Newbie... Questions

[Mumof1]

Hello everyone,

This is all very new to me and I have been looking on the forum for a few days now and would like to ask some questions.

About a month ago I went to see my GP. We took my blood pressure (which was ridiculously high) and I was I immediately prescribed medication. I also went to pathology.

Well, not surprisingly as I am obese, the results of the blood tests showed I had raised cholesterol (6) and on fasting my glucose was high but the other figure apparently was 45 (so pre- diabetes?). My doctor said he thought all could be improved with loosing weight and diet. He gave me a referral to Slimming World and said I need to go and have bloods taken again in June. I had gestational diabetes 7 years ago. I have been 'scared' into taking action and now would really appreciate to hear from you all, your thoughts and suggestions and experiences. I haven't eaten any sweets, chocolate or crisps for nearly a week and am attempting to embrace a healthier type eating on the slimming world diet. My questions are:

How long does it take to start seeing an improvement in your sugar levels? I have a contour monitor (from previously, and bought new testing strips).

My readings first thing in the morning are usually in the 7's and then the readings can be as high as 9 one hour after eating and then down to late 5 after 2 hours. I have done several random tests and once again the readings can be from late 5's to late 7's.

I can have different readings from different strips within seconds of each other...why? These can vary considerably. I am wondering if I have a unreliable meter or strips vary?

Apart from diet what other influences can raise and lower your levels? Can stress, tirednes (I have broken sleep), menstral cycle impact readings?

Thank you in advance and I hope everyone is well.
Mel

 

[Goonergal]

Welcome @Mumof1

I'm tagging @daisy1 who will send you some useful information for new members.

It's good that you're testing your blood sugar levels as that will help you to see which foods raise your sugar levels (apart from sugar, carbohydrates like bread, rice, pasta and potatoes as well as root vegetables are the main culprits). Yes other factors such as stress can raise your blood sugar. Don't know about menstrual cycle as I no longer have one.

You'll find everyone on here friendly and helpful, so please ask as many questions as you want.

 

[satindoll]

Hi and welcome,
Where to start......ok you have a meter brilliant, now what you have been doing is right before and after eating a meal and your numbers seem fair....... the thing is what are you eating.......lots of us find we cannot tolerate carb heavy meals so smaller portions of potatoes, rice, root veggies, beans, pulse's spaghetti, bread. there are fruits that can put up the numbers too, Bananas are one of them, I eat berries in preference with a big dollop of thick cream.
There are lots of good foods and if you take a peep at the food forums you will find lots of good recipe's and ideas to tickle your taste buds,
The different readings from different fingers is quite normal, you can get the same effect even using the same drop of blood on different strips and not worth fretting over.
Lady stuff can and will put up your numbers as can lack of sleep and stress, in fact anything can affect them the trick is to chill.
Personally I wouldn't bother with these slimming clubs, they just made me feel guilty for being overweight, do we need that kind of hassle...no.....so I would get "The Carbs and Calls" book, reasonably price on Amazon and I believe they do a downloadable version if you have a Kindle or pad, read round the foodie threads, and find a new way of eating that leaves you feeling full and satisfied without the need for all those carbs.
Ask questions as and when you need too, plenty of nice peeps on here willing to listen and help........

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hi, and welcome,

Yes, your HbA1c of 45 puts you in the pre-diabetes bracket. (between 42 and 47)

If I were you I would buy a new meter. If yours is 7 years old it probably doesn't meet the ISO current standards for accuracy. (Latest ones were issued in 2013). Having said that, no meters are accurate and no drop of blood drawn from a finger will have the same amount of glucose attached as the next drop, or even within the same drop. We all have these inconsistencies, and it is very annoying, but we are stuck with it.

I would be very careful of Slimming World diets. They may be excellent for weight loss, which is what they are intended for, but not good choices for diabetics because they advocate highish carbs and low fat. All carbs convert to glucose once inside the system, so we do need to reduce the amount we eat and probably eliminate the worst culprits. (Bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, flour and cereals including porridge are all very difficult for us).

Have a look at this website for some help with choosing foods. Then follow the link that says "what to eat"
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/60-seconds

 

[Prem51]

Hi @Mumof1 and welcome to the forum. Your HbA1c reading of 45 is in the pre-diabetic range (42-47) but you should be able to reduce it to non-diabetic levels (below 42) by adapting your diet. Giving up sweets, chocolate and crisps is a good start, you do need to avoid sweet sugary stuff including fizzy drinks and fruit juice. But you also need to avoid or limit starchy carbohydrates like bread, potatoes, pasta and rice. Starchy carbs turn to sugar in our bodies.
I don't know much about Slimming |World diets, but from what I've read on here they aren't good for diabetics.
A lot of us on here follow a Low Carbohydrate High Fat (LCHF) approach to eating which has lowered our blood sugars and often weigh too. Have a read round the threads to see how it works and ask any questions you want to.
And yes your blood sugars can be raised by other factors, including those you mentioned.

 

[Bluetit1802]

There is a duplicate thread on going

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/newbie-questions.117353/

 

[Mumof1]

There is a duplicate thread ongoing.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/newbie-questions.117353/

Thank you. I have deleted from other board

 

[Scott-C]

I can have different readings from different strips within seconds of each other...why?

Hi, welcome to the wonderful world of uncertainties in blood testing!

The only way to get a totally accurate reading is by a relatively large sample run through a hospital machine costing god knows how many thousands.

On the other hand, we make do and mend with machines costing about 20 quid using a microscopic amount of blood. They are regarded as accurate if they're, can't remember the exact figures, but within about 15% so don't expect them to be the same.

