I recently started down the road to find out if I am diabetic or not. I am 32, very overweight, and have diabetes rampant throughout my family.
OGTT - 139 fasting - 47 at 2 hours
A1C - 6%
fasting - 79
fasting - 92
Plus one other reading of 112
I’m left scratching my head about these numbers. Any thoughts?
perfectly normal?
Hi Rebekah,
Your numbers are good & sure in the normal range, but your A1c isn’t. Certainly not bad, but this is an average BG of 126, so you’re having higher readings than the other tests reveal. What you might try is testing two hours after meals to see what your numbers are. There’s something going on for your A1c to be out of normal range.
Hi Rebekah,
Wonderful that you’re being proactive!
Honestly, I don’t know what to make of the prediabetes diagnosis & think it’s a doctor cop-out. Seems that if someone’s A1c is clearly pointing to diabetes, that’s what they are. I’ve seen too many doctors wait until A1cs are off the charts to do something. So, did she give you any advice/recommendations?
You should ask for a C-peptide test (measures how much insulin you’re producing) & a GAD antibody test (measures how much your pancreas is under attack).
I walked around with soaring BG until I ended up in the hospital near comatose. Would hate for anyone else to go through this.
Yes, keep testing, log your numbers. Check out the low carb discussions here because that’s a great place to start controlling your BG, as is exercise.
Jenny’s site is wonderful: http://www.bloodsugar101.com
If your endo doesn’t think you’re “bad enough” yet for treatment, find another doctor.
It certainly wouldn’t hurt anything (besides your fingertips…) to test for a week or so. how often depends on how complete a picture of your sugar patterns you want to see. A fairly complete picture would probably take about 7 or 8 times a day, plus a couple of middle of the nite ones a couple of times that week.
fasting, 2 hours after breakfast, at lunch, 2hrs after lunch, at dinner, 2hrs after dinner, before bed. Then maybe a couple of nites at 2am and a couple other nites at 4am
If you could also keep track of how many carbs you are consuming with meals and snacks, that will add alot of info to the picture. Don’t forget the time on those pesky snacks. Just try to do everything day-to-day as you normally would… exercise, meals, etc
How well I know that feeling. I used to fall asleep after dinner.
Know it’s scary & the anxiety is awful. Doing something will make you feel better, I promise.
Not sure I understand your concern about skewing the results. Results of what tests? Start now! Make changes. Start cutting those carbs. The sooner you lower your BG, the better. The less carbs you eat, the less you’ll crave & the more weight you’ll lose. If you’re insulin resistant, weight loss is helpful. What I did was stop eating all grains, beans & fruit. The only dairy is cheese, eggs, butter. Milk sends me soaring as does sour cream & cottage cheese. My meals are lean protein & carbs come from veggies. Some low carb veggies are asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, all green leafy vegetables, summer squash, spaghetti squash, zucchini, mushrooms, celery, avocado (guess this isn’t a veggie), string beans, scallions, radishes, cucumbers, turnips.
Getting healthier by eating better & exercising is the best line of defense. You can do it!
Lots of support here, so don’t be shy:)
Was that 139 a lab fasting first thing in the morning? If so, it would explain the A1c
There are different patterns in which diabetes develops. One is high fastings with normal post-meal numbers. Eventually the post meal numbers deteriorate too.
The 47 on the OGTT suggests you are insulin resistant and your body is producing a LOT of insulin that takes a while to kick in, and then when it does you go low. This is the classic “hypoglycemia” that eventually turns into diabetic post-meal numbers later in life.
Bottom line: cut back on your carb intake now to reduce insulin production and ideally insulin resistance and take the load off your poor, laboring beta cells. Cutting carbs at meals should lower your first thing in the morning blood sugar. It’s worth a try.
More on patterns in which diabetes develops on my Blood Sugar 101 web site HERE: http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14046669.php
Jenny’s site is awesome! When I was diagnosed, I was searching everywhere just as we all do. Kept reading the same absurd ADA nonsense everywhere. When I found Jenny’s site, bells went off. Finally, something made sense.
C-peptide & GAD won’t be effected by what you’re eating. Jenny is right that your pattern points to insulin resistance. Everything & anything you can do to help this is worthwhile starting now. Doesn’t matter what has happened in the past 10-15 years regarding making positive changes. And, if you make changes & need less meds, that’s the way to go for treatment. Don’t go into the realm of what you did to yourself! You didn’t do this to yourself. But, you can take control of it.
Thought 139 was your OGTT results & then 47 points lower after two hours.
Hi Rebekah,
In the early stages of type two, the insulin production is still quite good, while the insulin resistance is quite high. So, what you’re experiencing is a ‘confused’ endocrine system that bounces all over the place trying to compensate for the resistance. I’m not sure why people are saying your numbers are normal… 139 fasting and 47 after two hours is hardly normal.
The more you read up on this stuff, the more you’ll understand that the disease isn’t that hard to treat if you treat the cause rather than the symptoms. That is to say, reduce the insulin resistance and give your body’s endocrine system a chance to work. This might be easier than you think. Right now, your system is overwhelmed with fats and underwhelmed with nutrients. The fix is, to take in lots of low carb, high nutrient foods and to exercise regularly.
I’ve posted tons of useful information on this site, my own site, and on Yahoo! Answers. I invite you to check it out.
Craig
You’re welcome Rebekah,
Yes, I understand your feeling alone. I remember that icky feeling from about six years ago, when I was diagnosed. Make a commitment to yourself to read up on this regularly. No one can claim to be an expert, since no one knows exactly what’s going on. I can tell you what works, although I’m not sure of the exact mechanisms as to why they work. If you don’t mind reading a lot, I’ve posted many, many things in the above links that I’ve found to be effective over the past several years in lowering my insulin resistance (the root cause of type two diabetes).
I would strongly urge you to get Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s book, “Eat to Live”. In it, you will find guidelines on how to eat the healthiest diet I know of for diabetics and non diabetics as well.
Craig
Glad you’re not on pins & needles waiting any more.
You should still test to know if the Metformin is helping, or if your dosage needs changing. Also good to test to see how food effects you. Doctors are often too lax about testing. I have several Type 2 friends whose doctors didn’t tell them to test at all. They go for an A1c twice a year & that’s it.