Help needed

Hi @Mummaofone24 ,

Warm welcome to the forum!

Tagging in @daisy1 with an info sheet...

More advice will be along soon.

What medication is your mum prescribed?

When is she testing?
That is, on waking, just before sleeping, before a meal or after a meal?
The timing of the test makes a lot of difference to the expected result.

Also, what is she eating?
I would guess there is a significant portion of carbohydrate/sugar in there to get numbers that high.

@daisy1 to welcome you to the group with loads of good information.

The numbers are very high so she needs to do something about that.
If they stay that high she should go back to her GP pretty quickly.

The first step is usually to take a long, hard look at what you are eating and try and identify what is pushing your blood sugar up. Then stop eating it.

Mummaofone24 said:

She is currently testing before breakfast and before dinner , think it's a case of not really understanding it all , so we are looking for some help , she has docs on 20th so going to talk to them too

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O.K. - she should test first thing on waking (to get an overnight fasting value), immediately before a meal and two hours after. This will give a reasonable idea of how her body is behaving.

You haven't told us what she is eating.
Whatever it is, it isn't helping if she is still producing her own insulin from her pancreas.

Probably the best thing to do is to read the information in the low carbohydrate forum.
Also, if you could post what her normal daily diet is we can try and offer some advice about what might be changed to help.

Edit: didn't ask how old your Mum is.

Mummaofone24 said:

She is prescribed metformin,

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Thanks, knowing the meds help the right folk with the right advice...

It's great your mum was lucky enough to get prescribed a meter.

Basic rule of thumb Is test on waking, before a meal & two hours later to define the effect of the meal on blood.
A test before bed also helps work out a reference point the night before the FBG test next morn...

Hope this helps!

To have readings so high before eating does indicate that the amount of carbohydrate in your mother's diet is too high for her to cope with.
The usual method of testing before starting to eat and two hours later should give a good indication of how suitable your mother's diet is, though if there is an increase of two whole number or more, reducing carbs would be a good idea.
By reducing the carbs I was able to get back to normal readings by my 6 month test.

Tagging @pleinster who may have some advice on steroid medication and food.

Mummaofone24 said:

Thank you. I am on steroids as I have polymath rheumatica. I had just lowered my dose to 12.5 but the hospital put it back up to 30 mg whilst I have this COPD.
I normally have coffee in the morning and porridge. Lunch time I try and have a sandwich. I have a couple more cups of coffee too. I do try and drink water. Evening meal depends on my mood as I live on my own sometimes I am lazy and have cereal or soup other times a stir fry or baked salmon new potatoes. I eat nuts and raisins too.

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Hi. Not sure if I am talking to mum or daughter here...but anyway... @Alison Campbell tagged me because my diabetes was steroid induced and I have had to contend with trying to get my blood sugar levels under control while on a drug which does increases it (quite dramatically depending on dose). I had a transplant about 2.5 years ago and got diabetes from the steroid treatment (prednisolone) I was prescribed as part of my anti-rejection programme. It is not uncommon for people on this drug for over a month or so to wind up diabetic. I will probably have to take it for life. It's a chance transplant patients like me are prepare to take. Weight was not/had never been an issue. When diagnosed my blood sugar was over 20mmols.

Anyway...by using my meter several times a day at first, I could soon see that my blood sugar was spiking shortly after taking my morning steroid (one of a number of drugs I have to take) was spiking up and staying up for a few hours. It didn't matter that I was on Gliclazide (a stronger drug than Metformin and far more aimed at reducing blood sugar than Metformin), not even when the dose was doubled. I had to keep records and persuade my doctors to reduce the Prednisolone. My levels came down a bit then. I stopped the Gliclazide and focused purely on reducing my blood sugar by reducing the carbohydrates I ate.

I got the levels down pretty well purely by avoiding bread, cereal, potatoes, past and rice as well as the obvious sugary stuff...but it wasn't until I had the doctors reduce my steroid to the absolute minimum they could accept that I got my levels down into the "normal"/"prediabetic" range. My advice is very straightforward :
1] speak to your doctors about reducing the steroid if possible...or at least considering alternatives
2] cut your carbohydrates right down (try your best to eat only foods which have 10g carbs or less per 100g on the label) -
there are loads of nice things you can safely eat...and you should also feel generally healthier in a few days
3] test with your meter as others have said
4] record the readings and the food you have eaten in a kind of food diary and look back at it for patterns.

It is all about diet and realising that carbohydrates effectively turn to sugar in the blood.
Your levels can still come down if you are on the steroid but you will probably still get spikes after you take it.
Your levels can come down if you just reduce the carbs a little but avoiding certain foods altogether and cutting the steroid back is your best shot. You will get there. Talk to your doctor about the possibilities of reducing the steroid dose...but don't bother discussing a low carb diet coz most of them really have no idea! Me, I have had good levels for about two years now on a low carb diet (which I am now more casual about) and no meds for diabetes...still on a very low dose steroid. Good luck.

@Mummaofone24

Hello and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope it will be useful to you. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will be able to help you.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 250,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. They're all free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.

Mummaofone24 said:

Thank you. I am on steroids as I have polymath rheumatica. I had just lowered my dose to 12.5 but the hospital put it back up to 30 mg whilst I have this COPD.
I normally have coffee in the morning and porridge. Lunch time I try and have a sandwich. I have a couple more cups of coffee too. I do try and drink water. Evening meal depends on my mood as I live on my own sometimes I am lazy and have cereal or soup other times a stir fry or baked salmon new potatoes. I eat nuts and raisins too.

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Assuming you are Mum - you are eating high carb foods, which are putting your blood glucose levels rather high.
All foods from grains such as the porridge and bread, and the starchy vegetables such as potato are dense carbs and so are dried fruits. You can eat protein and fats fairly freely, but carbohydrate foods are not your friends. I usually stick to foods which are 10 percent carbs or less.