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Missing the spike?

Z

ZoeinKent

Active Member
Messages
31
Hi there,

I just had a very odd thing happen at lunchtime.

Usually I eat a LCHF diet. However, I'm currently recovering from a tummy bug, and the only thing I really fancied was a cheesy jacket potato. I haven't eaten potato in many months. So, I chose a small one (78g to be precise - Nutracheck tells me that's 18g of carbs) and gave it a shot. One hour after finishing eating, my BG was 3.9. I retested and got a 4.2 (my fasting level this morning). I'm never usually this low after lunch (which is usually 20-25g of carbs from Livlife bread, protein and salad) - normal levels would be late 5s to early 6s.

I can only imagine I spiked and crashed with the potato. Has anyone else got any experience of this - maybe those with a CGM? I'd love to think I could tolerate potato, but doubt it!

Many thanks.
 
Could be the fat in the cheese delayed the carbs hitting your blood, the spike may have been a lot later than 1 hour. Only way to know for sure is to repeat the meal and test at 30min intervals to see if you spike, when you spike and how long it takes to come down. Sore fingers maybe worth it if it proves you can eat baked spuds occasionally.
 
I learned so much with my 2 week GM trial, really an eye opener, I would recommend if you're starting out & need to gleam as much info as possible.

I was lucky that spuds didn't raise my BG either.
 
I've been eating low carb almost 5 years - my metabolism has recovered, I could eat a single high carb meal and see similar results - and then next day be trying to fasten my waistband as I get instant weight/size gain as the carbs are efficiently stashed away to cope with the next ice age.
You could very well be able to cope - from all aspects, but there could be pitfalls.
 
Ronancastled said:
I learned so much with my 2 week GM trial, really an eye opener, I would recommend if you're starting out & need to gleam as much info as possible.

I was lucky that spuds didn't raise my BG either.
Click to expand...
As I understand it, once you are in remission you can eat pretty much as many carbs as a non diabetic. (Not quite, as your return to normal glucose metabolism is not quite 100% even after a year). Once in remission first phase and maximal rates of insulin secretion will have substantially reverted to approaching normal rates. Most of the beta cells will have recovered, and since we are born with a surplus, the remainder can cope perfectly well with carbs such as potatoes.
 
Tannith said:
As I understand it, once you are in remission you can eat pretty much as many carbs as a non diabetic. (Not quite, as your return to normal glucose metabolism is not quite 100% even after a year). Once in remission first phase and maximal rates of insulin secretion will have substantially reverted to approaching normal rates. Most of the beta cells will have recovered, and since we are born with a surplus, the remainder can cope perfectly well with carbs such as potatoes.
Click to expand...
That’s not the definition of remission. Sounds more like cure if magically everything works perfectly no matter what you do or eat. The vast majority still need to maintain whatever measures got them into remission in order to stay there.

it’s also making a huge assumption that it’s all about beta cells, rather than insulin resistance throughout body cells. Prof Taylor can only theorise about this and it’s not proven.
 
Tannith said:
As I understand it, once you are in remission you can eat pretty much as many carbs as a non diabetic. (Not quite, as your return to normal glucose metabolism is not quite 100% even after a year). Once in remission first phase and maximal rates of insulin secretion will have substantially reverted to approaching normal rates. Most of the beta cells will have recovered, and since we are born with a surplus, the remainder can cope perfectly well with carbs such as potatoes.
Click to expand...

That's a fairly controversial statement, as indeed is the very word remission.

I have to be careful what I post as though I have some insulin resistance going on (thanks T2 dad :)) I am T1 but not T2, but I have to caution that we have many many T2s posting on these boards after they have achieved "remission", fallen off the wagon (whether that is low carb or low cal) and found themselves diabetic again.

I think the only way you can know for sure is to use a meter and test, and if you return to the diet you had before T2 it's all too easy to return to the blood sugars as well. I think metabolism is a very individual thing and you have to be careful about assuming that other people's metabolisms are the same as your own (though we all tend to do it.) And T2s seem to have a genetic issue with too many carbs...

