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Newbie needing help

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Saphire

New Member
Hi all,
Nice to be here,
I would like to know if I may have diabetes and should I contact my GP.
For quite a few years now after my main meal of the day at Lunchtime, I feel really poorly, sleepy and no balance standing, to the point of nearly passing out. When I mentioned this to my then GP at the time he said it could be the medication I am on. Years have gone by and it seems worse. I recently purchased a glucose monitor and started taking readings before a meal, averaging 7.4 mmol and 90minutes after I finish. The after reading are averaging 8.4 to 8.9 mmol. As far as I know I have never had a sugar test with my GP.
I have been on a low carb diet for about 8 years, No breakfast, Main meal at around 12.30pm and a piece of cheese around 6pm nothing with sugars
Can anyone advise me.
Not sure whether I have posted this in the correct place.
 
Hi @Saphire and welcome to the forum.
Yes, this is as good a place as any to post.
Those of us who test around meals tend to test 2hrs after first bite. But assuming it takes you around 30min to eat your meal then your test is at roughly the right time. The pre-meal numbers look a little high but the post-meal rise of around 1.5mmol is nicely within the limits we aim for - so you may be slightly diabetic but at least your body can handle what you are eating for lunch.

Are you thin, normal weight or carrying more than you need?
When she was young my mother used to faint if a meal was late and I myself once blacked out in a queue for food when at university. These incidents were related to 2 things: A). we both tended to have lower then normal Blood Pressure. B). It's likely that our livers (back then) weren't very good at dumping Glucose into our blood stream when we needed a boost to go hunt/gather our food. These days I suffer from the reverse of that which is called Dawn Phenomenon and my liver gives me too much f a boost in the morning even when I don't need it.
Are you on any Blood Pressure or Water Retention medication? Eating Low Carb often/usually means doses of those need to be reduced (or they can be de-prescribed completely).
 
Thank you for your reply IanFoster. Pleased to hear thats my glucose are within range wasn’t sure whether it was high.
I am overweight for my height 5ft.1”, 10st.3 (64.5kg) I started putting on the weight 6 years ago after being put on bp meds for very high bp and water tablets, Before then I was between 8-9 stone. Bp is very high around 180-90s even with meds. I have heart failure and a cancer survivor but still on cancer meds until next year. Hopefully my weight will start to come off then. My food intake is very small, breakfast cup of tea no milk or sugar or water, main meal at lunch usually consists of 4oz of some sort meats, 2oz mushrooms no green veg being on warfarin. Tea 2oz piece of cheese with a cracker. Thats it. I never feel hungry. I am at a-total loss. Why I feel so ill when I do eat.
Christine
 
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Diabetes can’t be diagnosed from a finger prick it needs to be proper blood test so you should speak to your GP. If your food intake is definitely that small then it would be worth asking about thyroid tests too, if you aren’t losing weight on such low food intake.
 
Thank you Lucyr, I will have to send a letter to my GP with my concerns. I wish I could get a face to face appointment but with the pandemic its a no go. Just before the pandemic I was in a village practice in Cheshire, I if I had any problems I could just go to the village surgery and be seen straight away. After downsizing and moving to Shropshire in Dec 2019 I haven’t seen a GP face to face. I miss my old GP of 30 years, I was spoilt.
Christine
 
Saphire said:
Thank you Lucyr, I will have to send a letter to my GP with my concerns. I wish I could get a face to face appointment but with the pandemic its a no go. Just before the pandemic I was in a village practice in Cheshire, I if I had any problems I could just go to the village surgery and be seen straight away. After downsizing and moving to Shropshire in Dec 2019 I haven’t seen a GP face to face. I miss my old GP of 30 years, I was spoilt.
Christine
Click to expand...
Does your GP have econsult? With many you can enter your concerns online and someone calls you back the next day
 
Saphire said:
Hi all,
Nice to be here,
I would like to know if I may have diabetes and should I contact my GP.
For quite a few years now after my main meal of the day at Lunchtime, I feel really poorly, sleepy and no balance standing, to the point of nearly passing out. When I mentioned this to my then GP at the time he said it could be the medication I am on. Years have gone by and it seems worse. I recently purchased a glucose monitor and started taking readings before a meal, averaging 7.4 mmol and 90minutes after I finish. The after reading are averaging 8.4 to 8.9 mmol. As far as I know I have never had a sugar test with my GP.
I have been on a low carb diet for about 8 years, No breakfast, Main meal at around 12.30pm and a piece of cheese around 6pm nothing with sugars
Can anyone advise me.
Not sure whether I have posted this in the correct place.
Click to expand...
Hi. Are you showing any other symptoms like thirst and peeing a lot ( Diabetes was called the ‘p@ssing evil’ in the 17th century) ? Try fasting tests first thing in the morning, two over 7 with symptoms are indicative of Type 2 Diabetes as is any random test over 11.1. The usual testing time is 2 hours after a meal. You don’t know at 90 minutes whether the 8.4 and 8.9s are on the way up or the way down. Those 8s suggest a possibility of IGT ( Impaired Glucose Tolerance) which is not diabetes but a nice can of worms in its own right. With those 7s and 8s you should ask you GP for blood test called an HbA1c imo.
 
Hi there. Yes you are in the right place.
Saphire said:
Thank you for your reply IanFoster. Pleased to hear thats my glucose are within range wasn’t sure whether it was high.
I am overweight for my height 5ft.1”, 10st.3 (64.5kg) I started putting on the weight 6 years ago after being put on bp meds for very high bp and water tablets, Before then I was between 8-9 stone. Bp is very high around 180-90s even with meds. I have heart failure and a cancer survivor but still on cancer meds until next year. Hopefully my weight will start to come off then. My food intake is very small, breakfast cup of tea no milk or sugar or water, main meal at lunch usually consists of 4oz of some sort meats, 2oz mushrooms no green veg being on warfarin. Tea 2oz piece of cheese with a cracker. Thats it. I never feel hungry. I am at a-total loss. Why I feel so ill when I do eat.
Christine
Click to expand...
wow you have been through quite a bit bless you, please have a chat with your doctor and see if that makes you feel a bit better. You shouldn’t have to worry about this. Worst case there is a little bit of an issue with your blood sugar, at the levels you describe im certain it’s not something that a few little tweaks can’t sort out and there are lots of wonderful, knowledgeable people here that can help you with that. Please keep posting whatever the outcome. Your not on your own, we are always here to help xx
 
Welcome to the forum @Saphire

Recommendations for people living with T2 are 4-7 before meals, and no higher than 8.5 by 2hrs after meals.

However you do seem to be on a very restricted meal plan, so it sounds like it would be worthwhile trying to book a phone call or econsult with a Dr to discuss your worries.

An HbA1c would help to quantifyyour risk of developing T2, though I suspect if you were eating more freely, with a moderate amount of carbs, you would get a very different result!
 
That doesn't seem like enough food to sustain you. One problem with a low calorie intake like that is that your body adapts to it by reducing your resting metabolic rate. This means that although you can survive you feel cold, you have no energy and your thoughts aren't sharp (because the brain is a big consumer of energy).

I just googled cancer medication and weight gain to see that certain treatments are known to cause weight gain, in particular Steroids - which are also known to increase Blood Glucose in many cases.
I don't have the knowledge or experience to know what to suggest to you. Except to say that it may be worthwhile to eat a bit more protein and fat if you can (even a bit more carbohydrate wouldn't hurt because you are hardly eating any at all at present. So eggs? more than just 2oz of cheese? Perhaps as you say it may be easier once the cancer treatment has completed.
 
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