Symptoms Question

lynnbintz · 02-04-2003, 02:09 PM

I have irregular periods, am normally non-ovulatory, acne, heavy bleeding when I do have periods, lack of energy drive etc....

My dr. diagnosed me with PCOS the other day. She was talking about giving me metformin 6mos before I want to get pregnant.

I also show some symptoms of pre-diabetes and hypoglycemia (which are opposite)

Now will lower your blood sugar and is used to treat insulin resistance but according to one of the descriptions that I read will not cause low blood sugar.

My blood tests came back with a "fasting blood sugar" of 72, supposedly normal is 65-110. My dr and the lab assumed that his was a fasting blood sugar, but my husband reminded me that I had had my coffee that morning about 16oz with 2 teaspoons of sugar in it, and I had eaten 2 breath mints 1-1.5hrs before my blood test. I was also on the 3rd day of my cycle.

Question is:
Could the coffee and breath mints raised my blood sugar to an acceptable level?

What do PCOS and low blood sugar have in common?

Is a low carb diet the right move for someone with low blood sugar?

Any help appreciated.
Thanks

Mazlynn · 02-04-2003, 06:08 PM

Well, I don't know offhand about the other two, but coffee and breathmints definitely could have affected your starting blood sugar. From what I've read, for an accurate blood sugar test, you shouldn't have ANYTHING other than water for 12 hours before - they even recommended not brushing your teeth so you don't get the sugar from the toothpaste into your system. So I'd say coffee and breathmints made the blood test a non-fasting test.

lynnbintz · 02-05-2003, 12:49 PM

That is what we thought. The blood test didn't have to be fasting, they weren't specifically testing for my blood sugar BUT they assumed that I was fasting because it was so low. I think I tend to have a low blood sugar. Hopefully a diet and exercise program will help a bit.

Thanks for the information.