Well I Got One Diagnosis Today

[conniebky]

I went in this morning for my tests. I got three hormone tests, the 5 hour glucose and a celica antibody panel.

I actually loved that orange drink. Now, long story, I've been 23 hours with no food. I ate a bag of fritos after my last blood draw and some coke.

So I have bruises and tape all over, and this was at the beginning of the glucose draws. The nurse got mad because I am allergic to adhesives and they didn't chart it. I said I'm not allergic to adhesives and she said, look at your arms, you are highly allergic to adhesives. So, I didn't know that, I never have been before, so I'll try to get a picture later and show you what it looks like.

So, yeah, that's at least one thing I found out today. I just know all these tests are going to come back normal. I'm not in a very good mood, sorry for that, its been a long day, but at least I got all that behind me.

[kareng]

I was thinking of you today. Glad you got that over with. Now you have to wait for results... I thought you would take Fritos. I love those fatty, salty crispy things, too. Feel better.

[GlutenFreeManna]

I hope your tests come back with something conclusive! There was thread just today about adhesives containing gluten. So it may very well be that the tape had gluten in it. Just a minute and I'll try to find the thread.

[GlutenFreeManna]

Here it is:

[conniebky]

Here it is:

I had no idea that sticky things would have gluten in them. I'm thinking along the lines of when you're making homemade biscuits, what do you do to keep the dough from sticking together? Put flour on your hands! That makes no sense to me. In the world of all this hidden gluten everywhere, though, it makes perfect sense cuz it's like some kind of a monster lurking and hiding and I am not fond of it one bit. Just a year ago I worked for my doctor and had all different kinds of tape stuck all over me all day long and nothing happened, now I put it on me and my skin breaks out like fire. This is ridiculous and I'm hungry and tired and wore out and sick of this whole mess. And I just feel bad for all of us.

[missy'smom]

For what it's worth, I think the OGTT was worth it even with all we have to go through. That test gives a pretty good picture of what's going on with blood sugar, especially since you got the 5 hr. I'm still very glad that I was diagnosed with diabetes that way, as opposed to some other test-some of which would not have caught it and I would have been in a very bad place. Whatever the results, I think that you can have peace of mind with them in knowing exactly what's going on.

You never know with the Celiac panel, some on the gluten-free diet have reported continued elevated antibody levels long after supposedly going gluten-free.

Your reaction to adhesives could be an allergy/chemical sensitivity and not at all related to gluten. With our allergy journey this year, I've learned that we can develop new allergies. Additionally, I was suprized to find that kiddo tested positive for latex. He's never shown a reaction that we know of but we have to avoid it now that we know or he may become more sensitive.

[Mac55]

I went in this morning for my tests. I got three hormone tests, the 5 hour glucose and a celica antibody panel.

I actually loved that orange drink. Now, long story, I've been 23 hours with no food. I ate a bag of fritos after my last blood draw and some coke.

So I have bruises and tape all over, and this was at the beginning of the glucose draws. The nurse got mad because I am allergic to adhesives and they didn't chart it. I said I'm not allergic to adhesives and she said, look at your arms, you are highly allergic to adhesives. So, I didn't know that, I never have been before, so I'll try to get a picture later and show you what it looks like.

So, yeah, that's at least one thing I found out today. I just know all these tests are going to come back normal. I'm not in a very good mood, sorry for that, its been a long day, but at least I got all that behind me.

Funny, I had a 3 hour glucose test this morning! How did you feel during the test? I was mostly fine until 2 hours in, then got very faint, exhausted and the excruciating headache started. Took quite a while to recover from the whole thing. Glad it's over!!

Why were you having the test done? Do you think you're having blood sugar issues? Just curious what your story is. It's nice talking to others in similar situations. Over the past couple weeks I've been having headaches and extreme brain fog/spaciness that seems to go up and down. I had a scary episode yesterday that I felt like I was about to pass out. I had been using my dad's glucose meter and had gotten a few higher readings so the dr wanted to do the test.

