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AM High's

kareeta

kareeta

Well-Known Member
Messages
200
Location
West Yorkshire
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Being so high I can barely open my eyes :(
Hi Everyone

I am wondering what to do next regarding lowering my bg. I am Type 1 and take MDI Levemir (split dose) and Humalog.

This am at 7am I was 8.3 great for me as I have been in the teens of late when waking but increased by background by 20%.

I had a small breakfast of two tablespoons of lizzies granola (low carb) 1 tbsp of fat free greek yoghurt and ten bluberries. I injected 4 units of Humalog. Two hours later my bg is 14.4 so I just injected another 2u Humalog.

My previous breakfasts were weetabix and semi skimmed milk (2 hr pp 16.2) and bran flakes (2 hhr pp 22.2) but I injected 9 units of Humalog to cover this. Obviously not enough, but according to my carbs & cals book it was.

I am at a loss as to what to do now, simply increase the doasge or skip breakfast? My bg seems to rise drastically as soon as I get up on a morning. Does anyone have any advice please?

Thanks in advance
Karen
 
Hi Karen

My levels can go up hugely the minute I wake up, although on a pump.. This has been eliminated.

Couple questions...
What carb ratio are you using?
Have you tried to fast and go without breakfast to see whether you still get the rises?

Could be a couple of options here, but would really need to know answers to above to try and help more.
 
donnellysdogs said:
Hi Karen

My levels can go up hugely the minute I wake up, although on a pump.. This has been eliminated.

Couple questions...
What carb ratio are you using?
Have you tried to fast and go without breakfast to see whether you still get the rises?

Could be a couple of options here, but would really need to know answers to above to try and help more.
Click to expand...

Hi
If I don't eat then I stay under 10 usually. Sometimes my bg rises but not significantly compared to when I eat breakfast

I usually have 1.5units - 2units to 10 gram carbs

I'm confused and hungry! :cry:
 
If your bg stays the same throughout the morning without food and QA insulin then your breakfast ratio's are all wrong, try the same low-carb breakfast tomorrow but increase your dose by 2 units.

Bolus timing can often help, although the insulin I inject (novorapid) is meant to be a fast-acting insulin I find injecting 10-20 minutes before food almost eliminates postprandial spikes, it gives the insulin a head start before your food begins to digest...although you do have to be careful if the meal contains a lot of fat.
 
Hi Kareeta,

kareeta said:
I had a small breakfast of two tablespoons of lizzies granola (low carb) 1 tbsp of fat free greek yoghurt and ten bluberries. I injected 4 units of Humalog. Two hours later my bg is 14.4 so I just injected another 2u Humalog. Karen
Click to expand...

Firstly, I agree with noblehead about jabbing the bolus 20 minutes or so before your breakfast. I use Apidra and I have a similar breakfast to you. If I jab just before my breakfast, my levels can end up in double figures, but if I jab 20 minutes before I eat, they stay in the 5 -7 range. Breakfast is the only meal I seem to have to do this for, although it is also the only meal where I have cereal, albeit a tiny portion.

My other comment would be that Lizzi's granola doesn't do what it says on the packet - well not for me at least! It hits my BG very quickly and very hard. I don't know where they get the idea that its glycaemic load means it impacts your BG like 6.6g carb per 40g portion - it hits mine like the 45 - 50g carb per 100g that it actually is and it hits with the speed of refined sugar. I now use Dorset Cereals granola instead (still only 1 tablespoon), but I find that much more controllable. It is a bit higher in carbs than Lizzi's, but it seems to be much kinder to my levels. It's sweetened with honey and I think maybe I tolerate honey better than the fructose stuff that is used in Lizzi's.

Take care

Smidge
 
noblehead said:
If your bg stays the same throughout the morning without food and QA insulin then your breakfast ratio's are all wrong, try the same low-carb breakfast tomorrow but increase your dose by 2 units.

Bolus timing can often help, although the insulin I inject (novorapid) is meant to be a fast-acting insulin I find injecting 10-20 minutes before food almost eliminates postprandial spikes, it gives the insulin a head start before your food begins to digest...although you do have to be careful if the meal contains a lot of fat.
Click to expand...

Thankyou for repying , I will try that tomorrow morning and see what happens. Will inject as soon as I wake up. I won't be having a high fat breakfast, just cereal usually.
 
smidge said:
Hi Kareeta,

kareeta said:
I had a small breakfast of two tablespoons of lizzies granola (low carb) 1 tbsp of fat free greek yoghurt and ten bluberries. I injected 4 units of Humalog. Two hours later my bg is 14.4 so I just injected another 2u Humalog. Karen
Click to expand...

Firstly, I agree with noblehead about jabbing the bolus 20 minutes or so before your breakfast. I use Apidra and I have a similar breakfast to you. If I jab just before my breakfast, my levels can end up in double figures, but if I jab 20 minutes before I eat, they stay in the 5 -7 range. Breakfast is the only meal I seem to have to do this for, although it is also the only meal where I have cereal, albeit a tiny portion.

My other comment would be that Lizzi's granola doesn't do what it says on the packet - well not for me at least! It hits my BG very quickly and very hard. I don't know where they get the idea that its glycaemic load means it impacts your BG like 6.6g carb per 40g portion - it hits mine like the 45 - 50g carb per 100g that it actually is and it hits with the speed of refined sugar. I now use Dorset Cereals granola instead (still only 1 tablespoon), but I find that much more controllable. It is a bit higher in carbs than Lizzi's, but it seems to be much kinder to my levels. It's sweetened with honey and I think maybe I tolerate honey better than the fructose stuff that is used in Lizzi's.

Take care

Smidge
Click to expand...


