Blood sugar, hunger, celiac

[dania]

So I have celiac disease and also Hashimoto's thyroiditis (but not on meds because it's apparently "not bad enough" yet...). When I was still on gluten, I had chronically high cortisol and also high blood sugar and insulin. And when these were high (cortisol, blood sugar, insulin) I had constant hunger. Like I was starving all the time, and eating didnt help and often actually made me hungrier. It was a pretty horrible time, and no one even thought to test my blood sugar for a long time because I was young (21/22), thin (bmi 19), and have ZERO family history of diabetes.

When I got off the gluten, cortisol came down over time, blood sugar improved some but still not ideal. (Getting glutened raises these again)

For further blood sugar support, I took chromium and cinnamon and cut down on carbs (I'm not super low carb though). A few months ago I started taking berberine and that's helped a lot.

My recent blood tests showed that my fasting blood sugar was 4.7 and my A1c was 5.6. My doctor was pleased.

However, what I don't get is that I still have hunger issues at times. I mean, it has improved a ton since the worst times. I do have meals where I feel satisfied. But other times I feel like I haven't eaten very much at all after a meal. I thought when I got my blood sugar into the normal range I wouldn't have to think about this anymore, i would just eat, feel satisfied, not start feeling hungry until at least a few hours later, etc.It doesn't even seem to correlate to whether the meal is higher carb or not.

[cyclinglady]

How much fat are you consuming?  Going lower carb and not adding in fats can make you hungry.  

So, do you know that Type 1 diabetes is strongly linked to celiac disease?    I would ask your doctor for a GAD antibodies test to rule out type 1.  

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  I basically eat to my meter and that translates to a Low Carb High Fat diet.  Keeps my doctor happy with my lab results! 

[dania]

Thanks for your reply. I'm not sure how much fat I'm having, I will check. That could be contributing.

Yup I do know about the link between Type 1 and celiac. But when it was first discovered my blood sugar was high, my insulin was tested and it was high...actually it was double the normal amount. C-peptide was tested too and I don't remember exactly but I think it was slightly high? If I had Type 1 or LADA, wouldn't my insulin be lower?

It is strange though how I have none of the risk factors for insulin resistance and/or type 2... And in fact I had been on a super healthy whole food, "anti-candida" diet for several years before my blood sugar suddenly went really wacko!

[nutritionguy]

Celiac disease can be associated with mineral deficiencies (e.g.: iron, copper, etc.), and there is some evidence to suggest that copper deficiency can be associated with glucose intolerance.  Ask your doctor to do a check of your serum copper level.  Also, if you have anemia, ask your doctor to check your ferritin level to assess your iron stores.