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Can't keep my blood sugar down!

JimmyCassidy

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Went to doctors on wed to get something for the constant headaches I'd been having the few days prior, long story short I ended up walking out with a letter to go straight to a&e with suspected type 1
Got out on good Friday and have been having trouble keeping my blood sugar down, lowest was sat morning(5.6) and highest sat at noon(20.2) all I ate for breakfast was a bowl of shreddies and a slice of whole grain toast.it's averaging around 14-15 since I've been out.
It's quite frustrating as I have been very careful with what I'm eating, eating at regular times etc.
I'm injecting insulin according to a sliding scale they gave me but I think I eat more than the average man which makes me think maybe I should be taking more insulin? I'm 6"1' and 12 stone(normally between 12.5 and 13 according to the time of year as I play foot ball but have lost a bit of weight due to the diabetes)so no issues with weight and the amount I eat, I must have a high metabolism or something along those lines!
Also haven't been drinking as much water as I normally would because I'm out of routine due to holidays, would this be a factor?
Another factor could be I haven't been very active again due to holidays and was told to take it easy.
I took all this in my stride at the start because I thought it would be no bother as I consider myself reasonably active/athletic and eat relatively well and have the will power to stay away from the bad foods as I've done it for periods of time on many occasions before.

Posting on here due to the Easter holidays and can't get in touch with my diabetic clinic to Wednesday, any thoughts advice greatly appreciated

Thanks

Jimmy
 
Hi & welcome.
What would your normal days meals be?
Shreddies & bread are both carby & will send glucose up high especially together, so if most your meals are carby/starchy that may account for the high readings your getting.
I'm sure a T1 will be along as I'm T2 but sugar/carbs & starch are our enemy whether T1 or T2.
 
Yes, meals would be quite carby, but I thought the shreddies and whole grain bread would be o.k, the dietician in the hospital told me as they were complex carbs take longer to break into sugar so shouldn't be worried about eating them,I've been reducing carbs in my meals and eating more meat, veg etc to replace...I'm probably being impatient, its only my 3rd day on my own and I'm sure trial and error will help me find out what way my body reacts different foods...
 
Try to go to lunch time without food.. Effectively giving yourself a basal test....
Try to test at least every 2 hours ( preferably hourly from 6am) through to midday.
If you go lowish (under 5.0) then you must eat aprrox 15g of carb immediately.
This will determine if you have liver dump causing you dawn phenomenen in the mornings.
From these results and other results further in the day it will be posdible to deem your insulin needs better.

Best to test every 2 hours at the moment and keep eating 5 hours apart. This will help to see whether your basal or bolus is wrong.

It is early days, so don't beat yourself up. You will get lower and better readings soon. Don't panic. Honest.
 
Yes keep cutting the carbs etc, maybe look at going low carb higher fat as may do & you should see a big diffo in your numbers.
I'm sure the Nhs want to kill us off with the eat well plate thing, it just makes things worse over time especially for T2's.
It's people that live with it every day & have it under control the really know what's best. So read around & you will soon be under far better control.
 
Are you counting carbs? And did you weigh your cereal? I have cereal basically every day, but I always weigh it as it's quite carb-dense so doing it by eye would probably lead to high sugars.

When I was first diagnosed, I only had a sliding scale while they were sorting my blood sugars out over the first day or two. I then saw a dietician and the consultant and was given amounts of carbs for each meal (based on what I ate normally) and what insulin dose to have for each meal.

It could very well be that you need more insulin BUT proceed with extreme caution. If I were you, I'd leave my insulin as it was, keep detailed records of my food (carbs), insulin and blood sugar, and seek advice from a diabetes specialist after the Bank Holiday. That way they could see how your sugars were going and could offer advice.

Good luck. The first weeks are hard so don't panic. It takes time to get things even approaching right.
 
Yes, counting carbs but not weighing, the cereal was approx 80g.
Yeah, that's my plan, I've downloaded an app and logging all food with approx weights, all my bloods and all my insulin I've taken according to the scale they gave me, hopefully get to see someone later in the week and get some advice...I know it's the lack of knowledge/experience but to me at the minute there's nothing as frustrating as thinking I've done everything right and the blood monitor throwing out a high number at me!!
 
Rather than a nibble at food .
I 'do' drink plenty of water - this can help get and keep blood sugars down .

