bg suddenly goes up after months of being around same levels

[Mommayorkie]

Hi, I was diagnosed before last xmas as type 2 borderline after over a year of dithering by my doctor.. fasting blood sugars were around the 7-7.6 mark.they stayed around that though did go less on 2/3 occasions. im on diet only and would prefer to stay off tabs if i can for as long as i can as im 70 years old and seem to get side effects from most new tabs i get put on for a vast number of conditions that have occurred mostly in the last 4-5 years.(and counting). i am on asthma/COPD meds and blood thinners along with lanzaprazole and gaviscon advance for reflux among others. those are mostly long term and dont seem to affect my bloods. about 2 weeks ago, i had hayfever very bad due to rapeseed that flowered right behind my bungalow (never had it there before in the 15 years ive lived here), was put on a 5 day course of prednisolone and a new anti histamine.(the latter gave side effects after 8 days..palpitations so now only take when i need a stronger one than my usual one.). 3 days after finishing the steroids and the start of extremely hot weather my fasting bloods suddenly went to 9.9. and my feet/ankles swelled up. having had swollen feet before after having steroids i didnt take much notice of that but the bloods worried me. i had had 2 milk shakes the day before around teatime (1pint in all.) 2 medium banana,pint semiskimmed milk and 1 dessertsp runny honey (the latter i had been told did not push your blood sugars up plus i read it online too.) it made 2pints altogether so finished the 2nd lot off at breakfast the next day,. thinking that my body should get rid of the sugar by next morning. it didnt. went to 10.6 fasting. tried having strawberries. just enough to cover my hand as my dietician suggested with quarter of a small pot strawberry yoghurt over them. that was at teatime with 3 slices weight watchers bread and benecol margerine (my cholesterol has gone up a bit too but dont know what the count has been since i was in hosp nearly 5 years ago. so can only go on what it was them gone from 4.5-5. wont take statins as they caused a lot of side effects last time i was on them and have read a lot of stuff against them too recently.have not touched fruit since a week last weds.thats 10 days even tho i could have it sometimes in the past with no adverse effects.,. given up all my treats apart from 2 small squares of nut choc. which i always had mid evening before this event.now ive tried splitting them and having one after my lunch and one with my supper.to no avail. can still only get them down to the 8s (8.1-8.6) even though the weather has now cooled considerably.doesnt matter what i eat or when i cant get them down to what they were. i have to buy my test strips as my docs wont supply them. my monitor was a free one from this site. can anyone suggest things i can try please? im disabled. and although i can walk i have to rely on others to go with me, and have to take taxis to get to a bus station. tho going on buses anywhere pleasant to walk doesnt actually help me as it means i walk less due to back probs which are worse after riding in a bus.than if ive been taken in a taxi or car. but i am finding its costing too much now to do anything that way too often. walking round where i live is so boring and having tried doing it before it made me so depressed. never saw a soul in 6 months of doing 3 x 20 min walks with my dog.was soul destroying. any other form of exercise is out for me. i can only do some housework/. like filling washer or dryer and folding clothes. dont dust due to my breathing probs.filling dishwasher and unloading it.i dont cook as i cant stand long enough without pain. other than scrambled egg and other simple things done in microwave. used to buy wiltshire farm foods ready meals/. got too expensive so now having to rely on supermarket ready meals. (another change just over 6 weeks ago.) also changed from lurpak light butter to benecol marg about a 3 weeks ago. sorry to go on but tryin to give as much detail as i can .complicated life i know.lol.be grateful for any suggestions as to what could have gone wrong and what i can do about it.thanks for reading

 

[daisy1]

Re: bg suddenly goes up after months of being around same le

Hi Mommayorkie and welcome to the forum
I see you are prediabetic and to help you prevent the progression to full diabetes I suggest you follow the information in here which we wrote for new members. Ask all the questions you like as there are plenty of knowledgeable members who can help you.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS


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 30,000 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

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes ... rains.html

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

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.
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Please sign our e-petition for free testing for all type 2's; here's the link:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/petition/

Do get your friends and colleagues to sign as well.

