March 21, 2005
Other
Question from Cheney, Washington, USA:
I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes in September of 2004. I had steadily increasing fasting glucoses until I had the flu in January. Then, everything plummeted to normal for about six weeks and now the fasting numbers have begun to rise again. My post-prandials have always been all over the place and still are, anywhere from 68 to 169 mg/dl [3.8 to 9.4 mmol/L]. I thought that the flu should have had the opposite effect. Why would my blood sugars be normal for so long after the illness?
Answer:
The classic teaching is that intercurrent illnesses will increase stress hormones that antagonize insulin and can raise the blood sugar. I don’t know why it would decrease fasting glucose levels. Did you lose weight because of poor eating? This may be a partial reason.
JTL
