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Pre-diabetic and Reactive hypoglycemic.

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Wayfarer

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At risk of diabetes
Having recently been diagnosed as pre-diabetic I have started a new diet and begun to test my blood as instructed by the Gluco Navii tester.

Based on one week of testing,my fasting test before breakfast is usually between 5.7 and 6.7, and 2 hours after breakfast between 3.5 and 5.
At lunch and dinner it is between 4.8 and 5.2 before, and 5.3 and 6.5, 2 hours after these meals. Once I had low blood sugar symptons (lightheaded, shaky, dizzy,sweating) 90 minutes after dinner and my level was 2.9. A few slices of bread and jam and a sugary drink made me feel better. I have had these 'attacks' infrequently throughout my life but have only just realised their cause!
My problem is getting the balance right between cutting down on sugar and carbs in trying to get back to normal levels, and then having to binge on those same foods when hypoglycemic.
I would appreciate any help and advice on controlling blood sugar levels if you have both symptons?
 
Both the highs and the lows are reactions to eating carbohydrate - avoiding foods which are densely carb on a daily basis ought to calm things down in the long term, with any luck.
 
Hi @Wayfarer Have you tested at one hour after your meals to see if you can catch any spike to high sugar (I’m wondering how high you go). Also, what did you eat for the meals in your post above?

The general advice is to choose low GI carbs, limit the amount you have at any one time, and eat protein-rich meals with some added healthy fats (to slow down the absorption). Also, have 5 or 6 smaller meals a day to spread your food over the day.
 
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For future reference, the advice given to T1s for the treatment of symptomatic hypoglycaemia is to treat with 15g of rapid acting carbohydrate (eg 3 glucose tablets, 3 jelly babies or approx 160ml of Lucozade) and to wait 15 minutes before rechecking. Then retreat if BG levels remain below 4.0

I worry that a couple of slices of bread, plus jam, may be both too slow to act, when combined with the sugary drink could well be more carbohydrate than you need.

Some people on insulin find they need to follow-up with 10g of starchy carbs later to ward off a ‘double dip’, but that may not be necessary?
 
I am having more hypoglycaemia episodes since I have been cutting back on sugar and carbs (3 in two weeks rather than 3 or 4 a year!) but these are alleviated with glucose tablets.
It seems my body has been used to a level of sugar and carb intake and reacts now due to a lack of it.
Does this make sense and will my body get used to the lower sugar and carb diet?
It all seems to be getting complicated!
 
Hi Inka,
I'm not at the stage yet of measuring my carbs, just cutting down on portions and noting which foods have the hypo effect.
So far pasta is the main culprit so I will be cutting that out completely; other carbs I have halved portions and have removed cakes and biscuits completely.
I intend to carry on removing those from the diet which affect me most, but don't want to be too drastic at the moment, and will wait to see what my next blood test shows.
 
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I agree you shouldn’t be too drastic @Wayfarer The only reason I asked if you were counting up your daily carbs was for comparison, and just in case you’d dropped to a very low level of carbs. I would imagine that very cautious and gradual reduction would be most sensible in your situation.
 
Well ,after 4 weeks on my new regime my blood levels are reducing and I feel better after meals and am able to get through the day without a mid-afternoon nap!
The downside is that I am losing weight, which I cannot afford to do, even though I am eating a lot more of the good fats etc.I am also excercising more which probably adds to the weight loss, but I must carry on with this.
I have been looking at diabetic friendly protein shakes to add weight as I don't think I can eat larger meals. Are these a good idea for a pre-diabetic and if so can anyone recommend a suitable product?
 
That sounds positive @Wayfarer 🙂 I can’t comment on the shakes but others have used them. I know @Gwynn is experimenting with one.
 
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