X-Post- High Blood Sugar but NOT Diabetic?

   Someone on here has to know some answers for me.  Last week I started feeling really bad; shaky, clammy skin,cold sweats, dizzy, blurred vision, excessive thirst, nausea...the whole nine yards.  My husband is diabetic so I knew the symptoms I was having screamed that my blood sugar was out of whack.  I used his meter and tested myself.  It was first 240, an hour later it was 282!!  This was after having been on nothing but clear liquids (sugar free jello, water and chicken broth) for a day due to a stomach bug.  So I called my family doctor.  They had me come in the next morning for a complete fasting A1C test which would show him my average sugar levels for the last 3 months.  He told me to check my sugar three times a day and keep track of it for a week, so I have been.  I wait at least and hour and a half to two hours after eating anything to test.  It's been spiking in the mid  to upper 200's since Friday.  I got the call from my Doctor with the A1C results this morning, saying that I am NOT diabetic.  When I told him that I had been testing on average around 220's he simply said, "Oh, you're meter machine must be broken. Come see me again in 3 months."  First, I do not eat any sugar.  It makes me sicker than a dog.  Second, I'm really careful abou****ching the natural sugars in foods.  I've found they make me just as sick as processed sugar.  Third, I may be wrong, but a fairly normal, healthy diet should not drive my blood sugar up that high, right?  I called my bypass surgeon's office.  He doesn't deal with anything of that nature and will only refer me to my family doctor.  Great.  So I am fresh out of ideas as to what to do here.  All I know is that I feel like baked dog crap and it's affecting my studies at the University (I've missed classes due to this)!  Any words of wisdom here.  I gotta admit, I'm a little scared.

I agree with your that your after meal reading are high.  i was always told to test 2 hours after meals and my sugars should be under 140.   If you doc thought your meter was broken did he give you a new one?.
Also look at your carb intake when you have high sugar readings. we all have certain foods that can wreck havoc with blood sugars.

 if i were you i would continue to test and watch your intake.  Go to an endocrinologist and get checked out.

I have to agree with Jean here.  Your hbA1c might be normal, but it is a measure of the PAST 3 months as an average.  If your elevated blood sugars are a recent development, the test will not reflect that.  Your next one in 3 months should, but if you have enough good days in the 3 months, they will average out the elevated ones.  It's not a good measure for you in this case.

If you can't get to an endocrinologist, I'd suggest to the family doc that you have a 3 hour GTT (glucose tolerance test).  If you are not familiar with the test, it starts with at a lab with a fasting blood sugar.  You then drink a measured amount of carbohydrate and your blood sugars are drawn at one hour intervals.  This test reflects what you body is doing with the processing of glucose - which, actually, is the definition of diabetes.  Lots of people have normal FASTING sugars, but they cannot normally and effectively process carbohydrates.  It's a simple lab test that takes a number of hours. 

If you want to check your meter (which I doubt is the problem), you can take it along and do finger sticks when they draw blood every hour.  Write them down and then compare them with what the lab results say.  That will tell you how close your meter is to an actual venous draw. 

You are on the right track here.  The good news is that it's early and once your blood sugars are brought under some control, they may be relatively easy to keep there.  Since you watch sugar now, you may be able to be sustained on something that either makes you a bit more insulin sensitive or helps your pancreas make more insulin.  Metformin is a very common first line diabetic medication and is typically very effective.  It might take some getting used to, but it works and works well. 

Good luck - check back and keep us posted!

if you are a dumper - a GTT will not be a good idea... I know I would get seriously ill if they try to give me that one.

Good point about dumping - thanks for that pick up.  Howver, the thing that makes it all work is the measured amount of carbohydrate and the body's reaction to processing it.  I am sure, with a little work, you could find a provider who would give you the GTT without the glucose, but with a source of carbs as a substitute.  You might still have a little issue, but likely process it better without it begin straight glucose.  Just my thought.....

 When was the last time you calibrated the machine with test solution?

I am having the same problems other than the fact that mine will bottom out about an hour or two later. I've been looking at the reactive hypoglycemia websites and it's sort of like that. There's also noninsulinoma pancreatogenous hypoglycemia syndrome (niphs) which is definitely more in my symptom range. You might want to do some research into that and bring it up with your dr. I have an appt this week to discuss this. It's really putting a damper on trying to have a normal every day life! Good luck to you! Hope you feel better!