As for @ZoeinKent's issue, I would agree with @Ronancastled that a couple of weeks with a cgm (ie libre) could be very informative, though they aren't cheap and you would do well to check a few readings against a glucometer to make sure the libre is accurate.
 
ZoeinKent said:
Hi there,

I just had a very odd thing happen at lunchtime.

Usually I eat a LCHF diet. However, I'm currently recovering from a tummy bug, and the only thing I really fancied was a cheesy jacket potato. I haven't eaten potato in many months. So, I chose a small one (78g to be precise - Nutracheck tells me that's 18g of carbs) and gave it a shot. One hour after finishing eating, my BG was 3.9. I retested and got a 4.2 (my fasting level this morning). I'm never usually this low after lunch (which is usually 20-25g of carbs from Livlife bread, protein and salad) - normal levels would be late 5s to early 6s.

I can only imagine I spiked and crashed with the potato. Has anyone else got any experience of this - maybe those with a CGM? I'd love to think I could tolerate potato, but doubt it!

Many thanks.
Click to expand...
Well the carbs you are seem about the same as you normally have if not less, so in theory tolerable but as you may find like me, carbs don't all work the same way. Probably due to the combinations of fats etc in the meal. Pastry sends me off the charts but soups or occasional potatoes are okay for me that I can see with my tests. But without a CGM hard to see the full impact

This though as you said does seem different, it may well be the spike had been delayed due to fats in cheese, so actually your spike was > an hour. I know when I have some foods the raise lasts many hours later. Fried chips will be high the day after for example

Others experiences won't be the same as yours I'm afraid. We are all different. Without CGM or more tests maybe 2hr after food, this one off isn't enough data

Occasional potatoes, maybe, but only way really is test to meter more and decide if you personally are happy with results
 
Tannith said:
As I understand it, once you are in remission you can eat pretty much as many carbs as a non diabetic.
Click to expand...

I don't agree with this bit. Even if a person reaches 'remission' they will still have an intolerance to carbs via some mechanism, so when their individual threshold of the amount of carbs they can cope with is reached, then wham, back to the very same issues as before. I always think of diabetes in general as evolving in someone with a 'flaw', is that flaw ever cured or does the body keep it at bay by the actions of the host?
 
KK123 said:
I don't agree with this bit. Even if a person reaches 'remission' they will still have an intolerance to carbs via some mechanism, so when their individual threshold of the amount of carbs they can cope with is reached, then wham, back to the very same issues as before. I always think of diabetes in general as evolving in someone with a 'flaw', is that flaw ever cured or does the body keep it at bay by the actions of the host?
Click to expand...
So what is the point of going into "remission", if you still can't tolerate carbs?
 
Tannith said:
So what is the point of going into "remission", if you still can't tolerate carbs?
Click to expand...

As @bulkbiker said, you don't get any of the unpleasant diabetic complications associated with high blood sugars. Some people may well be able tolerate carbs, but you have to consider why they got T2 in the first place and whether carbs were a dominant factor. There seem to be a number of different causes for T2 (eg not much point in going on a low cal diet to reduce weight if you are a thin T2) and I suspect that there are also different degrees of "remission".

If you define remission as "normal blood sugars" then loads of the T2 posters on this forum have achieved it. If you define it as eating what you like, then I think it's confined to a fortunate few. It's great if you are one of those, but don't assume that others are too.
 
Tannith said:
So what is the point of going into "remission", if you still can't tolerate carbs?
Click to expand...

I'd have thought it was obvious but the point is you will be placing yourself in a position where your body is not having to work hard and then fails anyway to remain as healthy as it can, you would be reducing the risk of horrifying outcomes, amputations, loss of sight, general misery for the rest of your life. It's a similar principle to any condition in my view, you may not be able to avoid getting it, or you may not be able to get rid of it, but (sometimes) you can minimise any damage it is doing to you. I find it a little odd that you see it in terms of 'there's no point if I can't eat all the carbs I want' especially when it may lead to you being able to tolerate some carbs, who would even want to knowingly eat carbs vastly in excess of their tolerance level knowing the risk. Of course many people do not get those horrible potential complications regardless and I'm not one to promote every single carb as a killer but I am a strong believer that if you do all you can to help your body operate, you end up in a better position than you would have if you threw caution to the wind.
 
