Pre-Diabetic Questions??

 Hello all

I received bloodwork last October which came back pre-diabetic, so high readings but not high enough to say I am diabetic.

 

i just attended a diabetic clinic at my local hospital about 1 month ago (the wait lists here are awful). At that time I was 25 lbs overweight, fairly inactive and loosely following a better diet than previously. I found the clinic to be very helpful and i have made some major lifestyle changes: since then I have been following a diabetic diet (low fat, low cholesterol, low sodium, no sugarl, approx 1300 calories, and counting carbs, high fibre etc) and my husband and I bought a recumbant bike and we are up to 20 minutes per day. I weighed myself for the first time since the clinic, last night and i have lost 5 lbs. BTW I have no symptoms of diabetes as yet.

 

i have also been monitoring my blood sugar daily and my readings after meals are now excellent. However, my morning reading is still consistently higher than the average. Here in Canada, my reading should be between 4 and 6 but mine are always between 6-6.9. I have tried eating different smalls snacks before bedtime but that does not seem to change the readings at all.

 

I could really use some advice and encouragement. I do not want to be diabetic and I don't know what else to do to prevent this from happening. I know I have not been doing these things for too long but i did expect to see some changes to my morning readings by now.

thanks for any help

deb

Hiya Deb,

Kudos to you!! You are actually doing fantastic! You're exercising and conscientiously eating balanced meals and the weight loss and excellent glucose levels throughout the day are the result of all your efforts. You are most definitely on the right track.

The one positive thing that I can think of with being diagnosed "pre-diabetic" is that you are lucky enough to be made aware that certain lifestyle changes are required if you want to avoid becoming Diabetic. Too many of us are caught too late or don't take the warning serious enough until it is too late.

You're numbers are actually excellent, too. The morning (fasting) BGL is a hard one for most of us to control and I actually envy that you get below 7 in the morning . Many of us suffer wacky effects from the "Dawn Phenomenon" - everyone's body "gears up" for waking sometime in the pre-dawn, wee-hours by our livers dumping glucogon into our systems and basically raising our glucose levels "some" in anticipation of muscles, brain, organs, etc. being utilized. I think of it like your body's natural "caffeine kick" to get you going in the morning. Everyone manages it differently. A few I can think of: eating a small snack before bed (bit o' protein and/or fat and under 20 grams of carbs), exercising after dinner/evening, drinking plenty of water, and for those of us on insulin: maybe an extra unit or two added to breakfast dose (I do this almost every morning).

You really are doing great, Deb so, try not to get worried over that morning number. If your post-meal readings are excellent after breakfast, then you really shouldn't worry cause you're doing everything right

well hiya back Phishbowl

thanks for all the positive feedback, it made my day. I have lots of other health issues - high bp (taking meds), high cholesterol (taking meds) and many more, so i am very motivated to take the steps needed to stop the development of diabetes if i can.

couple of comments/questions:

i just found out that several of the meds i am taking can increase blood sugar, should i consider going off these meds (if there is another one that can be taken instead) on the chance they are responsible for elevated blood sugars? the nurse at the diabetic clinic told me this and i have not had time to consult with my GP yet.

I am already exercising after supper, drinking lots of H2O, tried cheese and cracker, tried peanut butter and cracker, small fruit (none changed my morning reading); concerned about this because my dr used the fasting & bloodwork, then drink the orange sugary drink with bloodwork 2 hours after to check if i was diabetic or not, so won't that reading still be the same (eg high) even if the readings for the rest of the day are good??

thanks for posting

deb

Hi there, Deb, since the fall, I've altered what I eat and now exercise everyday.  I flipflopped around trying to figure out how to bring my blood sugar numbers down and now after about 6 months (and the loss of about 15lbs so far since then .....), I have come to an agreement with my body.  I feed it a portion of meat/chicken/fish at lunch and dinner with various vegetables and a few beans (a tablespoonful, I'm serious.) and salad or, if not salad, at least crunchy sides like radishes, cucumbers and celery.  With dinner I also drink a glass of water with lemon and a glass of white wine.  I don't get hungry later at night.  Maybe an hour after dinner, I'll have tea and milk.  My morning fasting number was 88 today.  But keep in mind that everyone's pancreas may be working differently, at different stages of diabetes.  If I eat half an apple with peanut butter at night, my morning numbers will be around 115, so I'll eat 2 slices of an apple instead if I want to eat some apple. I have to really ration out the fruit slices and I always eat some almonds or walnuts (or cashews, pistachios) with the fruit.  In between meals, I'll have a stick of string cheese or nuts.  Some people think what I do is too restrictive but I have to say that I'm not hungry and don't crave food and it's working for me.   My husband or I prepare a normal meal but I just don't eat the carbs that night (potatoes, rice or bread).  I find I can eat some whole grain pasta (not a lot) though with the rest of the meal and my fasting number would go to 100.  So, I've just found what works for me.  Weekends, special dinners, holidays, guests - all that can throw my regime off IF I lose track of what I eat, so I'll eat a bite of the cake, a bite of potato or whatever to satisfy them and not to deny me and good choices for the rest of the meal.  In the fall when I first started with the glucose monitor, I averaged in the 120's to 130's fasting and around 140 to 170 after meals and before bed.  Now, my fasting number is rarely over 100.  It's usually in the 80's or 90's.  This is a long-winded answer to your question of being hungry!  Keep a food diary so you know what affects your numbers.  One more important fact:  eating less at a meal will normally result in lower numbers.

Lanie