Stressed and worried

[Gargoyletaz]

Are you also cutting down on starchy foods? They are as much carbohydrate as sugars, and I have come across people happily eating wholemeal bread, baked potatoes and beans and thinking that they were eating a low carb diet.
I used a Tee 2+ meter from Spirit Healthcare when sorting out my diet. I didn't consider getting anything fancy as I hoped that I would only need it for a few months - which proved to be the case.
I went from HbA1c of 91 to 41 at the 6 month retest. I was eating under 50gm of carbs a day, which was such a relief after the horrible stodge of brown carbs I'd been pressured to eat for so long.

I have today bought a Tee2+ and some strips from Spirit Health.

I'm feeling less stressed now, so thank you

 

[aylalake]

I have today bought a Tee2+ and some strips from Spirit Health.

I'm feeling less stressed now, so thank you

Glad to hear you are less stressed - stress raises BG for me and others.
Taking control of your life feels great, doesn’t it! You have plenty of support here, any time, any questions.

 

[Gargoyletaz]

Wow, that’s a year’s worth of lancets

Ha ha that's exactly what I thought!

 

[Gargoyletaz]

Glad to hear you are less stressed - stress raises BG for me and others.
Taking control of your life feels great, doesn’t it! You have plenty of support here, any time, any questions.

My blood pressure is all over the place.....family issues

By taking control of my diabetes it will reduce my anxiety and hopefully my blood pressure

I am so glad I have this place to come to

Thank you

 

[Ria]

Thank you so much, everyone, for your advice.

I have no problems with cutting carbs out, so if I can get my HbA1c back down to pre-diabetic level with diet only, I'll be happy.

I am diary intolerant so cakes, chocolate etc is no problem and I don't have sugar in any hot drinks or have sugary drinks.

I have swapped wine for gin and tonic and reduced my units down to 8 per week. That was a conscious decision I made about 4 weeks ago so I am hoping all these changes will reflect in my next blood test.

I can increase my daily walks too which will also help.

I was looking to buy a monitor & strips myself as I had gestational diabetes 9 years ago and I do find I am more controlled with my diet if I am seeing what spikes my numbers and what doesn't.

My diabetic nurse appointment isn't until 22 Dec, so I will discuss my options with the doctor, and hopefully, they will hold back on the medication.

If I ultimately need to medicate, then I will. I just like to be in control

Thank you all, and I'll update you as and when.

Abbott https://www.freestyle.abbott/uk-en/getting-started/sampling.html
offer a Libra cgm to test for free. This clearly showed me what spiked my food and when. ( not always 1hr after eating)

 

[Gargoyletaz]

Hi everyone,

I received my Tee2+ monitor today, so I'm armed and ready to get my levels down.

I fast from 6pm in the evening until 12pm the next day so 18 hour fast.
I never had breakfast so it seemed an easy migration to do this about 18 months ago.

When I tested at 12pm today I only had a coffee about 9am, but it read 8.2 mmol. From what I've been reading I need to be under 7 mmol before meals.

I tested again 2 hours after starting my my reading was 8.9 mmol, which I am delighted about.

I've just realised when I found out I was dairy intolerant in about Feb, the oat milk I've been drinking has sugars
I have the 'no sugars' one now.

Can I assume the slightly raised pre food reading was due to the milk?

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hi everyone,

I received my Tee2+ monitor today, so I'm armed and ready to get my levels down.

I fast from 6pm in the evening until 12pm the next day so 18 hour fast.
I never had breakfast so it seemed an easy migration to do this about 18 months ago.

When I tested at 12pm today I only had a coffee about 9am, but it read 8.2 mmol. From what I've been reading I need to be under 7 mmol before meals.

I tested again 2 hours after starting my my reading was 8.9 mmol, which I am delighted about.

I've just realised when I found out I was dairy intolerant in about Feb, the oat milk I've been drinking has sugars
I have the 'no sugars' one now.

Can I assume the slightly raised pre food reading was due to the milk?

Could have been the "milk", could simply be dawn phenomenon. In any case, your after-two-hours reading was well within the 2.0 mmol/l rise limit, so... Should get sorted if you continue as you have, and the glucose stored in your liver depletes as you go. Try not to worry about being high in the morning, the postprandial numbers are more indicative of what direction you're headed, and the morning numbers are the last to come down if they are a dawn phenomenon issue... And if not, going sugar free should show up sooner.

Hang in there, you're doing great!
Jo

 

[Gargoyletaz]

Could have been the "milk", could simply be dawn phenomenon. In any case, your after-two-hours reading was well within the 2.0 mmol/l rise limit, so... Should get sorted if you continue as you have, and the glucose stored in your liver depletes as you go. Try not to worry about being high in the morning, the postprandial numbers are more indicative of what direction you're headed, and the morning numbers are the last to come down if they are a dawn phenomenon issue... And if not, going sugar free should show up sooner.

Hang in there, you're doing great!
Jo

Thanks so much Jo

 

[ianf0ster]

I have a strong Dawn Phenomenon (DP) even now after being in remission for over 3 years.
I didn't worry about my first BG reading being over 7.0 (pre-breakfast and the pre-lunch when I no longer fell hungry enough to eat breakfast). But I did like it to be no more than 8.0 .
Also, if it was around 8.0 usually found that a very low or zero carb meal would actually reduce my BG level at the 2hrs mark after first bite. It did this by signalling to my liver that it could stop dumping glucose since I had already eaten and so didn't need extra energy to go and hunt/gather my first meal of the day!

