Am I a Diabetic?

Checking my magic 8 ball. All signs point to see a doctor.

This is called: your body needs more than coffee in the morning.
Work on developing an insulin-regulating diet for yourself. This should not feel 'scary'.... this is your body telling you that it needs regular nutrition.

"I'm hungry, my blood sugar plummets, I eat, I feel better."
Not scary, just how it's supposed to work.

Have them do another blood test if you are worried, but not eating meals for more than 6 hours+ is not good for one's body.

The only way you will know if you're diabetic is if you have a blood test. I suggest that your "symptoms" are the same as for most of us. If we don't eat regularly our blood sugar naturally fluctuates. Feeling shaky just means you need to eat. The idea is to eat regularly so that our blood sugar stays stable. Some of us are more sensitive to fluctuations than others. Try eating 3meals plus a couple of snacks at somewhat regular intervals and see if you feel better. Eat a small amount even if you're not hungry. We train our appetite by providing food on somewhat a schedule. By eating regularly you will feel the lows less often.

You mention anxiety. Anxiety triggers adrenaline which causes our metsbolism to use up our energy reserves which then causes the shaky all in feeling. Chronic anxiety will cause the physical symptoms you describe. If you aren't taking medication for anxiety give that a try. If medication isn't giving you relief add talk therapy. The combination is most helpful.

Eating protein, as your doctor suggested, is best for those shaky periods. Being shaky does not necessarily mean you have low blood sugar. Ii was diagnosed with prediabetes and used a meter to figure out how to eat. Never did I have low blood sugar when I was feeling shaky. Protein helped me most.

I suggest, since you have diabetes in your family, I urge you to learn about how to eat to prevent diabetes. Take a diabetes nutrition class at the hospital. If you doctor refers you your insurance will likely pay for it. Even if you have to pay take the class. Being proactive about your concern will alleviate your anxiety.

BTW diabetes causes our body to not be able to regulate blood sugar. Hence a diabetic will have both low and high blood sugar.

This is why God invented doctors.
And we ain't them. Sorry. :(
Call a doc.
Good luck!

It sounds like you need to make sure that you are eating properly. Anyone who skips breakfast and puts off or eats an inadequate lunch is going to feel shaky in the afternoon. This is not diabetes. This is a human body's normal response to inadequate fuel.

This kind of eating puts your body on a blood sugar roller coaster. A much healthier way to approach eating is to eat small amounts throughout the day. Diabetes runs heavily in my husband's family. My husband used to eat like you do. Years ago, his doctor advised him to eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day, and to never skip breakfast. Doing what you have been doing actually makes your body work harder to regulate your blood sugar, according to my husband's doctor.

I do understand your concerns about diabetes (and they are legitimate concerns if it runs in your family, which is why you've already seen your doctor about it), but I wonder if some of what is going on here may be inadequate management of your anxiety problem. It sounds like your anxiety might be centering itself around the threat of diabetes at the moment. It might be helpful to mention this to whoever prescribed the paxil and see what they have to say.

Afternoon is typical for a blood sugar drop, and hypoglycemia can develop into type II diabetes. This is the time to pick your doctor's brains. You have legitimate questions and he/she is the one who can answer them best. Meanwhile, a better eating plan all day long might really help. Iced coffee may be good but it doesn't give you much nutritionally!

If you are concerned, go to your local pharmacy and purchase blood glucose monitor and start taking your blood sugar and monitoring it.

Keep a food log of what you eat and when. Do this for one month. Then go to your doctor and show her the food log and the blood glucose log. A "normal" (and believe it or not this is a range not set in stone) blood sugar level is between 75 and 120....this is for fasting...testing before a meal....after a meal? Should not be above 180 unless you had a LOT of sugar/starch food to eat (cake, ice cream, donuts, etc) and even then - it really shouldn't be much higher.

Please start taking care of yourself. You need to find out if Paxil is causing your sugar drop or rise...talk to your pharmacist. Talk to your doctor.

Start eating better. Ask for an MRI and a blood test as well. Get your pancreas checked out. You NEED it in order to live. Being on insulin or worse - being on an insulin pack sucks....BIG TIME.

