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High Blood Sugar Level Help

S

SeaChelle

Member
Messages
11
Hi everyone,

I'm new to this board (can't believe i've not found it before now!)
Last Friday my nurse rang me with my long term bloods and said they were high and suggested I need to go back on insulin ( I had insulin when i was pregnant 4 years ago) she told me to start doing my blood sugar level every day, i have to be honest i haven't been doing them for quite some time now.
My levels have been quite high 20.9 being the highest and 15 the lowest, I've also been very thirsty lately and had pins and needles in my fingers (but this is only when i've been asleep and put it down to lying on my hand or something?) I'm not due to see the dietitian until the 23rd of April for a 'pre insulin chat' . Do you think i should wait until then or go and see my nurse tomorrow if i can get an appointment, Even though she can't give me insulin until i've seen the dietician. I'm a bit worried at how high my readings have been.
Thanks in advance
Michelle
 
Your readings are very high! :shock:

Before going to see the nurse have a look at the advice we give to newbies and see if there is anything there that can help you lower your blood sugar levels by diet first. The correct diet for you can have a dramatic effect on your blood sugar levels.

Are you on any other medications ?

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics.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 a bread, potatoes, pasta and rice also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

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.

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 !!

As a Type 2 the latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.
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.
Click to expand...
 
Thank you for your reply, I do usually have a sandwich at work every lunch time, I will try and think of something else to take. I usually find though if i don't have something starchy by around 3-pm i feel lethargic and shakey but maybe that is just my metabolism.
I will have a thorough read through of your post again now.

Thanks again for your advice.
 
Sorry i've not added what other medication i'm on.
I'm on

4 500mg metformin
lisinpril 20 mg
lipitor 20 mg
amlodipine 5mmg
bendroflumethiazide 2.5mg
 
Michelle
As you are only on Metformin for your Diabetes I don't see that you would need to go on to Insulin in this instance.

Why are they not concidering either upping the Met which can go up to 3g daily at the behest of a Consultant and/or add a Sulphonylurea such as Gliclazide to get those levels down. That plus changes to your diet regime as Sue suggested coupled with some exercise should quite frankly be considered first. May be more effective.

It is certainly what I would recommend unless you have some other medical problem which would preclude the changes.

You need to discuss this with your GP/Nurse or an Endocrinologist.

Ken
 
Hello ken,

I'm sorry for the late reply.
I'm not really sure to be honest, it's just what I have been told is going to happen. I am allergic to gliclazide so maybe thats why. I have kept a diet sheet for the past few weeks and my nurse has said that my diet was fine. Mind you I'm not with a 'proper' diabetic nurse she's a normal nurse at my surgery who runs the diabetic clinic, I'm not saying that she's not capable of doing it but when she wrote me out a prescription the other day and got a passing Doctor to sign it i wasn't to keen as she hadn't checked what other meds etc i was on. It was for tolbutamide. I'm not seeing her until sometime after the 23rd after my pre insulin chat so i will ask then if there is another way other than insulin.
Thanks for your help Ken.
 
Michelle.
What happens is entirely your choice. Do not allow yourself to be led down a path you are not sure about unless you have been given ALL the options open to you. They cannot make you take any drug.

You decide. There are alternatives to Insulin and there are several alternatives to Gliclazide which may be more acceptable and also may not have side effects for you.

I do think you should get a referral to an Endocrinologist who is an expert in the body and ALL it's problems. Frankly the Nurse seems 'out of her depth' and is just pushing the easy option of Insulin.

As for her comment about your diet, does it match up to the sort of advice that Sue gave previously ?

If it doesn't then I am afraid that advice may be flawed. Many of us here find that the usual NHS dietary advice is not great and in fact, as in my own case, was totally wrong and made my Diabetes worse to the point it could have killed me. Only by doing my own thing did my Diabetes get under control and improve my life radically.

Get that referral and speak to an expert.........you know it makes sense..... :D

Ken
 
You well may actually have Adult slow on set diabetes, T1 but the decline/attack on the pancreas is slow over a long period of time... More likely if your diabetic status was picked up early in your pregnancy (T2 diabetes generally starts in mid to later pregnancy when the bump starts to become heavy, and most women tend to find after birth everything returns to normal)

Type 2 oral medication will help control with in the early stages and can for several years, all be it you will see the effectivness decline, and believe me oral medication and a zero carb diet if slow on set T1 won't work in controlling it... Another thing that will indicate one from the other, if you are eating a moderate carb 'healthy diet' and have no weight issues this will also up the stakes for T1 slow on set..

You can ask for a C-peptide or Gad test, this will help to indentify which type of diabetic you are, if clinical judgment may not be overly clear..

Don't assume that your GP's DSN isn't a 'real' diabetic nurse, as she/he would have had training diabetes (and may well be a DSN from a hospital) and be under going training all the time and should have access to the hospital diabetic team for advise, and in your case she may have already discussed this with the hospital time... ( know that my GP DSN, regular attends A&Q meetings with the diabetic consultants, and has regualr training within the diabetic care field, even our GP's will send you to her as they say, she's has more knowlegde than them)..

You need to discuss your options with her, and with your levels being on the very high side, you should look to doing this ASAP rather than later... It may be that you have no option than to go onto insulin, but she should be able to either get this ball rolling quicker for you, or help to find a way of lowering your BG in the intrim..
 
Hello Ken,

Thanks for your reply, I've been to see my nurse again and she's given me tolbutimide until i see the dietitian on friday. She mentioned exanetide or byetta as an option but after googling it it scares the life out of me! The side effects alone and the 'can lead to death' part i didn't like :shock: but the weight loss bit sounds good! Do you know anything about it? She said both were an option for me.
My blood sugars are starting to settle a bit, around 13 in a morning now so it's coming down. I think I will have to look into eating less carbs I didn't really think I ate much until i started writing down what I ate every day (don't know what i'll do without bread and pasta) My old DN used to tell me to have lots of carbs as it helps with BS?


Jopar,

Thank you also for your reply, I'm seeing my doctor on Tuesday and i will ask for a referal
 
SeaChelle said:
Hello Ken,

Thanks for your reply, I've been to see my nurse again and she's given me tolbutimide until i see the dietitian on friday. She mentioned exanetide or byetta as an option but after googling it it scares the life out of me! The side effects alone and the 'can lead to death' part i didn't like :shock: but the weight loss bit sounds good! Do you know anything about it?
Click to expand...


Hi Michelle.
Do I know anything about Byetta and Victoza........??? Just a bit, have you had a read in the Diabetes Medication and Drugs section here at the threads entitled, BYETTA and VICTOZA.

There is much information there about the possible side effects of both drugs. I am on Byetta and I am still around, after 16 months, so I am a convert. Many of the other posters are also upbeat about VICTOZA as well.

As for the shock side effects, many ordinary drugs can also lead to death ......so don't let that one put you off. Read, digest and ask questions to clarify. Don't just assume something and get the wrong idea about a drug. We are here to help whenever we can. :D

Ken
 
Thats Great Thanks Ken :D

you can tell i'm new here, i couldn't even find the dietary advice section until now :roll:

thanks again for all your advice, I will post on friday what she has recommended.
 
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