Blood sugar can't lower it

Robertpeck said:

my blood sugar has never been in single figures average around 23-24 sometimes as high as 32 lowest around 15 I'm currently on 3x slow release metformin a day and 1 liniglipyin in a morning I've never any energy craving sweat things at night like crazy and drinking water constantly

Click to expand...

Hi Robert. What sorts of things are you eating and drinking, as they can have a significant effect on our blood scores? Could you give us an indication of what you might eat in a day?

You must be feeling awful at those levels Try swapping your breakfast of porridge to bacon and eggs, chicken salad instead of chicken wraps, snack on nuts not fruit, and use cauliflower rice not regular rice for your dinner. You need to dramatically reduce the carbs to reduce the blood sugar. Best of luck.

Hi @Robertpeck

How long have you been diagnosed? Can you tell us a little more about your diagnosis, your weight/BMI, etc?

Has your doctor ruled out adult-onset Type 1?

Let me tag @daisy1 for you as she has some useful basic information

Robertpeck said:

Porridge for breakfast reasonable portion of blueberry and banana or apple as snacks at work either egg or chicken wraps for lunch sometimes accompanied with chips water occasional coffee all day for drinks and a home made meal for tea chicken rice peppers onions etc cottage pie and usually a pack of cookies as I'm drained and craving like my life depends on it

Click to expand...

I assume you are Type 2? Those levels are quite high. What does your dr or diabetic nurse say about them?

Try cutting down the carbohydrates as that's what the body is having problems dealing with.

Omelette for breakfast is quick and easy

Try nuts or berries for a snack - banana and apple have a fair quantity of fruit sugar

Boiled egg or chicken drumstick for lunch with a bit of salad - or replace the wrap with lettuce leaves

Stir fry rather than rice with the chicken

Just some ideas

Will tag @daisy1 who will come along with some info for you

@Robertpeck With unexplained weight loss and very high blood sugars, I'd want Type 1 ruled out. It can come on more slowly in adults and sometimes adults with diabetes are wrongly assumed to be Type 2 when they're actually Type 1.

This happens more often than you'd think. It might not be the case for you but I'd want reassurance if it was me and to know for sure.

If you want to lower your blood sugars, you need to cut out food high in carbohydrates. That means cut out breakfast cereals, bread, potatoes, rice and pasta. Fruit juice is high in sugar so should be avoided. Also some fruit such as bananas and grapes are hight in sugar, so should also be avoided. See https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb for foods low in carbohydrates and recipe ideas for what is good to eat if you are diabetic.

Avoid biscuits, cakes and chocolate. If you do want some chocolate, try a couple of squares of Lindt 90% chocolate occasionally.

Whatever type you are, your blood sugars are high so push for help and support to get them down. No wonder you're feeling so rough with sugars like that.

Hi @Robertpeck welcome to the forum. I used to eat a large bowl of oats until I had a non-starving blood test which was in double figures although my HbA1c was much lower. If you start the day with an omelette instead you may find that you don't need the snacks. Instead of the cookies try a plate of different cheeses, there are so many to choose from, I like a little Harlech cheese (cheddared cheese with horseradish). The fats will help you to feel full although the high level of carbs you are eating at the moment will make you want to continue with your current diet and cravings. Your body is trying to get rid of the excess sugars from the carbs through excretion, hence the thirst. Please have your type of diabetes checked by your doctor but in the meantime try to reduce the amount of carbs you are eating.

If you had ketones on diagnosis, if you're brother is type 1 (there's something genetic about type 1, if you've got a first degree relative with type 1, your chances of getting type 1 increase) and you have had untried for weight loss that does point to type 1 as a very strong possibility. Ask for referral to an endocrinologist to investigate what type of diabetes you have with a cpeptide test and a GAD test.

If you can't get that you can get antibody testing via the trial net study - http://www.bristol.ac.uk/clinical-sciences/research/diabetes/research/trialnet/

Symptoms of hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar) include:

• Excessive thirst
• Excessive urination
• Hunger - in particular cravings for sugar (if all of the sugar is sitting in your blood and not getting into the cells to create energy then your body thinks you must have forgotten to eat the sugar that it needs)
• Weight loss
• Exhaustion

So if you can try and get blood sugar down by reducing carbs it's worth a go. But it would be important to get type 1 investigated.

You will find that lowering blod glucose levels should give you more energy, a greater ability to cope and more mental resilience.
The foods you are eating are probably responsible for those high numbers - wraps, porridge, potatoes all packed with carbs, apple and banana high in sugar as well as starch.
It night be quite a shock if you were to drop all of them at once - but I would advise an imediate reduction - use your meter to track progress and that will hopefully inspire you to keep on with the process.

