Prediabetes Or Hypoglycemia? (or Both?) Posted: 02-28-07 21:39pm
My husband was having some symptoms that
made me wonder about his sugar - most
notably that a few hours (anywhere from 1
to 3) after eating a meal, he would become
extremely shaky, and "fuzzy."
When he asked his doctor about this, he
was sent for a fasted blood test, which
did not show anything unusual. But he
still was having the symptoms, so I did
some research, and talked to diabetic
friends. (I should mention that there has
been diabetes in his family, and he is
also overweight, carries most of his
weight at his waist, and so forth - in
other words, he is at risk.)
Online, my husband found a questionnaire
for hypoglycemia, and his answers
indicated that he was exhibiting signs of
hypoglycemia. So he pushed his doctor into
ordering a glucose tolerance test (4
hour).
During the test (about 3 hours after
ingesting the glucose), he crashed -
became very shaky and felt awful - the
techs saw it, too, which was nice for us,
since none of the medical personnel had
seen this happen before. After the test
was finished, I gave him two granola bars,
and he recovered quickly.
His doctor called today with the results.
At about 3 hours, his blood sugar dropped,
and hit a low of 52. He did not say that
there were any high readings prior to the
drop. However, he is diagnosing this as
prediabetes, not reactive hypoglycemia,
which is what I had expected.
Has anyone had any experience with
prediabetes presenting this way? Any other
thoughts? I wish I could say that I trust
his doctor to treat him properly, but I
don't think he has enough knowledge about
either diabetes or hypoglycemia to do so.
Thanks for the help!
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creganaz
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 03 Mar 2007 Posts: 3
Posted: 03-03-07 20:46pm
Your husband is lucky to have a doctor
that will handle his problems. I have the
exact same problem. I was pre-diabetic
last year. I have been more hypoglycemic
attacks recently and I have been trying to
get diagnosed something so I can get help.
My blood sugar with my home test ranges
from 60 – 260 mg. But the highest it
was recorded at the lab was 187 mg. I
have seen a few doctors to at least get
help for hypoglycemia, but not many
believe in it. Keep your doctor.
The only thing I read that can help is cut
on carbs. To be honest, I am not able to
cut on carbs, if I do I go into a
hypoglycemic attack and takes me a while
to recover. I am glad that your husband
is taking care of it now and has the help.
It is difficult planning for the shakes.
Especially, just after lunch, going in a
meeting and then oops … shakes. Clients
wonder why I start acting funny.
If he is able to take care of it with
food, that is great. If not, if his
shakes get to serious, they sell the
glucose tablets. It dissolves faster than
food sometimes that is so important
