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new to the game

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hdee

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Hi all - im new to this. Had covid in march and still have the antibody(well last week i did) but been suffering with fatigue. So I am 52 and just been put on glicazide and they are saying I am diabetic. My sugars are around the 13 mark. Yesterday I had a reading of 7.😳 Im very confused and don't know where to start. I have cut my carbs down to a minumim(but weetbix for breky) I don't think I am that high although last week had a few 19!! - can someone tell what this means - my doctors are on it but you don't get enough time with them to ask the silly questions like if I am 13 do I really need to be here. also haven't get the diagnoses yet so don't know if I am type 1 or type 2. feeling abit lost.

I know you aren't doctors but maybe some of you had had this .
 
Hi @hdee 🙂

Scroll down on the page below and you’ll see the target blood glucose ranges:

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/managing-your-diabetes/testing

Yes, your 13 and 19s are high and above the target range. As you were probably told, persistently high levels can cause damage, so the aim is to keep within the target range as much as possible. Were you given any dietary advice at all eg how many carbs to aim for per meal? I believe gliclazide can cause hypos so you might need to proceed cautiously if you’re cutting down on your carbs.

Are you testing before meals and two hours after? That’s a good way to see how the meal/foods are affecting you.

I’m not sure what you mean by asking if you need to be here? With a blood sugar of 13, yes, you do. Did you also have an HbA1C blood test done (taken from your arm?)? If you know the result of that that would be helpful. It would be a larger number like 49 or 65 or 92 or whatever as it uses different units to your home glucose meter. I’d also say that blood sugar goes up and down throughout the day, so it’s not abnormal to have a 7 and a 13 in the same day 🙂
 
thanks for this - I just confused at the moment -its alot to take in. I don't remember my result and I think the doctor is confused by me at the moment. would you say im type 1 or 2 ? I have a chubby middle, keeping down my carbs - not sleeping too well which doesn't help. I haven't had a dianoises
 
@hdee we really can't say what type you are, by your description you will more than likely be put down as a Type 2 due to saying you have a chubby middle and are 52 but if you start to lose weight, your BG doesn't lower on the Glic etc then you may want to ask to be tested for Type 1 via either a GAD test or C-Peptide test, GAD test for the antibodies while C-Peptide determines how much insulin you are producing, Type 2 generally produce too much for the body to use as it should as they are insulin resistant whereas Type 1's produce little to no insulin of their own hence why us Type 1's need to inject insulin xx
 
Hi hdee. Have you just been diagnosed then? Do you know results to a HbA1c test?
Are the numbers from a finger prick test? 13 and 19 are high (19 particularly so). There again, newly diagnosed people do have high blood glucose (BG) levels. A finger prick test result of 7 is good.
Your BG level will go up and down throughout the day, and from day to day.
People on glicazide can also go low, so you've to watch for that as well as highs.
I suggest testing before and after eating, so you can see the affect food has on your BG, along with any changes you make.
Keep a food diary, along with a record of your levels. Hopefully, after a couple of weeks you'll start to see a pattern.
 
Ralph-YK said:
Hi hdee. Have you just been diagnosed then? Do you know results to a HbA1c test?
Are the numbers from a finger prick test? 13 and 19 are high (19 particularly so). There again, newly diagnosed people do have high blood glucose (BG) levels. A finger prick test result of 7 is good.
Your BG level will go up and down throughout the day, and from day to day.
People on glicazide can also go low, so you've to watch for that as well as highs.
I suggest testing before and after eating, so you can see the affect food has on your BG, along with any changes you make.
Keep a food diary, along with a record of your levels. Hopefully, after a couple of weeks you'll start to see a pattern.
Click to expand...
Thanks I am keeping a check on my bloods and a diary of my foods. I want to crack this.
 
Type 2s aren't very good at using insulin (insulin resistant). So the BG isn't getting into the cells, and rises. The body spots this, and produces more insulin.
On the DESMOND sessions, they mention cells having rusty locks, and insulin being the key that opens the locks to let the glucose in.
 
Kaylz said:
@hdee we really can't say what type you are, by your description you will more than likely be put down as a Type 2 due to saying you have a chubby middle and are 52 but if you start to lose weight, your BG doesn't lower on the Glic etc then you may want to ask to be tested for Type 1 via either a GAD test or C-Peptide test, GAD test for the antibodies while C-Peptide determines how much insulin you are producing, Type 2 generally produce too much for the body to use as it should as they are insulin resistant whereas Type 1's produce little to no insulin of their own hence why us Type 1's need to inject insulin xx
Click to expand...
thanks for this - I think I am too early to say I think the drug they are trialing to see if it works
 
hdee said:
thanks for this - I just confused at the moment -its alot to take in. I don't remember my result and I think the doctor is confused by me at the moment. would you say im type 1 or 2 ? I have a chubby middle, keeping down my carbs - not sleeping too well which doesn't help. I haven't had a dianoises
Click to expand...