Also, because of the tiny sample size, if you've got even the slightest trace of sugar on your skin at the sampling site, that can throw it out. I assume you wash your hand before testing.

Also, although I've not been able to find any papers on this, I'm not convinced that in such an incredibly complex piece of plumbing as the bloodstream, going right down to the tiny capillaries at the end of it that the blood samples come from, that glucose is evenly distributed throughout it, so it's possible that two tests close in time will be different because the glucose in them is different. Would be interested in knowing if any other posters have found papers on this.

This post might sound a bit negative but it's not meant to be. Compared to the days when we had to wait till a sugar version of Ph strip had changed colour and then compare it to a chart, these little toys are a miracle. Don't get obsessed about numbers to a fraction of a point: the aim is to get sugars within a range, so a ball park figure is usually good enough. Hba1c results and AGP graphs if you use cgm will show the bigger picture.

 

[Mumof1]

I think I may need to read/research and incorporate the low carbs into my diet. I am reluctant to do too high fat as my cholesterol might go up. The slimming world diet does appear to allow you to eat unlimited amounts of rice, pasta and potatoes which apparently isn't ideal. May I ask how many carbs daily are considered to be ok for pre-diabetics who are controlling with low carb diets? And what is it in real terms? I.e how much pasta/rice/bread/potatoes per day/week?

Thank you to everyone who has already replied.

I am pretty ashamed of myself for getting to this stage. I really do not have any excuses except over eating and being lazy.

 

[Bluetit1802]

I think I may need to read/research and incorporate the low carbs into my diet. I am reluctant to do too high fat as my cholesterol might go up. The slimming world diet does appear to allow you to eat unlimited amounts of rice, pasta and potatoes which apparently isn't ideal. May I ask how many carbs daily are considered to be ok for pre-diabetics who are controlling with low carb diets? And what is it in real terms? I.e how much pasta/rice/bread/potatoes per day/week?

Thank you to everyone who has already replied.

I am pretty ashamed of myself for getting to this stage. I really do not have any excuses except over eating and being lazy.

You must never feel ashamed or blame yourself.

As for the number of carbs, that is purely down to you. Some people can get away with 120g a day, others have to limit themselves to 20g a day, and all amounts in between. Only your meter can guide you on what is best for you and your body, and what your personal carb tolerance is.

Test before you eat and again an hour or 90 minutes after first bite, then again at 2 hours. Keep a food diary including portion sizes and record your levels alongside. Look at the rise from before to after and try to keep that to a minimum. Everyone will spike around an hour to 90 minutes (even non-diabetics) but by 2 hours you should be on your way down. The actual rise and the length of time you are higher than your starting level, the more damage is being done if this post meal level is too high. When that happens, look at the carbs you ate and reduce them next time, or eliminate some completely. You will eventually arrive at your personal limit. It takes time to do this properly.

The other thing I notice is your apparent fear of fats. It is carbs that are bad for cholesterol, not fats. Fats are only bad if your carbs are too high. Our bodies make the majority of our cholesterol because we need it to live. Every single cell needs cholesterol. Very little of it comes from the food we eat, very little indeed. You don't have to go overboard with it, especially if you are wanting to lose weight, but you do need to throw away all your low fat products and eat the real thing. Butter, real mayo, oily fish, cheese, full fat yogurts and so on, along with olive oil, avocados, nuts in moderation, bacon. A good old fry up is good - mushrooms fried in butter, fried eggs, a tomato, a high meat content sausage. Look for the 97% meat ones. If you successfully lower your carbs to a good level and eat real fats, you should find your cholesterol improves. Mine did.

You also seem to be looking at your total cholesterol of 6. This is meaningless taken on its own. You need the breakdown of HDL, LDL and triglycerides before you start to worry about it. The HDL is good cholesterol, and carbs are known to deplete this, so by cutting them down your HDL will improve. Triglycerides are baddies and need to be kept low. LDL is said to be bad cholesterol, but it isn't all bad. The lower your trigs, the more of your LDL will be good cholesterol. Omega 3 consumption is good for all this - plenty of oily fish such as salmon, and plenty of seeds such as milled flax and chia, plus olive oil, and exercise..

 

[satindoll]

I think I may need to read/research and incorporate the low carbs into my diet. I am reluctant to do too high fat as my cholesterol might go up. The slimming world diet does appear to allow you to eat unlimited amounts of rice, pasta and potatoes which apparently isn't ideal. May I ask how many carbs daily are considered to be ok for pre-diabetics who are controlling with low carb diets? And what is it in real terms? I.e how much pasta/rice/bread/potatoes per day/week?

Thank you to everyone who has already replied.

I am pretty ashamed of myself for getting to this stage. I really do not have any excuses except over eating and being lazy.

This again is a matter of what your body can tolerate, some can eat more carbs than I can some need to eat less, you need to keep testing meal to meal to discover how many you can eat, and you don't have to go high fat, just change from low fat to full fat can make the difference between feeling hungry and satisfied........I can honestly say my cholesterol has gone down since I changed from low fat stuff because my Liver no longer needs to pump out the amount of cholesterol missing from my diet.......

 

[callyandy]

Hello, Please don't feel ashamed or down about yourself. The good news is that you are pre-diabetic and can make changes to ensure you don't hit type 2 full on. Diet and exercise is a brilliant way to go, you are in control. I'm finding it difficult to add to all the brilliant advice given so far, just to say we've all started somewhere on here and there are lots of success and inspirational stories around to help with the everyday ups and downs. So good luck, keep in touch with us all.