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Why Don’t I Feel Worse?
My A1C has ranged in the high 6’s and low 7’s for about 5 years. I’m 55 years old. I was a pretty high-level athlete in my youth, having started for three years at a major college football program. I have some orthopedic ailments from that, and now supposedly “diabetes.“
I just had surgery and had to fast for almost 24 hours. I had to stay at the hospital overnight, and by the time they got me into my room, the kitchen had closed. All they could find for me to eat were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, made with white bread and jelly loaded with sugar. I was so hungry I wolfed down four of them.
A while later, they checked my glucose and it was almost 400. If you believe what you read on the Internet, that should trigger a trip to the emergency room. But… I didn’t feel any different than I felt before I ate. I felt fine.
I am fit and strong…I can still run 7 minute miles and bench press over 300 lbs. I feel great and have lots of energy. I eat pretty well, but don’t obsess over it. I have never once felt bad because my blood sugar was supposedly too high. I track it with a CGM, and it will range from 270 or so down to about 60. I get “dangerous” notifications both times, but don’t feel any different either way. If I wasn’t wearing the monitor I wouldn’t even know if I was low or high.
How is that possible? Shouldn’t you feel terrible if your glucose is 400 or 60? Is it possible that “diabetes“ is just a scam to overmedicate people?
I just don’t get it.
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@shmerdloff well…there is another auto analogy. Jiffy Lube says to change your oil every 3000 miles, which is and has always been way overkill with modern engines and oil blends. Why does Jiffy Lube say that? Of course, because it makes money for Jiffy Lube.
Are we sure pharma hasn’t done the same with diabetes? Lots of money to be made by declaring 40M people to be in need of meds. Wouldn’t be the first time…think of all the kids who have been medicated.
As a follow up, I figured out that my glucose spiked because of a long period of inactivity following surgery. The meds did absolutely nothing to control the spike. Once I got back in the gym my glucose levels went way down. I stopped the meds but kept exercising and there was no spike. In order of importance I would rank the treatment options as follows:
1. Exercise
2. Diet
3. Meds, which are virtually worthless.
@tiger14
yes. how much more does pharma make every time they lower the blood pressure markers 5 poimts? Before meds were not required. Now you have HBP
Moving the goal posts.
@tiger14
Depends, some people have awful diets, but yes exercise is of more importance than most PCPs or endocrinologists let on, I've found just walking a mile a couple of times a day - that's three blocks up and two blocks over, and back (plus or minus a bag of groceries!), is good for ten or fifteen points, and that's today, not after 30 days or a year or something. Just getting off the couch is worth five, LOL.
Counting carbs is half the diet battle, and portion control is a third, and after that it's choosing foods, avoiding the worst, including a few better ones. But PCPs in particular may not even mention diet, and that's a mistake.
But if I skip the metformin, especially twice in a row, I see those nasty BG points jumping up so I wouldn't say worthless.
@carbcounter I was taking Rybelsus, supposed to be more effective than Metformin, and didn’t notice any difference whether I was on it or off. I had the same experience with Metformin…just a lot of gas but never moved the needle.
The best thing for me, by far, is the continuous glucose monitor. It shows how your body reacts to what you eat, in real time. So you learn what to avoid, and when. For example my body responds a lot more to carbs in the morning, and much less so in late afternoon and early evening. If I’m consistent with exercise I find I can eat about anything for dinner, except sugar, without much of a reaction. Refined sugar is the one thing I avoid almost completely.
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Have a friend who was on Rybelsus, didn't work for him at all, they put him on the injection and it works like a charm!
My bad time is after lunch, if I have even a little dessert with lunch my pre-dinner reading goes way up. Go figure.
The last thing I want to worry about is Type 2 diabetes...even though I am an octogenarian, which is NOT a factor, but I mention it because it is most common among the older, over 65 people, but there is Nothing to suspect I have a reason to as I show NO Symptoms whether you check the list by top American or Canadian (or likely, UK, German or French...) health
agencies.
(And ya, not seen my provider for over last years...no reason I should. also no meds,tests, simple sensible food and adequate exertion for good sleep)
Life gives you back ten-fold when You live as it must: With PURPOSE.
Enjoyable life awaits us. Good luck
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/signs-symptoms/index.html https://www.diabetes.ca/about-diabetes/type-2/symptoms
Hey I never answered the basic question, let's give it a try.
> I track it with a CGM, and it will range from 270 or so down to about 60.
When I started with diabetes mine was up in the 600's for probably some days or weeks before I got to the doctor and he actually looked at the labs - and told me to get to the ER immediately. And I felt really awful. I knew something was wrong and I did everything wrong, not having any idea what was going on. So yes, you can survive some big numbers, and at some point you feel it too.
My friend who also has diabetes and has gotten some pretty bad care for a pretty long time, was probably running in the 200 to 300+ range for years, and actually felt pretty good most of that time. Way back he says he felt really tired and had no idea what his numbers were then, that's what I felt like at my worst. And thirsty, oooh yeah.
On the low end I know less about it, outside of being overtreated when I went to the ER so my BG went down around 60 - so they infused glucose into my other arm - I've only got readings below 70 a couple of times, and I can get a 70's reading and feel just fine, but that's probably just for a few hours before a meal and fixing it. Run it for a while and you may not feel so good. And ask the type1 folks, get it down around 50 and you probably black out and may or may not wake up.
Guidance says you don't want to see it above 150 on a regular basis, and if you see it above about 200 for more than a day get some urgent care, but that's conservative. I've managed to virtually never pig out in the seven years or so I've had this condition, I think once or twice I've gotten like 180 before a meal, I don't recall being over 200 even once - but when I came home from the hospital that first time, with insulin, and only really a fuzzy idea of what to do with it, I ran above 200 for a week or so before things (fortunately!) got back to a normal range. Basically once I normalized my diet things went back to normal. What exactly had triggered my crisis no doctor can really tell me, they just shrug, and probably figured I was a LADA case when I first came in ... but turns out I wasn't ... and if I had been I don't think their treatment and guidance would have been sufficient. SMH
My advice is take the guidelines seriously, if you can cruise through some bad numbers that's great but it may run out on you in a bad way at any time. My friend has run bad A1C for a lot of years, nobody has ever apparently advised him on diet, and he lets his wife override any advice he does recall, but he's stayed active and apparently healthy, and never overweight, so yeah, there are always special cases, but that's called beating the odds, or something. With injected Ozempic his numbers are finally good even if his diet isn't. So it goes.
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