BG Basic Questions

[Ian in Cheltenham]

I'm new to this having been diagnosed as having diabetes last Friday after ano vernight fast result of 11. I bought my self a meter and started testing myself, perhaps a little randomly, this week but did manage some first thing in the morning readings and and before and after meals.
They haven't look too bad - within the NICE reccomendations. However.....
this morning I had a first thing reading of 6.8 then had a breakfast of a cup of tea (no sugar) , boiled egg and half a multigrain bagel. Two hours later the reading was 10.1. I presume this means that I would have done better without the bagel.
Is been a bit of a odd week as the stress of diagnosis and put me well and truly off food and I'd be surprised if on any day this week I have had more than 800 - 900 calories. Quite a few missed breakfasts in there.
Am I am being over optimistic at hoping to control my BG so soon?
Fortunately my overall cholesterol is 3, although within that the HDL/LDL ratio is not correct. my lipds are 1. My BP is however too high 169 over 90.
Any comments welcome.
Ian

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Hi Ian, many people find that they are at their most sensitive to carbs first thing in the morning so that even a small amount of carbs for breakfast are harder to tolerate than at times. I found exactly the same and still do to a degree, but once I had lost weight and had my bg levels under control I found I was able to tolerate a slightly higher carb breakfast.

You could try swapping the bagel for a slice of Burgen bread which some diabetics find they are able to eat in small amounts, if that still raises your bg levels then obviously look for something else, scrambled eggs and grilled bacon for example.

Try not to miss breakfast as this too can raise your bg levels as without some food to work with your body will compensate and ask your liver to release glucose into your blood stream, so regular meals are important especially whilst you are gaining control of your levels.


Hope this helps

 

[Terminator 2]

Am I am being over optimistic at hoping to control my BG so soon?

Well maybe a tad, its very early days and like myself you'll be in learning mode, the bagel was today's lesson. You'll make adjustments to your diet / lifestyle and you'll find your BG results will become lower and consistently hovering in a lower tighter range without the spikes.

Looking back at my charted BG results its plain to see there's now a level of 'control' so keep a chart/log of sorts, lets you reflect on the bigger picture, instead of getting bogged down with a bad day. :wink:

 

[Dougie22]

I think you can move from totally unhealthy diet to a reasonable diet very quickly, and so get your test numbers down to good levels early on, but then you have to settle in for the long haul.

I was lucky and diagnosed at quite an early stage. I got my numbers down in the first few weeks but I wasn't able to sustain the effort for the longer term.

Since then, I've been using my meter to find out what various foods do to me and how much of a problem slipping off the wagon causes. This (slipping off) is my biggest problem at the moment, not knowledge thanks to this forum and a lot of testing.

Don't let any of what I've said dampen your enthusiasm, though. You're obviously doing really well in these ctritical early weeks. Build on this with a bit of record keeping and you are well on your way to understanding and control.