Enough has been said on Tanniths views on remission and further off topic posts will be deleted.
Everyone please reread the opening post before posting to decide if your reply is relevant.
 
Thanks so much to everyone who replied - very much appreciated.

I'd love to try a CGM, but the cost is prohibitive, especially as hubby isn't a fan of my testing.

To add to the story, I continued to test 2 and 3 hours post-spud, and got 4.7 both times - so a slight rise, but not much at all. I wondered if I'd missed a huge spike in the first half-hour, which might then be reflected in this morning's fasting reading. But I got a 4.1, the lowest it's been in months!

To add to the confusion, I had my normal lunch today (low-carb bread, peanut butter, salad) and got a 4.9 afterwards, where usually I'd be late 5s/early 6s!

I have a few unscientific musings about what might be happening:

1) I wonder if my tummy bug gave my pancreas a real break and it's feeling revved up and ready to go now (who knows how long that'll last!). It could have had a similar effect to intermittent fasting, I guess?
2) My test strips could somehow have become contaminated (unlikely).
3) I lost a kilo after the tummy bug. But I was already very thin, so I doubt the difference between 53 and 52 kilos would be that significant?

As ever, this condition is a mystery to me!

Thanks so much again for the replies.
 
ZoeinKent said:
Thanks so much to everyone who replied - very much appreciated.

I'd love to try a CGM, but the cost is prohibitive, especially as hubby isn't a fan of my testing.

As ever, this condition is a mystery to me!
Thanks so much again for the replies.
Click to expand...
Well you caused a sharp intake of breath with that statement.
I likened not testing as driving with a broken speedometer - maybe put that argument to your husband.
A simple meter was all I needed to track what I should or should not be eating, and now at over 4 years of normal levels I feel so much better.
 
ZoeinKent said:
especially as hubby isn't a fan of my testing
Click to expand...

I'm guessing your husband is afraid it may become an obsession? It can be hard for other halves to fully understand what we are trying to do when we have a diabetes diagnosis. Just out of interest, has your husband said why?
 
ZoeinKent said:
Thanks so much to everyone who replied - very much appreciated.

I'd love to try a CGM, but the cost is prohibitive, especially as hubby isn't a fan of my testing.

To add to the story, I continued to test 2 and 3 hours post-spud, and got 4.7 both times - so a slight rise, but not much at all. I wondered if I'd missed a huge spike in the first half-hour, which might then be reflected in this morning's fasting reading. But I got a 4.1, the lowest it's been in months!

To add to the confusion, I had my normal lunch today (low-carb bread, peanut butter, salad) and got a 4.9 afterwards, where usually I'd be late 5s/early 6s!

I have a few unscientific musings about what might be happening:

1) I wonder if my tummy bug gave my pancreas a real break and it's feeling revved up and ready to go now (who knows how long that'll last!). It could have had a similar effect to intermittent fasting, I guess?
2) My test strips could somehow have become contaminated (unlikely).
3) I lost a kilo after the tummy bug. But I was already very thin, so I doubt the difference between 53 and 52 kilos would be that significant?

As ever, this condition is a mystery to me!

Thanks so much again for the replies.
Click to expand...
As you are already thin, perhaps now is a good time to get further tests?
 
KK123 said:
I'm guessing your husband is afraid it may become an obsession? It can be hard for other halves to fully understand what we are trying to do when we have a diabetes diagnosis. Just out of interest, has your husband said why?
Click to expand...

He thinks I'm taking it a bit too seriously given that my worst HbA1c post gestational diabetes was 41 (borderline prediabetic in the UK, or at the lower end of prediabetes in the States). Also, his dad has been using insulin for T2D for 30 years with very few complications, and eats everything freely. Despite the fact that his doctor says he's surprised how lucky he's been, hubby's view is skewed by this. We've had quite a few 'Why don't you just take the insulin?' conversations this year! He's very supportive in general, I hasten to add :)
 
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