I have read and posted here off and on, whenever I try to finally lose this weight and then fall away when I get discouraged. I was doing well after my cardiac tamponade incident, but then spent three weeks, night and day at the hospital w/my husband when he got a bad case of pancreatitis due to a gall stone stuck in his bile duct. It was traumatic, happening only three or four months after my own hospitalization and I just let it all go.
Now, I am here to work with the others here who are managing or trying to prevent diabetes. I measured my sugars when I developed what feels like a chronic yeast infection, and knowing how bad my diet is, I put that with my general yucky feeling and found I was usually over the 120s and up to 135. I have so much experience with LC, I just kicked it into gear and added glucose testing and measuring ketosis. (for the weight loss part.) I have decided not to get a new battery for my scale. We'll see how that goes.
Anyway, I want to know:
If my highest numbers occur in the morning, when fasting, does that strongly indicate diabetes or pre-diabetes?
What constitutes a wide swing in bg readings?

Pre-diabetes is just like Pre-menopause, you're going to go into menopause, and you're going to go into diabetes. Once the process starts there's no stopping it. With that said, in the early stages your pancreas and liver are not as bad off and it's easier to manage diabetes with diet like LC and make it so you may possibly never need medications or get complications.

A fasting blood glucose level of more than 125 indicates diabetes. A normal reading is between 69 - 110 for normal post prandial glucose readings.

Here's something that's really important. It's not your fault. It's not because you gained weight. Many people are genetically prone to diabetes and some medications cause it now, like the anti-depressants. So whether you have diabetes or not, know that it isn't your fault and don't take that onto yourself.

Doing a low carb diet will get you back on track and doing it for life will keep you in the good numbers. So you're doing the right thing.

Anti-depresants cause diabetes? Explain this?

Welcome back, Anne.
Watch Dr Westman's presentation posted, listen to his advice about carb levels for menopausal women. Well worth the 47 minutes...it is almost like a clinic visit with him. http://youtu.be/BbwUWNg9M9U

just a quick search on antidepressants cause insulin resistance...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1635794/

"Some drugs, such as tricyclic antidepressants, can cause insulin resistance and can increase serum lipids independent of their affect on weight."

Honestly, Dr Richard bernstein's book saved my life. I would highly recommend reading his latest book.

High morning FBGs is known as the dawn phenomom. I had it when I was "officially" insulin resistant and then when I was classified as Type 2 diabetic.

My doctors, never paid attention to my BGS that where in the 120's they considered it normal.

it honestly wasn't for me. And I was feeling so totally like crap.

While my BGs weren't too out of whack my Insulin levels where. They were 93 when measured. Non-dabiatic 0-9, diabetic 0-30. So I was 3 times greater than a diabetic yet, I my BGs where only slightly out of the norm.

Everyone, always concentrates on BGs and I get it. it is because it is the only thing we privately can measure. You could not have that great of a BG swing because you body is flooding it with insulin. At which point you are having a big insulin swing.

My advice, get a hold of it now before it gets worse and develops into Type 2.

The longer you wait the greater strain on the pancrese it is.

I tried everything, I followed the American Diabetes Assoc, nutritionist, endo's advice. took medicine. But still became diabetic.

I finally found Dr. Richard Book. And I am in diabetic remission, that is what I call it, with my FBGs going from 140s to high 80s now. I take no medicine and my A1C went from a 6.7 to a 5.4(that is as of last summerish time I am sure it is lower now).

I second the advice to read Dr. Bernstein. His book has more detail than any other. Dr Westman suggests reading it and Dr. Bernstein's website, having an appointment in NY with him even better.

Oops. Here's my requisite text after the quote, so it will post.

I'll watch it soon.

I will be getting and reading his book. I think I have to order it, though. I don't think our local bookstore has it.

Check the library too, ours has Bernstein's newest and previous edition.

