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Disappointing BS levels

Wurst

Wurst

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,128
Location
Germany
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
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Narcissistic forum members
I've recently seen a trend change in my BS levels which i am confused about. My health specialist says its 'normal' but it doesn't make sense to me. I'm on a low carb diet (around 30g per day) I generally eat the same thing every day :-
Breakfast ( protein bread 4g carbs, cream cheese >1 g carb, salami > 1g carb, green tea)
Lunch (raw veg , low carb meat choice, blueberries or egg , protein bread or low carb cracker <3g, tuna or prawns)
Dinner ( Meat , raw veg / salad (same every day))

Last week i had a few days off work and average levels were:- fasting 4.0 to 5; after breakfast ~ 5; evening < 5. This was the case for the previous few weeks .

This week averages :- fasting 5.6 - 6 :- 2 hrs after breakfast 6.9:- after lunch 6.7: evening 6 ish.

All very disappointing especially as i'm not particularly enjoynig the low carb diet :-( I'm only injecting 2 UE of Basal insulin for overnight. I tried 3 UE and 4 UE but made no difference to fasting. All seemed to start after watching ENGLAND v FRANCE in the EUROS.
 
Doesn't that tell you something!! Stop watching football! Seriously if you are being serious, stress/tension can up your BS.
 
Personally, I'd be very satisfied with those results. They're well within the recommended range. In my opinion you have very good control.
 
I'm still getting hang of this :-( I thought stress would give you higher levels temporarily i.e. during the stressful periods only and then return to 'normal'.

Thought my levels would be considerably lower due to the low carb diet, i don't get how protein bread and salami can raise me 2 mmol. All BRAN , which i stopped eating, was having the same effect with almost 30 - 40 g more carbs.
 
I'm no expert on a low carb diet, but I have noticed that eating protein raises my sugar levels slightly.
 
Those readings are very good :) Are you newly diagnosed? If your type 1 diabetes is setting in slowly then you could find your bg much more difficult to get into low figures with that small amount of insulin as time goes on. Your body could be producing some insulin still but as that becomes less and less you may need to increase your insulin to compensate, even if you eat very low carbs you will still need some insulin to cover basal needs and as your pancrease produces less so you will need to inject more.
 
Was diagonsed as type 1 around 1 month ago. My pancreas is still producing some insulin but possibly is on the decline as BS results are getting slowly higher.

This morning i had a fasting BS of 5.5, 2 hours later I'm 6.9 after a miniscule breakfast. Breakfast was small amount of cheese and salami (less than 3g carbs). Is this the dawn phenomenon or the overnight Basal insulin wearing off.

I've been trying to follow Bernsteins recommendations in his Diabetes solution so results are disapointing in that respect , although my results are within recommended health care limits.

Hope i'm not sound like a 'spoilt brat' , i know others are much worse off.
 
It's difficult to say whether it's the dawn phenomenon or that your insulin requirements are changing because you're so new to diabetes. I've been Type 1 for 8 years and my insulin dose changes fairly frequently. I experience the dawn phenomenon and give myself more insulin at breakfast as a result. If your post-meal sugar levels are higher than your pre-meal, then you might need more insulin. I personally wouldn't give myself another unit of insulin because 6.9 is a good post-meal level, other's on here with tighter control may well disagree with me though!

What is important though is that you are keeping track of everything in your log book, including pre- and post-meal sugar levels, your insulin dose, what you ate and if applicable any exercise (including walking). If you start noticing a pattern then you may need to change your insulin or diet as you see fit. A rule that I was told for monitoring trends in my sugar levels was: once is chance, twice is coincidence, three times is a rule. In other words, if your sugar levels go up whilst following the same pattern 3 times in a row then adjust your insulin or diet.

Hope this helps.
 
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