Doc says not diabetic, then why high sugar?
Hello..just a shout out to see if anyone has experienced these symptoms. Stats: I'm 46, female, thin, vegetarian and a life long exerciser. I started to experience weird thirst several months ago, finally bought a glucometer and discovered BG of up to 240 or so after eating carbs. Over several weeks, I then checked BG on two different meters, same result. So I went to doc; he ordered labs. H1Ac came back 5.5. OGTT came back fasting BG 100, one hour BG 60, two hour BG 60. Dr. said I did not have diabetes. But he did refer to me to an endo, however I have to wait 6 months to see him and I have 3 months left.
Meanwhile, I've metered at home many times and discovered my pattern; here it is. Morning BG is 104-115. If I eat carbs without fat or protein, BG shoots up within first 30 minutes up to mid 200's, then over the next 90 minutes plummets down, into about the 80's and eventually climbs back up to 120's until I eat again. If I limit carbs, BG only rises to 140-180. I realize I can curb these spikes by eating my carbs with fat/protein and I have been trying to make that change because I feel better when I don't have the large spikes/drops.
I am basically healthy; my other medical stuff is small: hashimotos thyroid disease, hypotension with neurocardiogenic syncope; and a murmur related to a few trace to mild heart valve leaks, which I hear is fairly normal. I just discovered the last two conditions since I've had the BG problem. I started experiencing presyncope and chest pains which sent me to the cardio. I do believe that my BG does affect my blood pressure tremendously which I think causes chest pain. One last recent symptom to add; I have horrible early awakening insomnia (maybe perimenopause?) So, is it probable that I am developing diabetes which has exacerbated the blood pressure/heart stuff and brought on perimenopause?!!!
I have no idea; but I'm basically asking this forum if this is not diabets, what is it??
Thanks!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on -
Did you wash your finger before you got the blood out of it? If your A1C is 5.5, you would not likely have BG in 240? That is a pretty easy way to get a reading that is out of whack? I would think that as a 'rookie' perhaps you would be more likely to wash your hands but if you had eaten and go directly to test, food on your fingers, sometimes lotion too (Burt's Bees!) can throw the gizmos off?
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Permalink Reply by SilverLining on -
Hi, thanks for the reply. I've tested many, many times and I registered BG over 200 on three different meters, on different days over a three month period. I do wash my hands :), but not necessarily every time. I don't go above 200 unless I eat straight carbs (example recently I had a very busy day, hungry, no time to eat, grabbed a snack bag of cheetos, BG was 215 an hour later...). It seems that if I am very, very hungry and then eat pure carbs I have the strongest BG response. Anyway, I'm thinking small fast spikes are not enough to raise H1Ac. From what I read, BG's routinely over 150 at some point almost every day are not normal.
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Permalink Reply by The Diabetic Welfare Queen on -
Well... There are many things something could be, if it's not Diabetes. Some of them are taking too many vitamins of a certain kind. For example, taking too much Vitamin C can start showing numbers in the 200+ range... Other vitamins like too much Vitamin A, Niacin, etc can raise it. There are also medications that can raise BG, such as Prozac, Abilifi, Steroids (for Asthma), Statins (for Cholesterol). Some other illnesses, such as certain types of Cancer, can cause high blood sugar.
I should also point out that most people have brief peeks at 30 minutes, and that's normal, and is not associated with complications... Here's a good blog post on when to test... http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com/2007/11/when-to-test-blood-sugar...
I can't really give you a decisive/conclusive answer on what your issue might be... But I can tell you that a BG of 60 isn't exactly... normal? It seems like reactive hypoglycemia, to me. And reactive hypoglycemia is sometimes associated with development of Diabetes.
Just watch yourself very, very carefully during this amount of time you're waiting to see that Endo... Any time you feel off, please test...
-- If you feel too moody/swinging between your moods
-- If you feel drunk or loopy
-- If you get powerful hunger and headaches that are outside of the norm for you
-- If you feel hungover
-- If you get nauseous or in a sweat
-- Always, always test before exercising, and make sure you've eaten if you're anywhere below 70... if you feel off during exercise, stop and test your blood sugar
-- If you wake up in the middle of the night, and feel bad... test your blood sugar.
