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High blood sugar levels without symptoms of DIABETES. Cause?

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Hello there!

Apologies as this is a bit of a long story.
My name's Wayne. I'm 27 years old and I am currently serving with the British Commandos.

On February the 12th I came back to the UK from my holiday in Malta. On the plane I was experiencing some abdominal pain. At first it started in my back area then moved to the tummy area; the left side just below the rib cage. This pain lasted for about 5-6 hours. Thinking this was some trapped wind I took some tablets against trapped wind and I felt absolutely fine after that.

A week later I had to undergo a Medical examination in order to get loaded up on to an arduous military course. Everything seemed OK apart from my blood sugar levels as they were found to be very high. The doctor did some more blood tests on me and all tests came back showing that my blood sugar levels were high.

My doctor thinks I'm Diabetic now, which means it will end my military career! I do not have any signs and symptoms of a Diabetic, I've got no history of Diabetes in the family, I feel fine even if the sugar levels were said to be high, to be honest I haven't felt any different than I have ever felt! I do regular military exercise, and I feel fine even after a very hard physical exercise session. I'm not obese or anything in fact I've got an athletic/muscular build. The doctor said she normally sees these results on someone who is 50+ years old and obese. Although I did mention the abdominal pain I had the doctor seems convinced that I am Diabetic.

Do you think that the pain I had on the 12th had something to do with this? Is this some sort of temporary thing or is she right in saying it is Diabetes? I would appreciate any answers as I would not like to see my Military career end just yet! Many Thanks for your time in reading this message.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind Regards,

Wayne Vassallo

Category: Family Physician-GP

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Hello,
Thank you for your query at DoctorSpring.com
I understand your concern.
What you experienced on the flight is not related to high sugars, rather it was either due to trapped wind or some indigestion.
The blood tests though showed high sugars and this needs further evaluation.
You need to mention the values for me to be able to understand the severity.
Also, to confirm whether you have Diabetes, you need to get these 3 tests done:
1) FBS
2) PPBS
3) HBA1c- Especially this because this is an indicator of your sugar values over the past 3 months. If you are diabetic, this value will be more than 5.6.
So please get these tests done, and if done already, send me the values.
Hope this was helpful,
Dr. Jaydeep


Patient replied :

Hello,
Thank you for your reply.
I think i might have done those tests but they probably were called by a different name. I know i did do the HBA1c test and i remember my doctor saying if it is more than 7 you have got Diabetes. Mine was 10, i'm hoping we are using the same units of measure here.
I ve also been monitoring myself with a prick test machine. I was told to write all the results down and I have to do this 7 times a day. My first blood glucose reading in the morning is always 7 mmol. It goes up to 9 or 10 mmol after eating lunch (2 hours after). Goes down to 6 mmol before Dinner, goes up to 8 or 9 mmol 2 hours after dinner then goes back down to 7 mmol before going to bed. And then it pretty much stays the same during the night so if i went to bed with a reading of 7 mmol, i wake up with a reading of 7 mmol. I am not saying that these are the same results I got everyday but on average that is what I am getting.
I know the numbers say that my blood glucose is high and I could be Diabetic, but like I said I dont feel any different, I still have no symptoms, I can still do the exercise and assault courses we normally do. Even when the blood sugars went really high after a meal I still feel absolutely fine. Is there some form of temporary illness that raises your blood sugars without being Diabetic? Or could this be a very rare thing that my body just operates on high blood sugar levels?
Also could that pain on the plane have come from the Pancreas? Maybe for some reason it is still recovering from that scenario and as a result I've got a temporary slow insulin being produced? After that pain i did take a lot of sugary stuff and carbs to prepare me for exercises. Could that be why the HBA1c was high?
I hope you can help me by understanding why this is happening and not just confirming what the numbers are telling me. Many thanks for your time!
Kind Reagrds,
Wayne Vassallo


Hello,
Unfortunately, with continuous high values of blood glucose levels, you seem to have Diabetes.
HBA1c is the most important criteria here. It reflects your blood sugar levels for the last 3 months. Hence, temporary variation is excluded.
If your HBA1c has been always over 10, it indicates your sugar control overall is very bad.
You do not always have the typical symptoms of Diabetes. A lof of patients are unaware that they have T2DM because of lack of symptoms. It is a good thing, you do not feel any different, but you definitely need to be treated for Diabetes.
Sugar levels can be temporarily high because of stress or higher cortisol levels. But it can't be high persistently for 3 months period. Hence there is no rare thing or temporary event that led to the high values.
I suggest you meet an endocrinologist with your values, who can suggest appropriate treatement for you.
Hope this was helpful,
Regards.


Patient replied :

Hello,
Unfortunately, with continuous high values of blood glucose levels, you seem to have Diabetes.
HBA1c is the most important criteria here. It reflects your blood sugar levels for the last 3 months. Hence, temporary variation is excluded.
If your HBA1c has been always over 10, it indicates your sugar control overall is very bad.
You do not always have the typical symptoms of Diabetes. A lof of patients are unaware that they have T2DM because of lack of symptoms. It is a good thing, you do not feel any different, but you definitely need to be treated for Diabetes.
Sugar levels can be temporarily high because of stress or higher cortisol levels. But it can't be high persistently for 3 months period. Hence, there is no rare thing or temporary event that led to the high values.
I suggest you meet an endocrinologist with your values, who can suggest appropriate treatment for you.
Hope this was helpful,
Regards.



Dr. Jaydeep Tripathy
Category: HIV- AIDS Specialist
Experience: 
MBBS from Sri Ramachandra University in December 2011
M.Med (Family Medicine) - TNMGR University, Chennai
MBA-MPH in Public Health in March 2016, SRM University
Finished AFIH in March 2016, SRM University
MRCP ( UK ), Internal Medicine, Royal College of Physicians, June 2016
Fellowship in Diabetology from Martin Luther University in January 2017

Currently Resident Physician, in MD Radiodiagnosis - Kamakshi Memorial Hospital, Chennai
Dr. Jaydeep Tripathy and 4 other Medical Specialists are ready to help you

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