital organs. Keep your spikes under 120 is ideal and 140 is not so bad. Spikes above that are troublesome. But it also takes years of abuse for many people to sadly end up with all the dreaded complications that can happen. So, you have done a great thing by starting your journey here with all of us. Read, read, practice, make mistakes, try different approaches. Find what works for you. I believe you can do quite well and do so quickly. By my switching to LCing and staying under 60 carbs per day evenly distributed I brought my A1C down from 9.3 or 9.6 to 5.4 within 3 months. Yes, I also take Metformin ER 1000mg in the AM and 1000mg in the PM. Now I take a basal insulin so that my readings are now typically below 100 and keep my BG rises in a much tighter range between 70-120 most of the time. We all make mistakes, but don't go crazy on yourself. Just do your best, learn from your mistakes and learn what works for you. Many here are strict advocates of Dr. B's 6-12-12 regimen of carbs with 5 hour fasting in between and do fantastic. But again, you must find what works for you and your lifestyle. Be well. You are on your way to being well. Ralph |
Hi Marcia, welcome! First of all, you said this (getting ready to quote you, hee hee) and I never wanna hear you say this again:
You said: 'This is all my fault, I let it happen and now I have to pay the price...' No it's NOT your fault, get that right outa your head!!!! Ok that's over with, now let's get down to business! Your BG's aren't all that bad except for a few, especially that 197 where you had 2 cups of white rice, but at least you know now what a lot of white rice will do to you! The good thing is that you are low carbing, and this is only going to improve with time. It did for me, and I knew absolutely nothing about diabetes or low carb until I was diagnosed back in December. You learn fast what spikes your sugar and what foods to avoid. You seem to be keeping your average BG's around 100 and your post prandials aren't terrible - look at them, many under 120 which isn't bad at all. They look like mine, and I am just grateful that I can keep them at this level for now. I think you have to be patient, you can't go to a 'normal' average of 83 -85 ish overnight, but it's certainly possible according to Dr. Bernstein, so just keep doing what you are doing and try your best. The important thing is to try and keep the BG's out of the danger zone and you are already mostly there - you will get better and better at this once you figure out the little tweaks that work for your own body. I know for instance, that I can have 1/2 a grapefruit but I can't have it WITH something like a slice of whole wheat toast. Either one alone works for me, not both. Someone else may be different, or not be able to have either one, ever. We all have our own tolerances or lack of. We are lucky to have a condition like diabetes, in the sense that if it is recognized at an early stage we can actually do something about it to help ourselves. There are a lot of things where that is not possible - in fact some things are a lot worse, we all know what they are..... (shudder!) Keep up the good work, and keep coming to these forums - it helps a lot to have friendly companions who are all in the same boat :) |
Welcome! I am also a coffee lover, and I've switched over to decaf and haven't had a problem. I initially had a very strong problem with my morning BG numbers, but after a few weeks of conscious control of my daily numbers, they have improved, and now I'm almost always under 100 when I wake up.
One thing that effects me now is if I eat too close to bed time. If I have about 4 hours between dinner and sleeping, and a low carb dinner, I'm ok in the morning. I can have more carbs with lunch and still keep my levels OK. |
Ralph... thank you so much! That was a wonderful reply. So much info and so encouraging. Doctors can really be scary! My Dr. said that I didn't have diabetes, that my BS was normal. After doing some reading I decided to start checking my BS myself. A week ago I was as carefree as a lark, but I am so glad that I delved into it and became aware. My mother died almost 2 years ago of pancreatic cancer that I'm sure was caused my her uncontrolled T2 diabetes. She never took it seriously... I am going to take the month of April to try and keep my BS levels down, if I feel I can't do it alone I will call my Dr. I would truly like to avoid having diabetes in my health record. If it has to be then it has to be, but I'm hoping I can control it myself. I think I can... Ok, I know I can! ;)
Hi Rose... and thank you for another wonderfully encouraging reply. Quote:
swirlygirl... ahhh so you know how I feel. I did go without today... can't believe it but, I did and actually it didn't bother me all that much. At some point I may give decaf a try again and see what happens. *sigh* Last night I tried a Pepsi One (made with Splenda) and it didn't raise my BS... in fact it went down so when I checked it right before bed it was 96. I was thrilled! Thanks again... to all of you! |
Welcome Marcia. I'm so glad you found us. Wonder if you're just really smart or really lucky? lol Seriously, there are so many diabetes forums out there where they talk about eating their low fat and healthy carbs and go on more and more meds with higher and higher numbers and more and more complications, it's not even funny. Sometimes I lurk and just sit there shaking my head.
I'm going to say something you may not want to hear.... I think you are early diabetic. I'm going to link you to a blog by our member Lottadata, which I see you've already been reading, to see if you've found this article yet that explains how when most folks finally get a diagnosis from a doctor, they've actually had diabetes for up to 10 years, and why doctors are so late to diagnose. So instead of you waiting for another 3 or 4 for an official diagnosis, you can start acting like you do now, and get a jump on reversing it, and never seeing that diagnosis. A whole page of relevant articles: http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com/...gnosis+10+years How and why the ADA Keeps Doctors from Diagnosing Early Diabetes - by Lottadata http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14046782.php |
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Hello Marcia! :wave: Was your Doctor an Endocrinologist? If he wasn't, I would advise you to visit one and give them the same information you gave us. Then go from there. |
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Karen, Congratulations of your weight loss! That is fantastic!!! Quote:
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