[not yet]

Hello everyone,

In April, 2009, about 30 months ago, I had a whole blood glucose reading of 101 mg/dl. I have not been to a doctor since then (no health insurance), but have made many permanent dietary changes to reduce the number. i.e. a severe reduction in high glycemic foods, correction of an iron deficiency, 20 lb. weight loss, etc. These changes have worked; I no longer feel fatigue, tiredness, or irritable nor have other pre-diabetic symptoms. I have not had them for more than three months, and probably more than six months.

Two days ago I participated in a local hospital's free diabetes screening, using capillary blood. I wanted to see what my number was --thinking that with the changes I made, surely my number would have improved. I fasted more than twelve hours and had nothing, except toothpaste and water needed to brush my teeth. In the doctor's office, I was astonished to hear that my result was...101 mg/dl. It had neither decreased nor increased. While the resident was impressed that the number didn't rise, I was really down because I've put in a lot of long-term effort in a few ways to get the number down.

Is it probable that the toothpaste and water caused a temporary spike or increase ? I honestly feel that my number should be lower.

Thanks,

(still) not yet

Edit: From reading other posts, I can see that I shouldn't worry; especially with a 10-20% variation in reading methods and many reasons for it to spike/rise.

p.s. I'm going to find another free diabetes screening soon and try it again.

 

[Shanny]

You're being too hard on yourself. You aren't spinning your wheels; what you've done in making the changes you've made, is prevent your metabolic disfunction from getting any worse. I still think you would be wise to get a meter & check your blood sugar levels from time to time.

 

[Gizmo]

I am also pre-diabetic and not on any medication. The last test you had was your fasting blood glucose, and I assume the first one was, too. But fasting bg doesn't tell the whole story. Your bg could be going high during the day without you knowing it, depending on how many carbs you eat at a meal and other factors.

When I started out, I would write down what I ate for each meal and test my bg 2 hours after eating (some people test theirs both 1 and 2 hrs. after). That way you will know just how high your bg is going during the day and which foods spike your bg too high, then eleminate those foods from your diet. As a pre-diabetic not on meds, once you have that info. as long as you stick to your diet, you should be able to cut back some on testing.

Because my doc does not consider me to be diabetic, I have to pay for my own meter and strips. I use ReliOn brand I got at Walmart. They are reasonably priced and work just fine for many of us on the forum.

 

[thcri]

I suggest as others get a meter and test. Because of Dawn Phenomenon you just may have high numbers in the morning don't care if you fast or not. My numbers are always higher in the morning. When I was first diagnosed and in the hospital I was tested every 3 hours.

 

[jwags]

I would not be worried about 101, especially after 12 hours of testing. I think a lot of people assume the longer you fast the lower your bgs are. That is not true. The hormones glucagon and insulin work together to keep you blood sugar stable. So as your bg falls during the night your pancreas produces glucagon which signals liver to convert stored carbs (glycogen) into glucose. So bg rises and then insulin kicks in to balance out. The longer I fast or sleep the higher my bgs are in the morning. Also our own insulin tends to clear out early in the morning, so our insulin production is at its lowest.

 

[John.in.France]

I agree with jwags - a figure of 101 fasting isn't something to be concerned about.

Just for comparison, I had my blood work done last week. Just before I went to the doctor's, my fasting figure was 84. The lab reported my figure 1 hour later as 106. Liver dump, stress, meter inaccuracy or what? It wasn't food!

My HbA1c was a very respectable 5%.