How did you feel before insulin?

[Draperygoddess 163]

Tell your doctors about all your symptoms, including shorteness of breath. It could be something that is not Diabetes related. I would try to increase your fat a little. Some do better on full fat yogurt if you can find it. I will take my FAGE 0% yogurt and add sour cream , peanut butter or heavy whipping cream to it to increase the fat. I am also so done with eggs. I often eat hummus for breakfast, or one of my LC muffins. I also make my own crackers and will eat crackers and guacamole for breakfast. Look for things high in fat. Dark chocolate is another good way to get healthy fat.

 

I can find 2% Fage yogurt here, and I have found some peanut butter with no added sugar that I sometimes eat as a snack.  And I forgot to add to my diet that I usually have one square of dark chocolate for dessert.   I'll experiment with higher protein/higher fat and see if something works!

[mbc1963 427]

My first thought was that you're just not eating enough. 1300 calories is pretty light, and you are losing weight... so maybe you could up that a bit? My first few weeks, I kept Atkins shakes on hand at work because I was trying to work out how to get enough calories when not eating carbs. Now I avoid those shakes - possible allergies, plus the long list of chemical ingredients on the side. I keep nuts around, and drink tea with half-and-half about 10 a.m.. That keeps me full. If I have a salad with meat for lunch, I'm starving by the time I get home at 4 p.m., so I eat dinner early, before walking my dog. I don't count calories at all - probably eat more than a lot of people! - but LCHF has me settled in at my high school weight and pants size... so I'm OK with the whole thing. (Mind you, I was never a tiny girl in high school!)

 

It sounds like there's something beyond low-carb flu going on with you - I've dieted a lot in my life and it never made me feel as exhausted as you are describing.

[kooka 2,681]

Apart from the BG's I had all the later symptoms you mention (tired, weak, heart palpitations, aches and pains in the joints, ill feeling and extreme fatigue I could barely drag myself out of bed.) and my doctor found that I have a underactive  thyroid. Some days after going on Synthroid all my energy came back and I felt great. As for being a diabetic I was not as shocked as my doctor who months earlier had done a complete blood lab on me and my sugar was normal and the same the year before. Non-diabetic.

[Draperygoddess 163]

Apart from the BG's I had all the later symptoms you mention (tired, weak, heart palpitations, aches and pains in the joints, ill feeling and extreme fatigue I could barely drag myself out of bed.) and my doctor found that I have a underactive  thyroid. Some days after going on Synthroid all my energy came back and I felt great. As for being a diabetic I was not as shocked as my doctor who months earlier had done a complete blood lab on me and my sugar was normal and the same the year before. Non-diabetic.

Kooka, I was taking iodine for my thyroid but stopped because I thought that was the reason I was losing weight (fewer carbs=greater iodine absorption). Now I'm thinking I should start taking it again, but a lower dose. The symptoms I was attributing to the iodine are still here, and now I'm having hot flashes (they stop when I'm taking iodine). I couldn't even get my coffee down this morning. 

 

I agree I could use more calories, but I'm really not hungry most of the time and when I force myself to eat, I'm overly full and nauseated afterwards. I count my calories, not to make sure I don't overeat, but to see if i need to force more food down. I'm trying to eat more often, but then that makes it hard to get lower Bg readings because there's not that long between meals.  

 

Woke up about 4 this morning with what I'm pretty sure was the prelude to a liver dump.  This has been happening a few days a week.  I always wake up around 4, and I feel terrible, like I used to when my BG was too low, and then it goes away. I have tried eating at different times, having different snacks before bed, but nothing seems to reliably stop it. I am usually up by 5:45. Today I slept in and didn't check my BG till 8, and it was 114--better than it has been, but that's probably because I was two hours late getting up.

[jwags 9,219]

I used to get cortisol dumps around 3 am in the morning. I would wake up with a jolt and get those heat flashes. I am way past menopause so I know it is not that. last year I gave up my morning coffee and all diet sodas. I feel much better and sleep better too. Have you had your thyroid checked lately?

[Hammer 16,370]

It sounds like there is something else going on that is most likely, not diabetes related.  Sure, eating a very low carb diet can make you feel tired.  I ate a zero carb diet many years ago when I was working out at the gym every day, and I felt like I had no energy...it was a real chore just trying to walk.  I went on a zero carb diet for 2 months in an attempt to "lean out".  That is what body builders do when they want to shed excess fat, without losing muscle mass.  Typically, to shed the excess fat, you go on a zero carb diet for two weeks, eating only protein, then slowly add some carbs to your diet.  I went on it for 2 months, and by that time, I felt lousy....no energy at all, I just wanted to sleep all the time.  I was eating 5 large cans of tuna fish every day, and just drinking water, while working out every day.  Once I added back some carbs, I felt fine.  Keep in mind that we all react differently to dietary changes, so what I experienced, might not be what the next person might experience.

