A little concerned!

I see that it's over a year and a half since you last posted (Feb 2011)
What have your HbA1cs been doing in the meantime ?

It sounds as if you haven't been eating to your meter. Forget low-carbing. If eating carbs allows you to keep your blood sugar levels low, then good for you. But it's your diabetes, your body, your possible future complications. You need to know what affects your blood sugar.

I recommend an intense period of testing to get on track.
Far better to control what you can with diet, and then consider medication.

Hope you get it sorted.

Geoff

Hey frazerl!

Firstly, I agree with librarising that you really do need to test to find out what different foods are doing to you. The medical profession is fixated on Type 2s not needing to test, but they are quite simply wrong.

Secondly, your high figures recently could be due to an infection. Maybe you are starting with a cold or something?

Finally, there is a possibility you are not Type 2 but LADA which is a slow onset form of Type 1. Many of us were initially misdiagnosed as Type 2 and told not to test, only to find within a year our BGs were very high. You need to test to establish a pattern of what is going on. If there is any doubt in the Type 2 diagnosis, your doctor needs to do two tests: GAD antibody test to check for the presence of antibodies destroying your pancreatic beta cells and c-peptide test to check how much insulin you are actually producing. The doctor will probably be reluctant to do this due to cost, but looking at your figures, there is a possibility you have been misdiagnosed.

Smidge

Hi Frazer

Completely agree with Geoff. Don't think of it as low carbing think of it in terms of getting safe levels. If you can afford it get an SD Codefree meter off eBay or Amazon. It will cost you less than £20 with an initial 50 strips included. Extra strips can be bought for £5 / 50 so a lot cheaper than other meters. Once you get the meter then obviously keep avoiding plain sugary things but go on and make adjustments to the quantities of starchy carbs (rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, cereals and flour based products) until your readings start to respond. In the early days when your readings are high then aim to get a two hour post meal reading roughly the same as one you take just before your eat. You should then see a gradual improvement. You are aiming in the end to get readings under 8 two hours after a meal and to be between 4 and 7 at all other times. If you do that you will easily meet the sub 7.5% hBA1c and be meeting the NICE guidelines on good blood level targets.

It doesn't matter if you do the carb adjustments of your meals by counting carbs or by just reducing portions as both methods will work. The key if you do it with portion size is to recognise the food types that you need to reduce i.e the starchy foods. If you do it by carb counting then you obviously are implicitly recognising its carbs you are reducing as they are the ones you are counting.

Be aware that because you are on quite a high dose of Gliclazide a drastic reduction in carbs may give you really low levels so reduce the starch slowly. As your levels reduce you may need to go back to the doc to talk about reducing the glic.

If reducing carbs seems to be having no effect after say 5 to 10 days then you need to go back to the doc and discuss. It could mean that your pancreas is producing very little insulin despite the glic trying to make it produce more. If that's the case you may need different medication.

smidge wrote
I agree with librarising

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xyzzy wrote
Completely agree with Geoff

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Thanks guys, but it feels as if I'm being set up to be the next Nick Clegg :lol:

Geoff (always independent)

Have you been tested for GAD antibodies and c-peptide? Has the doctor also tested you for ketones?

I'm bumping this post and hopefully a type 1.5 can respond for you. This sudden and fast deterioration seems a bit suspicious to me, but I'm definitely no expert.

Been a lot in the news lately - statin drugs raise blood sugars, and cause diabetes and peripheral neuropathy. So they may make insulin resistance worse, which is what it sounds like here... And yes, get your insulin and C-Peptide dosn to see where your insulin levels are. If high, lower insulin, if low raise insulin levels and make your body more sensitive to insulin through exercise and diet.