Hoping you get some answers soon! I spent a LONG time trying to figure out what was going on with me before my Celiac diagnosis. Good luck!

[conniebky]

Funny, I had a 3 hour glucose test this morning! How did you feel during the test? I was mostly fine until 2 hours in, then got very faint, exhausted and the excruciating headache started. Took quite a while to recover from the whole thing. Glad it's over!!

Why were you having the test done? Do you think you're having blood sugar issues? Just curious what your story is. It's nice talking to others in similar situations. Over the past couple weeks I've been having headaches and extreme brain fog/spaciness that seems to go up and down. I had a scary episode yesterday that I felt like I was about to pass out. I had been using my dad's glucose meter and had gotten a few higher readings so the dr wanted to do the test.

Hoping you get some answers soon! I spent a LONG time trying to figure out what was going on with me before my Celiac diagnosis. Good luck!

well, I had an episode on Monday - a BAD one, and then I had another one yesterday that scared me so bad I went to the ER. I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia a long time ago, and pretty much forgot about all that but it seems to have snuck back in after I started the gluten-free diet, which made me quit having other kinds of episodes!

When I got there, I was just blah, you know? After the initial draw for the other tests, I was walking over to the other lab for the glucose tests and they had to put me in a wheelchair cuz I got really dizzy, but that was fasting and they drew 6 or 7 tubes, so of course I'd get dizzy.

After I drank the orange stuff, I perked up for about 5 minutes, felt great actually, then I got so sleepy I actually slept all day in between the blood draws. They just kept coming back in and waking me up. I was laying across 3 chairs with a pillow and blanket and I guess I thought I was in my bed and turned over and tumbled right onto that floor, yes I did! scared my mom silly!

I have had a dull headache all day, yes, and I was SOOOOO sleepy, and I'm usually not a sleepy gal at all. Since I've gotten home I ate six yes, six scrambled eggs and some milk and I'm not sleepy anymore. And I'm mad cuz I spend $6.00 on a puzzle book and barely even looked at it. I don't know why it made me so sleepy.

Also, if anyone knows, I actually asked 4 different nurses and they didn't have answers, if the glucose test is to see what sugar does in your system, why is it a full tube draw? Why would a finger stick not be sufficient? I really really want to know the answer to that question.

[kareng]

I sent a note to my SIL who is a professional vampire to see if she knows. Will let you know when I hear back. She's working tomorrow I think, so she may find out.

[gf-soph]

I'm not an expert at all, but I had a 3 hour GTT done a while ago. I think the reason they take the tues of blood is that they are monitoring the insulin levels in your blood too, not just the glucose. My glucose stayed normal, but my insulin got a little too high at the one hour mark, indicating I am starting insulin resistance. They wouldn't have picked that up if they looked at glucose only.

[kareng]

Got this from my lil" sis:

It has to do with the method and the cost. When the testing is done on full size machine with proper reagents(chemicals that break down the and isolate chemicals in blood like glucose), the results are more accurate and less expensive for the patient. The full size machines are capable of running dozens of specimens at a time and check for many different chemicals/components in your blood at the same time on each specimen (think shopping at CostCo). The POC (point of care) technologies are more expensive and pretty darn good, but not precise. Only one person's lab can be ran at at time and only one test(think shopping at a specialty store like a high-priced neighborhood organic only shop in Manhattan,NY.) Some hospitals will do the first glucose, the fasting one, on POC for a quick result so you can go ahead and drink the glucose solution and get started, but after that the results need to be more precise to get a good result. POC can be off by as much as 25(rare) but average around 10. Controls are also ran(known values) more frequently on the big machines. POC only runs controls once every 24 hours. Also, doctors frequently will also order an insulin tolerance/challenge test to be drawn simultaneously with the glucose test. These cannot be done on POC. The technology doesn't exist yet and would probably be insanely expensive. Hope that helps!

