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Blood sugar levels

dabbit

dabbit

Active Member
Messages
43
Location
Suffolk
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Bullying, vegetables
OK I admit my diet isn't that of lettuce sandwiches made of brown bread and no butter, but I do find the Diabetes UK guidelines of (not sure if they are the exact amounts):
  • * Between 4-6
    * And no more than 10 after meals
Unrealistic?

My hb1ac has risen from 7.4 to 7.6 although everything else has remained stable. Personally I cannot eat a meal without my BG's going over 10? Does anyone manage to stay within the ranges they suggest?

Where am I going wrong?
 
Not sure where those figures are from that you got from DUK as here on DCUK we always refer to the 2010 NICE guidelines for a Type 2 as here:

Fasting (waking) ............between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals............no more than 8.5 mmol/l. ( 9 if a Type 1)
If you can keep the post prandial (post meal) numbers down lower then so much the better.

It is possible that your diet may not be suitable for you and also that your Insulin dosage may need adjustment. Something you may need to discuss with your HCP.

Can you perhaps tell us something about your daily food intake, might help us to help you ?
 
I also think knowing the type of insulin regime you're on will make a big difference to any help people may be able to offer.
 
Hi dabbit

my bg lvl's when first diagnosed T2,Nov 09 were up in the 30+ range, but now due to medication, and the low carb diet I am now on, I can say that my lvl's are in the acceptable range and very seldom go into double fgures.
Have a good look around the low carb diet section on here for some recipes that I have found extremely helpfull.
 
Dabbit

The nature of insulin unfortunately is such that sometimes spikes in BG cant be avoided
Even with attempts at better timing and such like then yes I do see double figures (NEVER a good experience for me - waaah, just take my kidneys now!!)

I do eat a fairly lowish carb diet -dinner is rarely more than 30g tops, brekkie is 10g and even with correct units of insulin it does spike. I try as much as possible to keep good levels but being too low at the 2 hour point means hypos for some at 3 hours so its a balancing act

Medics are quite happy to have you hit 10 at 1 hour as they dont think it can be avoided. however, I wont tell you what I think about THAT!
 
I eat a varied diet so it is difficult to give you exact specific meals, but today for example I am having pasta with ham and cheese. Tomorrow we are out and will eat out. Thursday I will probably have fish and oven chips. WHile yesterday I had jacket potato with beans and cheese.

My insulin is human insulin and I take it twice daily, I am on metformin (was 3 a day, yesterday increased to 2 x twice a day). I take other medicine including thyroxine, pravastatin, aspirin, amatriptyline (low dose for nerve pain), Losartan, and co codomol.
 
hya,
a lot of the foods u have are full of carbs so that is why u are getting the spikes, obviously if u wish to eat those you may be better being on a basal bolus so u can inject at every meal and cover for the food you eat :D hope this helps
 
Hi Dabbit :)

I am not surprised that you find the guidelines unrealistic or that you are having spikes when you are eating so much carbohydrate.

Many of us have had to cut out the pasta, potatoes of all kinds, rice, porridge, bread etc precisely for that reason. Things like beans and pulses of all kinds also spike me at the moment - but butter is fine as is cheese.

If I have a sandwich I have to use large Romaine lettuce leaves to hold the filling because using bread just takes my bg levels to the skies and I have found that the lettuce works well for me.

Do you have a Carb Counter book? I use the one produced by Collins gem which is pocket sized and gives a wide range of food values. There are many others but this one is only £3.99 and does the job.

You really need to test to find out for yourself how the carbs affect your body as you will not be the same as anyone else. You are unique!

I wonder what advice you were given because if it was to eat plenty of starchy carbohydrate when your pancreas is not working properly it is just asking for trouble. :roll:
 
The problem with twice daily insulins ( I assume its a biphasic or pre mixed insulin.. sorry if thats wrong ignore the rest) is that you need match your meal times and carbs to the peaks in the insulin.
With any insulin, If you change your diet then you need to do it gradually, testing carefully and giving time to see how adjustments pan out. With less carbs you may reduce the spikes but you may also go hypo later if the insulin isn't properly adjusted.
I think this is a useful leaflet on adjusting twice daily insulin but please talk to your nurse/doc if you're not used to making your own adjustments.
http://taysidedn.dundee.ac.uk/Docum...-Adjustment-for-Twice-Daily-Mixed-Insulin.pdf

It is a very good idea to get an idea of the carbs in your meals, weighing the stachy carbs, it's surprising how much potatoes and pasta weigh. This will give you some more information to help you decide what to do. Also if you eat widely different amounts of carbs on different days it makes it very difficult to see patterns in your blood test results.

There are regimes that are easier to adjust, and more flexible and it might be worth discussing this with your nurse/doctor.
 
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