Hi…short question. …my story is that last summer I was weird thirsty and bought a glucometer…my meter showed fasting BG of 100-115 and then spikes of 150-250 at 30 minutes and then quickly back down to beginning within less than an hour. OGTT was negative (I went hypo at 60). A1C was 5.5 in August and then 5.8 in December. I’m waiting to see an endo at the end of March. People on the forum have mentioned LADA since I’m 46, thin, have autoimmune disease, vegetarian, active exerciser, etc.
Today I ate two small thin crust slices of cheese pizza and my BG is not coming down like normal; it is still at around 200 2.5 hours later. I know I’m not in danger or anything but my question is this: everything has been progressing so slowly over the last four months does it just speed up like this sometimes? I have noticed a creep up in my first morning BGs over the last month, but nothing huge.
You should get into your Dr or get on the cancelation list with your Endo. You are insulin deficient and your numbers will only get worse. Your profile fits that of LADA. These numbers that are 200 are very elevated and do damage to your body. In the meantime watch your carb intake very close as to not stress your pancreas. Yes this can speed up as you most likely are having an autoimmune attack on your pancreas.
Be proactive here, get in and have this taken care of.
Thanks JohnG…I know I shouldn’t eat carbs, but I do sometimes and normally my BG shoots up like a rocket and falls like a roller coaster (how’s that for a word picture!) all within one hour. So, I really haven’t been that serious about all this and have stopped testing many days. I just tested today randomly and was surprised to see this result which was different than what has been happening, I know I need to educate myself on carbs, complex carbs, fiber, etc. It;s just been a bit of denial/defense mechanism, but I guess I’m going to have to bite the bullet here if this BG pattern continues. Thanks.
Thanks Paul, I am on cancellation list, but they said don’t hold my breath because they have severe diabetics ahead of me, which I understand. Like I told John below, I just need to be more responsible and figure out this diet thing. I have recently begun to take melatonin for severe insomnia and it has been a miracle drug for my sleep,. It says on the bottle not to take if if you have autoimmune disease, but my primary said go ahead and try it. IF I do have LADA , the melatonin might be aggravating it. This is all so frustrating having no answers, but I just have to be patient.
I would suggest contacting your primary care and getting some blood work done prior to seeing a doc or endo. This way they can check your A1C, GAD, and islets and discuss with you at first appointment. This may save you a step if they’ll do it for you. These will give you a good idea of what is going on. Sounds like your diet and self-care are good. Unfortunately insulin may be in your future. Speaking as someone who lost 20 pounds in 2 months and had very scary sugar levels at diagnosis- I would not wait- get in with a different endo.
Hi to anyone reading. I’m up at 3:00 and not a happy camper. I have been experiencing what appeared to be periphereal neuropathy, but I thought it was from B12 deficiency since my blood work showed up that way.I am a vegetarian, so it made sense. I started taking B12 sublinguially 3 weeks ago and it all got better, not gone, but less burning stinging. Yesterday when my BG stayed high for abou 3 hours (that is the first time that my BG ever stayed high) I started experiencing lots of burning stinging everywhere again. Then I woke up at three with burning stinging in hands, feet, legs, etc. I feel freaked out about all of this because I was convinced it was due to B12 which is easily fixable. Now, I’m thinking it’s due to BG and it’s scary because I am just now developing diabetes! I thought all of this took years to develop. I feel alone in this at home; my husband seems in denial, encouraging me to eat carbs, not really concerned about my developing problems. Don’t misunderstand, he is a good husband and really loves me, I think he’s just the kind of person who tends to deny and he knows I love my food and doesn’t want to see me deprive myself. Anyway, I’m just venting (what else is there to do at 3?). We have a severe shortage of endos in my town (3 to be exact in a town of approx 200,000, so that is why I’m having to wait. My primary offered to send me to a neuro for the neuropathy, but I declined, because really what can they do? Done ranting…it’s nice to have this place since there is no one to talk to in my life about it.
This crust pizza can be deceiving – I don’t think that it has much fewer carbs. 2 small slices of pizza could easily be 50-80g of carbs, which digest slowly and would explain the sustained high blood sugars. I wouldn’t worry too much about an evening of highs, but be sure to tell your doctor about it. It may be useful to test how many grams of carb you can eat without going high at 1 or 2 hours after eating.
I highly, highly doubt that you can see neuropathy triggered by a few hours of high blood sugar. These complications usually develop over time. Unless you have been an undiagnosed diabetic for years, it is unlikely to see complications from diabetes now.
I hope that the B12 solves the problem! If not, you might want to see if there is some other cause?
Hi Kristen…thanks for writing. What was different about yesterday is that i have consumed way more carbs than the pizza in the past without the longer lasting BG. It’s just that all along, i thought maybe I would be years in the devleopment of this, but now I’m thinking it could be quicker. I’m also having trouble controlling my autoimmune thyroid condition…TSH quadripuled over three months when it’s been stable for 20 years. I’ve read on this forum that people with Hashimotos experience this when they develop diabetes. My primary said they are finding a surprising amount of people who experience neuropathy in the early diabetic stage, so I don’t think it can be ruled out. Trust me, when you have hundreds of stinging, burning, tingling, buzzing vibrations in a day, it is disconcerting. These sensations really quieted down within 2 weeks of the B12 therapy, but they’ve been going strong now since yesterday afternoon and all through the night… I appreciate your writing so early, you must be a late night West Coaster…or just an early bird!!!
