I’m under active but on Levo with ok levels, but my fasting blood sugar levels are into the pre-diabetic range. Only just, but still from everything I have read urgent action is required even if you are close to the pre-diabetic range.
Could this be thyroid related? I’m 35, BMI of 20, don’t smoke, exercise regularly, eat pretty low carb, gluten free and pretty much avoid all processed foods - I’m not a typical candidate for diabetes and shouldn’t really be in pre-diabetic levels so I wondered if it is related to hashimotos?
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Orla9298
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Couldn't see any thyroid or vitamin test results in previous posts for whole year
Suggest you get full Thyroid and vitamin testing
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 .....especially TTC
Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and fasting. This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)
Last Levothyroxine dose should be 24 hours prior to test, (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).
Is this how you do your tests?
Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test FT3 or antibodies or all vitamins
Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have special offers, Medichecks usually have offers on Thursdays, Blue Horizon its more random
Many people struggling with Hashimoto's and fertility issues seem to find addition of small of T3 may be helpful
And the above is in alternate doses of 150 and 175 levo.
Prior to that I was around T4 of 25 and tsh 0.05 (on 175 levo). My fertility specialist refused to transfer any embryos at those levels hence the dose increase. However I don’t know how my blood sugar was before that.
I always do my tests fasting and early morning without my levo dose. I’m under a fertility nutritionist on a combination of supplements to support thyroid and fertility so I know certain things will be skewed if I tested them eg folate as I’m on high dose folic acid and vitamin d due to miscarriages.
B vitamins best taken in the morning after breakfast
Igennus Super B complex are nice small tablets. Often only need one tablet per day, not two. Certainly only start with one tablet per day after breakfast. Retesting levels in 6-8 weeks
Or Thorne Basic B or jarrow B-right are other options that contain folate, but both are large capsules
If you are taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 7 days before any blood tests, as biotin can falsely affect test results
Do you have ranges for these? I suspect that freeT3 is very low. Miscarriages are caused by being hypothyroid, so it may be that by sorting out your thyroid dose you can solve both problems.
A bit of a guess is that you may need T3 to raise that freeT3.
Diabetes and thyroid are very linked. Thyroid hormone impacts quite a few bits of the sugar metabolism.
I did a bit of looking into the links between thyroid and diabetes - as my Mum was type 2 - my Dad has type 2 and my brother has type 1 diabetes - it seems autoimmune disease can make you more at risk of other autoimmune disease. I Have been fortunate enough to have avoided diabetes so far - but I am sure there's something autoimmune going on - I just haven't found out what yet. What I would say is keep on top of it - my brother ignored his diabetes at first and ended up needing a quadruple heart bypass OP.
You mention your fasting blood sugar being high, but did you have a test for Hba1c? This is a measure of how much sugar has stuck to your red blood cells over a period of about 3 months - which is about the life span of a red blood cell. It is this which is considered the more accurate test (rather than the more 'snapshot' fasting test on one particular day) and it is this that would indicate whether you are in the pre-diabetic zone. Normal range is 20-41; pre-diabetic 42-47 and diabetic 48+. I had never even heard of this test till about a year ago. Mine was 41, then 40, then 42, then 40 again - so fluctuating at the top end despite, like you, eating healthily and exercising every day. I think that the auto-immunity from Hashimoto's plays a part in this.
When I was diagnosed with Type 2 the diabetic nurse commented that autoimmune conditions go hand in hand. When I asked her what existing autoimmune condition I had she told me hypothyroidism. I don’t have Hashi my thyroid function was destroyed by radiation treatment when I was a baby. That left her confused. It seems that the medical profession believe there is a link if you have autoimmune thyroiditis it could be the cause of the pre diabetes diagnosis.
Eating a low carb, healthy/high fat diet will help turn things around for you. Lots of info on Diabetes UK. You may find your GP is not up to speed on zDiabetes health. Many rely on one GP and the Diabetes Nurse in the practice to keep up to date. Good luck going forward.
It could be. When diagnosed my GP said the good news was I was not diabetic .A year later I was .I have controlled it so far by diet : Low carb and high fat . Now its way over due to chemo which has affected my heart and liver so I am reducing fat.
That test is what the GPs use and it supposedly gives a result based on the previous three months. So I am waiting at least 5 months after my chemo ended before having my next check which was due last May.
Orla9290 do you count your carbs? Low carb can be anything from under 20 grams per day to 100 grams. I am T2 diabetic since chemo and am now in the non diabetic range of HBa1c at 38 by keeping carbs below 50 grams per day. More than that and I move back on up to pre diabetic range. At diagnosis I was 108mmol/L which is horrendous. Otherwise you seem to be leading an exemplary lifestyle and should not be hit with this stuff. I too have multiple autoimmune issues and seemed to run into a storm of them soon after giving up smoking 8 years ago.
Oh how irritating that your problems started when you did something positive like quit smoking!!
I’ll track a few days on MyFitnessPal and see what they come out as. But we pretty much only eat meat/fish/veg and substitute things like cauliflower rice instead of normal rice or just have roast veg instead of a starchy carb.
I use MyFitnessPal from time to time too to make sure I am not kidding myself about the amount of carbs I am eating. Does sound you are eating well for low carb. Personally I am sure you are right and there are links between the different conditions but the research single focus silos do not help. Hope you find answers.