PS. Another point that might help. Diabetics in the hospital receive routine fingerstick checks. If the result is really high or really low, they'll page us stat to go do a regular glucose. That's how variable(although again not by much) the result can be with a fingerstick. A lot depends too, on how well the fingerstick is performed. If a lot of non-blood tissue fluid ends up in the fingerstick specimen, it will really screw up the results. Feel free to copy and paste this entire message on your forum. If they're wondering how I'm qualified to answer, I've been a phlebotomist and laboratory assistant for over ten years. I'm also about 16 credits for a degrees in molecular bioscience and biochemistry.-K

[anabananakins]

Connie, I'm glad you got the 5 hour test, the results should be really interesting. I read that you were taking a puzzle book in another thread and I shouldn't laugh because it's a shame you didn't use it but I thought back to when I had this test and they recommended I bring a book and the fasting + blood test combo meant I was so brain dead I could barely look at pictures in magazines :-) I hope they are able to help you - it's horrible and scary having attacks like that, sending you best wishes!

gf_soph, I think they only monitor insulin if it's specifically requested (at least, in australia). The GP who diagnosed my PCOS sent me for a GTT even though my fasting glucose test came up normal because she knew enough that I was at higher risk of diabetes but not enough to ask spcecifically for my insulin to be checked. I was furious when I got the results because that was the whole point of me having the test. It really hadn't taken me all that much reading to know that we were looking at the insulin, I couldn't believe a doctor didn't know and put me through the test unnecessarily. I was so upset when I found out I even got her to call the lab to see if they could re-check the samples but they couldn't. I had to go through that whole hideous day again about a month later. Grrr! (btw, did they put you on metformin?)

[missy'smom]

Kareng's right about why they don't rely on fingersticks and ana is right that they don't always order insulin checks. I wish they had with mine, however, I was the one asking for the OGTT from a new doc and being so thin he didn't think I could have diebetes and was just humoring me. He got quite quite a suprize. There is a test that can help show how much circulating insulin there is-helping to clear up if you are insulin resistant or insulin deficient, if there's any question. It's call the serum C-peptide. I had one done some time after my diabetes DX.

[conniebky]

Got this from my lil" sis:

It has to do with the method and the cost. When the testing is done on full size machine with proper reagents(chemicals that break down the and isolate chemicals in blood like glucose), the results are more accurate and less expensive for the patient. The full size machines are capable of running dozens of specimens at a time and check for many different chemicals/components in your blood at the same time on each specimen (think shopping at CostCo). The POC (point of care) technologies are more expensive and pretty darn good, but not precise. Only one person's lab can be ran at at time and only one test(think shopping at a specialty store like a high-priced neighborhood organic only shop in Manhattan,NY.) Some hospitals will do the first glucose, the fasting one, on POC for a quick result so you can go ahead and drink the glucose solution and get started, but after that the results need to be more precise to get a good result. POC can be off by as much as 25(rare) but average around 10. Controls are also ran(known values) more frequently on the big machines. POC only runs controls once every 24 hours. Also, doctors frequently will also order an insulin tolerance/challenge test to be drawn simultaneously with the glucose test. These cannot be done on POC. The technology doesn't exist yet and would probably be insanely expensive. Hope that helps!

PS. Another point that might help. Diabetics in the hospital receive routine fingerstick checks. If the result is really high or really low, they'll page us stat to go do a regular glucose. That's how variable(although again not by much) the result can be with a fingerstick. A lot depends too, on how well the fingerstick is performed. If a lot of non-blood tissue fluid ends up in the fingerstick specimen, it will really screw up the results. Feel free to copy and paste this entire message on your forum. If they're wondering how I'm qualified to answer, I've been a phlebotomist and laboratory assistant for over ten years. I'm also about 16 credits for a degrees in molecular bioscience and biochemistry.-K

Thank you Kareng and Kareng's SIL for this information. Now I understand and it makes perfect sense. They did take the first one and looked at it before they had me drink the orange stuff, and I wondered about that too. Thank you all so much for all this, I really really appreciate it.

Oh yes and I forgot to mention that they are sending my gluten tests to Utah. I guess they got their reasons.