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Caught a spike!


What was in your lemonade? Was there any sugar or carbohydrate? What else have you been doing this morning between your fasting test and your lunch test, such as rushing about, having a shower, going out, housework? Medication?

It could be a large liver dump which your insulin has been unable to cope with, and what you have been doing in the meantime will make a difference.
 

It was a can of sugar free lemonade. (330ml) One kcal, with 'no trace' of carbs at all, no fat. Sweetening agent sucralose, acesulfame, Potassium and Sorbitol. (Having seen this in print, i might not ever drink it again). I dont have breakfast as i follow a sort of hybrid Atkins/Intermittent fasting regime. I only eat after mid day and no later than 8pm in the evening.

Activities? walked dogs (only about 10 minutes as weather foul this morning). did a bit of ironing then got onto desktop to do the dreaded food diary. Nipped to village shop, tested, and then had lunch. Two hour after eating was 17.6.

Because i have never tested this intensively before, (I was told i did not need to) i am both intrigued and a little confused and the information over here is not particularly comprehensive. I did attend a diabetes clinic but it was a sort of group session and i could not follow it all as they all spoke so fast. I asked a couple of questions and was treated with shrugs and disdain, they don't seem to question or challenge the health experts at all here. Basically, they handed us a couple of leaflets and a guide to 'healthy eating' which recommended about 180 - 200g carbs per day. They did not tell me what sort of level i was aiming for when testing, only to record it for a month before my next check up. She DID tell me was that if i were to lose 20kilos 'this problem would go away'.

The only REAL helpful info i get is from this site, and from reading other people's hints, tips and experiences. I learned that to help myself i need to follow a low carb diet and try to keep the BS readings lower and stable. I hope they can see from the diary what foods make the BS count rocket. Low carbing and more gentle but more regular exercise seems to be working. Slowly, slowly, but results since last annual check up will be much improved, no thanks to their advice.

I dont take the medication (Gliclazide) which i was prescribed because i have some other health issues and when i looked it up , it seemed as though it might be counter productive.

No one explained 'dawn phenomenon', 'Liver dump' or 'spiking' or any of the terms i read about in the forum. The test results have surprised me a bit.
 

These are the targets recommended here in the UK by the NHS for T2 diabetics.
Fasting/before meals 4 to 7mmol/l
At least 90 minutes after eating under 8.5
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html

Your fasting BS of 6.3 was good. It all went wrong after that, and it looks like it was your liver being over generous with its supply of glucose. This will always happen in the absence of sufficient glucose in the body (or what our hormones think is insufficient according to what our bodies are used to). In non-diabetics the pancreas secretes insulin which pushes this glucose into the cells and keeps the blood glucose nice and stable, at the same time telling the liver to stop dumping. This system doesn't work in T2 diabetics because although the pancreas secretes insulin, the insulin is rejected by the cells (insulin resistance) and can't get through to the liver (fatty Liver) so blood glucose levels rise and the liver continues to dump. The pancreas panics and secretes more and more insulin until eventually some of it manages to work, which can take a long time.

In addition to your liver dump, your post lunch rise from 11.9 to 17.6 was very high. (A rise of 5.7) This shows there were far too many carbs in your lunch. The aim is to keep any rise from before to after a meal under 2mmol/l and preferably less.
 
@eggs11 Just dragging you back to your original soup post: it is rather the weather for for homemade soups isn't it? I have tried and rejected my favourite lentil soup, then blitzed and unblitzed versions of store-cupboard veg soup. All have resulted in unusually high readings after two hours.
I did however just write a whiny blog, ascribing the spikes to chemicals rather than natural ingredients. Just a thought...
 
Do you mean chemicals in the store-bought ones? I've haven't risked a can of soup yet as even the 'healthy' ones seem to have way to many carbs in them. My lentil soup I made just had onion, garlic, red lentils and stock in it. I found the recipe online and it said 14g of carbs a portion, so hoped it would be ok. But it was not to be... I've frozen the other portions and as I lose more weight and hopefully get bg numbers down further, I'm going to try again to use it as an experiment to test myself with. I do love a homemade soup, so maybe I should just go with a vegetable one next.
 
No @eggs11 I've just gone back on flipping Bendroflumethiazide for stupidly high blood pressure, and I wonder if everything I eat is now giving "high" readings. (Even when I'm feeling quite low-sugar). It would be a real shame to give soups up as I usually make them "seasonally" with what is around and appropriate.
 
Ah sorry, got you! That's a pain if that's what's making it spike for you - I've heard some blood pressure medications can raise sugars. For me I was going to experiment with less lentils, more veg, and maybe adding coconut milk to add more fat to lower the spike. I don't want to give up soups either - lovely comfort food when the weather is rubbish.
 
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