 

I agree with the others in that you need to talk to your doctor and tell him/her how you have been feeling.  He might recommend some tests that might figure out what is going on with you. 

[ronmesnard 534]

I would worry about something else may be wrong with you and you are getting blind sided.  Your oral test is reasonable for a pre diabetc you are mildly impared.  Pre diabetes shouldn't have your kind of problem unless they are doing something real wrong.  

 

The pain you feel has nothing to do with your sugar levels.  Diabetes is the silent killer because you can be walking around with a sugar of over 1,000 and not know it.  The others who are strict lo-carb dieters don't think the pain has to do with your diet.

 

There are too many problems to count that can jack up your blood sugar.  You need to see your Dr.  In the mean time test your after meal BGs at 2 hrs after the meal.  You Dr will want to see them so would we.

 

On a much happier note you were super lucky to be caught so early.  You should be able to avoid diabetes easily.  Just drop your A1c a few tenths of a percent.  This was more of a wake up call to clean up your life style than a warning that your future is bleak.  

 

 

 

I just don't want to find myself fighting the same battle on Metformin.

You may if you are barking up the wrong tree.  Metformin would probably be powerful for someone at your A1c.  I agree with Aggie.  Rule out that your pancreas is under some form of attack.  It is likely something else is going on and you need to find out what it is ASAP.

[kooka 2,681]

I ate 20 or less carbs for 2 years when I went on Atkins and stayed on Phase 1. I felt great after the carb blahs which took about 2 weeks to get over. My thyroid was partially destroyed from direct beam radiation every week day for 2 1/2 months and that is why I need medication for that. I also have a benign tumor on the tail (islet cells) of my pancreas that has been slowly growing for 8 years and is now 1/3 the tail of my pancreas. it has not affected my BG's though. Only carbs, stress and illness do that for me.

 

I agree with Ron. I think you're stuck on the mindset it's the diabetes, the WOE or the meds that are causing your problems and I really feel you need a complete physical and blood lab from your doctor.

[jwags 9,219]

As I get older I find I get more and more symptoms. Sometimes it is other things causing the symptoms, not my diabetes.  There are lots of automatic responses in our body that start to break down. Since you have thryroid problems already I think it would be good to get some additional lab work to test your adrenal system to find out if that may be your problem.

[ronmesnard 534]

High sugars have no symptoms unless you have crazy levels.  Some where over 1000 your body functions stop working correctly and you will know something is wrong. 

 

I am convinced you need to consider more options than diet.  Keep up with the diet.  Hopefully in time you will be able to control your sugar with only diet.  Fine tuning your diet for you takes more time than you have.

 

I want you to be aware of a disturbing theory how someone becomes diabetic. During pre-diabetes your beta cells they are the ones that make insulin are poisoned by high sugar levels. The damage is two fold.  One they can't make insulin as well as they used to and they lose the ability to heal.  Beta cells divide if the sugar level stays too high.  Once the cells are damaged both cells die after the divide. High sugars cause mass killing of your beta cells.  When all your cells are permanently ruined and start to die off your sugar levels rise until they are high enough for you to be classified as a diabetic.   

 

If this is true prediabetics ought to do what ever they have to do to get your sugar under control.  If you don't you will pay the price for the rest of your life.  If you turn around in time your pancreas will be able to heal.

 

Experiment with meds ASAP.  You need to get you fasting BG down to at least 100.  110 is the lowest toxic concentration of BG.  It is also believed fasting BGs of 110 or better are how the beta cells are killed.  There is another theory that if your BG is not toxic while you sleep your beta cells have a chance to recover.  Fasting BG is a good predictor for when you will become a diabetic.

 

Being a pre DB means you may not need to take meds for the rest of your life but you need to take aggressive steps quickly.  Once your BG is under control for a while you can try cutting back on the meds.  Metformin is a powerful and safe drug.  I wouldn't rule it out.  You might want to start out on breaking a 500 mg in half and taking half in the morning and half at night.  Most persons get used to metformin.  If you can't hack it there are other drugs that don't upset your GI at all but most of them are weak or have some worse drawback.