Wednesday:
It's been nearly a year since I found out I had pre-diabetes and last time I saw my doctor a couple of months ago (actually it was the first time I saw this new doctor who I am going to stick with) she gave me a referral for another test. Glucose tolerance, plus iron and folate and everything else she could think of. There is a list of 13 things to test for! I assume they do it all with the same bit of blood? Or not too many vials, anyway.
I've booked the test in for next week. The GTT (glucose tolerance) requires three days of "carb loading" then a fast. I always complain about the carb loading because it is so much starch/sugar -- much more than I usually eat -- but this time I am going to enjoy it while I can before I cut right back afterwards.
I found that giving up on losing weight makes me even unhappier than trying and failing. The trying is also difficult and unpleasant, but right now I'm in the best of all possible worlds; holiday indulgence/doctor-mandated carb-loading but with the virtuous feeling that I am going to start being "good" very soon. That's kind of a joke, but true at the same time. The "I'll start on Monday" promise that lets you feel good about yourself while not actually making any changes in the now. Giving up your cake and eating it too.
We had spaghetti bolognaise last night, obviously a high-carb meal, so I tested my blood two hours later -- something I haven't done for a while. Not as accurate as the real GTT but gives me an indication. It was 8.5 mmol/L (up to 7.8 is normal, 11.0 is diabetes) which is a little high but not too bad. I don't expect this GTT to say I have diabetes. Probably still in the pre-diabetes range. It will be interesting to see if I am better or worse, because I did work hard for a while (before I got slack again, but never as bad as I used to be) on eating low GI foods, not too many carbs at once etc. I hope a bit better.
My main anti-diabetes goal was to lose weight and I have failed at that. Right now I am a couple of kgs heavier than I was then. Not a big increase, but it should be a loss not a gain.
I seem to be having two hormonal emotional slumps each cycle instead of just PMS (something to discuss with my doctor) but I feel a lot more hopeful today than when I wrote the last post.
Hi Natalie! Well, you have to do what the Doc says to make the test accurate. If the doc told me to overeat for a test, I'd not feel any guilt at all. I hope your test goes well with good results.
ReplyDeleteLast February, I was very frustrated with my weight. And I thought about what to do about it for a long time. I realized that I never stick with anything unless it is fun. So I became determined to make it as fun as possible. I'm very silly at my weight loss meetings. I have funny covers on my food journals. And I've just changed my whole viewpoint about it to being lighthearted instead of being frustrated. And that has mattered. Does that make sense? Maybe you should try that. Mindset about it is everything. I wish I could make you happier about it.
:-) Marion
I hate GTTs. Good luck!
ReplyDelete