Failing glucose test

(Ursula wagner) #21

I’m sure he’ll want me to go on some drug again. I won’t though my averages range from about 4.8 to 5.4. My numbers don’t match my A1C. It’s just odd and now add in this test…. I wish these Dr’s knew more about diabetics on keto. It always leaves me in a position where I have to put in a lot of extra work to research for myself.

#22

Problem with that is, you normal sugars can bounce around very easily, but your A1C can’t, people like to discredit that when they see a number they don’t like with the “A1C’s aren’t perfect” and while that’s true, it’s close enough for basically everybody. It’s biggest failing point is with out of control people who spend half the day sky high, then have the day crashed, but even then it’s techincally still right as it’s an average.

There’s nothing for them to know, diabetes is diabetes regardless of your WOE, the only thing that changes is your ability to fix it becomes much easier, but having higher sugars and then A1C is no different for you than somebody that eats high carb. Exact same end result.

Do you track what you eat? If so, go back to when you had good numbers and see all the averages and what changed. Something did. Also, eating OMAD means you’re body is dealing with all it’s load at once, when you sleep you digest slower, dawn phenomenon becomes worse and taking hours into the next day to finish what would have mostly been done before bed will absolutely have that effect. Also don’t forget that fasting by itself is a big stress to the body, and stress raises cortisol and glucose levels. Fine balance there. On one side it helps lower, but can also do the opposite.

(Bob M) #23

That is supposed to be better than HbA1c, because it doesn’t rely on the length of time red blood cells live, which is variable.

Can you get a CGM for a while?

I saw short video by Dr. Ben Bikman, where he said that cortisol goes up when you’re losing weight. So, cortisol simply might mean weight loss. (Which for the original poster is likely not happening.)

If you really do have higher blood sugar, my theory is that you’re exercising so much (which for me raises blood sugar) and you’re thin enough that blood sugar goes up due to glycogen replacement.

@lfod14’s OMAD idea might be true too.

(Ursula wagner) #24

I was wondering if I was exercising too much because my BG does go up while I exercise. I’m not losing anymore weight. I pretty much plateaued at 115 lbs and I’ve been there for 3/4 of a year. As a matter of fact I had to gain some weight back because it went down too low but that was about a year, maybe year and a half ago. I have a CGM. I’ve had one for a few years now and I take finger pricks as well. My BG numbers have gone up slightly in general but not anywhere near the place to give me an A1C of 6. I need to tweak something; I’m just sure what.

(Ursula wagner) #25

I don’t think it’s from what I eat. I’m a strong creature of habit and I pretty eat the same thing over and over again. I do wonder though, if I’m exercising too much. Maybe I need to slow down on that. My one meal is at lunch and sometimes I’ll have a small snack right after work ; so around 5:00 pm. If I eat late my BG numbers are quite high in the mornings. What do you suggest? Should I maybe have a breakfast and a lunch? Would that make it easier on my system?

(Ursula wagner) #26

Wow! I did not know that. And here I am thinking I’m eating too much fat.

(Ursula wagner) #27

I have never felt so good ever! Is A1C maybe not a good marker for some people? I just don’t know. And I’m not sure what direction to go now. But I sure appreciate everyone’s input because it’s giving me some things I can possibly tweak to see if it makes a difference. It’s frustrating to get my A1C down to 5.2 and then watch it slowly creep up

(Mike W.) #28

Repeat it in 3 months and see where you’re at. Could just be a wonky season of life

(Ursula wagner) #29

Is that like “that time of the month”? :joy:

(Mike W.) #30

I’m not sure if that affects BG or not.

#31

Which is totally normal.

Unlikely in most cases, but could be likely (and way more common) that you could be under fueling for your workouts, which can also plateau you, raise stress hormones which starts the negative feedback loop of hell.

That definitely takes a huge load off your digestive system and would mean you can actually empty out before the next morning which should have a noticeable effect on your numbers.

I can’t remember whether you said you’re tracking your intake or not, and how much working out are you doing? Lifting? Cardio? Excessive Cardio (that’ll backfire everytime). All of that comes into play.

(Ursula wagner) #32

I power walk for at least an hour 2 - 3 times a day. I’ll try having a small breakfast and then my lunch to see if that makes a difference

(Kirk Wolak) #33

I feel your pain.
But I implore you to get the full KRAFT version of the test. With insulin at each marker.

What happened with my scores, was “insulin insufficiency” (My pancreas did not have enough stored insulin, so the first insulin hit was low. Then the second one was PURE panic, and a ton of insulin, then my glucose came crashing down)

Your A1C of 6 is concerning. Based on that alone, I would be doing a CGM and Blood Glucose levels (the two are not the same). My glucose goes from 100s down to 80s if I just stop working, and close my eyes and rest. (I do mental gymnastics/problem solving for work).

I would NOT give up on the diet. There are TYPE I Diabetics that manage much better on a low-carb Dr. Jensen style diet.

The challenges we face nowadays are “When we sample an unhealthy population, and we use
their bell-shaped curve to define the healthy range of lab tests… We are doing a disservice to truly or exceptionally healthy people!”

I am not a doctor. But breathe and realize that even at 6… That’s SUCCESS For a T2D controlling their Glucose with drugs. And we know insulin only makes it worse.

The challenge is that you do not know how much insulin you produced…

Now… If you want to CHEAT the test to get a better score… Walk out to your car after the glucose is given, and pound out as many Squats as you can (this will deplete your glycogen and give your body to sink the glucose…) But this is clearly cheating… Not good if you need the values…

(Mike W.) #34

Are you considered a type 1 now because of insufficient insulin?

(Kirk Wolak) #35

No. Fortunately, I did produce insulin. I do, daily. My Fasting insulin is around 10 or lower.
It used to be 3-4…

It was just insufficient to the SUDDEN shocking amount of glucose I drank.
It was spot on for my normal diet.

I redid the test 2 weeks later, after carb loading for 3 days before…
The results were better… BUT it triggered my addictions… It took me 3 months to completely recover. I told the doc, I will never carb load like that again. He agreed.

The one thing he noticed is that I needed more insulin to lower my blood sugar.
His point was that I was STILL Insulin Resistant. That was 2yrs into the LC lifestyle.
I thought that was crazy… He said you cannot undo 30yrs of poor eating/metabolism in 2!

HTH

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #36

Wow that’s amazing! Many of you may not be suprised but I’m shocked by how damaging a SAD diet is in this regard.
I assume you and I are not so different Captain and guess I must be still insulin resistant too. Damn that but it’s still best to know.

(Mike W.) #37

Well that’s good to hear! I’m glad I misread that. IR is definitely not fixed over night. Ugh. I wish there was a better way to gauge it.

(Joey) #38

To my way of thinking, these are the markers that count.

HbA1c is a bit of a wild card for us healthy low carb eaters - all the more so since the “norms” are based on a rather unhealthy population. You don’t want to join the “normal” club if that’s the price.

Yes, indeed. Welcome to the science challenge. :vulcan_salute:

(Ursula wagner) #39

No I’m considered type 2. But I’ve worked hard to bring my insulin levels down because they go hand in hand.

(Ursula wagner) #40

I had a fasting insulin test done about 2 weeks prior and it came back at 3. I don’t believe my initial insulin output happens for me anymore because I’ve been on keto so long so im not surprised I did so poorly on this test. My concern is my A1C being at 6 when it was at 5.2. It’s been gradually going up over a year and a half. I expected a rise because that’s common. 6 seems too high as far as I’m concerned and it doesn’t match with my CGM and finger stick numbers; never mind the other metabolic numbers.