Pre-diabetic (but it don't feel like it) advice

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little_p

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So, this is my story.....
I am a 53 (M), 5ft 4", 11 stone. I live in Wales.
I have had an IBS type condition as long as I can remember. About five years ago it got much worse and after much (conflicting) dietary advice, I settled on a diet which worked for me. At least one banana a day, honey nut cornflakes, potatoes, rice, ice cream, mild cheese and red meat. Reducing intake of gluten, lactose and eggs. As far as I was concerned, I had been eating healthily; non-smoking, getting my five a day through several portions of (mostly root vegs), fruit (mostly out of a can), fruit juice, not much alcohol, no microwave meals and an occasion Burger King.
I have a sedatory job mostly work from home, but I did have a weekend job doing farm work which kind of made up for it. Then I had Covid about 18 months ago and it knocked me for six, so about 10 months ago I gave up the farm work job and just did the sedatory job.
Six months ago I had my dentist check-up who said that my gums looked like I was diabetic and that I should have it checked out. Eventually I managed to get a blood test and the letter that came back from the surgery effectively said 'you are pre-diabetic, do you own research, arrange another test in 12 months'.
Since then I have have tried to cut-out sugary stuff and it all seemed to be working well.
But more recently. Wow! I'm constantly thirsty, needing to pee, headaches, feeling shaky, mild pain in my teeth, restless feeling in my legs.
Last week I had this thing come over me where I lost sensation in my face which went down my arms. Classic stroke symptoms. I went to A&E and they confirmed that it wasn't a stroke, they thought that I almost fainted and recommended that I make a GP appointment. Next GP appointment isn't until January.......

I'm assuming that it is somehow related to the pre-diabetic, so bought a LibreLink sensor. Over the last three days it is averaging 7.2 mmol/L. It is as low as 6 mmol/L in the early morning before eating, but has got as high as 14 mmol/L after one meal.

I've got no real understanding what this means, but the sensor app is suggesting that the average is in the green zone. If this is "in range", I don't half feel rotten on it! When I google the average I am getting information that ranges from it is normal to it being confirmed as diabetes.

I am really looking for understanding as to what these figures mean and some advice on what I should do in the next 4 weeks before the GP appointment?

Also is there a cheap(er) place to get a LibreLink 2 sensor? The one that I bought was £50 for two weeks.

Apologies for the long post and thanks in advance for any replies.
 
Wow! You're certainly going through the mill! I'm newly diagnosed, 5 weeks. I doubt that I will be more Ch use to you yet but wish you well. Perhaps on the search on this app you could ask the question "what is average glucose level on waking and 2 hours after food". Maybe that will help you
As far as cheaper sensors go, I think you'll be out of luck because I looked into one of those and it averaged out at £50 but keep looking, you might strike lucky.
Take care, it's all a bit scary at first!
 
Welcome @little_p 🙂 Sorry you have IBS. That must make food choices harder.

“At least one banana a day, honey nut cornflakes, potatoes, rice, ice cream, mild cheese and red meat. Reducing intake of gluten, lactose and eggs. As far as I was concerned, I had been eating healthily; non-smoking, getting my five a day through several portions of (mostly root vegs), fruit (mostly out of a can), fruit juice, not much alcohol, no microwave meals and an occasion Burger King”.

That diet is quite high in carbs, which will be contributing to your issues. It’s not just sugar you need to watch unfortunately. It’s all carbs - savoury and sweet. As an example, a good-sized portion of mashed potato is (obviously) sugar-free but has lots of carbs which will put your blood sugar up.
 
Many people find that reducing the carbohydrates in their diet helps with their IBS condition but it is a matter of juggling your diet to cope with both.
The only way to get a diagnosis really is by having an HbA1C blood test which needs to be done via your GP. If that result is over 47mmol/mol then that will give you a diabetes diagnosis. The test is basically the average blood glucose over the previous three months and actually measures something different to either the Libre or finger prick testing.
The alternative to the Libre would be getting a home blood glucose monitor which you would do strategic finger prick tests, this is what many with Type 2 do to check on progress and to test the effect of meals on blood glucose aiming at the range mentioned above.
For some ideas for modifying your diet which would be a good idea anyway have a look at this link https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/.
You may find something suitable which is compatible with your IBS.
If you continue to feel unwell then press for an earlier appointment as January really is not good enough.
 
