Have you ever tried to do some comparisons with family member who are not diabetic? I have wondered if there is anyone who has tested the blood of nondiabetic family members who are blood relatives after you have eaten the same things to see what your blood does vs theirs? Has there ever been any similar actions, though yours may be more reactive but is there a general pattern or is it just totally wacky? The reason I ask is because before I was diabetic, I never paid attention and if you can get a brother or sister, mother or father willing to sit still to allow their finger to be pricked and blood tested, it might or might not reveal some similarities. Just curious.
I have done it. Multiple times. Fasting, before meals, 1 hour after meals, 1 hour after an obscenely carb-filled dessert, etc. And I have never seen anything more than 105mg/dL. And to think that I used to be like this before getting diabetes!!
I have done this several times to my wife. She always seems to be between 100 and 115 no matter when I test her. She spikes some with some carbs, but not really counting that. I have seen her at 130 after a high carb meal. I was like at 185 or something.
Once my mom was feeling really sick and tired and thirsty and felt like she was going to die. Just for fun, I tested her and she was 158. That was a moment I really enjoyed – not because I want her to feel bad, but because I’m glad that someone else in my family understands how I feel when I’m high and just want to give myself loads of insulin. But I’ve never really tested my family that much. I’ve tested my mom a few times since then (I was a little worried she was developing prediabetes or type 2), and she’s usually fine, though maybe a little higher than “normal” people are supposed to be. I have no idea what happened that one time.
My husband always wants to know what food does to him. He tested once after a snickers bar, tested once when he thought he felt “low.” It always cracks me up. He’s always in a perfectly normal range - like 80-100. I appreciate that he wants to experience what I go through.
I tested my mom one morning to show her how the process works; she’s genuinely concerned, but has “hands off” sort of interest. She was at 83. Perfect, I told her I envied her numbers.
I do it a lot. I like to see what it does to theirs vs. mine. Before mine got under control it was always so frustrating to see. Mine would be in the 300’s and theirs like maybe 122 now mine is also and sometime even lower than my husbands. But I am so happy to see that my kids so far has no problems with diabetes. And I hope my husband never will either. He has it in his family, his mom and grandmother. Which is another reason I check.
Yes, a couple of my sisters are always asking me to test them when we get together for family events. Of course, they aren’t diabetic and their levels are very normal (97) compared to mine - even though they recently ate (just anything) and I hadn’t for several hours.
Yeah big sissy babies. LOL my husband is like ouch!!! that hurts… Good grief I take mine 8-10 times a day. Of course I wish I did not have to. I wish I could be the sissy baby.
I’ve offered to test my sister, who’s the same age as I was and in similar condition to me when I was diagnosed – but she doesn’t want to know. She already knows my whole story and knows I’m available to talk or test if she ever wants to, so I don’t push her. I do think she ought to check it out though. Personally, I wish I’d known earlier when I started to develop the D – my A1C was all the way up to 12 by the time I finally realized what was going on.
A few weeks after my diagnosis I tested both of my parents (in their late 60s) FBG and they were both normal – 83 and 87. Mine was just over 200.
My sweetie lets me test him on occasion, and he’s always pretty much normal. Last time we did it we’d both had similar amounts of carby treats at a family gathering, and an hour later I was curious to see how our BG would compare. My most recent A1C had been so good I was thinking, well, maybe I’m really not all THAT diabetic anymore …
So we tested. He was 95, and I was 165 – still diabetic! Sigh. It was a good reality check.
I’ve tested my brother who is 18 years younger than me. He lives on junk food, carbonated drinks, energy drinks, chews tobacco and his bg is always less than 120. One time I tested him after he had consumed three extra large sugar cookies and he was 98…arghhhhhhhh. My dad was type 2 as was my mother, although she was diagnosed very late in her life and she passed when she was almost 85. I keep telling my brother to be careful or he will end up like me…but he doesn’t listen. He hates vegetables except corn and does not eat any fruit at all.
As much as it may aggrivate you, nagging will not work. I know, my mother nagged me about everything. One day I exploded in her face and made her cry and the truth is, I did not care. Naggy people only make me want to walk away or flip them the middle finger. I know you care about him. You have got to let people find their own way as hard and as painful as it is for you. It is their life to life afterall.
When I was diagnosed, I had my kids and my husband prick their fingers after we ate ice cream…and they were well within range, in fact my kids, ages 16 and 10…were way low. DH was a little higher at 100. When my MIL was diagnosed about three years ago, she asked the kids to do the same thing, because she was worried about their getting diabetes…sure enough, they were still very low, and dh wasn’t around, but he has done it on my meter, and he is still in the 100 area.
So somehow, in my family I got the diseases, and my brother got all the looks and money…his average over a course of a week, while staying with us was 92!
My MIL has been told by “three different doctors” that her postprandials in the high 200s are normal for non-diabetics, that she’s “not diabetic” and just has a “touch of glucose intolerance.” Her A1c is usually higher than mine, as are her blood sugars (I’m a veteran type 1 on a pump). She ranges from 70 to 300. I have tried showing the woman that her son’s blood sugar stays near 100 after a dessert, but there seems to be no getting through to this “non-diabetic.” Logical comparison apprently can account for nothing to a stubborn mind. When she feels high, she “kick starts” her insulin production by eating M&Ms.
Any advice, friends? This daughter-in-law is frustrated.
(but I don’t want him higher than normal!!!)