Fluctuating BS Levels

sammo68 · Dec 28, 2010

Hi

My name is Cris and I was diagnosed as Type 2 in December of 2008 (just my luck – a week before Christmas!!). Since diagnosis I have struggled to maintain my sugar levels and remove sweet tooth addictions. My local GP surgery is helpful, but not exactly supportive (my annual review has now been postponed for the 2nd time and will be 2 months behind schedule). The GPs recommendation to reduce my BS levels is to eat more sensibly, eat more fruit (sugar spike there!) and lose weight. Well I’ve lost nearly a stone in weight since Feb 2010. When I tested first thing this morning my BS was 17.7 (I’m on 500mg Metformin 3 times a day by the way), yet had dropped to 12.0 some 4 hours later. All I had in between was 250ml water (approx). My main question is, my sugar levels only seem to drop when I go without food? Is this normal?

sugarless sue · Dec 28, 2010

Welcome to the Forum Cris,

Not eating will bring your levels down but there again, it can also make them go up. If you use more energy than your body has stored you will 'Liver dump' this is where the liver 'dumps' glucose into your system when you are short of it.

Glad to see you are testing your blood glucose levels as this is the only way you will work out which foods affect your blood glucose levels. Did the Doctor mention Carbohydrate at all ?

Diabetes is a condition where you cannot process Carbohydrate efficiently so reducing the amount of Carbohydrate in your diet will bring your very high blood glucose levels down to a better level and will also help you lose some weight.

Here, below, is the basic information that we give to the newly diagnosed Diabetics on the Forum.

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed Diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, Diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy Carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of Insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause Insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating, then two hours after eating, you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting Carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total Carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a Diabetic.

As for a tester, try asking the Nurse/Doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own Diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try !!

If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l........(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)

2hrs after meals....... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)

If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.

Sue/Ken.

What did you eat the night before to have a level of 17.7 mmol/L in the morning ? What was your blood glucose level immediately before going to bed ?

smidge · Dec 28, 2010

Hi Cris!

Your sugar levels will go up and down depending on what you eat - that's normal. However, your levels are way too high even after 4 hours without food, so your body is clearly struggling to deal with what you have eaten. Was the 17.7 reading before or after food? If after, what did you eat and what size portion?

The medical profession tell you to eat healthily, but they don't always explain what they mean. For example, they often tell diabetics to eat porridge and yet many of us will tell you porridge sends our sugar levels very high. They might have indicated to you that cereal is a healthy breakfast - for many of us it is not. You will probably only be able to tolerate carbohydrate in very small portions. Many of us struggle with most fruit, so again, only eat it in tiny portions and not when you are having other carbohydrate. Personally, I can't have fruit juice at all as it goes into my blood like neat sugar!

When your levels are high, try to drink plenty of water as it helps to reduce them. Also, make an appointment to go back to your doctor - and insist on seeing them, don't wait two months. You cannot afford for your levels to be as high as that for long. You have made a great start with losing weight - now you need to get proper diet advice to make sure you get the glucose levels under better control.

Smidge

sammo68 · Dec 28, 2010

Sue

Thanks for that.

Makes a lot more sense that what I'd managed to cobble together from internet, books, GP etc.

Thinking it might have been the 3 stubbies of beer I had in the evening (250ml bottles).

Keep trying to maintain food diary but not sure how much detail I need to go down to. Everytime I do one for GP visit, they never ask to see it. So have never been convinced of the value. Waiting for dietician appointment at the moment. See what they have to say (apart from a probable rollocking!!!).

I'll read through the detail of what you've forwarded and try to make some sense. After 40 years of "normal" food, it's still a struggle.

sugarless sue · Dec 28, 2010

The food diary is very important for YOUR benefit !

Even if the doctor never sees it. If you write down what you eat and the blood glucose levels before the meal and two hours after the meal it will show you just how the foods you are eating affects your blood glucose levels.

If you also work out how many carbs are in your meal, use the package information and/or a carb counter book, you can work out foods that you are happy to eat that will not put your blood glucose levels up to such high levels as 17.7 !

Fluctuating BS Levels

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Fluctuating BS Levels

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