Blood glucose keeps dropping

[MargaretR]

Hello everyone,

I've been lurking for a few months as the system locked me out. However, I've finally managed to get back in.
I've had Steroid induced type 2 for almost 3 years. There was a delay in seeing the diabetic nurse when I was diagnosed, and in the meantime I had found this forum and started LCHF. I ignored what the DN said, and have lost 9 stone, and got my blood sugar under control such that I was taken off metformin in March this year. I can't thank the people on this forum enough.

At that point I stopped testing for a while, and have only recently (about 3 weeks ago) started again. I continued with the LCHF, and was testing in the morning before breakfast. This reading used to be usually between 5.1 and 6.0 mg/l, but I am now scoring between 4.0 and 4.5 mg/l. Occasionally I am getting scores in the 3.5 to 3.9 mg/l. When I test before lunch I usually get a score of somewhere in the 3's. E.g. This morning I got 4.2 mg/l before breakfast and 3.9 mg/l at 12 noon.

I'm getting to recognise when I've gone into the 3's (sleepy, shaky, shivery and woolly headed), and taken to using the same quick fixes that the Type 1s take and also adding some extra starch into my diet.
The quick fixes work, but the starch doesn't seem to make any difference.

However, I am putting on weight, which I don't want to do. At my heaviest I was 22 stone, and I lost 3 stone before starting LCHF. I did this by following a low fat diet (blood sweat and tears), then moved to LCHF once diagnosed. At that point the weight just dropped off at a very rapid rate, and has cost me a fortune for new clothes.

I have been up and down the steroids in the past 3 years due to Giant cell Arteritis, Polymyalgia Rheumatica, and Rheumatiod arthritis. I'm currently on 10 mg a day of prednisolone.

Has anyone else had this experience of the blood sugar level going too low? And does anyone have any suggestions as to how to adjust my diet?

Margaret

 

[Bluetit1802]

May I ask if you are testing your levels after eating? All the numbers you have shown us are before meals.
It would be interesting to see what levels you see at 1 hour, 2 hours and half hourly after that.

My friends has the same ailments as yourself, but hasn't crossed the threshold to diabetes. So I know from her experiences how hard it is to manage.

 

[badcat]

Are you on any medications that lower blood sugar? If you are then it sounds like getting a week or so of pre and post meal readings and then asking for a medication review would be a good idea as with those meds ( insulin, sulfonylureas) your blood sugar can go dangerously low if you are overmedicated
If you are not on medication, then blood sugars in the 3s can be uncomfortable but not dangerous - in some people they feel fine while others will get hypo symptoms and feel uneasy / unwell
The meds issue aside, I would think upping your carbs a bit might help - if it were me on
LCHF, Id only increase daily carbs by 5-10g for a week or so, see what effect it was having on sugars and how I felt and then review the situation

 

[MargaretR]

Thanks badcat and bluetit.

I had stopped testing before and after meals as I thought I had got it all under control. I started again a couple of days ago when I realised that I was not so under control as I thought. I tested yesterday afternoon after the very low reading before lunch and got 9.7 mg/l at 6.00pm, and similar reading after an evening meal. This didn't please me butwasn't all that surprising. I take my tablets after breakfast and the prednisolone is the enteric coated version. This means that they don't start releasing the drug for a couple of hours or more after taking them, and I had worked out at the start of the diabetes that my blood sugar levels increas in the afternoon, even if I don't have any lunch. The prednisolone seems to have a direct effect, as well as the long term effect of triggering TYpe 2.

I'm not taking anything at the moment (apart from the prednisolone) which lists blood sugar levels as being affected.

I'm going to try your suggestion of adding very small amounts of carbohydrate Bluetit. I think I overdid it yesterday with a large piece of spelt bread at lunchtime to try and get the BG level up.

Testing today has been
4.6 mg/l. At 7.30
Breakfast
6.2. At 9.30
5.2. At 12.00
I'm about to have lunch so I'll test more often this afternoon, as you suggest bluetit.

Thanks for your help, you've made me realise I need to go back to testing much more often.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Thanks for your help, you've made me realise I need to go back to testing much more often.

Keeping a food diary including portion sizes and recording levels alongside will help. If you look at the rise from before to after this will tell you what that meal has done to your levels and allow you to make adjustments.