A little surprised...

[bzel461]

I am a 34 year-old African man and so by virtue of my ethnicity, I was encouraged by a nurse to check my blood sugar level.  On top of that, my father was diabetic and so is his younger brother.  I did the fasting glucose test and came out 107.  I was  actually rather shocked by this elevated result.  My doctor told me to exercise regularly, eat healthy, etc.  That is why I think I am going to lose this battle very soon because I already exercise a lot.  I just did a knee surgery for over using it and hurting it playing soccer. I eat healthy almost all the time.  I really have no room to play with here.  I am 5'7 and weigh just about 150 lbs and my weight is very stable with body fat percentage of just 13.5%.  I am strong and hardly ever sick.  I don't think there is much I can do to bring this down to normal blood sugar levels.  Are there any mysteries out there I can use?  I am just taken by surprise here.

[bzel461]

That is a great point.  I have been good over the last year after paying a heavy price for my drinking habits.  Before that, I was binge drinking because very soon after I started drinking in 2002 I learned that my tolerance was too great to give me any buzz.  So I would drink a tone in a very short period of time, from 2002-2008.  That was not every day but once or twice a week but that was a lot of alcohol.  Fortunately, I never got dependent on it.  Thanks for reiterating that because I was finally coming to that conclusion myself.  I would really not be surprised if my BG was higher last year than now.  I will see what happens in a year because I don't drink any more and I am making even healthier choices with diet and exercise.  Thank you so much again.  You are very kind!

[rosco888]

One important point:  liquor contains a good deal of sugar.  If your alcohol intake has increased over the years and nothing else in your diet has changed, this may be where you want to concentrate your investigation of the rising BG numbers.

Again, good luck.

[rosco888]

Thank you for the clarification!  Your posts don't indicate how active you are.  Although I see no reason for alarm regarding your test results, it never hurts to stay active through exercise such as walking for 20 minutes or so or longer if you choose.

If you want to track your BG, ask your doctor if she will give you a testing kit and show you how to use it.

Good luck and keep in touch.

[bzel461]

I read you post intently and I find it very very helpful.  But the last paragraph made me giggle.  I am 34, but my height is 5'7".  Sorry about that.  I have never taken a prescription medication before except last month for a pain killer after knee surgery.  My BP was 115/68 at the time of this blood draw and my cholesterol is 174.  My biggest concern is where was I, say, last year with my BG level?  Am I going up 10 or 20 points a year?  I know A1C can kind of tell a short term average but my doctor has made no mention of re-testing let alone a different method.  She wants me to re-check in a year but I am just worried I may end up in irreversible levels by then because I don't know at what rate my BG has been creeping up.  With very little room for improvement in my lifestyle, I am doomed but I never thought I would live this long anyway (you know about the wars in Eritrea).  I will keep you posted if I do any more tests.

[rosco888]

My husband is also from Eritrea!  His cousin in New York is battling gout and diabetes.  But when they traveled home a few years ago, the cousin ate anything he wanted and suffered no ill effects.  Someone suggested that it is the American diet that's causing the problem.  However, my theory is that it is the side effects of the medications we're all taking for high blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.  

If you're taking medications, look them up on the Web and see if any have side effects that increase blood sugar and discuss this with your doctor.  My theory is, if meds can affect the heart, liver and kidneys, why not the pancreas as well?

When your doctor asked you to keep a diary of your food intake, she was perhaps looking for an indication of how much carbohydrates you take in in the course of a day.  These foods convert to sugar inside the body and are stored for use during physical activities.  Fruits are also suspect as they contain a lot of sugar in the form of fructose.

Keep in mind that the readings one gets depend on when one last ate.  Tests should be done two hours after eating rather than when the stomach is full and still digesting.  It makes a difference.  At 106 or 107, you're still below the worry stage.

In your original post you start off by saying you are a 34 year-old African man and later you say you are 57.  Please tell me you're not having a bit of fun at our expense.

[bzel461]

rosco888, thank you for your reply indeed.  Another doctor advised me along the same lines as you did.  She said to keep a diary of my diet and bring it to their dietician.  BTW, the official number is 106 mg/dl not 107.  Believe me, that makes me feel all the more better.

The difficulty with keeping some sort of diet diary would be that I eat mostly traditional foods and with that it is somewhat difficult to keep track of the quantities of each ingredient and all the spices and curries are mostly unlabled. Honestly, I don't even know the names of most of the foods we prepare but I know for sure that the amount of sugars and fats is so low to even quantify or measure. It is perhaps what I am not eating rather than what I am eating that could be a problem. I will try to write down my food intake for a few weeks and see if there are any loopholes. This year I have been eating healthy almost religiously and my cholestrol dropped by 24 points although it was not high in the first place. In fact, if I were to guess, my BG was probably higher than 106 a year ago.

Unfortunately, I am predisposed to every serious disease out there including high blood pressure, diabetes, alcoholism, depression etc. That is the family history I come from. In fact, none of my parents saw their sixtieth birthday and not most of their relatives either but that is in Eritrea.

That is why I am starting to become overly concious and trying to take control sooner rather than later. My mom was suffering from hep C for over 20 years and we did not know until several months before it turned into cancer of the liver. That really made me hate surprises. I apologize for this lengthy rant but I would rather express my concerns to a group of knowledgeable people in this forum than keep it in and stress about it.

Thank you so much

[rosco888]

Get into a diabetes education program to learn about food portion control and timing between meals.  (Many hospitals and HMO's have free classes.)  I eat small amounts every 2 to 3 hours.  I don't feel hungry and I don't deny myself any foods; I just eat smaller portions and try to keep active.  Some years ago I read that diabetics do produce insulin but sometimes it's too much for the body to absorb and so it doesn't get used.  Eating small meals throughout the day allows the pancreas to produce insulin in small doses that the body can use.  At least, this was the thinking back in the day.

My husband is Ethiopian, is slightly built and has a very active job.  His lab tests began to show an increase in his blood sugar so I asked the doctor to stop the two blood pressure meds he was taking.  His blood sugar numbers dropped dramatically!

I believe 120 is the magic cutoff point that signals you're becoming diabetic.  Your numbers are still low enough not to be considered pre-diabetic but it's wise to monitor yourself just the same.