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Help understanding what’s happening (type 2 & keto)

Flankermum

Member
Messages
6
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi everyone, I’ve only just registered but have been avidly lurking for 2-3 months. I have learned such a lot in that time and thank you all for sharing such valuable info and advice!
I started to take my Type 2 diagnosis (of a couple of years) seriously when my HBA1C came back as 102 in March this year. Since then I have adopted LCHF as a new lifestyle, for the first few weeks keeping to under 50g carbs then reducing further to 20g approx per day combined with 16/8 IF and one or two days a week 23/1 with beef broth, water, black coffee.
I test blood sugars usually 5 times a day or 3 depending on fasting. I always skip breakfast.
I have seen great results with this change to my life and my app says my average level over last 30 days is 7.7 mmol.
I have seen some DP going on during the mornings but no greater than a 2 mmol rise if it happens, followed by a drop back down to rising level or slightly less by around 2pm.
My question is what do people think the reasons are for today, on rising 8.3 (1mmol higher than normal) then at 9.6 at 5pm. I have eaten a handful of pork scratching, cup of tea with splash of milk, 3 small sticks of celery and soft goats cheese, water, 1 black coffee.
Any thoughts and advice appreciated, thank you!!

Edited to add: I am 51 and BMI is 23
 
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Hi. The usual suspects other than food (not the obvious culprit in this case) are illness (infection) and/or stress since they cause further insulin resistance. Hope its a blip and that you continue to get fabulous results.
 
I saw a steady decrease in BG levels for some weeks - and then they were all over the place, going both high and low.
To steady then I found that eating early and late, just two meals a day, rather than the lunch and dinner routine I got into when taking Metformin resulted in a fairly smooth set of readings. I am more insulin resistant in the morning so eat just a few carbs early, most of them later. I do not do well at all with fasting, as my BG levels went up in the morning and very low in late afternoon.
 

Funny you should post this just now, when I checked my pre prandial to be 6.5, which is a little high for me. Foodwise I've done nothing out of the ordinary today, but it has been an unusual day as I got up at 3:30am, and have been feeling tired all day. Maybe a bad sleep routine could be partly to blame?. At 5:50pm it was 5.4, then suddenly at 8:20pm it was 6.5, and I'd had nothing to eat between the two readings.
Today I've had: One avocado and two sticks of full fat cheese. 4-5 mugs of tea with a tiny amount of whipping cream. A couple of handfulls of pork scratchings and ditto almonds. That's it, so far. Waiting for my chicken drumstics and celeriac fries to finish.

So, it would seem we're in the same boat. A high reading for no apparent reason. Just to let you know that readings can be weird and not so wonderful. By the way, I started on LCHF in late March, and cut back slowly on carbs, just like you.
 
Thank you all for your responses.
Nicole, can stress on the day before affect readings the next day? I did have a pretty stress day at work yesterday and a calm, home working day today.
Resurgam, I do get better levels in the afternoons but never what could be described as low. I have wondered though that eating something small like a piece of cheese in the mornings might minimise DP but haven’t tried that yet as it hasn’t really been a problem usually.
Briped, it’s nice to hear from someone in a similar place! Working through this stuff is puzzling sometimes isn’t it? I’ve heard that disturbances to sleep can affect bs so maybe that’s what is going on with you? You seem to be doing very well with your levels generally though. The lowest I have had have been 5.6 but infrequently. Mind you I started at 15 to 20! What kind of readings did you come from?
UPDATE - reading at 8:30pm was back to a more usual 6.7 before dinner. Will update at 10:30pm with post prandial.
Thanks again for comments!
 
UPDATE: post prandial (dinner) was 8.9 after chicken and spinach curry with cauliflower and Toal Greek yoghurt plus 2 glasses white wine. So that’s a 2.1 rise.
Shouldn’t have been that high a rise for number of carbs? Though I’ve found that cauliflower seems to spike me a bit more than expected before now. I had 4 medium florets.
Thoughts anyone?
 
My thoughts are that you should try not to worry unless you see a definate pattern of rising over time.

Home meters are not perfectly accurate and then there is us humans that can have too many variables to list. For me I have seen unexpected results when changing a pots of strips or well before I notice any symptoms of a cold starting and then a day or so later I understand why I was getting slightly higher readings.

It is often said on the forum not to get fixed on individual readings but concentrate on trends over time for good reason.

Well done for taking control.
 

I'd test the youghurt and the white wine. Did you count the total amount carbs? 1½ - 2 hours after my meal of chicken drumsticks and celeriac my reading had gone down by 0,1, which is perfect, but I was still a bit miffed it wasn't in the 5s, ingrate that I am.
 
What are you doing at the time? Say 3pm? School run, trying to park etc?
Also have you changed to spring/summer bedding and sleeping, stress free?
 

In late March my HbA1c was 13.4 mmol/L arrow up (242 mg/dl) and my endo was keen on getting me on insulin :***: I knew it would be bad, so I wasn't surprised, but I wasn't going to go on insulin. I panicked, and soon my estimated A1C had come down to 5.7% in the two weeks from April 3rd to April 16th. Since April 17th my estimated A1C has been 5.3%, so I'm not happy that the numbers have been in the 6s yesterday and today.
I do believe that my low quality of sleep could well be the explanation, so I better just stop worrying. Your stress at work, even if it was only the one day, could have an effect on your BG, I'm sure. But yes, puzzling and just when you think you've got your system sussed out, there you are, another surprise for you
 
Hi all, much better day yesterday and today so far - mostly 6s and 7s.
I think it was a blip, maybe some effect from a stressy day at work.
Thanks again for all your supportive comments and for sharing what’s going on with yourselves. People here are so giving of their time to help others and it’s wonderful!
Alison- you are right, I should concentrate on trends and overall picture rather than getting hung up at a micro level. I generally do this but also do become curious and want to know “why”.
Ickihun - My day was calm, the stress was the day before. I have followed your story a little and seen that you often help others on here - I hope you are feeling as well as you can be today and have success with your surgery.
Briped - the yoghurt is 3.7g per 100g. Wine is my downfall but normally have it. I hope you are sleeping better and see your more usual readings return soon!
I have an HbA1C booked for 31st May - first one since that initial 102 shocker. Everyone cross your fingers for me for a much lower result this time! Average over last 30 days is now at 7.7 so I’m optimistic!
 

I'm glad your readings are better, but I completely understand you. I want to know why too. I'm just curious, and want to understand this conundrum. If wine is your poison I'd say go for it, but cut back if necessary according to your meter. It's important that we don't forget to live our lifes too. 3.7% youghurt sounds good. Actually, I feel like having some now Will you let us know how your next HbA1C went? Crossing my fingers for you.
 
Just an update as promised. Sorry it’s been a while but I’ve been on holiday.

My HBA1C at end of May was 46 !!! Down from 102. !!!

Thanks everyone x
 
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