Type 2 - BG 17.7 ........worried, need advice please

pinkiepunksmummy

Active Member
Messages
37
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Peanut Butter!
Hi....I need some advice please :) Here is the background:

I was diagnosed as Type 2 at the end of May.
I am 36.
I am 5'1" - 13.7 st.
I am waiting to see a dietician.
I have a fish allergy (shell fish too)
I eat healthily, cook every meal from scratch, use good quality meats, love vegetables and salad, no sweeet tooth only eat take aways 1-2 times a year as a holiday treat.
I don't drink much alchohol - maybe 1/2 a bottle of wine and 2 bottles of lager a week, I have been cutting this down.
I drink water, tea, coffee....occasionally a glass of diet lemonade or tonic water, no fruit juice or coke, etc.
I've had 4-5 HbA1c tests whilst being diagnosed/follow up which have been 8-9.
My BG has been fluctuating from 6 up to 13.6.
I am on 2 x 500mg Metformin (was on slow release, but this wasn't working for me so changed to regular)
Last month I was put on Ramipril due to slightly high blood pressure on the day (always usually fine) and because I had had a water infection (treated with anti-biotics)
I have not been told to lose weight although I know I ought to.
I have had stomach surgery with complications which means I cannot do much exercise except walking (no weight lifting/sit ups/running)

My BG is 17.7 this morning.....a record high for me :(
I don't know where I am going wrong.
The GPs I have seen are not much help with regards to eating advice.
I have tried to cut down on carbs, but this just made my sugars fluctuate more. I felt really good the first two weeks of Metformin, less sleepy, more energy, more my old self....but this seems to have worn off. I am at the stage where I don't know what is 'safe' to eat and what to avoid :( so I am just eating what I used to have before diagnosis, for example: toast for breakfast, home made chilli con carne with sweetcorn and kidney beans and rice for lunch, cheese and biscuits for tea. Snacks would be a small packet of crisps and a piece of fruit. I have cut my portion size down too. But I feel disheartened...

My main questions are:
How often should I test my blood? I have 50 strips on my prescription and have been given no guidelines.
Are there any foods I should avoid in particular (obviously I don't mean junk food/sweets/rubbish)?
Should I avoid carbs?
What should I look for on labels.....'carbohydrate of which sugars' or total 'carbohydrate'?
When should I take Metformin for best results? I was told after meals, but I have seen on here some people saying mid-meal?
I have an appointment with my GP on Wednesday to get my latest HbA1c results and assess the Metformin and Ramipril. Is there anything in particular I should ask him? I want to get the most out of the appointment, I saw the DN, but she wasn't really much help...assumed I was a pasty-eating Coke guzzler!!
 

whompa73

Well-Known Member
Messages
396
Dislikes
Chavs
Ok 17.7 is high but it may be worth doing a second test as somtimes you can get a fluke reading. Also there is a percentace of accuracy tollerance which means you could be in the 14s or 15s although I am not saying that this is what has caused it. If you are worried call 111 and they should be able to help I called last week and they were realy good despite the bad press they have been getting. I personally test first thing in morning , before every meal and 2hours after every meal and somtomes just before I go to sleep . I do this because I am new to diabetes and am trying to get a feel for what differnt foods do to me especially as I am trying to stay relitivly low carb. As for taking metformin I beleive people say mid meal because it is easyer on the stomach and digests easyer and longer being mixed better with the food.
Hope this helps
 

LittleGreyCat

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,233
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diet drinks - the artificial sweeteners taste vile.
Having to forswear foods I have loved all my life.
Trying to find low carb meals when eating out.
pinkiepunksmummy said:
Hi....I need some advice please :) Here is the background:

<snip>
I eat healthily, cook every meal from scratch, use good quality meats, love vegetables and salad, no sweeet tooth only eat take aways 1-2 times a year as a holiday treat.
<snip>
so I am just eating what I used to have before diagnosis, for example: toast for breakfast, home made chilli con carne with sweetcorn and kidney beans and rice for lunch, cheese and biscuits for tea. Snacks would be a small packet of crisps and a piece of fruit. I have cut my portion size down too. But I feel disheartened...

<snip>

Just a few comments on your eating patterns :)

Things you should beware of: toast, rice, sweetcorn, biscuits, crisps.

Fruit in moderation only, sadly.

If you swapped round one slot - chili for breakfast, cheese and biscuits for lunch, toast for tea then you might get through the day with few or no snacks and might even drop a few pounds and a few points on the BG.

The traditional advice of "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper" has a lot of sense.

Breakfast of just toast is very carb heavy and has little goodness, so your body is struggling straight away.

The lunch is fine apart from the rice and sweetcorn (umm...sweet...corn...hint?) :lol:

Probably cheese and fruit would be a better evening meal than cheese and biscuits - as long as you don't overdo the fruit.

Also, beware snacks! Especially crisps!!

A while back I was trying the 5:2 diet where you have two days a week on 600 calories a day for men and 500 calories per day for women.