@Kaylz is right to say we can’t say. I don’t have much at all to add to her comment which covered everything I’d have said 🙂

Why exactly is the doctor confused?
 
Inka said:
@Kaylz is right to say we can’t say. I don’t have much at all to add to her comment which covered everything I’d have said 🙂

Why exactly is the doctor confused?
Click to expand...
they have said I am too high for one and too low for the other. also just had antibodies found from covid so not sure if this is related as they are getting some cases
 
hdee said:
they have said I am too high for one and too low for the other. also just had antibodies found from covid so not sure if this is related as they are getting some cases
Click to expand...

Yes, I’d read about Covid possibly causing blood sugar issues too.

I’m not sure I completely agree with the too high/too low thing as I know Type 2s who’ve had pretty high blood sugar and high HbA1Cs at diagnosis. I think it depends on the individual.

Are you having tests to confirm your type? That is, the C Peptide test to see how much insulin you’re making, and the Type 1 antibodies tests? If there’s any doubt, that would be a good thing to pursue. Personally, I’d prefer that than trying drugs to see if they work as some are better suited to Type 2 than Type 1.
 
Inka said:
Yes, I’d read about Covid possibly causing blood sugar issues too.

I’m not sure I completely agree with the too high/too low thing as I know Type 2s who’ve had pretty high blood sugar and high HbA1Cs at diagnosis. I think it depends on the individual.

Are you having tests to confirm your type? That is, the C Peptide test to see how much insulin you’re making, and the Type 1 antibodies tests? If there’s any doubt, that would be a good thing to pursue. Personally, I’d prefer that than trying drugs to see if they work as some are better suited to Type 2 than Type 1.
Click to expand...
Inka said:
Yes, I’d read about Covid possibly causing blood sugar issues too.

I’m not sure I completely agree with the too high/too low thing as I know Type 2s who’ve had pretty high blood sugar and high HbA1Cs at diagnosis. I think it depends on the individual.

Are you having tests to confirm your type? That is, the C Peptide test to see how much insulin you’re making, and the Type 1 antibodies tests? If there’s any doubt, that would be a good thing to pursue. Personally, I’d prefer that than trying drugs to see if they work as some are better suited to Type 2 than Type 1.
Click to expand...
Not yet doctor on holiday and I suppose the hospitals have other things to worried about at the moment .

Also why is blood the same at bedtime as in the morning. so I was 13.1 at bedtime and when ifirst woke up the same.
 
Also why is blood the same at bedtime as in the morning. so I was 13.1 at bedtime and when ifirst woke up the same.

A coincidence but ideally you’d want those results lower. It might be an idea to set an alarm to do a test in the night eg 2am to see if you’re going higher then back down to 13.1, or indeed lower then rising to 13.1 (our bodies tend to pump out glucose first thing to get us ready for the day).

Do you remember what you ate for your evening meal to give you 13.1 and what your blood sugar was before eating? Ie was it already high or did what you ate push it up?
 
Hi @hdee, It is tricky to cut carbs down to a minimum when on gliclazide because it is a fairly powerful Blood Glucose reducing , so monitoring is required. You really want to keep your BG above 5 (but below 8 if possible) because you are in danger of a dangerous hypo if your BG gets below 4
Having Weetabix for breakfast is a very long way from actually cutting carbs down to a minimum! I would suggest Cheese, or Eggs (with no bread) or cold meat for breakfast.

Unless you turn out to be a Type 1 or one of the less common varieties of diabetes, cutting carbs (reducing your gliclazide if required) would be a good way to get your BG figures down to where you need them - solidly below 8.0 It would also reduce the large variation in BG levels which you report. Both high numbers and high range of variation are considered to be equally bad.
 
I agree with @Inka on the too high for one and too low for the other, I was diagnosed with a hba1c of 101 as Type 1 but there are a few Type 2's here that have had a higher hba1c at diagnosis, I could be wrong but I think @Anitram may be one of them, Sorry if I've got that wrong Martin xx
 
Welcome to the forum @hdee

Sorry to hear that you are having to wait for some clarity over your diagnosis - but it is definitely worth holding out for an accurate classification so that you get the right treatment and most appropriate options available to you.

Great that you have access to a BG meter, and your diary of foods and readings should really help, especially of you take the suggestion of checking BG before eating and then again 2 hours later so that you can see the differences the meal carbs caused. In a sense, the numbers themselves are less important to begin with than the ‘rises’ of the meals. If you can reduce the rises to only 2-3mmol/L then the overall numbers should come down gradually over time.
 
Hello @hdee and welcome to the forum. 🙂
 
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