What Are The Odds I'm Pre-Diabetic?

[Fire Fairy]

My brother has type 1 diabetes. Several other family members have type 2. I have noted for several years now that sometimes my urine smells like pancake syrup. I asked my brother and he said he had never noticed his urine smelling sweet but his nose isn't the best. I had tried googling it about a year ago and found no information. Just now I googled and found info which says I should be concerned

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"Sweet smelling

Catching a whiff of something sugary sweet after you pee might actually be a clue to something very serious going on in your body.

[YoloGx]

My brother has type 1 diabetes. Several other family members have type 2. I have noted for several years now that sometimes my urine smells like pancake syrup. I asked my brother and he said he had never noticed his urine smelling sweet but his nose isn't the best. I had tried googling it about a year ago and found no information. Just now I googled and found info which says I should be concerned

Open Original Shared Link

"Sweet smelling

Catching a whiff of something sugary sweet after you pee might actually be a clue to something very serious going on in your body.

[Fire Fairy]

Thank you for responding Yolo. If I just need a standard blood sugar test I have several family members who have the blood sugar test machines. Everytime I've tested it I've been normal.

Dandylion root tea sounds lovely.

[IrishHeart]

I agree and I think your system is correcting itself. Erratic blood sugars are common, I have read, with celiac and perhaps, you are leveling off now that you are gluten free! Go with yolo's suggestion.. the dandelion tea will help clear the liver.

My glucose levels used to go up and down. My thyroid panels do too...but now, they are "normal" (hooray) No meds. My sister has type 1 diabetes and I have used her meter to check myself and I am okay, too...but it is wise to watch ourselves, nonetheless.

A blood test, when you can afford it, may put your mind at ease!

[YoloGx]

I agree and I think your system is correcting itself. Erratic blood sugars are common, I have read, with celiac and perhaps, you are leveling off now that you are gluten free! Go with yolo's suggestion.. the dandelion tea will help clear the liver.

My glucose levels used to go up and down. My thyroid panels do too...but now, they are "normal" (hooray) No meds. My sister has type 1 diabetes and I have used her meter to check myself and I am okay, too...but it is wise to watch ourselves, nonetheless.

A blood test, when you can afford it, may put your mind at ease!

Hi Irish heart. Nice to know I gave some good advice.

Meanwhile I would like to ask you about your experience with your thyroid. My friend Graeme right now is "crashing'. He's taking levothyroxin and still can't sleep, is subject to the cold, has constipation, exhaustion but can't sleep, brain fog etc. though he is quite thin. I figure he's having trouble with his adrenals. We had him take a bunch of tests for his thyroid recently which he should get results of next week.

He has celiac too which makes me wonder about the whole thing, if maybe this crash is in part due to his not needing to be on so much thyroxin. However I also think the low adrenals are getting in the way of converting T-4 to T-3 and thus creating a toxic condition.

What seemed to set it off was both the cold weather and his being on a severe anti candida diet. He stopped eating all grains and squash except for zucchinis. I convinced him this was bad for his health. He is doing a little better now that he is eating some rice each day and now has added lentils to his diet. However he still is in a crisis.

Any insights as to what to do meanwhile? Am wondering if he should go see a functional medicine doc. instead of the county doc he usually sees... This has been going on for far too long.

[IrishHeart]

Gosh, I do not know what to say about your friend. What does his endocrinologist think of all this?? It does not seem right hat he has so many symptoms while on meds. I think those severe candida diets often cause nutritional deficiencies (JMHO) when someone remains on them too long.

My experience was BEFORE I went gluten-free, when I was very tired and ill and overweight. My TSH was 5.3 and the doctor put me on synthroid. I zoomed to .8. I felt jittery and wired and had a whole bunch of symptoms (we now know were from the celiac) and the endo said snarkily "It's not your thyroid giving you all those symptoms! Your numbers are fine" FINE? I felt awful!!

I started dropping weight and losing my hair rapidly and had MAJOR gastro and sleep problems.

So, I went to a NP who specializes in hormone balancing and she put me on Armour and tested my adrenal function via saliva testing. My cortisol was high in the morning and I was working with an ND, so I tried every homeopathic remedy and supplement to "restore my adrenals" and nothing changed my raciness, anxiety, gastro symptoms, fatigue. I went on an "adrenal fatigue diet", including MORE whole WHEAT, etc. FOR 9 MONTHS..and got more and more ill..!!!!.little did we know...I had celiac and so, I lost nearly two years listening to all kinds of medical practitioners---mainstream and alternative---and things just got worse.

A functional med MD listened to my story, how I felt my thyroid was trying to work on its own and that I was really jumping out of my skin. He ran tests and decided that because my thyroid antibodies were so low, I asked him did he think I needed to be on ANY medication and he said NO. I agreed with him and stopped taking it and within a month, I felt a bit better (well, I still had some bad symptoms because of the gluten but at least I wasn't racing in my brain and unable to sit still) and my numbers, TSH, T3, T4 are all normal now. My latest cortisol readings were within normal range. I believe the gluten affected the thyroid and adrenals and that they are functioning almost normally now as my body gets rid of the gluten.

Going gluten-free has helped me with the other issues of brain fog, rapid weight loss, anxiety, jitteryness...but I think the medicine made me HYPER because I did not even need medicine at all, rather I needed to be OFF gluten!!

So, I think, that in MY case, My thyroid numbers were off --just slightly hypo, for most of my life and the celiac was the real reason. Now that I am gluten-free, I think my thyroid is functioning normally. I'll see next month when I go back for blood work.

Wish I could offer more thoughts regarding your friend.

sorry.

[Fire Fairy]

Thank you both. So glad to read of your improvements IrishHeart. I hope your friend starts improving soon Yolo.

[YoloGx]

Thank you both. So glad to read of your improvements IrishHeart. I hope your friend starts improving soon Yolo.

He is getting better thankfully--as I hope you are too.

I have him taking dandelion/chicory root tea to help detox--similar to what I suggested for you.

He's also now on natural things to help his adrenals--like ashwaganda, more co-enzyme B vitamins, 5HTP to help him sleep, more frequent meals. He'll be seeing an endocrinologist soon.