 

[Mommayorkie]

Re: bg suddenly goes up after months of being around same le

Thanks daisy. what exactly IS pre-diabetic? my doc told me i was definitely a type 2, albeit near borderline.
i have read all that info. i used to eat weightwatchers wholemeal or malted when i stopped smoking. neither helped me keep weight off. i put on 1.5 stones over the next year. then one day tesco delivered me weight watchers white bread as they had none of the other in stock. i gradually lost most of that 1.5 stone. tho depends on 1. if im, on steroids2. if i am carrying water on my feet etc as to what i do weigh.varying between 12st.13lbs and 13.5lbs took over a year to get there so im reluctant to try changing back now. i do not want to put weight back on as it not only affects my diabetes but also my breathing and walking. i did change to weetabix for breakfast from rice krispies but my bowels arent as reliable since. ( too soft at times .so much so its stopped me going somewhere before now) so again reluctant to change anything else. very tempted to go back to what i was eating before this rise took place. but worried that would put cholesterol levels up further.didnt have a prob with bowels or bg being so high.would prove if it was the changes at least. i still dont know why it should go up like that all of a sudden surely it doesnt take over a wek for honey.bananas etc to be processed ? or is it the steroids? im told they can stay in your system for a long time. weeks to months. dont know how true that is.

 

[Mommayorkie]

Re: bg suddenly goes up after months of being around same le

well it must have been hot weather pushing my BS levels up. within 2 days of the weather cooling down my BS had gone back to normal limits (whats normal for me anyway. ). i then started getting bad indigestion and falling asleep within an hour of getting up and this went on all day for nearly a week.had a thought it might be my blood thinner doing it. been on it nearly 5 years now.cant swap for aspirin as that affects my breathing too.stopped the blood thinner for 3 days. on last day felt more or less back to normal apart from getting a bit of indigestion by time teatime came around. was out on the moors on a car drive at that time but a pack of crisps stopped that feeling. on friday i took a blood thinner again/ had real bad indigestion again all day/ so have left it off again yesterday and today and although feel somewhat better, by 7pm tonight was starting to get indigestion a bit again,looks like a trip to the drs is in order for that.i take lansoprazole on a morning ,recently upped to 30mg from 15 after a change of brand by the chemist started me off having probs. those probs calmed down on the new dose coupled with the gaviscon advance i take at night for the reflux.whats caused these new probs all of a sudden i dont know. or why it should after all this time if it is the blood thinner
i have been experimenting this last few days.i know as a pre-diabetic (doc says im definitely type 2 and also says i dont need to test but have been told on here im still only pre-diabetic) i dont need to test after meals etc. but i was curious.
today my Fasting BS was 5.2.(usually around the 7-7.6 mark) i wanted to get a shower later,after my dog walker had been... i am elderly and disabled and cant take him much myself now as he causes my asthma/COPD to kick in with more breathlessness.and cant walk very far at all now anyway. he needs longer walks than i can give him so he has 3 walkers over the course of a week.)
out of curiosity i took my BS before getting in shower. this was 2 hours after my breakfast. BS was 9.6, breakfast was same as always. 2 weetabix.semi skimmed milk ,2 digestive biscuits (without which i would be hungry long before lunch time) and mug of weak coffee made with skimmed milk.my dietician suggested i had weetabix but as once before i am now starting to get indigestion later in day so thinking of going back to rice krispies as felt fine on those though wasnt testing then.
after my shower, which took 15 minutes.and is a form of exercise to me as i cant exercise very much and it does get me out of breath, i took my BS again/.it was 11.2, took it again 30 mins later but still before lunch and it was 9.4.
3 hours after lunch it was 7.8 . havent taken it since tea.
but why would it go up so far within the time of my shower?
i also suffer from acid reflux so cant take acid drinks,or fruit (all but berries seem to affect my bowels anyway. can eat the odd banana but know have to be careful with them,).can eat some berries but have to watch the seeds.not keen on tea as it leaves nasty dry taste in my mouth. refuse to drink the local tap water with all the bits it has in it.drink soda water or sparkling spring water.cant drink the still .that also isnt very nice. tried herbal teas. not keen on them either cant drink squashes or pure fruit juices as all are either citrus or have to much sugar in them/ to make a small glass of fruit juice in my blender from berries it would require more than the handful of berries im allowed in order for it to work and im darned if i have a clue how to do it. would have to pass it thru muslin cloth to get seeds out of blueberries (which i do like) and other berries.could i add soda water to give it a bit more kick? blending soda water with the fruit i suspect would get rid of the fizz. maybe wrong there tho.ideas for drinks and for meals that can be done in microwave too and take only 5-10 mins at most with no veg chopping/ as cant stand up to cook for longer than that and cant chop veg,
tall orders i know but ideas welcome please.