Hi all, I wonder if anyone could answer my question? I was diagnosed in June with a Hba1c of 12.3 or 111 new figures and finger prick of 19.7. I am on diet only and testing. I get levels of 9.3 first thing in a morning , sometimes I get an 8, pre-lunch I am usually around 8.3 and before tea (dinner) I have been as low as 7, but bedtime I could be as high as 10. something even though sometimes I only have a variation of what I have for lunch, salad, meat or fish and the odd ryvita crackerbread, it is all very annoying could that be because I am inactive in the evening? I am low carbing and possibly only have a maximum 50 carbs per day, is it bad to have lowish levels during the day and a spike in the evening, will it do me harm, I am trying so hard, I go for my Hba1c in 2 weeks .... 3 months on and although my finger prick readings have dropped by 50% or so, I dont know whether I am doing ok or not. Is it likely that my doctor will want to put me on medication, or will he give me another three months to try and get them down further, he did say diet for 6 months. Thanks in advance to anyone who replies. Victoria.
Blood sugar levels
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Grazer
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Hi Victoria. Only a doctor can answer your questions really. However, my view would be that if you still get those highish readings on a low carb diet, providing you are counting everything (fruit etc) , then it could be you need a little extra help from meds. No problem with that. Some people have started quite strong meds to get their BGs under control, then come off them again. Certainly metformin should be welcomed - very safe, good drug. Doesn't do much for BGs, just a little, but gives good protection against cardio vascular probs which is why I chose to be on it despite having good BGs. So wait and see, and don't worry if you are put on meds.
Thanks Grazer,
I do count everything.... I think fruit sends my levels high, even if I only have a little with greek yogurt, two or three strawberries even, some times I feel very frustrated with it all aarrgh! A typical days menu goes like this... breakfast is two ryvita crackerbread, one with philly light and a bit of smoked salmon and one with a scraping of butter and diabetic jam or a boiled egg and the same crackerbread,sometimes I will have half a vanilla yogurt with a couple of strawbs.. max 15 carbs I think, lunch can be a mixed salad (small) with ham, baby bell cheese or a bit of chicken, a bit of a mezze going on, a few olives with one or two crackerbread, again 10- 15 carbs, I may have a cup of tea mid-afternoon with a single rich tea biscuit or half an Atkins bar, we dont tend to eat dinner 'till 7.30 or 8.00 then we will have meat, chicken or fish with veg or salad, sometimes I will have acouple of small new potatoes or one small roastie and a bit of sugarfree jelly, a couple of strawbs and a bit of yogurt, or maybe a couple of carrs thins with cheese and 4 or or five grapes, max 20 carbs I think, sometimes I will have a two egg omelette with cheese ham and a bit of tomato on a slice of granary for dinner instead if my husband is away on buisness, or fancies a pizza (I wish) I don't nibble between meals, I am fairly active, but feel I am struggling with this all the time, I am fairly slim, certainly don't want to lose weight, my bg this morning was 10.7...... higher than it was before bedtime, ????? I know before lunch it will be 8 ish and before dinner 7 or 8ish, what can I do to get my evening levels down, have no carbs at all in the evening? Any advice will be appreciated, funnily enough have been on holiday and even though I did have little treats, ie. a square of dark chocolate with my after dinner coffe, a spoonfull of yogurt icecream, an odd crisp or two, a few nuts etc., an odd biscuit, my bg didn't rise at all, how does one explain that? Thanks for listening, Victoria.
I do count everything.... I think fruit sends my levels high, even if I only have a little with greek yogurt, two or three strawberries even, some times I feel very frustrated with it all aarrgh! A typical days menu goes like this... breakfast is two ryvita crackerbread, one with philly light and a bit of smoked salmon and one with a scraping of butter and diabetic jam or a boiled egg and the same crackerbread,sometimes I will have half a vanilla yogurt with a couple of strawbs.. max 15 carbs I think, lunch can be a mixed salad (small) with ham, baby bell cheese or a bit of chicken, a bit of a mezze going on, a few olives with one or two crackerbread, again 10- 15 carbs, I may have a cup of tea mid-afternoon with a single rich tea biscuit or half an Atkins bar, we dont tend to eat dinner 'till 7.30 or 8.00 then we will have meat, chicken or fish with veg or salad, sometimes I will have acouple of small new potatoes or one small roastie and a bit of sugarfree jelly, a couple of strawbs and a bit of yogurt, or maybe a couple of carrs thins with cheese and 4 or or five grapes, max 20 carbs I think, sometimes I will have a two egg omelette with cheese ham and a bit of tomato on a slice of granary for dinner instead if my husband is away on buisness, or fancies a pizza (I wish) I don't nibble between meals, I am fairly active, but feel I am struggling with this all the time, I am fairly slim, certainly don't want to lose weight, my bg this morning was 10.7...... higher than it was before bedtime, ????? I know before lunch it will be 8 ish and before dinner 7 or 8ish, what can I do to get my evening levels down, have no carbs at all in the evening? Any advice will be appreciated, funnily enough have been on holiday and even though I did have little treats, ie. a square of dark chocolate with my after dinner coffe, a spoonfull of yogurt icecream, an odd crisp or two, a few nuts etc., an odd biscuit, my bg didn't rise at all, how does one explain that? Thanks for listening, Victoria.