I found that two eggs, two slices of lean bacon, tomato and mushrooms came to roughly 300 calories for my breakfast.
If I was feeling unimaginative I could have the same for an evening meal and that kept me full all day.

However a small packet of crisps came to about 300 calories, and wasn't really a substitute for a high protein low calorie meal.

So I would humbly suggest that you review your eating pattern, and try eating a high protein breakfast (full English without the toast and fried potatoes) a medium lunch, and a light evening meal.

If your body spends most of the day under stress because it feels that it is being starved then your BG is likely to go all over the place.

People who stop eating to try and get their BG down often find it has the opposite effect.

Hope this helps. :D

LGC
 

zolabud

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,285
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Whelks,winkles... All crustaceous seafood except prawns. Can't do crab.lobster or scallops.
Don't like the way they are killed and cooked. Save our Scallops. SOS !!!
Also HATE evaporated milk.
I have been recently diagnosed with Type 2 and am low carbing to try to avoid being put on medication.

I have my blood pressure taken at my first Diabetic nurse appointment and it was 148 over 80.

I freaked as my last BP test was 125 over 80.

I asked about it on here and someone said to buy a blood pressure monitor so I did a bit of digging and came up with this one.

http://www.lloydspharmacy.com/en/electr ... -monitors/

It has been reduced from £19.99 to £14,99 which is amazing value for money.

Click to buy it and you have a drop down box where you chose the arm cuff size.

When I checked Omron ( think that's what they are called) on Amazon the cheapest monitor was around £50 and you had to pay an extra £10 for whichever cuff you wanted. They come in small,medium or large and I bought the biggest one. The measurements of the cuffs are on the drop down box. (£2.75 odd on top for courier delivery)

When I checked the Which website the Lloyds monitor was the best budget buy. It scored top marks for accuracy and price.

I was so surprised when it turned up. I was expecting a flimsy monitor and it is so solid...

The good news was that I was suffering from 'white collar syndrome' when I had my blood pressure done at the doctors.

And the first test I did on my lovely new Lloyds monitor was 124 over 78. I was SO happy about this as I don't want high blood pressure on top of all my other ailments.And I have quite a few....

Get one. You won't regret it. And doing your own blood pressure means you have more control. What with the blood glucose monitoring aswell I feel like I am in control of my diabetes rather than it controlling me....
 

mimo

Active Member
Messages
40
In my experience as T2 it took a while for my bloods to settle down. At first my bloods were in the teens for quite a while but I had close contact with my GP and Diabetic Nurse. Don't be scared to ask these questions to your GP or DN. If they are not approachable and you don't feel they are helping then ask questions here too.
I reduced my carb intake by eating less bread and rice. I ate more veg and tried to introduce different carbs that my body could break down better. Every diabetic is different and it takes time to work out what food affects your BG levels.
At the start I tested a lot!!! Now I test about 3 times a day to keep on top of thing. Once in the morning before breakfast. Once after lunch and then before bed. I could do it once a day but choose 3 to keep an eye on things.
I am on 2x 750 slow release metformin, and 2x gliclazide. I visited my DN recently as my levels have gone up. She reassured me that no matter what I might do sometimes the pancreas just does its own thing and you can't do anything about it.
Smaller meal portions but still eating 3 times a day worked for me, but always having snacks available if I felt like I was going low (gliclazide meds can do this). I also started walking for 30 mins everyday as it was the best way to lower my levels. Nothing energetic as I was about 16 stone (aged 34). Do what you can exercise wise, even if it is for 10 mins, something is better than nothing.
I hope that you don't feel like you are the only one as you are not. We have all been where you have and been given great support and advice from here.
I am now 36, around 14 stone and trying to get back to a better routine as I have let it slip for a year or so. It's difficult sticking to a strict regime so work on something that works for you as you need to try and keep to it. There will be times when you don't and that's natural.
I really hope that you find great support here and work out what you are going through at the moment. Keep asking questions and we will keep responding when we can.

Take care
X


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 

Thommothebear

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,186
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Re testing, do not test within two hours after eating. The suggestion is usually to test each time you try a food, just before eating it again two hours later, that will give you a good idea of the effect that particular food is having on you. I personally stay away from rice other than small quantities of fried basmati, pasta, any kind of wheat products, potatoes or anything other than very low GI carbs (and I try to eat less than 60g carbs a day, often much less). Also don't eat more calories than your body really needs given your activity levels for the day - this is the best energy requirement calculator I have found so far http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy- ... e-advanced
 

Thommothebear

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,186
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
If you are trying to lose weight then they recommend that you eat around 500cals less than your calculated requirement, that way your body will use energy stored as fat. If you eat more than you need, then that will be laid down as fat.
 

pinkiepunksmummy

Active Member
Messages
37
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Peanut Butter!
Thanks everyone for the replies and advice so far xxx