Robertpeck said:

My energy levels are shocking I've also Been diagnosed to carry the thalasemia trait to not dangerous but my body can't absorb any iron hence low energy levels but the last few months I've been feeling depression anxiety stress to the max with a lot going of in my life as it is stress at work child care stress my oldest son coming to live with me I'm feeling like committing myself to the mental institute for a break slight exaggerated but still at the back of my mind lol I guess when I was diagnosed I didn't take it seriously I was over weight and drank to deal with stress which I don't any more, thanks for the advice also guys n gals much appreciated

Click to expand...

try to get your numbers of grams of carbs down on a daily basis, try to eat a breakfast without carbs this will help you a lot, ; eat like bacon and eggs (NO BREAD ) or ham and egg with a little mustard , or an avocado with sour cream , or full fat greek yoghurt with just a little berries.

https://authoritynutrition.com/18-low-carb-breakfast-recipes/

http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/en...cle_4d66e329-6513-571a-80d8-634b2fc3d53c.html

you want to be healthy so of cause you will change your eating style and soon measure much lower numbers of blood glucose, you can do that, dont tell yourself you can´t and stay in here for support and sharing of experiences , this is a great place for help and support,
try to start with not eating more than 100 grams of carbs a day...
as meals in between eat nuts and pork scratching or cherry tomatoes .cucumber sticks .... or coco nuts and maybe pepsi max or another sugarfree drink if you miss the sweet taste very much

http://fitlife.tv/who-needs-mashed-potatoes-try-this-instead-original/?t=SNCHH


maybe learn to make low carb treats that really taste fine like these :

https://www.lowcarblab.com/best-low-carb-ice-cream-recipes/

http://www.diabeticconnect.com/diabetic-recipes/general/2341-flourless-brownies

CathP said:

You must be feeling awful at those levels Try swapping your breakfast of porridge to bacon and eggs, chicken salad instead of chicken wraps, snack on nuts not fruit, and use cauliflower rice not regular rice for your dinner. You need to dramatically reduce the carbs to reduce the blood sugar. Best of luck.

Click to expand...

I've discovered quinoa recently, an excellent substitute for carbs and very versatile.

Delbut497 said:

I've discovered quinoa recently, an excellent substitute for carbs and very versatile.

Click to expand...

I believe quinoa has a similar amount of carbs to pasta, so not really a good substitute.

Thanks for the feedback. Quinoa seems to work for me, but then I'm still on the learning curve so all feedback is welcome. Would that also apply to wholegrain rice?

The effect of GI seems to vary from person to person but in general it's the carb content that makes the difference. The Carbs and Cal's book was my bible when I started LCHF, it shows photographs of portions with carb content.

Welcome to the forum @Robertpeck

I'm in the US so converted your weight and glucose levels: 224 pounds (16 stone), 432 mg/dL (24 mmol/l)

You're receiving feedback from two perspectives: Type 1 or 1.5 (LADA) and Type 2. What you're describing could be due to either type of diabetes. It's in your best interest to request a referral to rule out type 1 or 1.5 (LADA) by requesting a C-peptide test and a GAD antibody test to rule out type 1.

Learn more here... http://www.diabetes.co.uk/c-peptide-test.html and here... http://www.diabetes.co.uk/gad-antibody-test.html

I understand your confusion. You're eating normally, yet your glucose levels are very high despite taking medication. It doesn't make sense.

Well, what you're eating is not normal for someone who has severe insulin resistance, commonly associated with Type 2, sometimes with Type 1 or 1.5 too.

Many type 2 diabetics come here to learn about the low carbohydrate diet and are able to significantly bring down their glucose levels within weeks. I started with a peak afternoon glucose level of 282 mg/dl. It took me 4 weeks and eating 30 to 40 carbs a day to bring my fasting glucose and post meal glucose levels down into the lower to mid-100's mg/dL. It likely would take you longer.

Not sure what you want to do: rule out type 1 and 1.5 diabetes and/or learn how to do the low carbohydrate diet? If you have Type 1 or Type 2, the diet will make it possible for you to use smaller amounts of injected insulin. If you have Type 2, the diet will help you to significantly reduce your glucose levels.

What do you want to do? It would be most helpful if you ask questions...

I recently supported a woman who has type 2 diabetes who had glucose levels higher than yours with starting the low carbohydrate diet. She's doing great. Can't remember how long it took her, but her daily glucose levels are now under 150 mg/dL (8.4 mmol/L) and her fasting glucose level is hovering between 95 and 110 mg/dL.