[ethan]

Hello,

My name is Ethan. I am a 28 year old male. I recently had some blood work done and my A1c came back as 6.5. My random glucose level came back as 74. The doctor then order a fasting test which came back as 83. He said he may want me to do a glucose tolerance test next to see what's going on.

Last Friday, I bought a meter to monitor my blood glucose levels. Here are what my levels looked like yesterday:

My dinner consisted of a large burrito, a chicken casadia, and a vitamin water.

Before dinner -> 88
30 mins after dinner -> 139
1 hour after dinner -> 153
1.5 hours after dinner -> 139
2 hours after dinner -> 167
3 hours after dinner -> 121

My levels do not seem to steadily rise and fall. They start falling and spike for no reason.

This same thing happened over today's dinner. I had sweet and sour chicken and fried rice for dinner. My dessert was a piece of leftover cake.

Before dinner -> 93
30 mins after dinner -> 123
1 hour after dinner -> 141
1.5 hours after dinner -> 100
2 hours after dinner -> 144
3 hours after dinner -> 126

These levels confuse me. Why did my blood sugar fall to 100 and then suddenly rise back to 144. This makes no sense.

Also does the 6.5 A1c officially diagnose me as a diabetic?

Any informative help would be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read my post. This site has an awesome community.

 

[gkoller]

Hi from across Lake Michigan,

I'll just echo that you are in some really good hands here. I'm very new but have picked up from here and consistent with Jenny Ruhl (of BloodSugar101.com) that any reading over 140 is causing organ damage. Seriously not good in the long run. Nothing to panic about, but nothing to let slide either, and don't believe the ADA about this or even your doctor. The good folks here, at more sane hours, or going to tell you to watch your carbs and quiz you on your sedentary-ish-ness.

You've done some seriously smart things already - with buying that meter and getting those readings and find this forum imho.

george

 

[scottietwenty3]

Hi there all I know about D that PP numbers (post meal) are the last to rise your A1C suggests your spiking at times. An A1C of 6.5 represents an average BG of 7.8 (140). I not the highest you posted for BG was 9.3 (167). That his higher than a normal non diabetics BG would rise. There is a little debate as to the highest it woulkd rise but lets say 7.8 (140) even though true normal not being close to being diabetics would probally max around 7 (126) I would suggest. Its good that you will have an OGTT challenge as yhat will give you and your GP a better idea.

If you could have a CGM for a few days that would give more info also. Your fasting and random BG are true normal. I do note though from your BG readings that your peak BG often seem around the 2 hour mark and most people normally return to normal or baseline or close to it by then even diabetics. If BG metabolism is perfect probally normal or baseline BG is around the hour mark. Unless its a huge amount of fat involved or pasta or pizza than a peak BG can be delayed somewhat.

 

[Shanny]

Hi Ethan. Your numbers do indicate some trouble metabolizing carbs, so you'd be wise to follow where your doc directs . . . I think the OGTT (oral glucose tolerance test) will give you some answers. You don't say if you're slender or not, but especially if you are, I think that, plus you're young, is a good enough reason to test for GAD antibodies & c-peptide too. This could be the beginning of an autoimmune diabetes like LADA - type 1.5, or even type 1. But let me emphasize - whatever it is, you're in an early stage, and that is the best situation to be in.

Otherwise, the others have filled you in pretty well - no need to panic, but definitely be concerned because diabetes is a fickle mistress, as you've already discovered with your fluctuating levels. Depending on what you eat, levels can rise, then drop, then rise again later, and my guess is that the Mexican meal had a fair amount of cheese which contains enough fat to keep your blood sugar jumping up & down for quite awhile. Same with the Chinese food - it's usually pretty rich.

Take care & visit often - we've all been there scratching our heads just like you are. And if you wanna stay tuned, we'll be happy to help you get adjusted to this.

 

[ethan]

Thank you for the awesome replies.

