Hello - Diagnosed with Prediabetes

[Daffyduck]

Hi
I'm a female, aged 54 and have recently been told I'm prediabetic 45mmol. I have to say I have been a wine drinker for yrs (drinking a lot more than recommended). I'm also 2 stone over the healthy weight.
So I'm basically looking for advice regarding hypoglycemia, which is a big problem for me at present especially where I want to lose weight! I have a back problem too which prevents me from aerobic style exercise and even brisk walking causes discomfort!
I'm falling apart lol.
Anyway, any pointers would be greatly appreciated in respect of what people are eating on a daily basis to help with weight loss and drops in blood sugar between meals. I have looked online and have a book but the recipes are far too faffy and I keep seeing contradictory information about what to eat, and what to avoid eating. The amount of info on the Internet is overwhelming me!

Also, can anyone tell me if prediabetes can be reversed permanently with lifestyle changes? I really want to avoid developing DT2 if possible. Btw, I have no family history of diabetes.

I am joining the NDPP soon.

Thank you.
DD

 

[Nayshiftin]

Welcome, I am slightly older and gone passed the pre diabetic stage and now have diabetes. So you are doing the right thing. Many here will help. No advise . I believe one can put it into remission but one needs to work at it.

 

[Lucyr]

welcome. I think people will be interested to know more about the hypoglycaemia you mention. When does this happen time wise in relation to food, how low does your blood sugar go, etc?

 

[Docb]

Hi @Daffyduck and welcome to the forum.

One of the things we all needed to do at the start was to get a handle on the terminology.

You mention hypoglycaemia. This means lower than normal blood glucose and it only becomes a problem if it gets very low. As a general principle, this can only happen if you are using insulin to control blood glucose or taking some medications that can induce you to produce more insulin naturally. It is not something that should immediately concern somebody with a new T2 diagnosis.

Are you thinking about hyperglycaemia? This is higher than normal blood glucose and diabetes diagnosis is based on those levels. This is only a short term problem if it is very high, but for nearly everybody diagnosed with diabetes it is warning bell and that effort to address it now will avoid problems in the future.

My thought for you is to take a deep breath, cut back on the trawling of the internet, check out the learning zone and the main part of this site and get back to diabetes basics. Take it slowly and carefully and when you have got the basics sorted, work out a way forward that suits you. Ask us questions on anything you do not understand and we will help.

 

[Daffyduck]

Hi Lucy, thanks for the reply. I don't have a monitor as I'm prediabetic so can only go by how I feel physically. Hypoglycemia has not been diagnosed. But, I usually feel a light sweat on my face/neck, sudden difficulty in concentrating and a craving to eat something. Example timewise: I had two slices of wholemeal toast, half avocado and an egg fried in tiny a amount of olive oil (this is my regular breakfast). Then 1.45hrs later I had symptoms. This is a daily occurrence and the feeling of sugar level drops is usually between 2-3 hrs after eating, irrespective of meal size and content. So dieting is problematic for me. I don't generally eat biscuits or cakes etc and this week I cut out wine. I have to say I'm fed up with feeling like this as it's interfering with my concentration at work and my energy levels suddenly plummet. I was having an activia Yoghurt and fruit mid morning, then lunch, and sometimes a banana or two finger kitkat mid afternoon to help. This was in my previous job. I started a new job this week and didn't get the opportunity to eat anything on the first day, I had breakfast then nothing until 6pm. I was struggling and felt really ill. On the other days I went past 3-5 hrs without food and again felt ill.

To lose weight I need to reduce what I eat, but the sugar level drops affect me considerably.

When my Dr said I was prediabetic with BG of 45mmol, the advice she gave was to stop drinking/eating wine, pasta, white bread and rice. That is all I was told.

 

[Daffyduck]

Hi @Daffyduck and welcome to the forum.

One of the things we all needed to do at the start was to get a handle on the terminology.

You mention hypoglycaemia. This means lower than normal blood glucose and it only becomes a problem if it gets very low. As a general principle, this can only happen if you are using insulin to control blood glucose or taking some medications that can induce you to produce more insulin naturally. It is not something that should immediately concern somebody with a new T2 diagnosis.

Are you thinking about hyperglycaemia? This is higher than normal blood glucose and diabetes diagnosis is based on those levels. This is only a short term problem if it is very high, but for nearly everybody diagnosed with diabetes it is warning bell and that effort to address it now will avoid problems in the future.

My thought for you is to take a deep breath, cut back on the trawling of the internet, check out the learning zone and the main part of this site and get back to diabetes basics. Take it slowly and carefully and when you have got the basics sorted, work out a way forward that suits you. Ask us questions on anything you do not understand and we will help.

 

[Daffyduck]

Thank you. Yes, I do need to understand the terminology. Thank you for pointing this out and making me aware that it is not hypoglycemia.

I will have a look at the basics.