So, if I eat NO carbs at breakfast time (scrambled eggs and mushrooms would be lovely, I'm just stuck in a toast rut!) that would be a better start to the day.
We as a family eat 'dinner' ie. the chilli and rice meal at lunch time (3pm ish) because my husband starts work at 4pm....we then have a lighter meal in the evening because this suits us better. Because I have three children to cook for (all great eaters, not at all fussy! and all eat family meals) I always do carbs as part of a balanced meal.....so........would cous cous have been a better choice than rice, or would just the chilli and kidney beans be better still for me? I can't quite get my head round this part and am struggling with what to cook!! Do I not eat carbs at this meal either? I used to not bother with 'tea' in the evening, just making something for the kids, but since diagnosis thought I should try three meals a day. I'm at a loss as to what to eat here? A sandwich? Salad? Fruit? Should it be protein? I really don't want to end up over eating and putting on weight.
I do love crisps, but will only have them 1-2 times a week. Are apples okay for a snack? I don't actually snack all the time, most days don't have a snack at all, but better than having half a pack of custard creams like my mum does!! (not diabeteic!)
Also, with regards to being ill, I had a pain relief steroid injection on Friday (day unit, light sedation, advised by GP light breakfast [toast or cereal :crazy: ] and no Metformin at breakfast time, given a ham sandwich- literally bread and ham! afterwards) so maybe that is affecting my levels too.....although I don't feel ill, just bruised.

And, I forgot to say before, I have three grandparents all type 2s, (all died from heart attacks related to diabetes) so the GP has said it is probably genetics that caused mine rather than diet related.
 

Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi. Do reduce your carbs and have low-GI ones where you can to. Spread those carbs thru the day to smooth uptake. I would tend to ignore the fact that your blood sugar fluctuates with lower carbs; give it time. Yes, you are having too many carbs which would explain your higher blood sugar and weight. I'm not saying you are over-eating but with T2 you just have to reduce carbs as necessary to maintain blood sugar within range and also you may need to increase meds as needed. As others have said, beware snacks. Go for nuts, berries etc and don't let biscuits into the house. Yes, look for total carbs on the labels. If you Google the web for low-GI carbs you will find many sites listing 'good' low-GI carbs; obviously keeping the daily carb total below, say, 150gm/day initially. BTW steroids can play havoc with blood sugar so be aware of that.
 

Tsavor

Newbie
Messages
2
Hi

I think that you've had some great advice on here already in respect to diet, but we are all individuals and different foods have different effects on all of our Blood Sugars.

That said what Carbs you do intake should be accompanied by fibre, so wholewheat pasta, burgen bread etc. I find that the only rice that doesn't have an adverse effect is Basmati rice and better still the brown basmati rice. Fruit was an issue to me until I controlled my sugar count, but even now I only eat fruit with seeds such as strawberries and blueberries for the fibre, I can eat bananas but only when they're still green and firm, once ripe the sugars just explode on me exponentially, for breakfast Allbran works for me but branflakes don't. You do need to test whilst experimenting with what foods work for you.

Like you I was genetically pre disposed to diabetes but what caused it was poor diet and being overweight, I was 5'10" and 14.7 st when diagnosed, had I been 12.7 st I would never have become diabetic but I am now permanently insulin resistant and I can't turn the clock back, I have to live with this the rest of my life.

Now I am 12.7 st and I'm controlled without medication, but only because I completely changed my diet, don't wait for the dietitian, they'll just tell you not to eat chips, you need to do your own research on the internet and take back control of your life, if you're going to struggle with exercise then diet is all you have left, metformin isn't the answer it made me really ill with a fatty liver.
 

Freyagirl1

Newbie
Messages
3
Get on the internet and google Blood Sugar 101 and also Diet Doctor (LCHF). You need to learn all you can about how to eat correctly as a Type 2 to get your readings down to safe levels.

Testing your blood one hour following your first bite of food will indicate how much that particular food raises your levels - at two hours your reading should have fallen to an acceptable level.

Eat to your meter, that is, become knowledgable about what foods will cause spikes, and therefore delete these from your diet.

I know it can seem overwhelming but you must learn to take control and take responsibility for your health and future well being. I wish you every success.
 

jinstone

Well-Known Member
Messages
51
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Not being able to eat deserts :)
I think the advice you are getting is good, I'm afraid there is no quick fix. I needed a non-essential operation and it took me 6 months to slowly drive my levels down to an acceptable level using changes in diet and provided drugs, then I had my op. My level by the way was 21.6 when I was first diagnosed. As other posters have mentioned even once you have stabalised your readings you can still have high readings occassionally. Unfortunately it is not a pure science. I noticed one poster commenting about any poor health and after a period of man flu (grin) I went back to the doctor and was advised that periods of illness can cause both blood pressure and glucose readings to remain higher than normal between 3-5 weeks after any illness. Any period longer that should be investigated.High blood pressure readings by the way could be white coat syndrome where you unknowingly don't like being at the doctors and your pressure goes high. Buy a cuff, not wrist or finger monitor and try taking your own reading over a period of time and take those to your doctor next time you are there. You don't have to live off cardboard tasting food just take it sensibly and steadily. Unfortunately you can almost right off any deserts which has bugged me but the rest is more of a case of refinement. use your meter a couple of hours after eating to establish what works and what doesn't.
Regards
Jeremy