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Carb wipeout!

L

lucyunited89

Active Member
Messages
30
Hi, im type 1 diabetic and really need some help. I feel like i cant eat any carb at all. My blood sugar was 8 this morning, i ate 30g of porridge and it shot up to 17. I even gave myself the insulin 45mins before i ate. I just cant get stable blood sugars at all. Can anyone help?
 
I am a T2D so not able to help directly but posting to bunp your message.

It may help others understand the problem if you can give details of current medication, i.e. MDI? Pump? bolus and basal doses normally used. name / type of insulin used for each, etc. I assume the shot up you refer to is a reading taken some 2 hrs after the meal, which is when we normally do a post prandial. I presume no sugar with the porridge, nor added fruit or berries. Any protein sprinkles on top?

Hope you get some help soon from a fellow T1D
 
Thank you for your help. Nothing extra on porridge. Just one of those oat so simple pre portioned packs. Im using the omnipod pump with novorapid. The post meal reading was 2hrs after and my sugars did go back to normal eventually, i didnt have to give a correction dose. Just sick of spikes everytime i eat any carb. It made me paranoid it would happen again at evening meal so i took my insulin 30 mins before food and ended up hypo after eating
 
The problem is with those packs is that they are very fine oats - basically the finer the oats, the quicker it hits your bloodstream. If you are going to have porridge - go for the rough porridge - it takes longer to go through your digestive system and is therefore slower to alter your BS level.
 
Hi @lucyunited89 I agree with @Nicksu that it's the type of porridge you are eating that's spiking you as it's milled it's refined carb, try using traditional porridge oats and with full fat milk too, the fat in the milk can help avoid the spike. It is trial and error and to be honest I have low carb toast with butter for breakfast at the moment, some days I don't spike above 9 and others I can travel up to 12-14 before coming back down in time for lunch.
 
Just using this morning as an example to my swinging blood sugars. Dont actually like porridge all that much so dont usually bother with it. It just happens with any carbs i eat at all. I knew that the porridge had some added sugar thats why i had the insulin 45mins early
 
I found that the cuppa-porridge v, covenient, but they spiked me too. I found that the Aldi Harvest Morn range to be less problematic but nowadays I have a fried breakfast instead.

My buddy is a T1D on a pump, and he gets constrictions in his cannula and choosing a site is not always a simple task. He double checks these when he gets spikes or high results. But I have to say that his bgl fluctuates wildly, and he finds it difficult to manage well. To him a reading of 20 or above is seen quite often, and his surprise when I report my bgl has gone above 6 as a disaster concerns me. I personally would be quite worried with his results, but his HCP team is happy since he is not hypoing. Strange world

So far only T2D have responded to you. Hope you get a T1 nibble soon.
 
Hello @lucyunited89 I will be honest it sounds like you have similar insulin sensitivity to me, what are your bg levels like before mealtimes and upon rising and before sleep ?
 
Juicyj said:
Hello @lucyunited89 I will be honest it sounds like you have similar insulin sensitivity to me, what are your bg levels like before mealtimes and upon rising and before sleep ?
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Completely random. Went to bed with a bg reading of 5.6 last night but felt a bit iffy so had 1 glucose tab just to be on the safe side and woke up at 15. I used to have night time hypos all the time and was in a coma due to one of them. My insulin overnight was reduced a little and now it seems to rise overnight. Im struggling with high blood sugars before meals because of whatever ive eaten at my last meal and then other times im just hypo out of nowhere. X
 
Hi @lucyunited89 What time did you eat last night and take your quick acting ?

My initial thoughts are to go back to the drawing board and start doing some basal tests, if you're running high overnight with no quick acting on board then your basal needs reviewing. Also to note that basal needs do change from time to time too, also as a female there could be some hormones at play too, I suffer each month with my hormones, I could be smart and set a date in the calendar but instead I always find myself doing correction doses for a couple of days...

http://www.salforddiabetescare.co.uk/index2.php?nav_id=1007
 
Didnt eat past 9pm and went to bed at 12. No insulin on board. To be honest it doesnt seem to matter what i do my sugars all always all over the show and my basal rates seem to get changed every 3mths when i go back to the clinic. Thats why i got put on a pump. I have received funding for the freestyle libre since late october as well. Ill just have to explain all again to the consultant when i go back in feb i guess. X
 
Actually went to bed at 1.30 x
 
Hi @lucyunited89, I agree with the advice provided re: assessing your basal rates. However personally, I’ve learnt low carb is best for me. I had the same trouble with Weetabix and Branflakes and now have a much lower carb breakfast - either berries/Greek yoghurt/paleo museli and no huge spikes.
 
Even before diagnosis as type two, I could not eat cereals - they are very much a processed food (I used to work for Allied Lyons, the food processors) and I ate low carbs for about 40 years anyway, to control my weight.
I think that Humans are not well adapted to eating cereals, some more than others, and as there are no essential carbs, if they are causing problems, just don't eat them - they are high profit low cost products for big business.
Having to juggle insulin injections to control a diet of fast acting carbs just can't be easy by its very nature.
 
I am doing a lower carb diet atm. Having 80g or less a day but i literally seem to spike even if i only eat 20g with any meal x
 
lucyunited89 said:
I am doing a lower carb diet atm. Having 80g or less a day but i literally seem to spike even if i only eat 20g with any meal x
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Take one meal and one day at a time. Try switching your porridge or cereal first and see how you get on. Otherwise you may need to increase your carb ratio or basal rates.
 
mytype1.life said:
Take one meal and one day at a time. Try switching your porridge or cereal first and see how you get on. Otherwise you may need to increase your carb ratio or basal rates.
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Even though i spike it does come back down to normal again in the 4hrs while the insulin is still on board. Thats the only day ive had porridge, ive tried everything for breakfast but everything with any carb at all sends me sky high. Just have to have egg and bacon all the time for breakfast to keep it ok. X
 
Ended up having the same porridge yesterday and no spike at all and the same today. Diabetes is bizarre. Do everything exactly the same two days in a row and completely different outcome. X
 
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