Blood Sugar Control ?

[RichardNY]

Hi all,

I am still fairly new to all this and to be honest I am still a little confused about what constitutes good blood sugar management and a normal (or as near normal as possible) blood sugar level. I was diagnosed as T2 and registered here at the beginning of August. I have been using my meter to test what I eat (pre and post meal) and also to take morning and evening readings along with readings after exercising.

My morning readings vary between 5 and 6.7 with most in the high 5's or low 6's and during the day depending on what I eat my post meal readings vary from 4.4 to 6.2 with the majority being around the mid to high 5's at the 90min to 2hr mark.

Like most I have found I cannot eat bread, pasta or off the shelf cereals (fruit and fibre sending me into the high 7's) and obtain my lowest readings after eating basically any type of meat, fish, egg and certain veg combo's. (that's if I ignore my readings I take after exercising)

Exercise always pushes my blood sugar levels down and I have hit a few 3.7's but had no 'hypo' symptoms. Usually after a few miles walk I tend to be around the mid to high 4's.

I have changed things considerably over the last few weeks and have learnt an awful lot but am a little confused as to wether this is good management or if it fluctuates too much ?

Are fluctuations like this to be expected ?

On a brighter note since the changes I have more energy and more get up and go and my neuropathy is only a very occasional thing; pre-diagnosis it was 24/7 hardly notice it at all now.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

All the best and a good week to all.

 

[sugarless sue]

Sounds like you are getting good control ,Richard, well done ! Blood sugar numbers will always fluctuate during the day because of various things such as activity , temperature , etc.

 

[fergus]

Those are fantastic figures Richard, particularly your post-meal numbers. You may have a wee bit of a dawn phenomenon thing going on which elevates your morning bg's.
'Normal' is probably around 5 for both bg and HbA1c in non-diabetics (perhaps just a little lower if we're being picky). Yours are way lower than the UK average and pretty **** close to non-diabetic.

All the best,

fergus

 

[RichardNY]

Thanks for the replies, you just can't get better than a bit of advice and reassurance from people 'living it'. To be honest this site has been of tremendous help ... I hate to think where I would have been if I had followed the dietary advice I was 'officially' given. Just about every 'good' food type I was told sends my blood sugars over the high 7's and further out.

I was going to post the following under a new topic but am going to leave it here in this post's context as it is probably an inflammatory topic and really just relates to my own situation and experience so far. It's a ever so slight little bit of a 'dig' at the dietary advice given by Diabetes UK. Why have a go at them ? well ... on diagnosis the Diabetes UK site (DUK) and it's dietary advice is referred to recommended and oft quoted as the official source of dietary advice for diabetics.
...

A lot of people are very gracious and respectful of DUK and put in very polite terms how their dietary advice lets them down (DUK being the officially 'pushed' source of newly diagnosed diabetics. I count myself extremely lucky that my GP mentioned this site.). I on the other hand being newly diabetic and now getting to grips with the disease am far less gracious and speak very plainly about what I have found to work and not work for me. Their (DUK's) dietary advice is a disgrace a shambles and is intrinsically a diet by design that will promote consistent high blood sugar levels leading to progressive ill health and complications, a greater dependence on a fundamentally floored support system that is an emotional and financial burden on everyone.

To be very blunt Diabetes UK like to promote themselves as Diabetic Specialists but me I refer to them as Not A Diabetic Specialist or NADS for short as they speak a lot of ********. Again I stress this is from my point of view as a newly diagnosed T2 and DUK's dietary advice. Some may be wondering why I hold them in such contempt ... simply put there is no way on earth that if I had followed their advice I would be getting on top of my situation now. My meter results, my body and my general well being tells me this ... but then again I truly am Not A Diabetic Specialist, perhaps I am talking ******** too ? Only time, my meter results and my HbA1c will tell. As for DUK ... well ... like most ducks they eat bread make a lot of noise and **** in the water! Okay that last sentence was childish and needs reviewing much like Diabetes UK's dietary advice. :mrgreen:

That's my rant over.
As ever a great week to all and the best of health.

 

[hanadr]

You are obviously what the Americans call a "quick study". you've come a long way FAST
If you are interested, I found the following information( with some difficulty)
Normal Blood glucose for non-diabetics 3.5mmol/l to 5.5mmol/l rarely does it go up as far as 8
Normal Hba1c for non-diabetics. Average 5.1%; desirable probably 4.5%
All these numbers are MUCH lower than the targets set for diabetics. Which to me is a nonsense.
I also discovered why high targets were originally set for diabetics. Unsurprisingly :? it's got nothing to do with health care. It was decided by a committee of American doctors that labelling someone as "Diabetic" damaged their employment and health insurance chances. Thus all markers were set High.
No-one ever checked to see if these targets were conducive to improved Health. :twisted:
I agree on your opinion of DUK's dietary advice. I go to their meetings and put the feline among the flying rats a number of times a year and I know that some of their people agree with me. Sadly NOT the policy makers
Howeveer they DO some good work.
If you need travel insurance, help with a difficult employer,driving license sorting out. Group support for diabetic children,they are there and VERY good.
Hana