Glucose tolerance test hypoglycemia levels
Common Questions and Answers about Glucose tolerance test hypoglycemia levels
glucose
I have read that one of the common symptoms of POTS is reactive hypoglycemia, lowering of glucose. Researchers have come to understand that this lowering of glucose levels is not the only cause, because patients’ bodies are also producing excessive amounts of adrenaline and other stress hormones.This site, The Serotonin Connection, better explains the connection between overproduction of adrenalin and stress and hypoglycemia.
http://tinyurl.
The test you need to ask to have done on you is a glucose tolerance test. This test starts out with a simple blood test to determine your resting glucose levels. Then, you drink a sweet syrupy drink and blood is drawn at different times after this to see what happens to your glucose levels. If you have an episode of reactive hypoglycemia during this test, it will show up.
When reading your comments, it occurred to me that your symptoms, including the slightly low glucose reading on your glucose tolerance test sound more like hypoglycemia than diabetes. Hypoglycemia means that your blood sugar is too LOW, not high (diabetes).
What allmymarbles is referring to is a "Glucose Tolerance Test" which determines how much your blood sugar is rising and dropping. Even the Keotone strips you buy OTC are very accurate in determining if you blood sugar is high or low. My husband has has Type II diabetes for 16 years and his blood sugar levels are checked with blood tests.
Chromium appears to play a role in normal insulin function and glucose utilization, and some investigators have suggested that it increases insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance and decreases blood glucose levels in certain diabetics, possibly those with low chromium levels. However, others have not corroborated these findings, and a few have even reported a negative effect on glucose tolerance and blood levels.
Since you have had a history of gestational diabetes, it probably is something to watch. Your body may have responded to the glucose tolerance test with more insulin than you needed, but I am not a doctor, so I can't say for sure it was a response to the test. The fact that your levels are fine is a good sign that you may get through this pregnancy without the gestational diabetes. But even so you may want to do an occasional blood test to make sure.
The other term for Reactive Hypoglycemia is postprandial hypoglycemia. It is no longer diagnosed using the glucose tolerance test due to the number of severe reactions. I hope this helps.
How much the sugar varies from before meal to after meal seems to be the issue here. The glucose tolerance test is the correct test to see how your body reacts to high levels of carbohydrates. It does sound to me as if you perhaps vary more than is ideal, for a low of 57 or high of 256 is something that even diabetics try to avoid.
basal glucose 92 mg/dl (ranges 65-110)
30 min 52 mg/dl (ranges 110-170) OUT OF RANGE
60 min 82 mg/dl (ranges <140)
120 min 63 mg/dl (ranges 70-120) OUT OF RANGE
180 min 101 mg/dl (no reference range)
It would be great if someone could give me their feedback regarding these GTT results.
Also, does the low fructosamine value doesn't mean that I could have hypoglycemia?
If you think this might be the case, then you do need to see a doctor and have a glucose tolerance test done to evaluated your glucose levels when stimulated.
One thing you should be aware of, though, is that sometimes frequent hypoglycemia is a precursor to eventual diagnosis of diabetes. Some hypo folks stay hypo for their entire lives and diabetes is not in the picture at all.
I'm a female, age 46, began having extremely low energy and lack of stamina about seven years ago. Nothing helped until a few weeks ago when I started taking an l-carnitine supplement. I felt better almost immediately.
I've had symptoms of hypoglycemia all my life (I used to pass out in high school and was on seizure meds until I realized all I had to do was eat a candy bar), but blood glucose levels are usually normal when measured. Annual fasting test is normal.
There are dietary changes that might help with this problem -- I would suggest that you go to your doctor and have a glucose tolerance test done to see how your body is reacting to sweet foods or sugar.
Many people who deal with hypoglycemia find that they do best if they remove all caffeine from their diets, and all simple sugars, for both stimulate the pancreas to produce insulin, and in the case of hypoglycemia, produce TOO MUCH insulin.
When you say "I take my 15mcg cytomel 2 in AM and 1 Mid Afternoon", I assume you mean 2 - 5 mcg tablets in the morning and 1 5 mcg tablet Mid-afternoon, is that correct? Have you tried splitting the pills evenly so you're getting 7.5 mcg at each dose? Or take your afternoon dose closer to noon instead of midafternoon?
Glucose intake helps quickly. Glucose tolerance test showed erratic insulin, irrelevant to the glucose level. Began about 10 months post gastric bypass surgery, but father had similar episodes and older sister is hypoglycemic. Several months ago, reports published that many post bypass Sx people have benign pancreatic tumors causing hypoglycemia.
I have hypoglycemia, and the way they found out was by doing the 6 hours glucose tolerance test. It is not fun, but very accurate. I would ask your doctor about having it done, it takes all day, but, you are in the lab and if anything should go wrong, you will be taken care of. Also, since they got that low of a reading, they should have drawn it again, that just does not sound right to me. I would see a good endocrinologist, they specialize in problems like this.
Have you had a glucose tolerance test to see if your body produces too much insulin as a reaction when you eat? This is a different test from having a simple blood sugar test -- you must drink a sugary solution and blood is drawn several times to see how your body is reacting. Unfortunately, when people have what is called REACTIVE HYPOGLYCEMIA (when the body reacts by over-producing insulin, which causes hypoglycemia), it can be difficult to show in a test.
Without proper testing results one assumption is you experienced reactive hypoglycemia. Reactive hypoglycemia [or alimentary hypoglycemia] is low glucose [blood sugar] that occurs after a meal — usually one to three hours after eating.
Try the following:
• Eat several small meals and snacks throughout the day, no more than three hours apart.
• Eat a well-balanced diet including lean and nonmeat sources of protein and high-fiber foods including whole grains, fruit and vegetables.
does a fasting or glucose tolerance test need to be done to diagnose diabetes (or hypoglycemia), or is this non-fasting number sufficient to suggest there is nothing wrong?
thanks.
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