Please Explain

[Clansman]

I was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and my wife bought me a blood/sugar meter at Christmas. I started to log my readings and found something strange. I check it first thing in the morning and get a reading of around 11. After a breakfast of bacon, egg roll and coffee it goes up slightly to around 11.5/12.

Now here it the part that puzzles me. After doing about 0.5 kilometers on my treadmill my reading drops to around 8 . I have tried the exercising at different times and the results are always the same, a reading of around 8. This is lower than the doctors result of 11 after a sugar fast. I can't believe that the answer to my illness is so simple. If I had exercised before going to the doctor then I would never have been diagnosed as diabetic.

Am I being optomistic or what? but it seems to me that I can eat what I please and walk 0.5 kilometers to lose the blood sugar. I would be most grateful to hear an explanation or the opinion of others.
Thankyou in anticipation
Alan C.

 

[dragongirl]

The real long-term experts will be along soon but a basic piece of info that may help in understanding what's going on is that exercise decreases cellular resistance to insulin, thereby lowering blood sugar. You will perhaps find more exercise helps more. But also, be aware that a score of 8 is not low enough to stop future complications so if you can get it lower, that would help prognosis. Welcome, by the way.
DG

 

[Clansman]

Thank you for your explanation Dragongirl.
The trend with my blood sugar is continuing. After a meal last night it shot up to 14 and reduced to 12 after exercising. This morning it was 10.7 and after a boiled egg, morning roll and coffee plus a 0.5 kilometer walk it was down to 7.9. This is the lowest I have been so far. As you say, I think a combination of diet and exercise is going to see me down to decent levels.

I can't help wondering though what would have happened if I had walked to the doctors on the morning of my test instead of taking the car. Would I have been diagnosed as diabetic? Now that I know how to reduce my blood sugar what will his reaction be to my next test?
I hope this post will give encouragement to others and if you are fit enough to exercise then do!
Thanks again Dragongirl, you are a one-off.
Clansman

 

[IanD]

Welcome, clansman, though its not a club one wants to join. Diabetes is a confusing & worrying condition that can take a long time to get to grips with. However, the complications are normally slow acting so unless you were admitted to hospital with problems already, you have a year or two to get to understand your condition.

If you weren't diabetic, all your readings would average around 5. Our readings fluctuate all the time, depending on what we eat & when. Standard advice is 4-7 before meals & below 8.5 2 hours after meals. An average below is a reasonable target at first, though below 6 is desirable.

Feel free to ask specific questions.

 

[Helena88]

It is likely that the doctor would have wanted to keep an eye on your blood sugar if it was 8 when first tested.

The diagnosis is a positve thing to know though, even if it doesn't feel like it because now you know when your blood sugar is high and how to get it down. If your blood sugar tends to shoot up but was missed because of low doctor reading it could have been doing all kinds of damage without you even knowing.

 

[cugila]

The trend with my blood sugar is continuing. After a meal last night it shot up to 14 and reduced to 12 after exercising. This morning it was 10.7 and after a boiled egg, morning roll and coffee plus a 0.5 kilometer walk it was down to 7.9. This is the lowest I have been so far. As you say, I think a combination of diet and exercise is going to see me down to decent levels.

I can't help wondering though what would have happened if I had walked to the doctors on the morning of my test instead of taking the car. Would I have been diagnosed as diabetic? Now that I know how to reduce my blood sugar what will his reaction be to my next test?
I hope this post will give encouragement to others and if you are fit enough to exercise then do!
Thanks again Dragongirl, you are a one-off.
Clansman

Clansman.
I would be more interested in knowing what you ate last night than what exercise does for you. To shoot up to 14 mmol/l would indicate possibly some high carb food ? What was your level pre meal ?

Your fasting level is way too high as well. Why is that ? What are you doing that is making it that high ? Most of us are aware that exercise can ultimately lower Bg levels. It can also make Bg levels rise if not fuelled properly. I sometimes use it to lower my Bg if my levels are too high.

As for thinking that you wouldn't have been diagnosed as a Diabetic if you had exercised before the test. Not correct. You would have just given a false reading which would have rendered the test invalid. Thus leaving you probably as an 'undiagnosed' Diabetic. Not such a good idea.

 

[Clansman]

Thank you Cugila and point taken.
As you are aware this is all new to me and I have not been strictly controlling my diet only trying to find out which foods give what readings. Before my meal yesterday my reading was 8.3 and the meal consisted of cold meat and roasted potatoes hence the high carb. I do not eat large meals and tend to snack between evening meal and bedtime. Just lately though my snacking has consisted of a tomato or an apple or unsalted peanuts or something similar but it seems that even this is too much.
If you are saying that exercising before going for my next test would give a false reading do you then recommend that I go with a higher BG than I know I can achieve. Sorry if this sound cheeky but the more I learn the more confused I get :cry:
Thank you again for your advice. It is greatly appreciated.
Clansman

 

[cugila]

Thank you Cugila and point taken.
As you are aware this is all new to me and I have not been strictly controlling my diet only trying to find out which foods give what readings. Before my meal yesterday my reading was 8.3 and the meal consisted of cold meat and roasted potatoes hence the high carb.

