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Frustrated & confused

G

Genevie

Member
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5
I’m totally frustrated and confused!
Once I received my T2 diagnosis I went straight to a low carb, low sugar diet. I have been on a Desmond course and read loads of information. I’m not seeing any pattern with what I eat and what my blood sugar readings are.

I test my blood 1st thing in the morning and generally have a result between 9 to 11.5. Recently I threw caution to the wind and decided to not worry about the diet for the evening. I ate everything that was on offer including carbs, chocolate & wine. The next morning I took my BG test and the result was 8.5 ????? this doesn’t make any sense to me. Any ideas as to what on earth is happening?
Thanks
 
Genevie said:
I’m totally frustrated and confused!
Once I received my T2 diagnosis I went straight to a low carb, low sugar diet. I have been on a Desmond course and read loads of information. I’m not seeing any pattern with what I eat and what my blood sugar readings are.
Click to expand...

What do you eat ?
How many carbs per meal ?
 
Genevie said:
I’m totally frustrated and confused!
Once I received my T2 diagnosis I went straight to a low carb, low sugar diet. I have been on a Desmond course and read loads of information. I’m not seeing any pattern with what I eat and what my blood sugar readings are.

I test my blood 1st thing in the morning and generally have a result between 9 to 11.5. Recently I threw caution to the wind and decided to not worry about the diet for the evening. I ate everything that was on offer including carbs, chocolate & wine. The next morning I took my BG test and the result was 8.5 ????? this doesn’t make any sense to me. Any ideas as to what on earth is happening?
Thanks
Click to expand...
It would be much more informative to you if you didn't just take your morning levels, but to test right before eating and about two hours later, to see what that particular meal did to your levels.
That way you can tweak your meals to suit your diabetes!

Your morning level being slightly lower than usual may well have been the wine. As long as your liver is busy dealing with alcohol, it won't drip glucose in your bloodstream as much.
 
Hello and welcome @Genevie

My mother's name is Genevieve so I like your name.

Yes at the beginning it feels like there is a lot to learn and I certainly felt frustrated and upset.

As @Antje77 said to start with you really should take your levels before a meal and 2 hours afterwards as that will let you know the effect of the food on your levels- that way you can make better choices for you. And again Antje is correct that alcohol can make a big difference to your levels.

However, if you do start testing for every meal you are likely to see a pattern that will help you work out what your body can tolerate. Some people find that their body can tolerate a higher level of carbs than others. Some find that certain carbs punch above their weight so testing is the best was to find out what will work for you.

Read around and ask questions. This site is full of amazing people who understand what you are going through and want to help.

Welcome and good luck.
 
Genevie said:
Thanks to all of you for your feedback. I will try testing before and after my meal and see if that helps.
Click to expand...
If you have alcohol it will lower your BG readings, because of the impact on your liver. If my experience is anything to go by you will still see a rise in BG due to the carbs eaten, but it will be slower and last longer than it would otherwise. This means that testing two hours after a meal is likely to give an incorrect impression of the meal's impact. I have had carbier than usual meals out, had a couple of glasses of wine, and had my +2hour BG readings come out lower than pre-meal.

This doesn't stop me having alcohol, but I do need to factor it in (if relevant) when judging the impact of new foods or food combinations.
 
Genevie said:
Thanks to all of you for your feedback. I will try testing before and after my meal and see if that helps.
Click to expand...
Good luck. I think you will see a pattern and you are motivated to check. It won't be forever and will give you very useful data.
To note also - sleep, illness, exercise and stress plus what you ate with the carbs (the company the carbs keeps can be as important as the quantity e.g alcohol or fat!).
If you can get hold of free sample cgm (Freestyle Libre) you'd be able to check it continuously too. Beats finger pricking and costs £48 but you maybe able to get Abbott who make them to send you a sample).
 
Hi All, a quick up date. So I have had my 3 month check and my levels are down, only by 2% but it’s a start. At first I removed all obvious carbs from my diet. After going on a Desmond course I changed all obvious carbs to whole wheat and was careful about my intake. I have also recently started training again so I hope this will help weight loss. The doctor & nurse keep saying don’t bother checking blood sugar levels just lose weight! It still a challenge and I’m learning all the time. But thanks to all of your advise has helped.
 
Genevie said:
Hi All, a quick up date. So I have had my 3 month check and my levels are down, only by 2% but it’s a start. At first I removed all obvious carbs from my diet. After going on a Desmond course I changed all obvious carbs to whole wheat and was careful about my intake. I have also recently started training again so I hope this will help weight loss. The doctor & nurse keep saying don’t bother checking blood sugar levels just lose weight! It still a challenge and I’m learning all the time. But thanks to all of your advise has helped.
Click to expand...
I can't quite equate a low carb diet and eating wheat. It is an obvious carb - and usually about 2/3rds carb by weight.
To control my blood glucose and get normal numbers, I avoid high carb foods such as grains. I used a blood glucose meter to see that I was making good choices and coping with what I ate.
I lost weight without trying and have not regained - I am still changing shape and needing to alter my clothes or buy smaller.
 
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