Advice needed

Hello and welcome to the forum. Tagging @daisy1 for the info pack offered to all newcomers.

The reason you got a higher reading after not eating is down to what is called liver dump, also known as Dawn Phenomena. I would advise an overhaul of your diet but because you are on insulin (I have no experience in that area) I will leave it to those who are on insulin to advise you.

Have a wander around the forum and ask as many questions as you like.

You Don't have any readings between the breakfast and dinner so can't really see what happened. Were you high all day or did you go lower then get a liver dump up for some reason? To know this you need more test results.

Man_In_Blue said:

Thank you for that. I've not heard of liver dump, also known as Dawn Phenomena. When I looked it up on Diabetes.co.uk it suggested that this is a higher morning reading yet my evening reading was higher that the morning reading. Forgive my probing I just really was to understand.

Thanks for bearing with me

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Liver dump happens and this completely normal. The problem for us with Type 2 Diabetes is that these dumps (of glucose) are too high and go on for too long. The liver under normal circumstances secretes glucose throughout the day and at night. After hours of fasting, such as when we are asleep or when we have not eaten for some hours, the liver will dump and the pancreas will secrete insulin to enable the glucose to enter the blood cells. Those of us with T2 have to be careful about the amounts of carbohydrates (which when eaten are turned into glucose) we have in our diet and for those on insulin the problem can be a higher measure of insulin resistance (when the mechanism of the glucose being put into the cells goes wrong).

@Man_In_Blue, hello and welcome, firstly I’m afraid I cannot answer your question at this moment but I know I could find out on this forum. There are some clever clogs in 2 groups To which have subscribed and so I will invite you to them in the hope one of them will be able to answer you if ask again within that group. First is “what was your fasting blood glucose (and some chat). And the second group about logging moderate exercise. I have found lots of help, humour and support. Oh and exercise, stress and other things can spike your glucose levels so one reading with not many details is hard to explain. Good luck sweetie maybe we will catch up again.

Those two pieces of toast could be the total carb allowance for the day - it depends on what you can cope with as an individual, of course, but two slices of toast, first thing - for me that would be the time of highest resistance to insulin too.
I did quite a few tests through the day and varied my time of eating, and now seem to have settled on eating early and late and more carbs in the evening than the morning, but although I started off at 50 gm of carbs max, I am now dropping down and down to try to lose more body fat.

Hi and welcome, I agree with @Guzzler that it will have been a liver dump. They can happen at any time, not just in the morning. I suspect your liver will have been dumping all day and your own natural insulin has not been able to cope. Type 2 diabetics have a metabolic problem whereby our cells have become resistant to insulin. (insulin resistance). In normal healthy non-diabetics it also happens, but because their own insulin works properly, it clears this glucose from the blood stream into the cells for energy very quickly. In our case this doesn't happen. It can take a very long time.

Can you tell us please which insulin regime you are on? Is it fixed doses at fixed times, or do you have a basal long acting insulin and a fast acting insulin that you take before meals? Or something else?

Man_In_Blue said:

Thank you. I'm finding this a more complicated subject than food/drink in = blood sugar out. ( I like Maths ) I'll keep at it and thank you anyone and everyone who has bothered to comment. I really do appreciate it.

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As an insulin dependent diabetic you must test more. If you drive you must test before driving and at least every 2 hours if driving longer. Its no good being a mathematician if you have no figures or data in front of you.

It could be that your 2 doses are not adequate for the carb intake. Or that your body is experiencing a liver dump and a different regime may be betterbut without data you wont be able to determine anything.

@Man_In_Blue

Hello and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful and interesting. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will help.



BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 235,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
  
  
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