Now is a time to keep a good journal, too. If you want, you can use an excel file, in a pen drive or something, or a simple little journal that can go in your pocket. Write it all down. What did you eat, and when, how did you feel... your blood sugar tests.... At what time you tested... Also, note if you tested your meter to make sure it was calibrated properly with control solution. When your doctor tests your fasting and A1C at the lab, take the opportunity to use your meters to test your blood sugar right there and then, in the lobby, before you go in... so you can compare it's readings to the lab readings... When you go ARMED with knowledge to your doctors appointments, whatever might be going on will not be as easy to dismiss by someone.
I hope they are able to find whatever it is that's going on... and I wish you the best of luck. Welcome to our community. We're glad to help in any way we can. If you do happen to have Diabetes, please make them insist on testing you for antibodies ... For Type 1. You are older, but you are also thinner... AND you already have one autoimmune condition which tends to go hand in hand with Type 1. Don't let them not test you.
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Permalink Reply by SilverLining on
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Thank DWQ...I do feel very hypo when my sugar drops into 80's..super shaky, cold, etc.. I test quite often and my BG only drops into the 80's if I hav a big carb boost/spike, or if I'm drinking alcohol. In three months, I've never had a result below 85 at home; I don't know what happened at the lab; it was obviously the orange syrup...which seems far extreme of anything I would ever eat. I do plan on asking for autoimmune tests.
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Permalink Reply by The Diabetic Welfare Queen on
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Yeah, the orange syrup is pure glucose -- 75 grams of of it. It's a bomb! lol :)
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Permalink Reply by Hope on -
Checking less than one hour after eating is not likely to be that informative as no one really seems to know what non-diabetic reading are in the first 10, 20 , 30 minutes. Normal people do spike briefly too. Your A1C is reassuring. Just keep watching it.
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Permalink Reply by SilverLining on
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Thanks Hope. Actually, there is info out there on nondiabetics at 30 minutes and numbers over 200 are not normal. I found information this weekend on first phase insulin release...apparently it is the first defense to go when developing diabetes. Now I realize this is probably what is happening to me now. I'm thinking I'm in the early stages of some type of diabetes. Thanks to everyone who has written in; it's nice to have other people providing information and support!
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Permalink Reply by Kimberly on -
It's possible that you are at the beginning of Type 1 diabetes. Most adults who are eventually diagnosed w/ Type 1 have a slower progression, and lots of newly adult-diagnosed T1s have a honeymoon where they need little to no insulin for a period of time.. Also, once you get an autoimmune disease (Hashimoto's), your chances for developing other autoimmune diseases is much higher. You could always get tested for the T1 antibodies (there is a whole panel of them, can't remember right now), to see if you're possibly going down that road. You'll probably have to pay for them yourself, though, and it can be quite costly.
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Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on -
The symptoms you describe are consistent with MODY-2, mild elevated fasting, mild elevated HbA1c, delayed insulin response to eating (usually not provoking an insulin response until you are over 180 mg/dl), but strong insulin response. You can learn more about monogenic diabetes here (http://diabetesgenes.org) and more about MODY-2 here (http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/diabetesgenes/mody/glucokinase.htm).
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Permalink Reply by SilverLining on
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Thank you very much for your link. My paternal grandmother was diagnosed late in life and she was always thin. My father has been showing elevated glucose recently lately and he is being tested. So, maybe it is genetic. I do know that whatever is happening to me is new..my fasting glucose has been mid 80's for as long as I've had routine labwork done; it now averages 110..I'll be glad when I can figure this out...I miss my potatoes!!!!!!!
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Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on
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Note that monogenic diabetes is genetic, you will have had the condition all your life. With MODY-2 you would have had an elevated fasting all your life. I do wish you luck figuring things out.
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Permalink Reply by LiL MaMa on -
Interesting.... I do not get an insulin response unless I am about 180+ so when I am low carbing and my sugar doesn't spike as much I'm actually exercising more because I have no insulin response. Are MODY's usually thin? I'm also reading that most MODY2 is caught during gestational diabetes screening, thats when mine was found. Thanks for the info!
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