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Good afternoon DUK'ers

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Sheila Partington

Sheila Partington

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi Folks,

My name is Sheila I am 58 and I have been diagnosed with prediabeties, so trying to do everything to stop it in its tracks. I had a really bad experience a couple of weeks ago when I was near to passing out and my heart was racing and felt sick and was so hot. I went to A&E as I suffered a heart attack some years ago and was putting my symptoms down to my Heart and the hotness down to hormones and taking Tamoxifen, but all seems fine with the ticker and I await further investigations.

So in one way I'm hopeful that I can do something about the most terrible feelings I have in the mornings, my fasting reading this morning was 14.5, don't really understand it all just yet as I am awaiting an appointment with the clinic. I have started a food diary today so I can check on my carbs also.

I was extremely fed up when I was told as it just seemed another blow to me getting on with my life, but I am feeling a bit more positive now and on my way to getting this sorted before it develops. I take Ramapril and not sure if this is effecting me as I changed it from the morning to the evening as it made me feel so bad, so investigations underway.

I have enjoyed reading everyone comments and its giving me a good insight into what I need to do, so thanks. Any advise is more than welcome.

Kind Regards
Sheila
 
Hi Sheila, welcome to the forum 🙂 Glad to hear there was nothing wrong with your heart, but I imagine that must have been a very distressing experience :( When were you diagnosed with pre-diabetes? A reading of 14.5 is very high, especially for a fasting reading - normally two fasting readings above 7.0 mmol/l would be sufficient to be diagnosed with diabetes. Have you had diabetes symptoms for long - extreme thirst, tiredness, needing the loo? Hopefully, things will become clearer when you have the appointment 🙂

In the meantime, it sounds like you have made a good start with the food diary and identifying carbs. I'd suggest trying to keep carbs to a minimum until you have your appointment, in order to rty and keep your levels under better control. Did you buy your own meter and strips? I would recommend browsing the links in our Useful Links thread, particularly Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter which will hopefully give you some understanding of what it is all about.

Please let us know if you have any questions, there is a wealth of knowledge and experience here, and no-one will think your questions are 'daft' - if it's bothering you, please ask! 🙂
 
Hello Sheila, welcome to the forum from me too.

I'm with Northerner thinking that a reading if 14mmol/L is somewhat high for 'pre-diabetes'. However, my diagnosis reading of over 20mmol/L may have been worse but after three months I was well on the way to controlling the symptoms. So much so I was off all medication and have been ever since (over five years now). So, fear not! 🙂

Andy
 
Hi Thank you for your reply, I had blood test on the 20th Jan at my doctors surgery and an ECG, following this I had an appointment with the doctor and this is when he told me, to be honest, I just didn't want to hear it so I just kind of ignored what he said.. I do remember him saying something about the average reading over six weeks, (can they monitor over that long from one test?) being 42 and that I had pre-diabeties and it was just a warning, then I received a call from the doctors surgery saying that I was being referred to the Clinic.

You asked if I had purchased my monitor and the answer is yes, I got the Accu-chek Mobile, so far I have done 5 readings and they range from 5 to 14.5. I just felt a little strange before and did a test and it read 10.9, I have been having these symptoms for some years to be truthful but associated them with low blood pressure due to my medication, I've always been tired so thats nothing new, can sleep forever always have, the thirst also seems like its been around for ever but I wouldn't say that I need the loo a lot, I just have these really bad feelings of disorientation and am overwhelmed. I am going to visit the links you provided, Many Thanks Sheila
 
Hi and welcome to the forum Sheila :D
 
Hello Sheila and welcome to the forum. 🙂
 
Sheila Partington said:
Hi Thank you for your reply, I had blood test on the 20th Jan at my doctors surgery and an ECG, following this I had an appointment with the doctor and this is when he told me, to be honest, I just didn't want to hear it so I just kind of ignored what he said.. I do remember him saying something about the average reading over six weeks, (can they monitor over that long from one test?) being 42 and that I had pre-diabeties and it was just a warning, then I received a call from the doctors surgery saying that I was being referred to the Clinic.

You asked if I had purchased my monitor and the answer is yes, I got the Accu-chek Mobile, so far I have done 5 readings and they range from 5 to 14.5. I just felt a little strange before and did a test and it read 10.9, I have been having these symptoms for some years to be truthful but associated them with low blood pressure due to my medication, I've always been tired so thats nothing new, can sleep forever always have, the thirst also seems like its been around for ever but I wouldn't say that I need the loo a lot, I just have these really bad feelings of disorientation and am overwhelmed. I am going to visit the links you provided, Many Thanks Sheila
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Hi Sheila, the test you had that showed the 'average' is called the HbA1c test - it can measure the amount of glucose that has 'stuck' to your red blood cells over the previous 6-12 weeks and is one indication of whether you might be diabetic. If your result was 42 then this was below the 48 that would normally give you a diagnosis of diabetes. However, if your levels from fingerprick tests are in double figures then it does suggest an impaired tolerance for glucose, and it could be these 'spikes' in levels that are making you feel tired - they can also affect your moods.

My suggestion would be to look into the GL Diet - [COLOR="
blue"]The GL Diet for Dummies[/COLOR] is a good introduction - this describes a way of selecting and combining food so that it has a slow and steady impact on your blood glucose levels, and therefore helps avoid those 'spikes'. Also, have a read of Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S which will help you to use your meter efficiently to discover your food tolerances and improve your levels 🙂

Let us know if you are unsure of anything, always happy to help, and it can be a bit of a minefield at times! 🙂
 
Hello and welcome to the forum.
 
My suggestion would be to look into the GL Diet - The GL Diet for Dummies is a good introduction - this describes a way of selecting and combining food so that it has a slow and steady impact on your blood glucose levels, and therefore helps avoid those 'spikes'. Also, have a read of Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S which will help you to use your meter efficiently to discover your food tolerances and improve your levels 🙂

Many Thanks, I ordered the book from Amazon (Kindle) and am defiantly going to give it a go... And Thanks Andy for your words, made me feel better...
 
Hello and welcome to forum
 
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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
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