Need help managing blood sugar

LoriF

Active Member
Messages
25
Keep going Lori…DP can be stubborn…mine is still higher than it should be after three years of this. The most important thing is controlling the rise in BG after eating and avoiding big spikes. I dont think skipping meals is a great idea though some on here do intermittent fasting but as you are still learning about what you can eat it might be best to stick with that for a while. It took me months to tweak meals to not get a rise of more than 2 but generally if you choose a protein and add in above ground veg you should be fine. Keep notes and you will soon have a bank of suitable meals and as you learn you can consider introducing spices herbs etc. There are various “what have you eaten today” threads on the forum that you might find interesting. Best wishes.
The strange thing is I don't get rises after eating it just continues to come down throughout the day....exercise puts it up a bit (yesterday rise of 1 after exercise) but the food seems to have little impact in raising the levels its as if my body outs out enough in a morning to last the entire day....and takes the rest of the day to come down...the problem is its huge and keeps high and I am not going to improve whilst this keeps happening.
 

optimist1

Well-Known Member
Messages
58
I saw you were on 2 metformin a day, are they 500mg? If you aren't getting gut issues now. I would ask the doctor if 2,000mg slow release a day would help slow the liver releasing glucose.
 

LoriF

Active Member
Messages
25
Yes they are 500mg.....I have enough to do a self adjustment experiment as when I have previously asked about changing/adjusting I have been told ots not the medication its my diet that is the problem. I think the only way of getting any joy with GP is to do the experiment and write up and send the resulting data as they really don't believe this isn't entirely diet and weight related. I need to somehow prove it. I have only been advised to lose weight and quickly using Cambridge Diet which is frankly unaffordable and in my view too restrictive at 800 cals/ day.
 

xfieldok

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,182
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
How high are you actually going? Things won't change overnight. If you can post your meals with before and after readings, we might be able to help.
 

LoriF

Active Member
Messages
25
How high are you actually going? Things won't change overnight. If you can post your meals with before and after readings, we might be able to help.
Last week one of my morning readings was 15.8 and it seems this was down to hidden carbs in food (i ate out and had sea bass and buerre blanc sauce with vegetables which has flour in it) most mornings though I am between lowest 10.3 and highest 16 and am following a low carb diet.....one morning was 12.3 but I put that down to the gin and slimline tonic I had whilst out. Dinner out that night was grilled sole and salad. Last night was tuna green beans and salad and still high this morning even though after eating meal last night was down to 8.4. Lunchtime today was better at 7.4 i had a mushroom omelette. My average however is 10.5 on my meter as it takes most of the day for the high morning measurement to come down to the 7-9 range. Food doesn't seem to have any effect really as once its down I can eat and it continues to fall. Its just getting that morning spike down thats frustrating as it takes so long to come down and skews all the results for the day.
 

xfieldok

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,182
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Gin and slimline tonic should not affect your numbers. You can't do anything about dp, it will sort itself out when its good and ready.

What meter are you using?
 
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DJC3

Master
Messages
10,347
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Gin and slimline tonic should not affect your numbers. You can't do anything about dp, it will sort itself out when its good and ready.

What meter are you using?

Fever Tree ‘naturally light’ (ie their version of slimline) is around 6g carbs per bottle. I was caught out by this once - I had 3 and couldn’t understand the BG rise until I checked the bottles.
I drink gin with soda water now, once you get used to it it’s much better, you can really taste the gin!
 
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Hotpepper20000

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,065
I am using Glucozen which I got at Tesco.
You must be so frustrated. I have PCOS, it is an awful condition and many doctors don’t understand it.
PCOS comes with extreme insulin resistance.
My advice is to go extremely low carb. Do not go low fat. Eat the fat that comes with the meat and cook with animal fats. Above ground leafy greens and meat. For some with PCOS even dairy can be a problem.
Try this for a month and see if it starts to bring your BG down. Walking is best.
Metformin will help but it has to be with low carb.
 
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xfieldok

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,182
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Those strips look expensive. It might be worth changing your meter. Strips are your running cost.

@Rachox has some good information on meters.

Stress can raise your levels so being frustrated with your liver won't help.
 
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LoriF

Active Member
Messages
25
Fever Tree ‘naturally light’ (ie their version of slimline) is around 6g carbs per bottle. I was caught out by this once - I had 3 and couldn’t understand the BG rise until I checked the bottles.
I drink gin with soda water now, once you get used to it it’s much better, you can really taste the gin!
I usually go for vodka and diet coke but really fancied a gin with lots of ice and lemon guess that will teach me
 
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LoriF

Active Member
Messages
25
You must be so frustrated. I have PCOS, it is an awful condition and many doctors don’t understand it.
PCOS comes with extreme insulin resistance.
My advice is to go extremely low carb. Do not go low fat. Eat the fat that comes with the meat and cook with animal fats. Above ground leafy greens and meat. For some with PCOS even dairy can be a problem.
Try this for a month and see if it starts to bring your BG down. Walking is best.
Metformin will help but it has to be with low carb.
Aaah I see it could be dairy causing a problem too. Okay no dairy no carbs and no getting frustrated at my liver and its ability to make something out of nothing ....I was tongue in cheek calling liver stupid....its an incredible organ and currently outsmarting me
 
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xfieldok

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,182
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Back to Bacon then! Your liver is trying to be helpful. It will catch up with you eventually.
 

Hotpepper20000

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,065
Aaah I see it could be dairy causing a problem too. Okay no dairy no carbs and no getting frustrated at my liver and its ability to make something out of nothing ....I was tongue in cheek calling liver stupid....its an incredible organ and currently outsmarting me
I would suggest one thing at a time.
Try really low carb with dairy and see how you do. It’s difficult to do keto with out dairy when you first start.
If you need to adjust you still can eliminate dairy.
 

DJC3

Master
Messages
10,347
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I usually go for vodka and diet coke but really fancied a gin with lots of ice and lemon guess that will teach me

Every day really is a school day for us diabetics and we are all still learning.
 

Rachox

Oracle
Retired Moderator
Messages
15,810
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi @LoriF and thank you for the tag @xfieldok, sorry for the delay in replying.

Here’s some info on UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.


HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews, links to the strips and the meter:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/

There are also discount codes for when you come to buy more strips - "navii5" and "navii10" will give you 20% off purchases of 5 packs of strips and 25% off 10 packs of strips respectively.


Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/

Discount codes for the Code Free strips (which I have used in the past but I don’t know if they still work)

5 packs 264086

10 packs 975833





SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + found here:



https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793

with the strips found here:



https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097

Some members have got a free Tee2+ by phoning up to order, with a large order of strips they often throw the meter in for free:

Phone number 0800 8815423


With more expensive strips is their Caresens Dual, this one has the advantage of glucose and ketone testing in one machine, it’s to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/collections/caresens-dual



If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.


Don’t forget to check the box if you have pre diabetes or diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)