 

[Lucyr]

Hi Lucy, thanks for the reply. I don't have a monitor as I'm prediabetic so can only go by how I feel physically. Hypoglycemia has not been diagnosed. But, I usually feel a light sweat on my face/neck, sudden difficulty in concentrating and a craving to eat something. Example timewise: I had two slices of wholemeal toast, half avocado and an egg fried in tiny a amount of olive oil (this is my regular breakfast). Then 1.45hrs later I had symptoms. This is a daily occurrence and the feeling of sugar level drops is usually between 2-3 hrs after eating, irrespective of meal size and content. So dieting is problematic for me. I don't generally eat biscuits or cakes etc and this week I cut out wine. I have to say I'm fed up with feeling like this as it's interfering with my concentration at work and my energy levels suddenly plummet. I was having an activia Yoghurt and fruit mid morning, then lunch, and sometimes a banana or two finger kitkat mid afternoon to help. This was in my previous job. I started a new job this week and didn't get the opportunity to eat anything on the first day, I had breakfast then nothing until 6pm. I was struggling and felt really ill. On the other days I went past 3-5 hrs without food and again felt ill.

To lose weight I need to reduce what I eat, but the sugar level drops affect me considerably.

When my Dr said I was prediabetic with BG of 45mmol, the advice she gave was to stop drinking/eating wine, pasta, white bread and rice. That is all I was told.

Without testing you won’t know if this is hypoglycaemia (low sugars) or if it’s just the feeling of dropping from a high blood sugar after eating to a normal sugar a couple of hours later when the food has been processed. That can feel like low blood sugar but with normal levels. Two things that might help are noting whether this happens after different types of meals, with different types/quantities of carbohydrates, and testing your blood sugar levels. If you are able to get a blood sugar meter I think that would help you in understanding what’s going on, and may reassure you that the snacks between meals aren’t needed, or guide you in adjusting foods to reduce the spikes and drops.

 

[Daffyduck]

Thank you Lucyr. I was considering that but wasn't sure if prediabetes required it. But it sounds like the logical thing to do.

Much appreciated advice - thanks again.

 

[Daffyduck]

It's not guaranteed but one thing that is certain is that if you do nothing you are at risk of moving on to a diabetes diagnosis.

My sister was told 2 years ago that she was pre-diabetic after a routine blood test for something else so she changed her diet, started walking more, shed some weight (she needed to, pre-diabetes or not) and has shifted her BG back into the normal range. However, she knows she can't revert to her previous lifestyle or she risks ending up back where she started and having to do it all over again.

Martin

Thank you. It is reassuring to know I can still do something about it. Pleased your sister is doing well. Do you know if she followed any particular diet?

 

[Leadinglights]

I had been prediabetic for 5 years but obviously got too complacent and the carbs crept up and reduced exercise when I retired pushed me up into the diabetes zone last June, but tackling the carb intake and upping the exercise I have got it back down again. But what made me go back to the GP were symptoms similar to yours which I interpreted as low blood glucose when actually it was high thankfully not massively. But I only knew because I had a monitor and was able to test.
So what I am saying is getting a monitor would reassure you and help you see what is going on and assist in making any changes.

 

[Ditto]

Hello @Daffyduck and welcome to the forum. 🙂 I was pre-diabetic for ages. 🙄

 

[Daffyduck]

I had been prediabetic for 5 years but obviously got too complacent and the carbs crept up and reduced exercise when I retired pushed me up into the diabetes zone last June, but tackling the carb intake and upping the exercise I have got it back down again. But what made me go back to the GP were symptoms similar to yours which I interpreted as low blood glucose when actually it was high thankfully not massively. But I only knew because I had a monitor and was able to test.
So what I am saying is getting a monitor would reassure you and help you see what is going on and assist in making any changes.

Thank you for sharing this with me. Hearing similar experiences, as mine, is extremely helpful! Do you know why it felt like sugar level drops when BG was high?

 

[Leadinglights]

Thank you for sharing this with me. Hearing similar experiences, as mine, is extremely helpful! Do you know why it felt like sugar level drops when BG was high?

No I don't but somebody else might.

 

[Drummer]

Eating high carbohydrate foods 'to help' usually results in glucose levels which go up and down like a fairground ride.
Removing the bread, bananas, chocolate biscuits, and other high carb stuff should improve things for you.

 

[Daffyduck]

Thank you.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Daffyduck

Sorry to hear about the unpleasant symptoms you are experiencing after food. Sometimes people get ‘reactive hypoglycaemia’ where glucose rises steeply after food, then the body slightly panics and produces rather too much insulin a little too late, resulting in a steep drop in BG levels.

Rapidly changing BG levels in either direction can make you feel pretty weird.

Aiming to moderate or reduce the amount of total carbohydrates in meals can help to reduce the potential rise, which may help lessen the BG fluctuations.

Hope you get on well with the National Diabetes Prevention Programme. Keep us posted with how it goes and what you find works for you 🙂

 

[Daffyduck]

Hi Mike,
Thank you so much for this information. It makes me much more aware of the portion sizes/carbohydrates. I must admit I did used to pile pasta on my plate. I am being more careful now with portion sizes.