I am about 28 pounds overweight. I also have an office job so I rarely exercise.

My doctor something about the possibility of being pre-diabetic. If the oral glucose tolerance test confirmes this diagnosis, I will make it my mission to get in shape.

I guess this whole diabetes thing was a wake up call for me. I have never been sick before. I barely even get colds. I'm afraid that a diagnosis of diabetes will make me feen unhealthy for the rest of my life.

 

[Insulation Tim]

Thank you for the awesome replies.

I am about 28 pounds overweight. I also have an office job so I rarely exercise.

My doctor something about the possibility of being pre-diabetic. If the oral glucose tolerance test confirmes this diagnosis, I will make it my mission to get in shape.
I guess this whole diabetes thing was a wake up call for me. I have never been sick before. I barely even get colds. I'm afraid that a diagnosis of diabetes will make me feen unhealthy for the rest of my life.

Regardless of the outcome of the OGT, getting back into shape is a good idea.

Good luck.

 

[Shanny]

I hope we'll be able to dissuade you from feeling unhealthy for the rest of your life! Once you get better acquainted with us, you'll notice that we are the healthiest people you ever met! And we face it the same way you are - it was a wake-up call for a lot of us, and we met the challenge. You will too. Getting in shape is part of the plan, and getting your way-of-eating adjusted is the other part of the plan. Hang in there - you're going to be fine!

 

[jwags]

Hi Ethan from next door in Ohio. It is so much better to get dx'd in the early stages of diabetes. With some tweaking of your diet you can turn things around pretty quickly. Because your fasting is still perfectly normal you are probably still on the early side of diabetes. What usually happens in the early stages, is our Phase 1 insulin response ( stored insulin) usually malfunctions in some way. Normally when you eat carbs your insulin should kick in right away preventing you from going high. In diabetics, this first phase get stalled and we have to wait for Phase 2 or newly created insulin to work which takes several hours. Also since many of us are insulin resistant our Phase 2 response actually makes way too much insulin because our cells have become reistant to our own insulin. When all the insulin hits at once, sometimes our bgs crash. Your higher HbA1c indicates more high numbers than low numbers. In the early stages just limiting your carbs at meals may be all you need to do. Each one of us is different so use your meter to determine what your bg goals should be. A normal non D rarely spikes over 120 so I use those goals. I know how many carbs I can eat and stay under 120. For me it is usually 10-15 per meal.

 

[ethan]

I'm glad I found this forum. Sorry about the grammar mistakes on my posts above. I sometimes type too fast.

My glucose tolerance test is going to be in three weeks. In the mean time, the doctor told me not to self-diagnose using a meter. He said "Keeping a log is fine. However, interpreting the log is my job."

If I am diagnosed with pre-diabetes, is progression to diabetes inevitable?

I'll start eating much healthier foods from now on. I also just signed up for a gym membership.

This afternoon, I checked my blood sugar before eating a small tangerine. It was at 88. Right after eating the tangerine, it jumped to 150. These maniacal spikes are likely the cause of my high A1c.

Off topic rant - Meters are cheap but test strips cost a fortune. I bought a OneTouch UltraMini for under $15.00. 50 test strips for the meter cost me $60.00. This is bizarre! These pharmaceutical companies must be making a fortune on test strips.

 

[Stargazer]

My levels do not seem to steadily rise and fall. They start falling and spike for no reason....


These levels confuse me. Why did my blood sugar fall to 100 and then suddenly rise back to 144. This makes no sense.

I find that my BG will also rise and fall depending on the type of food I eat. Different types will have different rates of absorption/conversion. The protein and high fat foods are slower to convert and I will spike much later vs the foods with simple carbs.

 

[Shanny]

I'm glad I found this forum. Sorry about the grammar mistakes on my posts above. I sometimes type too fast.

My glucose tolerance test is going to be in three weeks. In the mean time, the doctor told me not to self-diagnose using a meter. He said "Keeping a log is fine. However, interpreting the log is my job."