Welcome to the forum @little_p

Sorry to hear you have been told you are at risk of diabetes, and how grim you have been feeling. :(

Balancing multiple dietary requirements to meet the needs of IBS and glucose levels can make things a little trickier, but you aren’t the only forum member who has to keep an eye on both, so you aren’t alone.

Libre gives continuous glucose readings throughout the 24hours, which can be really helpful for spotting trends and seeing the effects of meals and activity in realtime, but it does come at a cost!

It is perfectly possible to manage diabetes with a more cost effective fingerstick system of blood glucose monitoring, where you take ‘spot check’ readings through the day. Many T2 members here find that taking a reading first thing in the morning, and then pairs of readings around new or unknown meals can be a very effective way of seeing how they respond to foods as an individual, and tweaking their menu to make it more blood glucose friendly 🙂

You can use a BG meter, taking a reading immediately before and again 2hrs after the first bite, to see what the differences are. Ideally you would want to see a rise of no more than 2-3mmol/L at the 2hr mark. This can help you identify any sources of carbs that seem to be spiking BG (to begin with, in a way the numbers themselves almost matter less than the differences between them). Once you can see how you respond to different meals you can begin experimenting with reducing portion sizes of the carbs where you see bigger rises. You might find that you are particularly sensitive to carbohydrate from one source (eg bread), but have more liberty with others (eg oats or basmati rice) - It’s all very individual! You might even find that just having things at a different time of day makes a difference - with breakfast time being the trickiest.

Over weeks and months of experimentation you can gradually tweak and tailor your menu to find one that suits your tastebuds, your waistline, your budget and your BG levels - and a way of eating that is flexible enough to be sustainable long-term, and also suits your IBS. 🙂

The most affordable reliable meters members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 - which both have test strips at around £10 for 50. Some brands can be 3x that much for a pot of strips, and some cheaper options can give less reliable results.

Good luck, and let us know how things go 🙂
 
Thanks all for the replies and the advice. Since my last post, I have been doing plenty of reading up and it seems that the HbA1c test result that I did several months ago was an important starting point. So I contacted the surgery for my result and was told that it was 43 mmol/mol, which I think that put me at the cusp between high normal and pre-diabetic. As I continued to eat high sugar / carb food long after the test, I am sure that it went even higher.

Over the last few weeks with the use of the LibreLink sensor I have been monitoring my levels. The first thing was how much of a spike my morning food of honey nut cornflakes and a banana caused! So they have been cut out. So has tinned fruit. I have drastically reduced use of bread and potatoes. I'm not to lie to you, it was a hard couple of weeks. It felt like my body was continually shouting out to me "where is my regular hit of carbs"?

Once I was over that I went through a period of having nervous energy. The headaches and constantly being thirsty are gone. The sensation in my face hasn't fully come back and are now starting to get involuntary movements. I went back to the GP, my bp is normal and the blood test didn't show up any thyroid problems. Although I have a high score Non-HDL / highly saturated fat of 4. Something else to take into account with my diet.

The good thing is that some foods that I really like white rice don't cause a huge spike and I am learning to eat them in moderation, but I think that I am going to struggle to find a replacement for potatoes and fruit. And to a certain degree, bread.

The really strange thing that I find is that I very rarely get below 5.4 mmol/L during 12am to 6am (which would put me in pre-diabetic range) but two hours after eating evening meal is averaging out as being 6.4 mmol/L (which is well within 'normal' range).
 
little_p said:
I think that I am going to struggle to find a replacement for potatoes and fruit. And to a certain degree, bread.
Click to expand...
Mashed cauliflower or mashed celeriac are good swaps for potato, and you can make chips from celeriac. Fruit in general shouldn't be a problem, although grapes and tropical fruits like banana are usually avoided. Berries are the lowest carb and many of us have a berry mix for breakfast with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt. I still eat apples - Royal Gala or Granny Smiths - but only a half at a time. Riced cauliflower is also a good swap for rice and has a fraction of the carbs.

As for bread I share my wife's GF bread (Warburton's Seeded) as the slices are pretty much normal size, and a couple of slices for a sandwich is around 20g carb. Some breads are close to that for a single slice.

Sounds like you have a good regime in place to try and avoid crossing that line into diabetes territory.
 
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