You're better off eating right and exercising to keep diabetes at bay.

And yes, anti-depressants, bi-polar, etc. meds can affect other parts of your body. PLEASE talk with your doctor and pharmacist!!

Have not read other responses. Sorry if I repeat. I learned a bit when I had gestational diabetes (and I need to follow my suggestions better, too!).

Anxiety can make a person's metabolism burn calories like no one's business. You may need to be on more of a schedule as far as eating goes. Try and eat every few hours--Breakfast at 8, snack at 10 or 11, lunch at 1, snack at 3 dinner at 6 (just an example). That will keep your blood sugar more steady. You will also need to learn to eat better. Iced coffee alone is no way to start a day if you have blood sugar crashes. Eat whole grains with some protein and fruit and veggies at each meal, as well. I try and eat snacks that have some good carbs and protein. Even if you are not hungry, I suggest you eat. As far as what the doc said about peanut butter, you need to pair that with some carbs--an apple or a whole grain piece of bread or crackers, etc. A protein alone will not be as helpful. Greek yogurt and a little fruit is a great choice, as well.

I really don't think you are diabetic yet. I think you just need to make better choices as far as your lifestyle. And yes, exercise is great. I need to get better about that, too!!!

Diabetic means high blood sugar. You have the opposite-low blood sugar.

The only way to be sure is to have a blood test done. You really need to talk to your doctor.

Based on what you described, I wouldn't think it was diabetes. It's just that you're not eating properly.

I would suggest monitoring your blood sugar throughout the day, If it is either low or high , 3 different random times on different days, that may give you and your doc some insight as to what is going on. Don't eat a high concentration of carbs for breakfast and then only a salad for lunch, your blood sugar will naturally drop in the afternoon if you do this. Keep a diary/log of what you eat and when you eat it, I had to change when I ate my lunch (earlier 11/11:30 vs 1:30/2:00) so my sugars wouldn't soar after lunch and then gradually drop back low again to make me feel drowsy and slow.
Your doc should also offer to do fasting blood sugars as well, HGA1C tests, this will give the doc an average of what your sugars like everyday over a period of time, usually they'll order this at 3 month intervals. Good Luck,C. S.

Since you know diabetes runs in your family, YOU have to be proactive and take matters into your own hands and watch your diet and make sure you exercise. The only person you'll have to be upset with if you develop diabetes is yourself.

And you can be skinny and still have diabetes.

Hypoglycemia is the first step on the path toward becoming diabetic.

You should look into eating organic food, eating grassfed meat and eggs, cutting out processed and packaged foods as well as too much fast food. Eat organic fruits and vegetables, whole grains, good quality meat, nuts and seeds, drinks lots and lots of water. Cut OUT the soda pop. Each 20 oz glass of soda pop has 17 teaspoons of sugar. Ditto for juice; be careful how much you drink. You are better off eating a piece of fruit (because it is a whole product, with pectin and fiber to slow down the sugar absorption) than drinking 100% juice.

Also watch how much caffeine you're drinking; caffeine interferes with and causes issues with the adrenal glands and the thyroid.

What you put into your body as food greatly has to do with your body's ability to use what you feed it. Excess blood sugar/glucose is a trigger for diabetes. You want to stay away from too much blood sugar/glucose.

Do some research on Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load. That is what a diabetic must watch when they eat. If you're trying to prevent from getting diabetes, then it would make sense to begin watching your food and eating correctly now, so your body doesn't become sick. Silent inflammation leads to Diabetes. Changing your eating plan NOW will go a long ways--either you'll get lucky and never get diabetes, or you'll be able to push it off way into your future. Like in your 70s. Or 80s. Or 90s. Wouldn't it be nice to be one of the few in your family that DOESN'T get diabetes?

When you get diabetes, 15 years is automatically taken off your life.

Would you rather regulate and take care of your body through diet? Or would you rather pay a lot for expensive diabetic drugs and monitor your blood all day long with blood draws and then have to eat accordingly?

One does not need to have or get diabetes if one watches and uses preventive (eating) measures to begin with.