What am I to do.

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Saphire

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Hi all, I have been on low carb (keto) for over 6 years with just one meal a day At lunchtime. I am more carnivorous because I only have veg occasionally, no green (on warfarin) have just had my blood test results saying I am now pre-diabetic with things I have to change. There is a big but here I don’t have anything with sugar at all so can’t cut that out, I Can’t exercise, can’t walk, a failing heart with aortic aneurysm. I am at a loss on what to do. I am sat here waiting for an urgent appointment, my ecg readings have been all over the place for the last month.
HELP! What do I do.
Christine
 
Saphire said:
Hi all, I have been on low carb (keto) for over 6 years with just one meal a day At lunchtime. I am more carnivorous because I only have veg occasionally, no green (on warfarin) have just had my blood test results saying I am now pre-diabetic with things I have to change. There is a big but here I don’t have anything with sugar at all so can’t cut that out, I Can’t exercise, can’t walk, a failing heart with aortic aneurysm. I am at a loss on what to do. I am sat here waiting for an urgent appointment, my ecg readings have been all over the place for the last month.
HELP! What do I do.
Christine
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Welcome to the forum. Prediabetes diagnosis means your body is not quite coping with the amount of carbohydrates however if you have been doing a keto dietary regime which normally means less than 50g per day total carbs not just sugar then as you say hard to know what you can do. With regard to the green vegetables and warfarin, I think it is more that you can have them but you should have a consistent amount each day and your warfarin dose can take that into account but do discuss that with your doctor.
If you are only eating once a day then your liver could be releasing glucose erratically and showing as a slightly higher HbA1C which is the test to diagnose diabetes. 42-47mmol/mol would be prediabetic.
If you would like to post what you have for your meal then people may spot something which might be an issue. Do you have any snacks and are you staying hydrated.
 
Thank you for replying, I never mentioned but I am 74 so not young.
Food wise. Yesterday for lunch I had cheese & onion pasty made with keto pastry. Today beef in gravy with keto buttered bread to dip, they are always child portions I actually don’t like big portions. Any type of greens I blow up like a balloon and It restricts my breathing. I don’t snack. I drink plenty of fluids because I dehydrate a lot. I just have to look at food and I put on wieght. I used to be a very healthy, strong, active walking nearly 8 miles a day in competitions, weighing 8 1/2 stone, now 11 1/2 stone and still creeping.
My inr is up and down to extremes, I have to test weekly fortunately I am now allowed to self test and just phone it in, they give me the dosage by email with a date for next test. They don’t like me messing with diet or meds.
I was advised to cut out sugars and carbs when I started holding a lot of fluid, my weight was increasing at a fast rate 2yrs ago. Now they are telling people to go on keto diets, and fast, to help prevent diabetes, obviously its not working for me.
I don’t miss out on special occasions like Christmas or Birthdays. I pick and choose and indulge in the odd sweet as long as they are lunchtime meals, 4pm is the latest I can eat otherwise I am up all night regretting having a good time.
Sometimes its a nightmare trying to balance everything. Since the pandemic its difficult to even speak to a real gp, it’s usually nurses. I am beginning to think I should just give up and accept that nothing is working to make me healthy anymore and just except I am old.
Rant over sorry.
 
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I am surprised that you are putting on weight with the very little you are eating, I wonder if there is something hormonal going on.
I should make every effort to talk to your GP as that is not an unreasonable ask if you have just been given a diagnosis especially with your other health conditions.
You could call the Diabetes UK helpline tomorrow as they may have some suggestions.
Prediabetes is nothing to panic about especially as you are not stuffing yourself with carbs.
 
travellor said:
?? Where did that advice come from for you?
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I get emails from diabetes.co.uk online. They are pushing Keto or low carb to reduce the risk of getting type 2 diabetes. I have mentioned many times to my GP over the last few years when we could see them face to face about my excess weight gain, losing sensation in fingers and toes.They say its down to my blood pressure meds.
I have a theory but get told its got nothing to do with that. Myself and my hubby were still very active until late 2020 even though we had issues. I’ll say no about that.
 