I too love Roast Spuds and had my share over Christmas, however I can only eat very small quantities as I know too much will rapidly raise my Bg levels. I actually weigh my portions so that I know EXACTLY how many carbs I consume. 8.3....too high really, find the cause for that.

I do not eat large meals and tend to snack between evening meal and bedtime. Just lately though my snacking has consisted of a tomato or an apple or unsalted peanuts or something similar but it seems that even this is too much.
I NEVER snack between meals, I have 3 small meals each day, never really hungry. This seems to work fine for me. As your levels are sometimes elevated pre meals, this MAY be the cause ? You might have to modify your intake of snacks or forego them altogether

If you are saying that exercising before going for my next test would give a false reading do you then recommend that I go with a higher BG than I know I can achieve. Sorry if this sound cheeky but the more I learn the more confused I get :cry:

Cheeky.....No ! Just not the right way to go for a test. It's a bit like me going for a BP test. IF I run there, (perish the thought :shock: ) then when I get there my BP is going to be elevated and give a totally false reading. So, I would probably end up on meds for no reason at all !
Same with your blood test if YOU do something to skew the result, like exercising to deliberately lower it that defeats the object of the test which is designed to be a test of your 'normal' levels, not one that has been an artificially low result. By all means use exercise as part of your regime to help keep your levels lower, but, if you are a Diabetic.....just go with it and do what you are doing now to control it well.

Thank you again for your advice. It is greatly appreciated.
Clansman

 

[Clansman]

Thank you all, Dragongirl, IanD, Helena88 and Cugila
You have all shone a light on the subject for me. I'm still not convinced that walking to the doctors is a wrong thing to do but I will tell the doc. what I have done and he can decide.
Thank you all once again and I will let you know how I get on.
Clansman

 

[cugila]

Thank you all, Dragongirl, IanD, Helena88 and Cugila
You have all shone a light on the subject for me. I'm still not convinced that walking to the doctors is a wrong thing to do but I will tell the doc. what I have done and he can decide.
Thank you all once again and I will let you know how I get on.
Clansman

Clansman.

Walking to the Dr's is a lot different from exercise which is what we were originally talking about here ...... :?

 

[Clansman]

Cugila
Sorry if you mis-understood but walking IS my exercise whether out in the open or on my treadmill.
I'm too old for press-ups
Clansman

 

[carlos]

ive found exsercise a great help since being diagnosed but have found that it will drop your bs but from my own experience if you eat a lot it will only drop it for about 30 mins to 1 hr then it will rise again saying youve had something startchy etc like the above posts i strongly agree its what you eat exsercise does help but only to a certain degree you shouldnt have to exsercise after every meal but if its what works for you then great stuff

 

[cugila]

Cugila
Sorry if you mis-understood but walking IS my exercise whether out in the open or on my treadmill.
I'm too old for press-ups
Clansman

Thanks for that. However it doesn't change the advice one bit. Cheers.

 

[Clansman]

Thank you Carlos,
Here is an extract from a diabetes website I found today:
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The essential thing in diabetes is to understand the condition and to manage it as best as possible yourself. This means adjusting your diet and lifestyle, cutting down on sugary foods in your diet and taking plenty of regular exercise.

It is quite possible that doing these two things alone will get your fasting blood glucose back into the normal range. However it will need to be regularly reviewed.
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Also another site gives ideal sugar levels as 4 -7 before meals, less than 10 after meals and around 8 at bedtime. Today I achieved those readings so I will continue to watch my diet and plod away on my treadmill. As you say, It works for me.
Thanks again,
Clansman

 

[cugila]

Also another site gives ideal sugar levels as 4 -7 before meals, less than 10 after meals and around 8 at bedtime. Today I achieved those readings so I will continue to watch my diet and plod away on my treadmill. As you say, It works for me.
Thanks again,
Clansman

You should stick to this website. We give out the correct information.
The current NICE 2009 guideline Bg levels for a Type 2 are as follows.
Fasting (waking) ...............between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals...............no more than 8.5 mmol/l.
(Nothing like 10 !) That would not be good at all. :shock:

If you can get those post prandial levels down lower so much the better. Always remember that
4 mmol/l is considered the 'floor.' Anything below that is considered hypoglycaemic. Best avoided.

What website would that information have come from BTW.....??

 

[lilibet]

Hi
Exercise is a great way to lower bg but to be honest(and I hope you dont mind me saying) there will need to be a change in diet to accompany this as per cugila's advice as the numbers you are presently running a lot of the time are hyperglycemic.So whilst you manage to bring them down with exercise it would be better that they didnt 'start' there in the first place. Also, exercise will bring them down for periods of time but not for 24 hours of the day

If you feel a change in diet and (quality of life, for some) is too much, why not consider Metformin or other oral meds to assist? I know lots of T2's like to try and manage on diet and exercise alone which I totally understand but the tools exist to give you better control and therefore I would just do what is required for control

Of course, Im T1 and would probably die within a fortnight without medication so maybe im blinkered :wink: :lol:

 

[carlos]

ye i do agree as well with cugilas post although its my feelin what works for you is great there has to be some diet change you cant exsercise every time you have a meal for the rest of your life what happens say when your on holiday etc you need to know what foods work for you and what dosent evrybodys different theres a lot to take in dont just jump in take your time and read all the dif posts and info on here it will helpyou