Grazer
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storryvickster said:
Could it be that because you were on holiday, you had a glass of wine or two while you were having those treats? Or before them? Or other alcohol? Because alcohol lowers BGs, or could result in them staying the same when they should have gone up. Or maybe you walked a little more?
Fact is, your diet is good and shouldn't result in the high BGs you get. I do think you probably need meds, even if (as I said before) you can come back off them once your Bgs are stabilised. I also think you should ask your doctor to check the diagnosis of type 2, particularly if you are slim. A lot of mis-diagnosis takes place because of age, but you could have late onset type 1, type 1.5, diabetes types that require medication and can't be treated just on diet and exercise. Do INSIST on a full diagnosis; doctors are reluctant sometimes, perhaps because the tests cost money! But you need to know sooner rather than later if you do need different treatment.
Good luck
Thanks and yes I did have gin and slimline tonic and a couple glasses of red each day, is it beneficial then to have a nice glass of red each day? might it lower those night time readings, or does it produce a false low if you know what i mean? :?
Grazer
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I have to be careful here! Some people think that this is trying to treat diabetes with alcohol, and must be wrong. I think that if you are drinking alcohol to treat the disease, it probably is wrong. However, if you enjoy a glass now and then anyway, what's wrong with reaping the benefits? It's not a false low, it's just the normal reduction in BGs you get with alcohol. If I'm having a drink, I use that opportunity to have one of my more carby meals for example! You still probably need to ascertain for sure which type of diabetes you have for long term treatment.
Thanks again, I do enjoy an odd glass of red wine, I somehow gave up drinking anything alcoholic years ago except for the odd glass of red and an occasional g and t because I always drive, but I may re-introduce it if it 'does me good' as it were, oh well there a plus then!!! :lol: Thanks for your help, I will see if I can make sense out of the docs when I go in a couple of weeks!!!
Hi Vicky,
Grazer is right. You might be a misdiagnosed LADA type of diabetes. Doctors plump for Type 2 if you are over 40 or overweight. However, LADA can strike at any age and is also no respecter of weight! If you are keeping your carbs below 50g a day and you are still getting high BGs like your's, you need to ask your GP for a referral to a consultant. You need to insist on a GAD antibody test and a c-peptide test. The GAD antibody test looks for antibodies which are indicative of an autoimmune form of diabetes (Type 1/1.5/LADA) and the c-peptide test measures how much insulin you are producing. If they find antibodies, you are almost certainly Type 1.5/LADA. Simplictically, high BG and high insulin production usually indicates Type 2 while high BG and low insulin production usually indicates Type 1ish. If you are not producing enough insulin to cope with 50g carb per day, then you will probably need to take insulin. If you are producing insulin but are unable to use it (insulin resistance) then diet, exercise and, if necessary, diebetic medication should work. However, you are not overweight, you are fairly active and you are eating low-carb - this does indicate that life-style changes will not be effective for you and you might not be Type 2. Insist on the tests - it's best to know where you stand.
Smidge
Grazer is right. You might be a misdiagnosed LADA type of diabetes. Doctors plump for Type 2 if you are over 40 or overweight. However, LADA can strike at any age and is also no respecter of weight! If you are keeping your carbs below 50g a day and you are still getting high BGs like your's, you need to ask your GP for a referral to a consultant. You need to insist on a GAD antibody test and a c-peptide test. The GAD antibody test looks for antibodies which are indicative of an autoimmune form of diabetes (Type 1/1.5/LADA) and the c-peptide test measures how much insulin you are producing. If they find antibodies, you are almost certainly Type 1.5/LADA. Simplictically, high BG and high insulin production usually indicates Type 2 while high BG and low insulin production usually indicates Type 1ish. If you are not producing enough insulin to cope with 50g carb per day, then you will probably need to take insulin. If you are producing insulin but are unable to use it (insulin resistance) then diet, exercise and, if necessary, diebetic medication should work. However, you are not overweight, you are fairly active and you are eating low-carb - this does indicate that life-style changes will not be effective for you and you might not be Type 2. Insist on the tests - it's best to know where you stand.
Smidge