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Saphire said:
I use patient access which is linked to NHS online so I receive regular emails. They are pushing Keto or low carb to reduce the risk of getting type 2 diabetes. I have mentioned many times to my GP over the last few years when we could see them face to face about my excess weight gain, losing sensation in fingers and toes.They say its down to my blood pressure meds.
I have a theory but get told its got nothing to do with that. Myself and my hubby were still very active until late 2020 even though we had issues. I’ll say no about that.
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That is quite a surprise as the Diabetes prevention course I did pushed the NHS Eat Well Plate which was anything but Keto if fact not really even low carb.
They are suggesting the low calorie Newcastle dietary regime as being one way to tackle high blood glucose.
Do you know what your Hba1C is that has suggested your prediabetes diagnosis.
 
Leadinglights said:
That is quite a surprise as the Diabetes prevention course I did pushed the NHS Eat Well Plate which was anything but Keto if fact not really even low carb.
They are suggesting the low calorie Newcastle dietary regime as being one way to tackle high blood glucose.
Do you know what your Hba1C is that has suggested your prediabetes diagnosis.
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No idea about a figure they didn’t give me one in the letter. I will see if I can get the result.
Sorry
Read the letter again the figures are in very tiny print lol! 43 mmol/mol
 
Saphire said:
No idea about a figure they didn’t give me one in the letter. I will see if I can get the result.
Sorry
Read the letter again the figures are in very tiny print lol! 43 mmol/mol
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OK, you are just at the bottom end of prediabetes, threshold is 42mmol/mol.
I'm not sure realistically what you can do as you are not really having many carbs anyway, and by doing what you are doing maintaining where you are at is perhaps the best you can do.
 
Thanks for all your comments and help. I am not really concerned about being pre diabetic but wondering how it could happen. I don’t think there is much I can do except carry on with what I am doing. I am never hungry now with no sugar cravings which is good.
 
helli said:
Diabetes.co.uk is nothing to do with the charity Diabetes UK. It is a money making business that pushes low carb eating with low carb courses, etc.
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Wow! I didn’t know that, Thank you for telling me. I thought it was part of the NHS.
I personally have read a lot of studies that back the Keto, Palio, and low carb diets for type 2 diabetes so I know there is some truths in it.
 
Many people find Keto is difficult and unsustainable but low carb of no more than 130g per day total carbs is very doable but many do settle on between 50g and 100g per day. If people do follow low carb then increasing protein and healthy fats will compensate for the carbs they are not having, they have to get energy from somewhere.
 
Saphire said:
Wow! I didn’t know that, Thank you for telling me. I thought it was part of the NHS.
I personally have read a lot of studies that back the Keto, Palio, and low carb diets for type 2 diabetes so I know there is some truths in it.
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It's quite an extreme site.
Many of us have been banned from it, myself included for raising concerns in the forum there.
Personally, I'd ignore it.

It's interesting what you say about losing your appetite on their suggested diet.
Others have posted on here they lose the feeling they need to eat as well, and have no appetite.
I'd hate that to happen to me.
 
From research studies I have seen, the standard reference point of HbA1c at 42 for the bottom end of the prediabetes range is appropriate only to those aged under 40. HbA1c rises naturally with age owing to its dependence on the rate of red cell turnover, which changes as we get older. At age 74 you should not be considered as even prediabetic until your HbA1c reaches at least 47, so you are well under that.
 
childofthesea43 said:
From research studies I have seen, the standard reference point of HbA1c at 42 for the bottom end of the prediabetes range is appropriate only to those aged under 40. HbA1c rises naturally with age owing to its dependence on the rate of red cell turnover, which changes as we get older. At age 74 you should not be considered as even prediabetic until your HbA1c reaches at least 47, so you are well under that.
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Thank you for that information, like i have said I am not concerned about it, its only a warning, it looks like they haven’t taken my age into consideration. All my other results must be normal they haven’t even mentioned those. My weight is more of a problem and lack of feeling in fingers and toes which affect balance but they just say its down to meds. Things have changed so much since the lock down, I haven’t seen a gp face to face in over two years all I get is lines are busy and then if you do get through its just a nurse practitione. Its not there fault but why haven’t GP surgeries gone back to the way they were 3 years ago.
 
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