 

[Resurgam]

Hi everyone,

I received my Tee2+ monitor today, so I'm armed and ready to get my levels down.

I fast from 6pm in the evening until 12pm the next day so 18 hour fast.
I never had breakfast so it seemed an easy migration to do this about 18 months ago.

When I tested at 12pm today I only had a coffee about 9am, but it read 8.2 mmol. From what I've been reading I need to be under 7 mmol before meals.

I tested again 2 hours after starting my my reading was 8.9 mmol, which I am delighted about.

I've just realised when I found out I was dairy intolerant in about Feb, the oat milk I've been drinking has sugars
I have the 'no sugars' one now.

Can I assume the slightly raised pre food reading was due to the milk?

You need to check the carb content of the oat milk as even if it has no added sugar, it is not going to be zero carb.
I was not concerned about the actual value of my blood glucose, only how it was elevated by a meal.
I noted that once I was under 8 mmol/l two hours after starting to eat I continued to reduce the number, even though I was eating the same things. I assume that lightening the carb load allowed for the recovery of my metabolism.

 

[Gargoyletaz]

Hi everyone,

Just a little update.

I've been just checking my pre lunch and post lunch levels as this is my main meal, and I'm learning what works and what doesn't.

Today, I did 5 readings just out of interest as to how fasting, pre lunch, post lunch, pre dinner, and after dinner levels were.

*Fasting BC 7:45am - 7.8
*Pre lunch - 8.8 (nothing to eat or drink prior to this either but had a 45 min walk beforehand)
*Post lunch - 7.3
*Pre dinner - 6.2
*Post dinner - 6.9

I am happy my levels appear to be good, but I'm learning loads by reading different forums on here.
It's actually interesting how individual we all are, where our body's systems are concerned

 

[KetoAnnie]

Could have been the "milk", could simply be dawn phenomenon. In any case, your after-two-hours reading was well within the 2.0 mmol/l rise limit, so... Should get sorted if you continue as you have, and the glucose stored in your liver depletes as you go. Try not to worry about being high in the morning, the postprandial numbers are more indicative of what direction you're headed, and the morning numbers are the last to come down if they are a dawn phenomenon issue... And if not, going sugar free should show up sooner.

Hang in there, you're doing great!
Jo

Just checking - can blood glucose still be raised at midday from dawn phenomenon?

 

[KennyA]

Just checking - can blood glucose still be raised at midday from dawn phenomenon?

I let mine run once just to see what happened. Woke about 6am. BG was still slowly rising at 2pm when I got bored and had some cheese.

 

[Lainie71]

Hi,

I've been pre-diabetic nearly all of my adult life (I am 52), floating between 43 and 47 mmol.
My mother is type 2 insulin dependent and my dad was, like myself, pre-diabetic.

My dad passed away in Jan and I fell off the carb wagon.

My last blood glucose was done in December 2022 and was 47 mmol. My readings for 15 Nov 2023 was 55 mmol and 1 Dec 2023 was 57 mmol.

I know this is due to my carb intake going from very low to comfort food overload.

My question is, previously I was able to go 3 months and get retested but this time I've been booked an appointment with a diabetic nurse before I've even seen a doctor.
I don't want to go on to medication, but do I have a choice based on my results?

I was hoping to get a blood glucose monitor and have the 3 months making a food diary of any spikes.

Thank you

They are there to advise, not beat you with a stick into submission! You have done it before by the sounds of it and can get back on the wagon - hell knows I have many bruises from falling off! The meter is your friend, I wouldn't be without mine x

 

[Lainie71]

Just checking - can blood glucose still be raised at midday from dawn phenomenon?

Mine does until I stop it with something, I find it really difficult to fast because of this.

 

[ianf0ster]

I didn't try Time Restricted Eating (or skipping a meal) or short intermittent fasting until I was already fat adapted - which took over 2 months.
Fat adapted, no longer felt like eating in the morning having had over 2 months of eating boiled eggs for breakfast whether I felt hungry or not.

My DP was and still is quite strong so my morning levels (with no food since the previous evening) are the highest ones al day. But fortunately they don't go above 8.0.
I think that if they had gone higher than that I may have been tempted to eat a medium sized chunk of cheese to stop my BG getting higher since for me and most others with strong DP, eating a zero carb meal or snack stops the liver from dumping more glucose.

 

[KetoAnnie]

I let mine run once just to see what happened. Woke about 6am. BG was still slowly rising at 2pm when I got bored and had some cheese.

Thank you. Interesting! I'm hoping to get a continuous glucose metre set up today so I can get the lie of the land...so to speak.
Congrats on your remission by the way!!!

 

[KetoAnnie]

Mine does until I stop it with something, I find it really difficult to fast because of this.

What kind of thing does it stop with? Is fat sufficient or do you find you need protein?

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Just checking - can blood glucose still be raised at midday from dawn phenomenon?

Oooh, yes. For quite a few, as you've already seen, it doesn't stop until they eat something. Doesn't really matter what. Some have cheese, i used to just have a few nuts or something. If your body gets food, it just flips the off-switch.

 

[aylalake]

Just checking - can blood glucose still be raised at midday from dawn phenomenon?

Great question and very helpful answers. I had noticed my highest readings are around midday and I was wondering why but never asked. Now I know why and how to stop it.
Thank you.