Your GP can request a GAD and C-peptide test. Get them ASAP. The GAD will give you a definitive answer as to whether you are Type 1 (LADA or 1.5 are names for T1 with adult onset). The C-peptide will tell you if your body is still producing enough insulin or slowing down in that production. You are clearly still producing some because if you weren’t your bg would be much higher. You also need to get your A1C checked (that is the test your GP will do without push back). Don’t wait. Too often LADA is misdiagnosed as T2 while you may still have some trace insulin production. But when that stops – look out – high high high bg could result and DKA is not far behind. This is what happened to me while waiting for that endo appointment. I literally lost close to 70lbs in 4 months and had bg 500+. In the interim, I had one GP tell me it had to be Graves Disease (when the only symtom of Graves I had was weight loss) and another suspect Addisons. All the while kept asking if i could be T1 and i was pretty much dismissed. So you may need to be really assertive to get those tests. Now, you may not be on the cusp if that and pobably aren’t. I had had it for awhile
before going into that rapid decline. But why take the risk? I know some people who have had GPs reluctant to test GAD and c-peptides opt to pay for themselves then wrestle for reimbursement from insurance carrier later.
I would get into a doctors ASAP. I had signs for over a year before going in. First signs looking back was my hands and arms going numb and or phantom pains, put it off to wearing a arm band for my airport SIDA badge at work, oh it must be to tight. Then went on to peeing alot, Oh my bladder is a thimble. Started drinking a little more no big deal I work outside physical job got to stay hydrated. Started losing weight, I’m eating better and getting a better work out at work and its warmer(this is nor around march 2010). Come June drinking more, Peeing more, numbness and pain has moved on to hands and legs, mostly on the left side(put it off Macho He man BS) end of June start peeing like a race horse every 15 minutes always have a drink tired all the time, losing more weight Its hot out, I’m drinking more, Its hot out and I am working out. Come mid July clothes are no longer fitting good. Yes finally under a 34 inch waist, more sleep, blamed on 3rd shift and small kids keeping me up. Peeing all the time have to pull over on the way home and hit the bushes. Family starts saying I should see the doctor. August hits I barely wake up to go to work and/or take care of the kids, I can’t drink enough, I don’t make it to the bushes, when I am awake it takes every once to even move, Family “Get you ■■■ to a doctor” me “I will”. I stop eating only eating because I know I have to drink 4 mason jars of water a hour pee every 10 minutes. It gets to the point I can’t hold down food or water. I make the appointment. Tell the doctor I just need a check up. I am at the point if I sit down I fall asleep(pass out). Standing and going up or down stairs makes me dizzy. Two days after my youngest daughter’s birthday party I go into the doctors. Blood sugar 500, my GP somehow remembers(it’s been 2 years) that my mother is t-1 and check for ketones, off to the ER I go 3 days in the ICU and 3 days in the regular before I can leave. I had lost 60 lbs after all this.
Well Jim…it’s a good thing you’re not married to me, cause I would’ve knocked you out and carried your ■■■ to the hospital before all that!
That said, WOW, what a journey for you, I’m nowhere near there and plan to keep a close eye out. I just really freak out mentally about the neuropathy…but 2 more months isn’t going to make a difference and I’ll make sure I scream out loud to my future endo office staff if my symptoms get like yours!
What are you, British? LOL Keep on keeping on with that stiff upper lip!!!
I am not a doctor, nor have I even had diabetes all that long, but…
I think your concern about neuropathy from have blood sugar in the 200s for a few hours is pretty irrational.
2). You may well have LADA, and I’m glad you’re trying to get into your doctor. (waiting for doctor’s appointments sucks). But pizza apparently is well known to do something weird to blood sugar – it’s the combination of the carbs and the fat or something. It causes sustained highs, longer and high than you would think just from the carbs. Google " pizza insulin" or something and you’ll see the phenomenon described. I think people on the pump usually take a dual wave bolus for pizza and similar foods. (pump users, help?). So, the point is that your experience with the pizza is actually PROBABLY NOT A BIG CHANGE from what you were experiencing already.
Jim – you are not alone. I ignored my symptoms for months. People told me to go to the doctor and I thought that i would just “get over” whatever was wrong… I ended up in the ER with my clothes barely staying up.
I didn’t know anything about diabetes… so I didn’t know that these were all the classic symptoms.
Hey Kestrel…I appreciate your thoughts, but you are wrong concerning my BGs. I have been monitoring them since August they are changing ever since a couple of weeks ago, but in particular yesterday and again today. I’ve eaten pizza several times in the last few months and yesterday was different. I buy my own strips and have not been testing as much, but I can tell you, the BG is going up on less carbs and staying up much longer. Again, today, I ate a few carbs that normally would’ve not been a big deal, but my BG is up again and staying up. I ran out strips today, so I have to get more.
Now the neuropathy has been going on in a very small way for a few months. It too escalated around Christmas, I thought it was B12, (my levels were not out or range, but low) but now I have it again worse than ever the last couple of days and my feet are going numb in bed at night and are sore on the bottoms when I stand up. Bottom line is time will tell what is happening to me; I wish with my whole heart I was not feeling the nerve stuff, but it is there and it is alarming. I am in a house of people with flu and am taking Tamiflu, maybe it is the cause.
I looked up the Stats for California Kitchen 4 cheese thin crust pizza and one serving size has 31 carbs, I had less than that, so I’m thinking 25 carbs. Again this morning, I ate 23 carbs, it too sent me up. How many carbs do non insulin people eat at a meal?
Normal people? They eat anywhere up to over 100 or more without problems. I just watched my non-d husband eat pad thai…one serving 120 carbs, plus other carby stuff too, same meal. He has no idea what a gift it is to be able to eat like that.
Hope – you gave me a chuckle. I watch my husband in awe as he eats pasta almost every night and on the off nights it’s pizza or chinese food (heavy on the rice and lo mein too). His BG is so non-diabetes level – it’s like having a super hero in my house. I feel like he passes by me with a plate of that stuff and my BG elevates.
