New and questioning...
I've always, since I was young, had episodes where I felt "low." I'd get hungry, shaky, irritable, easily confused, etc. However, in September I went to my PCP because I'd been suffering from fatigue for quite a while, and I had a particularly bad low episode while working out recently. She gave me a meter and told me to start checking when I felt low. I started to check after meals, too, just to see. After one meal I checked and my BG was 275. After calling my doctor, she had me do an OGTT, and I was at 250 at the 2 hour mark. So she diagnosed me with diabetes. She also set me up with an appointment with an endocrinologist- and when I saw him, he refused to diagnose me with diabetes, but instead thought I had reactive hypoglycemia.
So a few weeks ago he had me wear a glucose monitoring sensor for 5 days, and I called today and all they would tell me over the phone was that my high had been 205, and my low had been 44. I have to wait to see him again in 2 weeks to find out the rest of the details. My question is...if it was just reactive hypoglycemia (which, if I understand correctly, only occurs in non-diabetics), would I still be having the highs that I do?
It seems like sometimes my pancreas is producing too much insulin, and sometimes too little. And no one can give me any answers. Also, I've not slept well much in the last couple of years- I'm in bed for at least 8 hours every night but never, ever wake up feeling rested. I wonder if my BG drops at night, if that could be a reason for my troubled sleep and fatigue?
Tags: 2, Reactive, hypoglycemia, type
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Zoe on -
I'm not very knowledgeable on Reactive hypoglycemia and how it is differentiated from Diabetes,ut those are definitely diabetic range highs. I'm not too sure this endo sounds very thorough. Hasn't he done an A1C? That is what's typically used to diagnose Diabetes. I believe reactive hypoglycemia is when you go high after a particularly carb laden meal then your liver kicks in and brings you low. Lows are not that common in newly diagnosed diabetics. But I think you need to get more clarification and go prepared with questions as to how the two are distinguished (and what is the treatment if it's "just" reactive hypoglycemia.
Both highs and lows can cause fatigue/restless sleep. If you are tired a lot you should also have a thyroid panel done.
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Permalink Reply by RobinA on -
My A1C in September was 5.6, and more recently is 5.4, which I understand is fabulous. But my thought was, if I'm spiking to 275 at some times, but other times dipping down to 44, if you take the average of those, it would put me in a mid-5 A1C range, right? My thyroid panel was normal.
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Permalink Reply by Zoe on
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Oops, you're right of course, Gerri. Sorry, I guess I don't know the mechanism that makes people with reactive hypoglycemia go low after eating a lot of carbs!
But I think that people are right that the highs are concerns and you should get good testing. And if you are diagnosed with diabetes, be sure and have your Type clarified through antibody testing as Gerri says you could be LADA/Type 1. You are also right that extreme highs and extreme lows can average out. I had two 5.7's in a row; one of them, I knew from frequent testing was a legitimate good low number born of hard work. The other was an average from highs and lows which I wasn't as happy with.
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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on -
I think reactive hypoglycemia is a precursor to diabetes but I would agree with the doc that running BG up to 200 would be some sort of diabetes. It may be that you can "get by" but I think he may have made an early catch which would recommend him to me. I agree with Zoe that an A1C is another useful and logical test to be done. I would be *highly* annoyed that you have to wait two weeks to get data they already have and are not being recommended for more tests. That you've gone out and found us suggests to me that you are really engaged with your health and you deserve a round of applause for doing that. Even if we're wrong and you don't get in our "club" (which I sincerely hope!), taking steps to stay on top of diabetes is the best way to kick its butt.
The tempo of these issues always seems slow to me. The doc can rx the test without an appointment, based on reviewing the data so you'll have the most informed visit at your next one. Instead, if you wait for the visit and then get the test rx'ed, you have blown two weeks of uncertainty which would also bother me. Knowing what I know (dx'ed 1984 w/ T1...), I'd probably go get an A1C at the drugstore to see what it is myself, if the doc hasn't taken that step. That will tell you a lot.
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Permalink Reply by RobinA on
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They were going to make me wait until my next appointment (in March) until I pitched a fit and they "fit me in" in two weeks. My A1C is 5.4, which I realize is very good.
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Permalink Reply by Gerri on -
With 275 BG, no reason to do OGTT.
Reactive hypoglycemia doesn't indicate diabetes, but your hyperglycemia certainly does. Perhaps a good idea to get a referral to another endo.
You're right. A1c is an average. People with identical A1c's can have vastly different BG readings.
What you could have is LADA & most doctors don't understand LADA. The best thing to do is to cut carbs to control highs & preserve your beta cells. With your lows, it's going to challenging to use insulin & doubtful an endo would prescribe insulin.
BG jumping up & down is exhausting. Takes a toll on the body. No fun, but you can set your alarm in the middle of the night to test. Any number of things can cause not feeling rested. You could have sleep apnea. Many don't realize they have apnea. Easy to have a sleep study done.
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Permalink Reply by Shawnmarie on -
I think this kind of thing used to happen to me before my T1 diagnosis. It seems to me that in my case it was that my BG was spiking super high when I ate(well over 200) because my first phase insulin response was almost nil. Then, the second phase would kick in and over-compensate. Like others have said, it definitely begs for additional investigation.
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Permalink Reply by RobinA on
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I asked my endo to do the antibody test several months ago, but he said it came back negative. Is it possible to have a negative reading early on?
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Permalink Reply by Melitta on
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Hi Robin: I would ask to see the actual results of the antibody testing. Was the full suite run? Too often, doctors only order GAD, when GAD, ICA, IA-2, and zinc transporter all should be run. Don't just take the doctor's word for it, ask to see the actual lab results.
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Permalink Reply by RobinA on
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I don't know- that's a good point. He didn't necessarily want to run them anyway, because he didn't think I had diabetes, much less LADA. I'm pretty sure all he ran was GAD.
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