There has been a discussion here previously about terminology, can diabetes be "cured". This is something doctors disagree on too, so no one answer. But adding the view from The Diabetes Seminar that starts this coming week...see info in other thread. They use the term Reversible:

Anne,
You don't get diabetes because you're fat, lazy or eat junk. There are skinny people out there who've done all the right things and they still develop Type 2...because it's a genetic predisposition. *Maybe* you could have prevented the progression. Then again, I have relatives who are in their 80's who have been IR most of their adult lives and still haven't developed diabetes. My understanding is that while IR is partially responsible, a bigger factor is the 'swings' in blood glucose. Some people are IR but their blood sugar still stables pretty stable while others (like me) spent most of our adult lives (starting in my teens) with serious hypoglycemia which continued with 'crashes' even with elevated blood sugars. This put a lot of stress on the pancreas.

Lots of good advice in this thread, starting with getting Bernstein's book. It's worth buying. It's responsible for me getting off all meds and bringing my BG's down from over 300 and going from an A1c of over 10.5 to 4.9 in less than 6 months.

As someone else said, there is no cure for diabetes. All you can do is reverse the IR and control it with diet. Go back to the typical American high carb diet and you'll be right back where you were pre-LC.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that 65% of people living in poor health contributed to their poor health by their lifestyle choices. WHO also says that predisposition from hereditary traits is attributable to 15% of those living in poor health. Predisposition does not of itself guarantee anyone will have diabetes or any disease, it just makes them more prone than others living a lifestyle choice that can lead to diabetes or disease.

Having excess body fat, living a sedentary lifestyle and eating nutritionally deficient (junk) food are lifestyle choices and can lead to having a diabetic condition. Living that way and waiting to see if a diabetic condition develops is not only ignoring that probability, but also contributing to an unhealthy lifestyle condition that can lead to many other health issues as well.

I've never read Bernstein's Book, except for excerpts, and I've never prescribed to Bernstein's methods. While I know and understand his methods and know that many have had success following his diet plan, I'm just saying that it is not the only way to gain control of diabetes.

I know of several plans others have tried and have had success with diabetic control. Whatever diet plan anyone subscribes to following for diabetes control, it has to have two important goals:

1) The diet should lead to balanced nutrition and diabetes control with minimal medication and/or as in most cases, control of diabetes without medication.

2) The diet should lead to overall health improvement, and strengthen the immune system.

I am a nurse practitioner so I have to begin my post by stating that I am not giving specific medical advise to anyone, but rather am stating my opinions for the entertainment of others.

Now, having said that, the Dawn Phenomenon makes a lot of folks' blood sugars higher in the early mornings than other times during the day, all while in a fasting state. This was true for me, too. I would awaken with CBGs (capillary blood glucose) up to the 120s while still having an A1c that was not in the pre-diabetes category. If I ate nothing all morning and checked a blood sugar several hours later I could be down into the 90s.

Whether you are currently pre-diabetic or diabetic does not really matter much at this point, unless you are ready to start medication. If you are going to manage your metabolic derangement by use of low-carb eating and using your muscles of your behind & legs to burn off some of the carbs you do eat and to assist with the Dawn Phenomenon - just start doing it.

Dr. Westman would advise you eat no more than 20 grams of carbs per day - and those should come from an approved list of vegetables and salad greens. Don't skimp on the fat - no matter WHAT the ADA may tell you - your body needs fat in order to burn fat. Just like your car needs gasoline to burn gasoline. You've learned how elevated your blood sugar becomes with "hidden carbs" such as sauces and the carbs that serve as the fillers in a lot of powdered sweeteners. You will have to continue to check your blood sugar frequently to see what effect different foods have on YOUR blood sugar.

Whether you get your numbers down to non-diabetic levels and want to consider that a cure or just fabulous improvement doesn't matter. What matters is cutting your risk for diabetes-related complications by getting the numbers down AND knowing that you must remain diligent for the rest of your life to keep the numbers down.

May be a good idea to find a sweetener without fillers such as Swerve or other erythritol. Some of the stevia brands do not have fillers. Splenda is full of maltodextrin which is known to raise blood sugar.

I notice no one has mentioned Jenny Ruhl's www.bloodsugar101.com

She is a follower of Bernstein, though she eats somewhat more liberally of carbs these days. She will answer your questions and put them in perspective. I too have been diagnosed pre-diabetic and am trying to control things with diet - happily, with the full support of my very evolved doctor. I learned so much from reading Jenny's website and 2 of her books. I don't agree with everything she says, but she's a great resource.