great.....was just informed my blood sugar was 103 after fasting for 10 hours. (1 Viewer)

[John Pine]

Was told 75-99 is normal. Maybe some exercise and a better diet is all that is needed. How concerned should I be?

Doctor wants me to take a glucose tolerance test.

 

[Kevin M]

John, "fasting" does not include whole sticks of butter dipped in Honey.....it doesn't....

 

[John Pine]

Well....how bout' Country Crock Spreadable Sticks, dipped in honey?

 

[Julian Reville]

103 and they want you to take a glucose tolerance test? Bullshit. You're talking 4% above "normal", which is probably within the limit of lab error.

 

[John Pine]

Julian: True, good info!

 

[Colton]

Country Crock Spreadable Sticks, dipped in honey ...

What?! No marshmellows on that?!!

- Colton

 

[ChuckSolo]

John, if you fast for 10 hrs, your body will release glycogen from your liver and process it into glucose for energy. I was diagnosed as a diabetic 3 years ago and have since had my diagnosis reversed after giving up all products containing refined sugar. Remember, after 16 hours of fasting your body becomes autocannibalistic. It begins to feed off itself. 103 is NOT a bad reading. I just read where the AMA re-evaluated itself on glucose levels and said that if you register 110-120 on the glucose meter 2 hrs after a meal, you are becomming diabetic. It used to be that a reading over 120 two hours after a meal and you were on the diabetic hiway. To their way of thinking now, half the damn population is becomming diabetic. One thing I have definately noticed though is that so many products these days have WAY, WAY too much sugar content. Thw worst stuff is apple juice, which is basically 100% sugar. I would urge everyone to give up food, beverages with refined sugars (sucrose, fructose, corn syrup, etc.); my nutritionist told me that "fat doesn't make you fat, sugar makes you fat";the stuff is "white poison." BTW - When I was diagnosed as diabetic, I weighed 207 lbs. After giving up refined sugars completely, I dropped 32 lbs in 16 weeks.

 

[Travis Hedger]

103 isn't THAT bad.

 

[Todd Hochard]

I use my friend's glucose meter at work occasionally, and I once hit 106 after eating (count 'em) 10 homemade chocolate-chip cookies. We checked it several times, that was the peak. 20oz sport bottle of Mt. Dew pushed me to 109- that's the best I could do, as I was on my way to being sick.

Things you do when you're bored...

I think my normal is somewhere around 95, though.

103? Drop a soda or two each day, and I bet it'll ease right on down.

Todd

P.S. I don't ever eat like that normally, but I do enjoy my carbs, daily. Brain food, ya know.

 

[ChuckSolo]

Normal used to be between 70 and 120 two hours after eating. Be warned though, going below 70 makes you hypoglycemic (low blood sugar), which is just as dangerous as a diabetic hyperglycemic condition.

 

[ChrisMatson]

I believe that it takes a fasting glucose measurement of 126mg/dL or higher on at least two occasions to diagnose diabetes.

There is much worrying going on now about "pre-diabetes." This may be a real concern as the population continues the upward trend in obesity.

Lesson: Eat less, exercise more and all things in moderation.

Personally, I would not worry about a value of 103, but I am not a doctor, yet.

 

[John Pine]

Great feedback, very informative thanks guys! I talked to my Mom last night and I think I know why the Doc is pushing for this test. Because my grandfather died from natural causes, I had forgotten that he was a diabetic. My father was not, but it’s been known to skip a generation. I’m certain my doctor has this information from a questionnaire I took years ago.

Chuck: Congrats on dropping 30lbs! But, doesn’t just about everything have “processed sugar” in it? What about diet sodas? What foods are the most problem? White bread, pasta?

 

[Leila Dougan]

Well, I'm of the opposite opinion. I say go ahead and take the 1 hr GTT.

First off, the test is relatively painless. Fast for 8-10 hours, go in get your orange-flavored glucose drink (tastes much like orange soda), then come back in an hour to have some blood drawn. That's it.