148 😳 I genuinely didn’t realise how bad sweet potato is! Other than that I ate pretty much the same as yesterday. Fasting blood was 5.3 this morning. Will see how tomorrow’s is after the extra carbs.
I’m sending off the HBA1C blood sample to medichecks tomorrow so will see how that is looking x
That’s an excellent fasting blood result. Wish mine were in the 5s. You are doing the right thing. We all react differently and the only way you can k is what spikes you and by how much is by testing. Good luck with the blood test. There are people here with great knowledge on interpreting results. Not something I am that good at. Just know my Vit D and my HBA1c’s
You might consider raising your Vitamin D levels to more than 60 ng/mL rather than the lower levels considered healthy by the government and most medical groups. There is a growing body of evidence that high blood levels of vitamin D can help prevent cancer. Also, when taking Vitamin D remember to take Vitamin K2 MK-7 to help route the calcium in your body to bones and teeth rather than soft tissues such as blood vessels and breasts. grassrootshealth.net/grassr...
One other idea and possibility to throw out there. Hemachromatosis. While you’re having your blood tested for many things you might test to see what the ferritin level is. Hemachromatosis is the body‘s inability to dispose of iron properly. It is inherited and common among those of Irish / European dissent. The American diabetes Association has reported that it is the single most common source of disease in America and hugely undetected /misdiagnosed. Bronze skin is a bit of a visual that may occur if the ferritin is high. Women don’t usually have a problem because of the menstrual cycle and losing iron rich blood every month but it can happen.
The Irish knew that cabbage was a natural way to reduce iron overload. (Corned beef and cabbage anyone?).
Again just a thought that came to mind when diabetes seems to come out of left field. When the liver becomes overloaded with the iron the other organs come to the rescue. The pancreas is one of the first ones to try to take on the load and help the liver but all the organs will lend a hand including the skin and the brain and the heart. organs that are overloaded with iron just don’t work like they’re supposed to.
Only for those with digestive issues! (See digestive enzymes info)
My experience with any form of cabbage? (Including raw, fermented, stir fry, boiled, etc.) ZERO, NADA, as in NO methane. Wonderful, versatile, tasty, cleansing, veggie.
Having likewise zero blood sugar issues, (my husband, however, is pre-diabetic WITH Hemochromatosis) we have both discovered the powerful blood sugar balancing effects of cabbage. (We have discovered the same blood sugar balancing effects with turmeric- which also helps my husband keep ferritin levels at bay - even while eating red meat!) Two very different health profiles receiving the exact same response in blood sugar within 24 hours. For me? The lowered blood sugar results in hugely reduced appetite, for instance, if I may have over-indulged in something sweet - the next day I may be ravenously hungry! (I know the secret to get off that roller-coaster, cabbage.)
One Dr. with mild hemochromatosis and pre-diabetes wrote that he kept the blood sugar and iron at bay simply by substituting coleslaw (raw cabbage type) for french fries when he had the often necessary fast-food burger.
Reporting experiences of what actually works (very well!) for some of us (CABBAGE) - both with and without diabetes / hemochromatosis.
Hey Treepie, wishing you all the best. Sent with the most serious and humourous of good health wishes for all. Look up the US Singer Dolly Parton - she used a down-home version of cabbage soup to lose over 50 lbs. Even after the age of 50, she was able to lose weight in all the right places.
Prediabetes which was diagnosed eight weeks ago. I am using freestyle-libre blood sugar monitor to try to manage the Bloodsugars after every meal. I suggest you invest in this to actually find out what’s going on with the food that you are eating. I would also suggest that you get your HbA1c checked a bit more regularly to trend it and see whether you are actually in a pre-diabetic or if you are just fluctuating at the top of the range. If low-carb high-fat is not working for you you should also try another program which is plant-based low-fat diet. Sometimes your cells in the body will be overloaded with fat and they need to be reduced this can vary from person to person. Excess fat in the cells especially if saturated can also cause high cholesterol and can also affect your diabetes.
If those methods are not working I suggest you get full bloodwork completed as above.
I don’t have any white flour at all, being gluten free does eliminate a lot of nasties for me as I don’t have many replacement products. But I could cut more sugar out I suppose as I have the odd banana and couple of squares of Lindt.
What about wine??? I’m not sure I can live without... xx
I have to keep my blood glucose down but do love my 75/80% dark chocolate usually have about 4 squares at a time. On wine I find red wine lowers my Blood glucose nicely. But we are all different. Mostly one glass sometimes two. So not too sacrificial at all.
I’ll have to try red wine more instead. I’m 50-50 red and white at the moment. It was 5.5 this morning after 150g carbs, still not great as pre-diabetic is from 5.6 or 5.8 depending where you read. X
I am in exactly the same position as you with Hashimotos diagnosed a couple of years ago followed shortly after by the realisation that there was a dietary issue with gluten (my GP couldn’t understand why I wasn’t constipated given my thyroid issue so I started to investigate what might be the cause). I have been told I have prediabetes about a month ago and have been researching again as I don’t fit the profile. I’ve cut out all sugar and starchy carbs and lost some weight (now a size 8/10 again for the first time in years) but came across information about type 1.5 diabetes, or Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adulthood on the Diabetes UK website. I have spoken to a GP today and suggested I have a blood test to check for the relevant antibody (I don’t want to spend the next few months trying so hard with diet and exercise if I actually need insulin!). Everybody is different but it might be worth pursuing. I’ll let you know how I get on.
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