bloods all over the place

Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hello, I am Newby and have just started testing my blood with a monitor in the last couple of days. I am on Metaformin. I am very concerned as my bloods seem to be all over the place. I have no carbs last night and my
Bloods went up to 13.00 and then this morning they were 15.1. They seem to be all over the place, would really appreciate some support
 
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Enclave

Well-Known Member
Retired Moderator
Messages
2,602
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Welcome to the forums, I am tagging @daisy1 for you who will be along soon with your welcome pack, this will have lots of useful info for you.
It would be helpful for us if you could let us know what you are eating and your bs reading just before eating and again 2 hours after eating .. then we can make suggestions of where things could be changed. The first thing in the morning reading is a difficult one as your liver will produce sugar for you to set you up for the day... so its best to focus on your before and after eating numbers .. then the morning one should sort its self out.
 
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leslie10152

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,110
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Ignorance
Hello, I am Newby and have just started testing my blood with a monitor in the last couple of days. I am on Metaformin. I am very concerned as my bloods seem to be all over the place. I have no carbs last night and my
Bloods went up to 13.00 and then this morning they were 15.1. They seem to be all over the place, would really appreciate some support
Welcome to the forum @Bluebirdsinging, as a new starter you will experience the frustration of trying to maintain good bgl's and organised diabetes control. It comes with time and experience, relax and let us help you find your centre.
 

daisy1

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Messages
26,457
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Tablets (oral)
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Cruelty towards animals.
@Bluebirdsinging

Hello and welcome to the Forum :) Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful to you. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 245,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. They're all free.
  • Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
  • Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
 
Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hi Daisy, Thxs for that. Can I ask you, how do you know which bits in your meal is raising your bls. My bl was at 10.5 early this evening. I then had a gluten free sausage stew with Tonatoes and butter beans, then half an hour later some goats cheese. I then tasted about ab hour later and my bloods had gone up to 12.9, How do I know which part of the food is spiking my blood sugars?
 
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Bluetit1802

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Messages
25,216
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi Daisy, Thxs for that. Can I ask you, how do you know which bits in your meal is raising your bls. My bl was at 10.5 early this evening. I then had a gluten free sausage stew with Tonatoes and butter beans, then half an hour later some goats cheese. I then tasted about ab hour later and my bloods had gone up to 12.9, How do I know which part of the food is spiking my blood sugars?

Anything containing carbohydrate will raise levels. The more carbs, the higher the levels. We all seem to have different tolerance levels.

What did you use to thicken your stew? Your gluten free sausages may have been a bit carby (did you check the amount on the packet?) Butter beans (any beans really) can be difficult. Maybe it was just a case of too many carbs in total in one meal. Did you try to calculate how many carbs you had on your plate?
 

Freema

Expert
Messages
7,346
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
You need to learn which foods contain very much carbs and which has hardly got any .

Most cheese are low in carb

Meat eggs fish and avocado , cream butter olives. Olive oil are almost totally without carbs so This you can eat lots of

Most vegs grown over Ground are not very High in carbs , so salat mixed from Greens and tomatoes and peppers zuchini cucumbers and so on has got so little carbs in them. So They ate really good to eat
 

Alison Campbell

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,443
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi Daisy, Thxs for that. Can I ask you, how do you know which bits in your meal is raising your bls. My bl was at 10.5 early this evening. I then had a gluten free sausage stew with Tonatoes and butter beans, then half an hour later some goats cheese. I then tasted about ab hour later and my bloods had gone up to 12.9, How do I know which part of the food is spiking my blood sugars?
Did you test at the 2 hour mark and did your blood sugars come down later? I ask this because a rise of 2mmol/l after two hours is ok when you are starting to indentify foods you can tolerate. Ke
 
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Enclave

Well-Known Member
Retired Moderator
Messages
2,602
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
If you keep a list of foods eaten and their carbohydrates content.. along side your before and 2 hrs after bs reading you will soon see a pattern emerging on what foods need to be avoided.
Butter beans are quie high in carbs as poss will your sausages.. it gets easer .. honestly
 
Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Thanks everyone. I went out to a dinner party last night. I avoided all the carbs in the salads, just stuck to the meat, had a few potatoes two small glasses of red wine and a tiny bit of dessert, my bloods went up to 18 from 10. I am still wondering which food is really spiking my bloods, is it the wine, the small new potoesor the summer pudding dessert......that's what I find confusing, could I have had the small amount of dessert, or just the wine.... Do I need to check everything individually?
 

