Danger Zone

Hi,

I just got a call from my doctor's office concerning the lab work I had done just before Christmas. It seems that my A1c has shot up to 6.0 and my uric acid levels have gone up from 8.3 to 9.4 and my doctor has prescribed Allopurinol for the uric acid, which I have to go and pick up at Walgreens. Eye-yi-yi!

These tests were taken before I started getting goofy with my eating, I think, so I am really flabbergasted. I had noticed that when I checked my blood sugar it was back up to the ranges it had been before and I was having some joint pain in my left big toe and left thumb which have cleared up now.

I asked if they had found a urinary tract infection and they said there was none but I feel I have all the symptoms and have been drinking very diluted cranberry juice and had also been taking D-mannose... I wonder if that is what is causing the problems. D-mannose is a sugar which is supposed to get rid of UTI bacteria (I had been taking it by the time I went to the doctor that day so maybe the bacteria simply did not register -- I have had similar things happen in the past when I have recognized a UTI and begun to treat it before the doctor's appointment) but maybe it is playing havoc with my blood sugar. I did not start doing the juice until about three days ago. Cranberry is one of only three fruits (lime and lemon are the other two) that do not have fructose -- or the amounts are so negligible that they do not register on the chart that I had found. Fructose is what raises uric acid levels -- or so I have read.

And the fact that my A1c has gone up to 6.0 is a mystery, too, because I had been eating properly for the three months before the test. I don't know what gives.

Josh, the guy I spoke with on the phone at the doctor's office said that high blood pressure can cause these things so I just checked it and it was 137/77 which, for me, is really quite good. I think the Hawthorne berry and the exercise is doing its job there. Thank God! I think I will read up on what the two numbers are measuring so I can begin to understand that too. The upper number is not yet normal which is 120, even though it is way better than where it had been in the past. (Anywhere from 172 to 142 -- so 137 is an improvement for me.) I am grateful for this good news, at least.

I also just checked my blood sugar which was 115 after having drunk about 30 ounces of water mixed with 2 ounces of cranberry juice (the kind that is solely cranberry juice and nothing else) about 20 minutes ago, so I think it is OK for me to continue with the diluted cranberry.

I am beginning to wonder if I have been having cravings because the blood sugar had gone high, or whether the blood sugar was high because of the cravings. I do believe they are related. I also believe my most recent wackiness is under somewhat better control today -- thank God. I have not had any chili cheese fries or anything real starchy for a while. I did recently have one small box of crackers that were gluten free and wheat free -- but they are now gone so that will not be a problem. I ate better food yesterday, but was bothered by what seemed to be the eating machine again. The buckle down has begun in earnest now.

I am still flabbergasted at the numbers that were taken before Christmas, though. I wish I could have gotten the results sooner -- maybe I would .... well, I am not going to go there. I need to focus on what is needed right now. I must say again, though, that I am completely surprised by this.

Well. What this means is regrouping. I will begin checking my blood sugars more often -- at the very least once in the morning, and taking my blood pressures so I can monitor what is going on. I am wondering if maybe the Xylitol that I had been using -- which I had read absolutely did not affect blood sugars -- actually does affect blood sugars. The only way to find out if that is the culprit is to eliminate it again and just stick to the vegetables and protein that I had been doing before all this mess happened. I had been putting Xylitol on what I call a "nut and seed snack" and having it rather late in the evening.

I had also been using a Xylitol nasal spray since the cold weather hit and the furnace started coming on, which has been keeping me from getting respiratory infections. I continued using it because I have already seen it both delay and eliminate a cold a couple of times this season. It has been nice to be "cold free." I hope the blood sugar raising is not due to that, but I can't think of anything else that has been entering my body that could have raised the sugars at that time. Perhaps that is what has set off the cravings, too. High blood sugars and cravings do travel hand in hand.

It must be the reason. I had not even eaten any fruit or sweets or anything else at the time I visited my doctor and had the tests done. An A1c measures blood sugar for the last three months, I think, so it had to be something affecting my sugars unbeknownst to me all along that time. Infection can raise the sugars. Sugar can raise the sugars -- but I had read about Xylitol before ever purchasing it and felt fine about using it. I will now eliminate it and see what happens to the blood sugars. It will, of course, help that I will be eating only fresh raw veggies and some nuts, seeds, and other protein, like eggs and a little cheese. I am again completely motivated to ignore the cravings and get back on the wagon. Thank God.

Maybe this is just the hit I needed to get back on track. I just measured my blood sugar one more time and it has gone down to 113 so I think I can still trust the diluted cranberry juice to be OK.

I don't know how you feel about all this. It is kind of self absorbed, but it is also important to me and hopefully someone else will be getting something from this too. Any comments and encouragement would be received gratefully.

Be back soon and in a better state, I hope

--Marcia