What Does Everyone Think? Prediabetic or not?

[jcbart]

Hello everyone. This is my first post and even though I've been reading this forum for a while, I didn't want to post until I could provide everyone with my bloodwork numbers. First my brief story:

Back in Nov.-Dec. 2004 I experienced a bit of lightheadedness that persisted for quite sometime. Believe it or not I chalked it up to the Rogaine I was using, so I stopped using it. But, about 15 months later the lightheadedness returned, and I wasn't using Rogaine. A trip to the neurologist and an MRI later showed no abnormalities to my brain or spine. Eventually the lightheadedness left again but returned with a vengeance in May 2007, this time accompanied by tingling in my hands and feet. This time it stayed for months instead of weeks and I had another set of MRI's and again nothing. Then, someone suggested maybe it was my blood sugar, as hypoglycemia could certainly cause the symptoms I was having. I didn't think anything of it until I noticed that when I woke up in the morning I was fine. After eating, however, whoa! Coffee was real bad and I was an avid coffee drinker.

I bought a glucometer and started testing and saw my fasting blood glucose levels were on the high side. For instance, some examples:

Nov. 7, 2007: 114
Nov. 8: 104
Nov. 9: 122
Nov. 10: 98
Nov. 11: 102
Nov. 12: 98

Random tests throughout the day would usually find me between say 95-110. I'm an avid Olympic weightlifter and was trying desperately to gain bodyweight so my diet was basically eat everything in sight. I have a VERY difficult time putting weight on so I've been eating like this for years. I think it finally caught up to me! I'm 38 years old, 6'0" tall, 228 lbs., but very fit. However, to keep my weight there I have to eat uncontrollably. It's almost impossible. I have modified to lower carbs, and ZERO junk food. No cake, candy, cookies, white bread, etc. You get the point. But I still do eat carbs in the form of fruit, sprouted wheat (Ezekiel 4:9) bread, whole wheat pasta, vegetables, etc.

I visited an endocrinologist on 1-3-08, and here are all of my blood test results:

2 HOUR ORAL GLUCOSE TOLERANCE TEST (75g):

Fasting: 98 mg/dL
30 mins: 139 mg/dL
60 mins: 111 mg/dL
120 mins: 72 mg/dL

FRUCTOSAMINE: 249 umol/L

HEMOGLOBIN A1c: 5.3

INSULIN RESPONSE TO GLUCOSE:

Fasting: 7 uIU/mL
30 mins: 73 uIU/mL
60 mins: 94 uIU/mL
120 mins: 14 uIU/mL

TRIGLYCERIDES: 132 mg/dL
CHOLESTEROL: 188 mg/dL
HDL: 52 mg/dL
LDL: 110 mg/dL

CHOL/HDLC RATIO: 3.6

I am seeing a second endocrinologist who wanted me to take my blood glucose levels 6 times a day for two weeks, right before and 2 hours after breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then when I go back to him he's going to give me a mixed meal 5 hour glucose tolerance test.

So far, since really modifying my diet, here are my fasting levels for the past 8 days:

Jan. 31: 93
Feb. 1: 99
Feb. 2: 87
Feb. 3: 103
Feb. 5: 87
Feb. 6: 103
Feb.7 (today): 85

I'll keep you all posted. What do you think of the numbers?

[jcbart]

Here's something interesting I tried on myself today. I woke up and took my blood sugar. It was 85. Then I ate 2 oranges for breakfast, that's it! I took my blood sugar 45 minutes later and it was 138. Then I went to the gym to workout. Worked out about 90 minutes, came home and took it and it was 95. Okay, had a postworkout meal of 4 scrambled eggs and a chunk of mozzarella cheese. No carbs! 45 minutes later glucometer read 81. I think I'm seeing where this is going. I'm really going to have to limit my carbs, even fruit, which I love. But my goal is to keep my fasting blood glucose in the 80s permanently, and back in the 80s two hours after a meal.

[xMenace]

I think your sugars are fine. Maybe creeping a bit high, but I'd jump for joy with those. Wanna trade?

I'm curious what impact such intense workouts have on your endocrine system. I can visualize some wacky liver dumps and hormone imbalances (affecting BGs) resulting from all this stress. Do you by chance take any HGH or steroids? These are known to significantly up insulin resistance.

You do realize that "bulking up" is very dependant on genetics.

