My blood glucose has shot up.

[Rosie9876]

I'm on a CGM. For no reason i can discern, my BG has shot up over the past few weeks. From being at a pre-diabetes range, with occasional spikes caused by my own carelessness, it is now regularly over 10mmol/l, even when I've just woken up or haven't had anything to eat. After being T2 for a long time and drugs not working, I learned to control it with a low carb diet.

I can't begin to describe how upsetting this is. I don't want to see my doctor. They will just put me on more drugs. Currently on 2 x 500 metformin daily. I am stressed because of problems with my flat. That's a long term problem, but has got worse.

 

[KennyA]

Hi, soory to read this. It's possible that your stress levels are contributing to higher BG readings. Nothing to do with what you eat, but raised adrenalin/cortisol can provoke your liver into making a lot of new glucose. This happens because your liver reacts to stress by creating a lot of fuel in case you need to fight or run away from something.

This is obviously a good way of helping to deal with stress that's going to resolve itself and go away after a few minutes. If the stress is persistent, it's not so helpful. And if you're now worried about high BGs on top of everything else, it gets compounded. All too easy to say "try to relax" - I know from personal experience it's not so straightforward.

 

[Rosie9876]

Hi, soory to read this. It's possible that your stress levels are contributing to higher BG readings. Nothing to do with what you eat, but raised adrenalin/cortisol can provoke your liver into making a lot of new glucose. This happens because your liver reacts to stress by creating a lot of fuel in case you need to fight or run away from something.

This is obviously a good way of helping to deal with stress that's going to resolve itself and go away after a few minutes. If the stress is persistent, it's not so helpful. And if you're now worried about high BGs on top of everything else, it gets compounded. All too easy to say "try to relax" - I know

Hi, soory to read this. It's possible that your stress levels are contributing to higher BG readings. Nothing to do with what you eat, but raised adrenalin/cortisol can provoke your liver into making a lot of new glucose. This happens because your liver reacts to stress by creating a lot of fuel in case you need to fight or run away from something.

This is obviously a good way of helping to deal with stress that's going to resolve itself and go away after a few minutes. If the stress is persistent, it's not so helpful. And if you're now worried about high BGs on top of everything else, it gets compounded. All too easy to say "try to relax" - I know from personal experience it's not so straightforward.

Thank you KennyA. Assuming it is stress, and you say you know from experience it's not so straightforward to deal with it, any suggestions? I'm trying slow breathing, early bed - not hard because I'm tired all the time, herbal tea. Today, restarted tai chi. I’m at 39% above range and 1% above that. Previously I was typically 0 to 3% above and 10% in a very occasional bad week. Also my 'in range' is borderline, when it was often in the 4s or 5s. I also notice it's getting discernibly worse, week on week.

 

[Antje77]

After being T2 for a long time and drugs not working, I learned to control it with a low carb diet.

Currently on 2 x 500 metformin daily.

You're currently on a low dose of metformin (standard dose is 2000 mg with some time for building up) and I assume a LC diet.
What drugs have you tried and did not work?
Sometimes diet and a little help from metformin doesn't do the job no matter how hard you try, and different medication can be needed to help you.

 

[Rosie9876]

You're currently on a low dose of metformin (standard dose is 2000 mg with some time for building up) and I assume a LC diet.
What drugs have you tried and did not work?
Sometimes diet and a little help from metformin doesn't do the job no matter how hard you try, and different medication can be needed to help you.

Thank you, but with respect, it doesn't explain the recent spiralling up of my BP. The numbers are unconnected with food, exercise, sleep, time of day, or anything I can discern.

 

[lovinglife]

Thank you, but with respect, it doesn't explain the recent spiralling up of my BP. The numbers are unconnected with food, exercise, sleep, time of day, or anything I can discern.

Sometimes it just does happen - what we’ve always done stops working and we sometimes need to get help from medication. Continuously high numbers are more of a problem damage wise than needing medication to bring them down. If it continues I would speak to your GP or DSN - there’s no shame in needing meds if they keep you well

 

[KennyA]

Thank you KennyA. Assuming it is stress, and you say you know from experience it's not so straightforward to deal with it, any suggestions? I'm trying slow breathing, early bed - not hard because I'm tired all the time, herbal tea. Today, restarted tai chi. I’m at 39% above range and 1% above that. Previously I was typically 0 to 3% above and 10% in a very occasional bad week. Also my 'in range' is borderline, when it was often in the 4s or 5s. I also notice it's getting discernibly worse, week on week.

I can't say that I consciously dealt with it. Last 15 years of work was very pressured, and going back 20+ years there were one or two things in my personal life as well, bereavements mainly. Retirement took some of that heat off, but I think in the main it was a) keto and b) a determination that I was not going to be that 22 stone dead at 65 guy. Some things have resolved themselves, but a level of stoicism has helped.