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It is hard to be a logical person in the face of illogical people

Suzanne

Suzanne

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
Where to start? For years, if I do not eat, I have suffered from severe weakness and shaking and put it down to low sugar levels and after eating something sweet, my energies returned. Anyway, it got to the point of being hospitalised, where I live, in France. They checked regularly for a few days, for diabetes, but gave up, because the readings came out that I am not diabetic, which is fine, but for them, they just turned their back on me, so to speak.

Each time I have talked to a dr about this horrible weakness, immediately get a blood glucose test and once, it came out at just hovering to diabetes 2, but it was ignored. And, once again, no explanation. I don't have diabetes, so why should they be concerned, sort of attitude.

It has gotten worse. I now suffer from a sort of winded feeling, as well as weakness and shakeness, but my dr is not willing to give me a test kit, because.....I have not been diagnosed with diabetes.

I have a spiritual sister friend, who has diabetes and she kindly gave me one of her spare kits and been checking myself regularly each day. I also found an app that I downloaded, where I put the test results in and it either comes up in green or red and most of mine are in red.

I now find it, that it is high blood sugar that I am suffering from. Not low, as I thought.

Because my friend's levels are very high, she considers my levels to be "not that bad". I tried to reason that it is obvious, since she has diabetes, but I am prediabetes and so, of course, my levels are not going to be as high as hers, but she could not see the point.

I can print my glucose level checker and hand that to my dr, but it scares me that he is not going to take me serious.

Surely, it is better to deal with my issue, than wait til I get diabetes?
 
I'm sorry to hear you're having those problems. It sounds like you need to modify your diet to avoid sugars, comsume a lot of fiber, and to eat meals on a regular time schedule. Diabetes is a slow killer and most people can do a lot to prevent or control type 2 diabetes without resorting to insulin or insulin-stimulating drugs. You're lucky to live in France where delicious, healthy food can be a way of life!

I feel faint, too when I'm hungry which I attribute to low blood sugar. I also get "hangry" and physically clumsey when I'm hungry. Right or wrong, my quick cure is to eat a piece of cheese.
 
Suzanne said:
it scares me that he is not going to take me serious.
Click to expand...

I suspect this may be a very real and serious problem for many on the spectrum. I've had my share of medical issues (I am diabetic and have a disabling back condition.) My observation is that medical care providers are very, very, very confident in their abilities to 'read' people in very, very short order. Their minds have been trained to evaluate, and evaluate they do; too bad nobody told them that autists can't be read that way.

Doctors pretend that they are trained to listen. Balderdash. They are trained to sift - to listen for certain things and discard the rest; in effect, they are trained to ignore most of what a patient says as being not pertinent.

For what it's worth, I recommend going into it with the determination that at least one of the people in the room stays tuned into the patient's present issue. Doctors are highly practiced at steering the conversation where they want it... even to the point of what, in any other situation, would be called bullying. Do NOT tolerate this. Remind yourself (and, if necessary, the doctor) that you are the funding party in your mutual arrangement. Don't let doctors and insurance companies pretend this isn't true.

I feel that you are wise to distrust any care provider that does not trust you. Possibly of all groups, high functioning autists are among the most vulnerable to being pasted by doctors. Bottom line, you are your only reliable advocate.
 
Mary Terry said:
I'm sorry to hear you're having those problems. It sounds like you need to modify your diet to avoid sugars, comsume a lot of fiber, and to eat meals on a regular time schedule. Diabetes is a slow killer and most people can do a lot to prevent or control type 2 diabetes without resorting to insulin or insulin-stimulating drugs. You're lucky to live in France where delicious, healthy food can be a way of life!

I feel faint, too when I'm hungry which I attribute to low blood sugar. I also get "hangry" and physically clumsey when I'm hungry. Right or wrong, my quick cure is to eat a piece of cheese.
Click to expand...

I have modified my diet hugely. I do intimitant fasting, which means that I do not eat between meals and have stopped eating bad sugars.

Lol, France, does not have healthy foods. That is a misnomer. In fact, they go heavy of sugary things.
 
SimonSays said:
Don't be scared. You have evidence to show him, and they like things like that.
Click to expand...

I do have evidence, but whether he will accept that, because the evidence is not to do with the French medical system and it is an app, so prejudice is likely to step in and he may well, point to my blood test of recent times and point out that they are not that bad. I would like to argue that if they are going to have an average and the blood results come out as above average, doesn't that signfy that it has to be regulated so it does not get worse?
 