[CaptainMike]

You didn't mention if you had any older BG readings, from several years or more ago. It is certainly possible that you could be "High-Normal", in that you are a non-diabetic who just has always had higher than 'normal' BG numbers. One thing we all know on this forum is that everybody seems to react differently to different things. Your recent GTT looks pretty good to me, I certainly wouldn't say it looks "Pre-diabetic"
If I were to hazard a guess, I would say if you don't go overboard on carbs, you will probably remain in good shape, BG -wise.
Best of Luck to you!

[xMenace]

Here's something interesting I tried on myself today. I woke up and took my blood sugar. It was 85. Then I ate 2 oranges for breakfast, that's it! I took my blood sugar 45 minutes later and it was 138. Then I went to the gym to workout. Worked out about 90 minutes, came home and took it and it was 95. Okay, had a postworkout meal of 4 scrambled eggs and a chunk of mozzarella cheese. No carbs! 45 minutes later glucometer read 81. I think I'm seeing where this is going. I'm really going to have to limit my carbs, even fruit, which I love. But my goal is to keep my fasting blood glucose in the 80s permanently, and back in the 80s two hours after a meal.

There's more to it than food. Our bodies release a hormonal soup each morning that elevate our insulin resistance: HGH, Cortizone, other ****. We call it our dawn phenomenon or DP. There is also a high suspicion of hormone releases when eating after fasting, e.g. if I skip breakfast I need to double+ my insulin at lunch to cover the impending spike. I even get a spike if I eat lettuce only! Also consider that intense anaerobic exercise puts your body into survival mode. It releases adrenalin and all this other **** plus sugar (liver dump) to enable you to survive. Actually, your liver is releasing sugars and hormones 24/7! We call it our basal.

I'd almost bet money that all intense body builders have some degree of whackiness in their BG readings.

Then again, do you have any family history of type 2?

[jcbart]

Hi Menace, thanks for the great info and insight. No, I don't take steroids or HGH. Yes, prior to getting into weightlifting I was a long distance runner who weighed a whopping 170 lbs. with fasting blood glucose levels of 60-70! But I never touched a weight until I was 30 years old. Those blood glucose readings of 60-70 are from tests I had performed in 1997, 1998, and 2000. But in 2004 as I was gaining bodyweight, I noticed my fasting BG levels climbing. It was 90 in a test I had for life insurance in 2004, and 98 in one I had in 2006. You already know my levels right now.

And yes, heavy, intense weightlifting has lead to higher than normal liver enzymes. My AST was 43 U/L, and my ALT was 69 U/L in the test performed just last month. Both are high and were "flagged" by the lab. In fact, in both previous life insurance tests in '04 and '06, my AST was fine but ALT was always high, in the 60-70 range. In fact, I had an episode in '04 where my ALT climbed to 150, and I was feeling terrible, but it went right back down to 50 or so 2 months later. Also, I tested negative for Hep A, B and C last month, so I know that's not an issue with the liver enzymes.

Impressed that you knew my liver enzymes had a chance to be high! You certainly called that one!

[jcbart]

Captain Mike, yes, there is a history of Type 2 in my family. Both great-grandmothers, and my maternal grandmother, but neither parent has it and neither does my sister.

Menace, I certainly don't have the bulking genetics. In fact, I'd love to try a cycle of juice to see what I can accomplish without having to gorge myself to gain weight. That's not friggin' healthy anyway as the purpose to weight training is to have strength AND health, both! I need to keep that in mind, especially as I get older and creep toward the big FOUR-OH!

[Ronin]

Hi Jcbart!

I have to begin my response with a question: why do you want to increase body weight? Olympic lifting is done by weight class and, generally speaking, the lighter weight classes llft more weight proportionally to their body weight than the heavier weight classes.

If your body is fighting you on weight gain, why fight it? Do you lose strength with loss of weight or are you looking to simply get "big?"

Okay, enough with my wonderment. While neither I, nor any members of this forum, are qualified to diagnose your condition, your numbers would indicate that you are probably not diabetic despite the family history. A large part of your concern is probably due to pushing your body to do something that it is refusing to do -- gain a whole lot of extra tissues, even if that tissue is muscle. Over-eating, even in a fit person, is not a good idea. At lower weights you are probably stronger than most people of the same weight. You might try being satisfied with that and compete at a lower weight class. Yeah, it doesn't get the same press coverage but in the end the lighter lifters are stronger than the heavys.