Notice you ask this question in your OP @JimmyCassidy
 
80g of Shreddies is a fair size portion. Not that that would matter normally, but with diabetes sometimes I've found that there's almost a 'maximum' number of carbs I can have because it sometimes seems that if I have too many the insulin just can't handle it, even though I've calculated the dose correctly. So with that, the milk, and your bread that would work out as quite a few carbs. I tend to stick to the suggested portion sizes for cereal if they're ones that put my sugars up. I used to have both cereal and toast for breakfast, but that seemed like too many carbs for my body to handle so I cut out the toast.

With the cereals I have, I've experimented with insulin doses and portion amounts ( all weighed in grammes) and now I have a repertoire of cereals I can choose from ( a different portion weight for each) which I know wont mess up my blood sugar. Indent like to think too much in the morning!

I weigh all my carbs - cereal, bread, pasta, rice, etc - to make sure I'm calculating the amount of carbs correctly. If I didn't do that, my sugars would probably be all over the place. It's a lot of work to start with, but now I know how much of each to have and how much insulin I need for each meal. I used to have a little book that I wrote my meals down in when I was first diagnosed because I found it a struggle. That sounds mad or fussy, but it worked for me, and my HbA1C results have always been very good. Unfortunately, diabetes is a lot of work. Tedious but necessary.
 
And just to add, don't beat yourself up about your sugars. When I first came out of hospital, I did everything right too but still didn't get the results I wanted. It took me a while to realise that there's no magic answer, no magic dose that they can just give you, you do that, and you're fine. One size most definitely doesn't fit all, and you and your team will gradually work out what suits you best as an individual.

I was young and naive and thought that by doing what the doctors said, I'd be fine, but diabetes doesn't work like that. I soon realised the aim wasn't to follow some particular scheme to the letter, but to monitor, record and react in order to get the best results.

It's early days for you yet. You sound very switched on so I'm sure you'll be fine : )
 
Hi and welcome. Yes, 80gm for breakfast is too high really. The dietician was right to say complex cabrs are absorbed more slowly but he should also have said that they are still absorbed and therefore the amount of insulin needed in total is the same as simple carbs. I assume you are on the Basal/Bolus regime (two insulins). As things settle the first prioity is to get the Basal right. I don't want to conflict with any advice you currently have but in a stable situation one target is to achieve a fasting blood sugar between 5 to 7mmol. Some DNs might set a higher level but that was what I was told by my good DN. Adjusting is easy if you are on one injection of Basal a day but a bit more difficult if you inject that twice daily. Changes should only be made 1 unit at a time leaving a day or two between. The Bolus 'ratio' you will find out from experience based on testing 2 hours after a meal and working out your typical ratio needed. In summary don't let anything I have said conflict with the NHS advice at this time as I'm sure they have a short term plan.
 
Jimmy what insulin's are you using, you do have be careful when reducing the amount of carbs in your meals unless you don't reduce your insulin accordingly.
 
I'm on novarapid, and have a sliding scale, I do my blood before each meal and set does accordingly, eg for reading between 9.1-11.0 I take 6 units, and my long acting insulin is Levimer, 12 units at night.
I'll be off all week and back at work after then, I'm an early starter, up @ 06:00 or even before it so I'd say that will come into the mix because I will eat an extra meal between breakfast and lunch, and will be a lot more active, no manual labour but at the same time not stuck at a desk all day, will cover a lot of ground on my feet throughout the day.
Thanks for all the input, not feeling just as frustrated about the whole situation now.
 
@JimmyCassidy, on Tuesday morning ring your hospital diabetes clinic up and ask to speak with a DSN, if they are busy they should get back to you sometime during the day, just keep a detailed bg diary and tell them what results you've been getting, they will advise thereafter, although it is early days yet and it will take time to get your bg levels under control and stable.
 
Hi @JimmyCassidy
welcome to the forum
with a diagnosis only a few days ago most important is to remember this race is a marathon -- not a sprint !
take it 1 day at a time and don't beat yourself up about test results.

here is a must read for all insulin dependent diabetics.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Like-Pancreas-Practical-Insulin-Completely/dp/0738215147

as noblehead said above -- do ring the hospital and speak to a DSN - and keep a record of all your test results , insulin doses and what foods and quantities you have eaten -- this will assist them to help you in these early weeks.
 
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