Confused about fasting blood sugars

[K.rawson1999]

Just wondering if anyone can help me out with a complicated situation, first of all I'm a 23 year old with an active lifestyle. I first started googling about diabetes when i was concerned about the smell of my urine, it was a very strong smell especially in the morning, it all came on quite sudden I had started becoming more tired than usual and some other common diabetes symptoms but I thought there was no chance of me having the condition because I was fit and healthy all my life apart from the past 6 months when I was hovering around 15 and a half/16 stone but still extremely active still going to the gym most days lifting weights as I had done for the past 6 or so years and most of my weight was muscle as my waist size never went about 36inches, anyway after probably 4/5 months I went and got a blood test done (I waited this long because I have a bad phobia of needles) before having this blood test I did urine tests probably 3 times a day for around a month and all came back fine, then I was still concerned as I had some different symptoms over the last 2 months, symptoms of b1 deficiency, so I ordered a glucose monitor and tested my glucose after eating several times over 2 days and all was fine, then I realised I hadn't checked my fasting levels so I did it the next morning and it was 6.2 so then I was extremely concerned and went for a blood test the same day and when I received my results I was certain it would be type 2 diabetes but my results were 32mmol or 5.1% which blew my mind as I was sure I had the disease, anyway since then I gave it another week and the symptoms were still there so I went back to the doctors then the hospital 2 or 3 times but they basically told me I was mad and needed to stop coming, anyway I ordered some b1 tables and since taking them I've felt 10x better, but as I explained to the doctors I wake up every morning and my left toe is always numb, I often have yellowing and the back of my tounge on a morning or after eating something sweet, and the real corse for concern was my heart, I have always been fit and been able to run a 5k in below 25 minutes and although I attempted a few times recently can't get below that time, it basically feels like I can't get enough air to my lungs and that my arteries are blocked, my veins in my hands often go extremely small in a morning or during exercise like there is something wrong with the blood flow, I'd massively appreciate it if some of you took the time to read this and let me know what you think, thanks

 

[harbottle]

6.2 is fine. Blood glucose tends to be a little higher in the morning, especially when you start getting up and becoming active, but your pancreas will create the insulin to stop it going high. This is true for non-diabetics as well as people with diabetes - people with T2 diabetes might see it go higher due to IR/Lack of insulin.

 

[K.rawson1999]

6.2 is fine. Blood glucose tends to be a little higher in the morning, especially when you start getting up and becoming active, but your pancreas will create the insulin to stop it going high. This is true for non-diabetics as well as people with diabetes - people with T2 diabetes might see it go higher due to IR/Lack of insulin.

OK thank you, what can I do about the symptoms that I sometimes get? My foot seems to be getting better but I have mornings where I constantly pee until I have something to eat, I know in diabetics it's ment to be at night but it's the complete opposite, it always seems to be when I'm fasting, 9 times out of 10 I'll have breakfast lunch and dinner but say the odd time I have a big breakfast and miss lunch, I feel some of the symptoms come on again.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

OK thank you, what can I do about the symptoms that I sometimes get? My foot seems to be getting better but I have mornings where I constantly pee until I have something to eat, I know in diabetics it's ment to be at night but it's the complete opposite, it always seems to be when I'm fasting, 9 times out of 10 I'll have breakfast lunch and dinner but say the odd time I have a big breakfast and miss lunch, I feel some of the symptoms come on again.

Well, whatever you have it probably doesn't include diabetes, so I'm afraid we're not very likely to be able to offer much advice. (Beyond suggesting you go back to your GP and see if they have any ideas.)

 

[42istheanswer]

Did your cholesterol get checked as well as HbA1c? And general bloods? If not then maybe ask GP about those.

But yes 6.2 is a normal fasting glucose.

 

[K.rawson1999]

Did your cholesterol get checked as well as HbA1c? And general bloods? If not then maybe ask GP about those

Yes the all the usual checks were done liver cholesterol proteins etc and everything was fine, this is why I can't understand the symptoms I have they all seem to someway match to diabetes but then again have different habits to the usual symptoms such as peeing alot at night, for me it's always in the morning, but I usually only get this once maybe twice a week, I have been taking benfotiamine and cinnamon tablets which do seem to be having an effect on making me feel in a way back to normal but like I say I have the odd day or 2 everyweek where they come back.

 

[Jenny65]

OK thank you, what can I do about the symptoms that I sometimes get? My foot seems to be getting better but I have mornings where I constantly pee until I have something to eat, I know in diabetics it's ment to be at night but it's the complete opposite, it always seems to be when I'm fasting, 9 times out of 10 I'll have breakfast lunch and dinner but say the odd time I have a big breakfast and miss lunch, I feel some of the symptoms come on again.

The constant need to urinate, I dont know if you are male or female, but my son gets this and has been told its an enlarged prostate. He literally goes every 40 mins or so, we got in the car the other day to go on the motorway and 10 mins in, he said to his girlfriend he needed to stop at a garage for loos, she said but you have only just been and that it was all in his head, in the end he had to pull over and go behind a tree, I think although diagnosed with the enlarged prostate, his anxiety about it also makes him go more.

That would possibly explain the frequency but not the way it smells. It could be a UTI have you been checked for an infection?