Unfortunately, the 2 main lab values used, blood glucose and A1C, are not that indicative of disease until the late stages. In order to adequately see risk for diabetes, pre-diabetes, and metabolic syndrome you need a fasting insulin level. Some folks, despite being morbidly obese, have a strong pancreas,...good for them,...but when it fails,...it is usually catastrophic.

If your blood sugar is chronically elevated, it means that despite having your pancreas kick out high amounts of insulin,...to push the sugar from the blood into the cell,...the cell may already have enough sugar inside itself and has shut down some of it's membrane as a means of protecting itself. This is called insulin resistance,...it works the same as someone with a drug or alcohol tolerance,...needing more, and more to create an effect. Cells develop insulin resistance, or tolerance, as a result of chronically elevated insulin (usually from someone eating too much and/or too frequently and/or too many carbohydrates). NOT having an elevated blood sugar is NOT indicative that you do not have pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome,...all it means is that your pancreas,...so far,...has been able to keep up.

The shakiness or light-headedness is not from low blood sugar, per se,...but rather is triggered from inside the cells,...as they need an elevated level of insulin to push the sugar into the cell. If the intracellular sugar is low, and the cell wants sugar, it will require insulin to carry the sugar into the cell. If the cell has developed insulin resistance, then it may need an elevated amount of insulin to push in a relative low amount of sugar across the membrane. So,...what do most people do,...eat more to trigger an insulin spike,...it's a vicious cycle, and should throw up some "red flags". The excess sugar left in the blood,...that will get stored as fat.

In order to loose fat, the insulin levels must be low to trigger the process of releasing fat for energy usage. Now you see,...most people who are insulin resistant will often fail to loose fat. It's a difficult situation,...because the only way to start reversing insulin resistance is to start fasting,...and not allow insulin to rise. Start slow,...3hrs, 4hrs, 6hrs,...increasing upwards of 18-20hrs,...one meal a day,...it can take someone months.

Consumer alert: If a food product says "zero sugar" or "low fat",...it's probably got one of the artificial sweeteners in it,...some of those will spike your insulin 100-1000X more than plain old sugar. Stevia is the only sweetener that does not spike insulin. Fat,...specifically, poly and mono unsaturated fats,...they blunt the insulin spike,...and may actually be better to use as an energy source while trying to loose weight.
 
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Suzanne said:
I have modified my diet hugely. I do intimitant fasting, which means that I do not eat between meals and have stopped eating bad sugars.

Lol, France, does not have healthy foods. That is a misnomer. In fact, they go heavy of sugary things.
Click to expand...

It's true. France has a very sweet tooth. Too sweet for my taste. But you've got a huge array of delis and very colourful markets with diverse types of tasty fruits and vegetables. They taste just like from your own garden. At least this has been my experience in France.
 
Suzanne, I think you mentioned heart problems previously, that sort of exhaustion can be heart related, so maybe get that checked too?

re heart attack symptoms in women...
“Instead they may experience shortness of breath, pressure or pain in the lower chest or upper abdomen, dizziness, lightheadedness or fainting, upper back pressure or extreme fatigue.”

I had an extreme fatigue and dizziness thing happen in a shop (had to ask for a chair, lol, of course they didn't have one) and my brother told me it can be heart stuff, so I looked it up.

Food-wise, I'm a graze eater, like western yum cha, lots of small portions: half a sandwich, then something else an hour or two later, and so on thru the day, not great for teeth, but I don't like big meals.
 
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I was looking up the reasons for getting diabetes type 2 and none seem to match why I am going through this crazy levels and then suddenly, I had this thought: when I was in my middle 20's, I got pregnant by donor insemination and was so sick that I could not even drink water, so eventually, begged hubby to take me to the dr and was told I had ketons in my urine, which I know is sugar ie diabetes from not being able to eat properly. I lost the baby, but two or perhaps three year's later, I started to feel so weak, after activities, that I had to buy chocolate for a quick fix and did this on so many occasions, but never went to the dr, because I assumed it was low sugar levels.

I now believe that is why I am suffering and I strongly suspect that it is not going to be that long, when I am diagnosed with diabetes 2.

I am not obese, but am somewhat over weight. However, I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and do not eat in between and eat between 5 and 6, due to acid reflux at night ( not suffered that, since this new regime). I also exercise every day and do not consume bad sugars. I do have honey in coffee but certainly not in excess.

My friend and spiritual sister who is diabetic 2 told me what test I need from the dr, so I am going to ask that of him and hope that I can be taken seriously.
 
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