If I am diagnosed with pre-diabetes, is progression to diabetes inevitable?

I'll start eating much healthier foods from now on. I also just signed up for a gym membership.

This afternoon, I checked my blood sugar before eating a small tangerine. It was at 88. Right after eating the tangerine, it jumped to 150. These maniacal spikes are likely the cause of my high A1c.

Off topic rant - Meters are cheap but test strips cost a fortune. I bought a OneTouch UltraMini for under $15.00. 50 test strips for the meter cost me $60.00. This is bizarre! These pharmaceutical companies must be making a fortune on test strips.

Doc is getting a little defensive, eh? Poor guy . . . you'll have this under control by the time he gets in gear!

He can't bear the thought that you're keeping track of your levels, and might actually learn to lower them without his advice! He wants to sell you some nice meds & look what you've done - thwarted all his plans!

You've already discovered the first law of diabetes - fruit (and grains) will spike you to the moon. That's why most of us don't eat those things. You might get by with a few berries - blackberries, raspberries, even strawberries in small amounts, and adding artificially sweetened cream makes them truly decadent!

And the meter/strips ripoff! Aarrgghh! You could still cut your losses & buy Walmart's ReliOn meter - their strips are about half the price - I think I pay $40 for 50 strips. The meter itself costs less than $10 . . .

 

[ethan]

Thanks Shanny. I'll look into the Walmart meter. I was told that my insurance would not cover strips until I am officially diagnosed.

Also, a quick update -

The nurse just called with the result of my second A1c taken a few days after the first one. It was at 6.1. Two different A1c readings in the same week make no sense. According to what I have learned, 6.1 is considered pre-diabetes and 6.5 is considered diabetes. The mystery continues...

 

[Patdart]

Hi, Ethan! Glad you are joining us!

I just bought 50 Relion strips last Friday and they were only $21.+ for them. If one is not a tricky diabetic, I think they are good enough for someone like we are just learning how to eat and test...maybe they have some variance, but they work fine for me. And, since I have to self-pay, that matters!

He's lucky to have caught it when he did and I agree he's going to know more than his doctor about his condition and what it likes and doesn't like.

 

[ethan]

The Relion strips are a great deal. Thank you for mentioning them!

My girlfriend is more worried about the diagnosis than I am. She lost a family member to diabetes complications (kidney failure) so she knows what this condition can do if left untreated.

Tonight's dinner was probably the healthiest dinner I have ever had. I had lean chicken breast with broccoli and a salad with light organic ranch on the side. My girlfriend picked up a ton of organic food for me. She is making me go on a low-carb diet - no questions asked.

Here are tonight's dinner blood sugar levels:

Before dinner -> 65 (seems low?)
1 hr after dinner -> 175 (way too high)
1.5 hrs after dinner -> 95
2 hrs after dinner -> 87

That 175 spike came out of nowhere!

Thank you again for all the help. I will keep everyone posted and let you know how the tolerance test goes. I can now see how being a diabetic will make me a much healthier person. No more sitting in front of a desk or TV all day. I even ordered an exercise bike for the office.

 

[Shalynne]

Welcome, Ethan! :welcome:

Fruits do tend to spike glucose. Levels rise and fall depending, in part, on how a particular food is digested (which is why you may come down from one post-meal spike and run smack into another one).

Printers and meters have this in common -- you can get 'em cheap. Meters are often free. The real profit comes from toner and strips. I hope that, if you're diagnosed with diabetes, that your insurance will kick in and help with that. But if it doesn't, lots of folks on this Forum have found ways to economize.

Please keep us posted!

 

[timmy]

cant comment on the 175 itself, but the timing is about right to inidicate a spike. Your right though, thats one hell of a spike. 2 hours after food your back down to a good bs range so thats a positive.