Hi Smidge

Thankyou for replying. I did wonder about the low carb element but , was thinking it wouldn't really make that much impact as I am only having a tblspn , if I get the same results tomorrow I will try Dorsets, which one is it that you get? I have seen a few different ones in Tesco. I can't face a cooked breakfast on a morning while I am rushing around getting ready for work so cereal is my favourite. I have noticed though that every cereal that I assumed would be ok (Bran flakes being the worst, then weetabix) has put me very high. I wonder what the lowest carb cereal is?

Thanks again
Karen
 
Hello there, may I join your thread?

Breakfast cereals notoriously have a lot of added sugar. Especially expensive 'health' cereals like Dorsets and Jordans.

I'd go with a plain supermarket own brand wheat bisk or wheat flakes or rice flakes if you're going to be having wheat product anyway. I've learned to appreciate the taste of cardboard lol Still, check the box. Kelloggs are sneaky and add a crapload of sugar to their bran flakes. You'll get used to the flavour of an ungraded no added sugar one, I promise.

I'm lactose intolerant and I find my milk substitutes are often lower in sugar but of course there are varieties sweetened with fruit juice so watch out.

Question here... Why is it that when I test at like 3/4 am or after alcohol my levels are a nice number like in the 5s, about the same on waking but a few times I've tested right before breakfast and it's gone up to 7s before I've eaten anything? It's not like they are bad but it is first thing in the morning and I always wake up queasy...
 
noblehead said:
If your bg stays the same throughout the morning without food and QA insulin then your breakfast ratio's are all wrong, try the same low-carb breakfast tomorrow but increase your dose by 2 units.

Bolus timing can often help, although the insulin I inject (novorapid) is meant to be a fast-acting insulin I find injecting 10-20 minutes before food almost eliminates postprandial spikes, it gives the insulin a head start before your food begins to digest...although you do have to be careful if the meal contains a lot of fat.
Click to expand...

Hi

An update from yesterday:

Today I injected two extra units and had my injection 20 mins before the exact same breakfast

1hr pp 10.0 2hr pp 7.9! Thankyou for the advice, it certainly has made a significant difference to my readings this morning! :clap: Fingers crossed this continues

Karen
 
LittleWolf said:
Hello there, may I join your thread?

Breakfast cereals notoriously have a lot of added sugar. Especially expensive 'health' cereals like Dorsets and Jordans.

I'd go with a plain supermarket own brand wheat bisk or wheat flakes or rice flakes if you're going to be having wheat product anyway. I've learned to appreciate the taste of cardboard lol Still, check the box. Kelloggs are sneaky and add a crapload of sugar to their bran flakes. You'll get used to the flavour of an ungraded no added sugar one, I promise.

I'm lactose intolerant and I find my milk substitutes are often lower in sugar but of course there are varieties sweetened with fruit juice so watch out.

Question here... Why is it that when I test at like 3/4 am or after alcohol my levels are a nice number like in the 5s, about the same on waking but a few times I've tested right before breakfast and it's gone up to 7s before I've eaten anything? It's not like they are bad but it is first thing in the morning and I always wake up queasy...
Click to expand...

Hi littlewolf, welcome :D

Thanks for the advice, I am almost out of the Lizzies so was trying to establish what to buy next, I don't actually enjoy the taste that much and would far prefer two weetabix. Maybe I will spend half an hour in the cereal aisle at Tesco at lunch trying to analyse the sugar/carb content lol.

My numbers are very similar to yours through the night, which is why it is so annoying to wake up much higher only a couple of hours later. Many people have referenced the dawn phenomenom...there are quite a few threads about it on here. I don't know why you would feel queasy though sorry :?

Karen
 
Just be careful... With todays readings if you had been 7.0 with your levels would have sunk too low.

Keep monitoring...i would do it every hour just to see how low you may go...
 
Pleased it helped Karen :thumbup:
 
kareeta said:
Hi Smidge

Thankyou for replying. I did wonder about the low carb element but , was thinking it wouldn't really make that much impact as I am only having a tblspn , if I get the same results tomorrow I will try Dorsets, which one is it that you get? I have seen a few different ones in Tesco. I can't face a cooked breakfast on a morning while I am rushing around getting ready for work so cereal is my favourite. I have noticed though that every cereal that I assumed would be ok (Bran flakes being the worst, then weetabix) has put me very high. I wonder what the lowest carb cereal is?

Thanks again
Karen
Click to expand...

Hi Karen,

Glad to see from your later post that increasing the dose and taking it earlier has helped for you. The Dorset Cereal granola is called Honey Granola and it is in a yellow box. It has no refined sugar, but obviously honey and the cereal itself is high carb (51g carb per 100g). I literally have only 15g of it on top of my yoghurt and raspberries. I jab 2.5 units Apidra for 50g raspberries (3g carb), 75g Total yoghurt (3g carb), 15g Dorset granola (7.5g carb) - so about 13.5g carb total. If I have only the raspberries and yoghurt I only need to jab 1 unit. So that tiny amount of cereal has a big impact. I guess I should quit cereal altogether, but I really don't want to!

Smidge
 
Karen good to hear your numbers are down!!! Thanks for your response too!

Unfortunately mine are up. 9.4 this morning after 10 hours fasting went down to 6.7 a couple hours later. I gave breakfast a miss. I think I've noticed if I am up all night Ive woken up to upper 5s and higher if I actually slept through the night.. Like last night :/

But yup, I'd take the extra half hour to look at the back of all the cereal!

Those luxury brands are doused in honey to make them luxurious and tastiful. You can't go wrong with plain all bran all the way and adding your own things to it but you can control the exact carb content of maybe some fruit added or shaking xylitol on bran flakes to make frosted flakes lol




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