For me, I honestly wish that I had a doctor that thought to test me. All my labs came back "normal" so it wasn't another 10 years or so did my glucose come back a little elavated. By that point, things spiraled out of control very quickly and now I'm on the verge of being a Type II diabetic. I'm controlling it with oral medication and most importantly, diet. After cutting out most carbs, I'm now considered "normal" again. But unforunately, my insulin response is still impaired and I'm still severely insulin resistant (also known as pre-diabetes). I just control the symptoms by not eating certain foods.

The problem today is that by the time you've officially met the criteria to be considered diabetic, you're really long gone. It can take 10-20 years of being insulin resistant before becoming full-blown diabetic, but of course doctors won't check until it's too late. Making the appropriate lifestyle changes (diet and exercise, mainly) early on can help prevent getting diabetes. Not to mention, it will also help some symptoms that are not often associated with insulin resistance and thus save you 10-20 years of suffering. My problems were sleepiness after meals followed by extreme hunger and waking up in the morning nauseated. But it's different for everyone.

Anyway, my point John is that you may have absolutely nothing to worry about. You may have a completely normal insulin response and things might be just peachy. But on the other hand, it's possible your 103 reading is a tell-tale sign of things to come. I personally would just spare the inconvenience of the GTT for the peace of mind. It's really not a big price to pay to potentially prevent, or at least slow down, the progression of a terrible disease. Remember what they say. . .knowning is half the battle.

 

[ChrisMatson]

Follow-up on my earlier post:
With a family history, you are at higher risk. I don't know your exercise and diet habits, but as mentioned above, you can change those now to improve all aspects of your life.
I think the glucose tolerance test may provide you with more evidence of something you already know: you may be at increased risk for developing diabetes and you need to start working now to prevent that.
I wish you the best.

 

[John Pine]

Leila & Chris: Thanks for taking the time for your great responses! This lab does it a little different. The test procedure was described to me this way. You fast for 10 hours min. They draw blood prior to giving you the sugar drink. One hour after the sugar drink they draw blood again. Another hour later, they draw blood for a third time.

Despite the fact that I don’t care for needles, you guys convinced me to have the test done. It’s just too important to let slide. Wish me luck!

 

[ChuckSolo]

Well, I don't eat "white" breads, only whole grain breads (not the cheapy wheat stuff) and stay away from alot of pasta and white rice as much as possible. Potatoes will turn into sugar faster than you know. I haven't had fruit juices (a couple of real fruits a day is fine), cookies, cakes, sodas with sugar in them, pies or any other sweets for almost 3 years. I drink diet sodas (they have their own issues), iced tea with artificial sweetner and water basically. One side effect of this "no white sugar" diet is that I occasionally get a craving (not hypoclycemic) for something sugary. When that happens I keep a Kit Kat bar in the 'fridge and just take a bite. Believe it or not, in those who are not diabetic, the release of massive amounts of insulin into your blood by your pancreas is what starts turning your excess blood sugar into fat. Yes, just about everything has processed sugar to some degree, but look at the package. I would much rather eat a product labeled as having 2grs of sugar as one having 35 grs. Check the labels, especially with drinks. Most fruit drinks are basicaly flavored sugar water. Even those that say 100% juice are just concentrated fructose.....read SUGAR. One 6 0z glass of citrus juice, preferably grapefruit, gives you most of the vitamin C you need for the day. Tomato juice is great too, although V8 has a higher sugar content than plain tomato juice.

Consider this: You go to Mickey D's and order a supersize quater pounder meal with fries and a coke. You eat the burger and fries and drink the coke (32-44 oz). Your body then says to itself.....Ah, you have just given me a huge supply of readily metabolized sugar to feast on via the coke, so I'll use that sugary drink for energy and store the rest of the meal as FAT!!! As you get up to leave the restaurant, the excess sugar in your blood is causing massive amounts of insulin to spill into your blood.....you are on your way to becoming OBESE!!!!!

 

[John Pine]

Thanks Chuck, that's what I needed to know!