hca

Well-Known Member
Messages
336
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Thanks everyone. I went out to a dinner party last night. I avoided all the carbs in the salads, just stuck to the meat, had a few potatoes two small glasses of red wine and a tiny bit of dessert, my bloods went up to 18 from 10. I am still wondering which food is really spiking my bloods, is it the wine, the small new potoesor the summer pudding dessert......that's what I find confusing, could I have had the small amount of dessert, or just the wine.... Do I need to check everything individually?
Hello and welcome getting your head around everything takes time, for me potatoes and summer pudding which I believe is made with bread is a no no as too high in carbs, red wine for many of us is fine and I certainly had a glass or two last night with dinner.

For many of us avoiding bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and some fruits such as bananas are the way forward, I eat lots of salad, can you tell us what stuff your avoiding etc, it would also be helpful to know about any meds your taking. Stick with it keep testing, keep asking questions, there is a way forward and this site is full of friendly informative people, but at the end of the day only you can make the changes and do what's right for you. Xx
 
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Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Thxs for that...A pasta salad, a couscous and pomegranate salad, cauliflower and spices salad. I am on 2 tablets 500 of Metaformin, slow release twice a day. Some people said new potatoes were okay, and berries, you think not? What about the red wine.....
 

hca

Well-Known Member
Messages
336
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Thxs for that...A pasta salad, a couscous and pomegranate salad, cauliflower and spices salad. I am on 2 tablets 500 of Metaformin, slow release twice a day. Some people said new potatoes were okay, and berries, you think not? What about the red wine.....
Hello, everyone is different and the only way to know what causes a spike in your bg levels is to test before you eat and 2 hours after first bite, your looking for a rise of no more than 2 mmol, berries are fine in moderation, I eat blueberries, raspberries and strawberries in moderation with cream or full fat Greek yoghurt, I find that for me potatoes are a no no.
 
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Enclave

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Retired Moderator
Messages
2,602
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
The potatoes are not good at the moment as they are high in carbs, also I think to much meat is not good ., but I am a vegetarian so others will advise on the protein levels causing problems. You may have been better off having cheese and lots of green salad ... but it's still early days for you .. do try to weigh your carbs to get a better idea of amount you are eating. When I was first told I was T2 my bs was in the 20s but with a tight control on the carbs I was eating (for me the magic stable sugar amount of carbs was 20g a day) & this has pushed my T2 into remission.
Pasta and couscous are both very high in carbs!
 
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Bluetit1802

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Messages
25,216
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Thanks everyone. I went out to a dinner party last night. I avoided all the carbs in the salads, just stuck to the meat, had a few potatoes two small glasses of red wine and a tiny bit of dessert, my bloods went up to 18 from 10. I am still wondering which food is really spiking my bloods, is it the wine, the small new potoesor the summer pudding dessert......that's what I find confusing, could I have had the small amount of dessert, or just the wine.... Do I need to check everything individually?

Red wine is fine. It has virtually no carbs. If anything it will lower your levels because while the liver is processing the alcohol it has no time to produce glucose to dump. How many potatoes did you have? This can make a difference. The dessert won't have helped.

It isn't a question of which food spiked you. It is the total carbs in the meal that matter, so it was a combination of all the foods you ate.

For example. I can manage 2 small new potatoes in a meal that doesn't contain any other major carbs. If I added a lot of gravy to that meal I would spike. It isn't necessarily the gravy causing it, but the gravy plus the potatoes. (Gravy is difficult for us because it is made with flour, similarly other sauces) I only know this because I use my meter to the best advantage, and at the beginning of my journey I experimented. I also kept a detailed food diary including portion sizes and recorded my levels alongside. Patterns emerged.
 
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Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Thxs, that all makes a lot of sense. I have just down an hours walk. I live on a hill, so quite a bit of cardiovascular up the hill. My bloods went down to 6.4, first time in 3 days of checking. My bloods have been at the highest 18, at the lowest 9, so am I now on the right road.
 
Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Thxs, that all makes a lot of sense. I have just down an hours walk. I live on a hill, so quite a bit of cardiovascular up the hill. My bloods went down to 6.4, first time in 3 days of checking. My bloods have been at the highest 18, at the lowest 9, so am I now on the right road.
HOPEFULLY!!
 
Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Thxs everybody. I feel pretty released as I thought I might have to go on insulin if my blood did not come down. I am going to do a bs monitor and food diary, any recommendations?