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Have really scared myself now...

L

Lussac

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
After my last post about confusion of when to test I bit the bullet and on Monday tried the before and 2 hours after main meal test and the results were horrific. Before the meal the reading was 5.0 and two hours after it was 24.2 and I freaked out.

The meal consisted of:

1 locally made sausage (medium sized) that was all meat and spices with no other additives or cereals
onions
mushrooms
green beans
raw carrot

1 small glass of red wine

followed by:

fresh raspberries from the garden (just picked an hour before) (half a cup)
fresh red currents from the garden (likewise) (quarter of a cup)
topped off with a fresh natural yoghurt


Since that test I have not slept well with worry and have completely skipped having breakfast with only a cup of fruit tea, lunch has been a couple of Wasa crispbreads with some Brie cheese and cucumber and the evenings has been mostly salad with occasionally some fish or chicken. I'm just terrified to eat anything after that test and feel so hungry all the time and am getting very depressed about my life here on in and am very reluctant to do any more testing. Where we are in France there is no diabetic support like you have on the NHS and it's all down to you and the doctor (€23 every time you see him) but I believe it might happen some time in the future.
 
Well that doesn't seem right to me, there's not much wrong with that meal. Is it possible the strip or your finger was contaminated somehow (maybe with a bit of juice from the berries)? Or is the meter faulty?

Don't be scared of testing, it's the only way we have to see the reaction to various foods and come up with a suitable diet strategy. Check the meter (they usually have a 'meter test' strip of some kind), try eating the same meal again, test at 1, 2 and 3 hours if necessary and see if it happens again.
 
what sang said
5 is a good pre number, the high post number dirty hands, faulty strip, god having a joke.
wash hands dry and then let air dry properly, if you every get a test that doesn't seem right, retest
 
I agree with the above two guys. If I'd had a reading like that I would have washed my hands again and re-tested. I believe we all get rogue readings sometimes for one reason or another, so do another test to confirm it. Maybe, just maybe there was too much fruit in your dessert, but even so it shouldn't have spiked like that.

Please don't let it make you panic or anxious. I bet any money it was a rogue reading.
 
What Sanguine said

Don't be afraid of testing, and don't go by one reading. I have had the same, washed my hands then absent mindedly moved a used plate to make room to test and had a reading off the scale thanks to an almost invisible smear of jam I realised that the reading was way out of proportion to what I had eaten and re tested to get a much, much lower reading . I agree that the test itself is likely to be the problem, as your diet sounds great.
(By the way, I'm not a sloven, I just refuse to move my brother's mess a meter to the sink and wash it for him ! )

Signy
 
ok...I'll share my secret..I lick my finger and wipe it on my pants before I test, haven't had a dirty test yet
 
OK, thanks all. There was one thing I missed off the meal and that was two tablespoons of mashed sweet potato. It's quite possible that my finger was contaminated as I had picked and prepared the fruit before eating and I don't recall washing it first, silly me.

It's quite hard as I'm away travelling until next Tuesday night and French cuisine is not known for being diabetic friendly so I'm shopping at local supermarkets and eating alone at night (prawns, smoked salmon and salad tonight) and forgoing the shared meals. I can't find any specifically diabetic friendly foods here in the Bio shops, pharmacies or supermarkets, I did ask at the counter in the local Bio Co-op about diabetic friendly products but she said that she didn't know of any.

C'es la vie.....
 
It's doubtful that the sweet potato would have raised your BG's that high, but is higher in carbs than any of the other ingredients . Vegebles that grow beneath the ground tend to be more starchy and raise blood glucose more.

From what you have said, you are already eating diabetic friendly foods As far as I'm aware there is nothing marketed as being "diabetic friendly" in the UK apart from certain brands of jam, and chocolate. Both of which I would avoid because of the sweetners used and the fact that they would spike my BG's despite their "diabetic friendliness "
Have a read of the forums on here regarding diet, nutrition etc, and I think you may pick up some useful ideas.

Just don't be afraid of food and stop eating properly, your choices so far sound fine
And they do some great cheeses in France

Signy
 
,Hi,
Diabetes in France is an ALD (Affection de longue duree) ie it is normally reimbursed at 100%. I wasn't actually sure if it applied to people who were on diet and exercise alone but the document seems to say that this is the case.
"Relève de l'exonération du ticket modérateur le diabète, de type 1 et de type 2, défini par la constatation à deux reprises au moins d'une glycémie à jeun supérieure ou égale à 7 mmol/ l (1,26 g/ l) dans le plasma veineux.
L'exonération initiale est accordée pour une durée de 5 ans, renouvelable."
You need to get your GP to apply for it. Here is all the relevant documentation which tells you what treatment you should have.
http://www.has-sante.fr/portail/jcms/c_419389/fr/ald-n8-diabete-de-type-2
There is also a tele medicine scheme called Sophia which, once you are given the ALD then you can join.
http://www.ameli.fr/assures/prevention-sante/sophia-le-service-pour-les-malades-chroniques.php

(I was diagnosed T1 here and it took a few weeks to come through but I then got my previous costs, which were by then quite high, refunded except for the euro per prescription/acte medical which everyone has to pay)

This booklet can help you with the carb counts of typical French foods. (it used to freely available from Medtronic online but the official download isn't there anymore, this seems to be an unofficial site for it.
http://chretiens.republicains.perso.neuf.fr/politique/sante/medtronic_aliments_&_glucides.pdf
ps I agree with the others about your finger being dirty.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks for that Phoenix, I'll look into it when I get home. Having trouble getting to the medtronic link from where I am as the connection is glacially slow so will have a look at that too later on.
 
I agree with all the above - except for that sweet potato...

We recently had sweet potato oven chips as a rare treat for mr B. He ate masses, I ate 1/4 of wot he did - and I was still shocked by how high my BG went. Can't remember the actual reading but it was over 9
Very disappointed.

So I suggest you have a wee test.
Try a meal without sweet potato, and then a few days later, try exactly the same but WITH sweet potato.

Because diabetes is unique to each of us, and because each of our bodies reacts so differently to food, it is possible that sweet potatoes are your kryptonite.
 
That is disappointing as I thought sweet potatoes were much better than normal potatoes for diabetics
 
Were the onions cooked? Your profile shows you are pre diabetic so 24.2 seems very unlikely.
The berries and fruit with yoghurt and sweet potato and onion would definitely spike me but nowhere near 24.2
 
Your spike was almost certainly juicy fingers ! ! I had one a couple of months ago, actually got 32.6mmol/l I had to do a double take on that. Then I remembered that I had moved OH's plate and it had a smear of jam on the rim ! Washed hands and got a more normal 5 or 6, can't remember exactly, but it was normal. You might find that the meal you had would have spiked you a bit, even possibly up to the 8 or 9's, but I doubt into the twenties. So don't be scared of testing. Food wise, salads, fish, ham, cheese, eggs all good stuff. Try putting some nut oil on your salads, delicious.
 
Any more advice for low carb eating in la belle France.

We go down to the med near Montpellier every year and eat out.

Sardines I can do, Moules (sans frites) I can do, but what do I buy for when on the beach? Paninis and lovely French sticks filled with ham and cheese won't do it this year. I can do the camembert and ham I suppose. At least there is a marche every few days, but can't keep the food fresh.

In Carnon, there is a supermarche - any suggestions?
 
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