If you do get diagnosed as a diabetic try not to compare yourself with your girlfriends family member. We can run into all sorts of problems if we dont try and manage the complications as best we can. Your being here sounds like your already determined to meet this head on and do what you have to do.

 

[Shanny]

It's a good healthy dinner all right, and it would be more diabetes-healthy if you were to leave the skin on the chicken & use a full-fat salad dressing. Add a little hollandaise or creamy cheese sauce to the broccoli. And check the label on that salad dressing - there may have been carby thickeners or other sneaky ingredients there. The low carb plan works like a charm as long as you don't try to use it with low-fat tweaks. Diabetics need fats to replace the energy they've been getting from carbs - otherwise you'll begin to feel tired & weak.

Kudos to your girlfriend too - she's a keeper!

Tonight's dinner was probably the healthiest dinner I have ever had. I had lean chicken breast with broccoli and a salad with light organic ranch on the side. My girlfriend picked up a ton of organic food for me. She is making me go on a low-carb diet - no questions asked.

Here are tonight's dinner blood sugar levels:

Before dinner -> 65 (seems low?)
1 hr after dinner -> 175 (way too high)
1.5 hrs after dinner -> 95
2 hrs after dinner -> 87

That 175 spike came out of nowhere!

Thank you again for all the help. I will keep everyone posted and let you know how the tolerance test goes. I can now see how being a diabetic will make me a much healthier person. No more sitting in front of a desk or TV all day. I even ordered an exercise bike for the office.

 

[MCS]

The Relion strips are a great deal. Thank you for mentioning them!

My girlfriend is more worried about the diagnosis than I am. She lost a family member to diabetes complications (kidney failure) so she knows what this condition can do if left untreated.

Tonight's dinner was probably the healthiest dinner I have ever had. I had lean chicken breast with broccoli and a salad with light organic ranch on the side. My girlfriend picked up a ton of organic food for me. She is making me go on a low-carb diet - no questions asked.

Here are tonight's dinner blood sugar levels:

Before dinner -> 65 (seems low?)
1 hr after dinner -> 175 (way too high)
1.5 hrs after dinner -> 95
2 hrs after dinner -> 87

That 175 spike came out of nowhere!

Thank you again for all the help. I will keep everyone posted and let you know how the tolerance test goes. I can now see how being a diabetic will make me a much healthier person. No more sitting in front of a desk or TV all day. I even ordered an exercise bike for the office.

Keep in mind and I do not know your weight or your percentage of fat on your body, but if you reduce your fat intake and eat low carb your body will get its fat from any source it can. If that fat is not obtainable it will sacrifice your lean muscle thru a process called Gluconeogenesis which turns the protein you eat or the lean muscles in your body into glucose. So healthy saturated fats are a good thing. My guess is what Shanny had mentioned, that salad dressing (low fat) was probably full of HFCS and or sugars. I usually buy the Ken's Blue Cheese, lots of fat and only 1 carb/tbsp. Watch out for restaurant dressing as well, even some of the balsamic vinegar ones are banked up with sugar.

 

[David Burke]

You've got great advice so far. When you do your OGTT I would ask the doctor how long the monitoring will last. Judging by your pre-meal 65 there might be some HYPOglycemia going on where your blood glucose levels drop too low. This typically happens about 5-6 hours after eating. It's one reason why I try and eat about every four hours. Not a big meal, just a snack a couple hundred calories and maybe 10-15g of carbs or protein. A serving size of plain almonds works great for the snacks and is low carb!

Let us know how things go an good luck! You got a good start!

Sent from my iPhone

 

[Basicrips]

Pizza, hotdogs, Chinese food and popcorn are my long term BS risers. Eating less processed foods and junk food and exercise should get you out of those BS ranges (which do not seem too out of line). I do remember going from a heavy exercise job to a desk job and the havoc it caused with weight and BSes.

Are glucose tolerance tests even given anymore? When I was diagnosed 21 years ago it was an old school test. Just curious, anyone?