 

[K.rawson1999]

The constant need to urinate, I dont know if you are male or female, but my son gets this and has been told its an enlarged prostate. He literally goes every 40 mins or so, we got in the car the other day to go on the motorway and 10 mins in, he said to his girlfriend he needed to stop at a garage for loos, she said but you have only just been and that it was all in his head, in the end he had to pull over and go behind a tree, I think although diagnosed with the enlarged prostate, his anxiety about it also makes him go more.

That would possibly explain the frequency but not the way it smells. It could be a UTI have you been checked for an infection?

I'm male and yes I've had a urine sample taken at the hospital and I've done loads at home myself they all came back fine

 

[NotWorriedAtAll]

Speaking as someone who has dealt with extreme anxiety problems for many decades I recognise so much of this.
Stress and anxiety will cause peeing a lot and the other symptoms you describe.
That said I was diagnosed with sleep apnoea after seeing my GP and peeing in the night is one of the symptoms of sleep apnoea and so is anxiety and tiredness and waking up feeling ropy.
My husband noticed that as well as my snoring that I also seemed to be stopping breathing sometimes in the night.
Eventually I got a CPAP machine but I was already into my 50s by then and the surges of cortisol caused by my body going into a panic at night repeatedly and the disturbed nights had taken a toll and I had metabolic disorder by then and about three years later I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes as well.

The good news is that at 60 I am feeling better than I can ever remember having felt since I was a teenager.
For me the answer was 1. getting my Cpap machine and using it every night without fail which means a good night's sleep once I fall asleep. 2. listening to soothing audiobooks for fifteen minutes as I fall asleep - sometimes I listen to meditations which help me clear my mind of anxieties and then I get a gentle sleep. 3. keeping my activity levels up and not being sedentary - I wouldn't think you have any problem with this from what you say 4. I dealt with my diabetes by going onto a very low carb way of eating - again I doubt that you would need to do this. 5. Making sure I am well hydrated at all times by drinking water and decaf tea and decaf coffee.

I think you should try strategies that reduce your stress levels first of all. I have a VR headset that allows me to go to a sort of holodeck style environment like in Star Trek and it means I can be sitting on a beach within seconds doing breathing exercises (I open the window for real fresh air) or I can be up a mountain or I can be inside a cinema (Amazon have a cinema on VR) watching a film or watching a music concert.
I would also consider whether you may have sleep apnoea - if you have a sleeping partner maybe ask them if you snore and if they have noticed you stopping breathing at all?

 

[K.rawson1999]

Speaking as someone who has dealt with extreme anxiety problems for many decades I recognise so much of this.
Stress and anxiety will cause peeing a lot and the other symptoms you describe.
That said I was diagnosed with sleep apnoea after seeing my GP and peeing in the night is one of the symptoms of sleep apnoea and so is anxiety and tiredness and waking up feeling ropy.
My husband noticed that as well as my snoring that I also seemed to be stopping breathing sometimes in the night.
Eventually I got a CPAP machine but I was already into my 50s by then and the surges of cortisol caused by my body going into a panic at night repeatedly and the disturbed nights had taken a toll and I had metabolic disorder by then and about three years later I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes as well.

The good news is that at 60 I am feeling better than I can ever remember having felt since I was a teenager.
For me the answer was 1. getting my Cpap machine and using it every night without fail which means a good night's sleep once I fall asleep. 2. listening to soothing audiobooks for fifteen minutes as I fall asleep - sometimes I listen to meditations which help me clear my mind of anxieties and then I get a gentle sleep. 3. keeping my activity levels up and not being sedentary - I wouldn't think you have any problem with this from what you say 4. I dealt with my diabetes by going onto a very low carb way of eating - again I doubt that you would need to do this. 5. Making sure I am well hydrated at all times by drinking water and decaf tea and decaf coffee.

I think you should try strategies that reduce your stress levels first of all. I have a VR headset that allows me to go to a sort of holodeck style environment like in Star Trek and it means I can be sitting on a beach within seconds doing breathing exercises (I open the window for real fresh air) or I can be up a mountain or I can be inside a cinema (Amazon have a cinema on VR) watching a film or watching a music concert.
I would also consider whether you may have sleep apnoea - if you have a sleeping partner maybe ask them if you snore and if they have noticed you stopping breathing at all?

Yeah I'm a terrible snorer, she tells me all the time about it, I don't often get anxious though that's one of the symptoms I rarely ever have but it does seem to come on a little the mornings when I have the rest of the symptoms, it all seems to be linking with fasting somehow.

 

[NotWorriedAtAll]

Yeah I'm a terrible snorer, she tells me all the time about it, I don't often get anxious though that's one of the symptoms I rarely ever have but it does seem to come on a little the mornings when I have the rest of the symptoms, it all seems to be linking with fasting somehow.

I would ask your GP if they can organise a sleep study please. I had a thingy I wore on my finger for a night and it recorded when my blood oxygen dipped and that was how they diagnosed it.

 

[Cherrelle DUK]

Hi K.rawson1999, welcome to the forum.

Your numbers seem to be normal as even non diabetics see an increase in their numbers at certain times of the day.

I think you should keep pressing for some further tests / investigations to be done as there's clearly something going on.

We wouldn’t be able to provide deeper insights but it may be worth keeping a diary for a week then having a good chat with your GP about what you've noticed.