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Just Wondering...

B

BlindFaith

Well-Known Member
Messages
260
Location
South UK
...if there are different degrees of low-carb?

For example:
I know I can't eat bread, pasta, rice and to some extent potatoes as well because my BS goes up like crazy and bread/pasta make me feel bloated and uncomfortable.

I can, however eat fruits, vegetables, small amounts of dairy and meat/fish without much trouble.

Having been low carb for a couple of weeks now (I think) I'm still not noticing any effect on my BS.
This morning I had scrambled eggs with 2 small sausages (I did check the ingredients; there was nothing in them that had wheat or carb-based things) and 2 small slices of cantaloupe melon.

Before breakfast my BS was 14.4 and after breakfast it shot up to 18.6 :?
(just in case anyone freaks out, my BS has been this high for months; myself and my GP are working on medication at the moment to see if it can be brought down)
On the other hand, if I have something like porridge for breakfast I'm hungry about an hour after.

So I'm wondering why my BS would shoot up after what was a fairly low carb breakfast?
Does this mean that low carb isn't the way to go for me?
Or does it mean that I can get my daily carb intake from fruit and vegetables but that I just should avoid any of the really heavy carbs?

I've read on several sites that low carb only works if you have 20g or less per day but if I do that then I will be severely restricting myself with what I can and can't eat. I'd end up eating way too much protein and I feel sick at the thought of that if I'm honest.

I know there's a lot of knowledgeable people on this forum that are low carb, so I'm hoping that someone can help me decipher all of this as I'm confused.

Thanks in advance and apologies if this is a really daft thing to ask!!
 
Your problem may well have been the melon. Also you need to be very careful with sausages as quite often they are packed with fillers. The best ones that I know of are Debbie and Andrews 97% pork sausages, you can get those at Tesco's. Try substituting your melon for fruits ending in berry, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry etc, it seems most of us can tolerate those in small amounts.

I hope you get to the bottom of this soon as well. Good luck!
 
The sausages I'd checked before buying them - they were home made butchers ones with no nasty stuff added in (and delicious btw!)

Okay, I'll give the melon a miss tomorrow and see what happens.
It went up again after lunch (shredded lettuce, 1 small tomato (diced), cucumber, 3 radishes, chicken and a little mayonnaise for a total of 9g carbs) going from 18.6 to 20.4.

I've noticed that my BS goes up every time I eat, no matter what I eat.
At the moment, as I look back over the last month or so there's been no trend at all - it doesn't seem to matter if I eat a slice of wholegrain bread or a chicken breast. Trust me to be awkward :roll:

I am trying to get tested for the late onset type 1 but as is usual; my doctors surgery aren't being too helpful about it. There are times I wish I could afford to go private but that's just not gonna happen :lol:
 
Hey Blindfaith!

BG will rise by about 3m/mol per 10g carb - obviously, this is affected by all sorts of things e.g. remaining pancreas function, body size, degree of insulin resistance etc etc etc, but that's the rule of thumb. So, your breakfast and lunch rises weren't too bad - 18.6 to 20.4 for 9g carb is a little less of a rise than average and the 14.4 to 18.6 is a rise of 4.2 and you probably had about 12 to 15g carb for your breakfast. The problem is your starting level is so high that even the 'normal' diabetic rises are pushing you to silly levels - if you'd started at 5, it wouldn't have been anywhere near as bad. Once you get your levels lower, you will also probably find that you don't get such big spikes because your pancreas will cope better. However, you really are showing patterns that are more typical of type 1.5 than Type 2 at the moment.

Smidge
 
Can you spend a couple of days just eating protein, dairy and vegetables? It may be worth it just to see what happens to your levels but I does sound like you will need more intervention.

You also need to tell your GP that running at these levels, even for just a little while is very dangerous and you need referring to the endocrine team ASAP. I noticed your other question about how awful you felt. Do you have any wee sticks that test for ketones? If you feel like that again or your levels don't go down, test for ketones. If they are there, the chances are you may not be ketotic but in ketoacidosis, a potentially dangerous situation. If that happens, A&E immediately. Even if you feel well.

wiflib
 
Hi Smidge,

Thank you for that information, you superstar - that actually helped me make sense of things a lot!
My breakfast was about 9-10g carb (the melon was really tiny) so the spike seems in-keeping with what you've said.

I'm calling my doctors surgery tomorrow and not hanging up until I have an appointment to talk to the diabetic doctor there. I don't care if it's a week down the line; so long as I have one!
I have a lot of questions and a lot of information I'd like to throw at her... Sounds ominous, doesn't it... :twisted:

wiflib - I can give it go, always worth it!
I have an endocrine appointment but not until July 25th and it apparently "cannot be brought forward".
I have ketostix and tested last night after the second "blackout" I had and before the paramedics got here and the stick went to a color that was between two markers; showing between 4-8 ketones. The paramedics seemed to think that was due to high blood sugar and their only concern at that point was the "blackouts".
I'm hoping it doesn't happen again, but I will keep what you've said in mind - I didn't realize that could be the case if I'm honest.
 
Then the paramedics neglected their duty of care. They SHOULD have taken you to hospital and I thank goodness that you didn't become seriously ill.

You really need to keep an eye on this. High BS (which yours are) along with ketones in your wee is an emergency situation. You haven't had a firm diagnosis yet and although you pancreas is producing insulin, it may get to the point where is just can't be efficient anymore.

wiflib
 
I could rant about people in emergency care/doctors/nurses, etc... Until the cows came home to be honest with you; but we'd be here all night :lol:
Not only did the hospital (the last two times I was taken in) not find the ketones in my urine nothing worrying at all; but the nurse at my surgery that I'm under for the diabetes doesn't either.
I'm hoping that the doctor I plan on harassing until she talks to me will take things a bit seriously.

Anyway, I have got a meal plan for the week ahead sorted, starting Wednesday so I shall try nothing but protein, dairy and vegetables and see where that takes me.
Daft thing to ask, but would low-fat yogurts be okay? I don't get the fruit ones, just plain natural (or natural with a touch of vanilla) but I find it helps curb that annoying "sort of hungry but not enough for a full meal" type hunger.
 
Hi BF

Watch for low-fat stuff , especially yogurts. They can often be loaded with sugars. Just natural full fat yogurt is probably healthier and better for your BG readings, I think.....

I have been using Agave Nectar as a sweetener in my coffee. It's a low GI syrup from plants, all natural. A splash of that in some yogurt might be good. Take care of yourself.

CathyN xxx
 
Thanks Cathy, I'll go for the full fat one in that case!

If you guys wouldn't mind keeping your fingers crossed that I get to speak to someone tomorrow I would hugely appreciate it :D
 
Just a note, agave syrup my be low GI but it is not low-carb. If you want to sweeten anything, you can use a sweetener, but have a read around the pros and cons of them.

wiflib
 
BlindFaith said:
Thanks Cathy, I'll go for the full fat one in that case!

If you guys wouldn't mind keeping your fingers crossed that I get to speak to someone tomorrow I would hugely appreciate it :D
Click to expand...

Lidl greek yoghurt is the lowest carb I have found, lovely and creamy. I may sweeten it by adding a little vanilla essence.

I have found that things are too sweet since I have been low carbing - that kicked in about a month in to low carb.
 
Thanks for the tip, Spiral - I'll ask my hubby to grab some for me as he works near a Lidl.

Well, I had plain scrambled eggs for breakfast. I made them in the microwave so I knew that all that went in it was eggs and nothing else and my BS went from 12 to 16.
And that's AFTER taking the Glimepiride.

I have spoken to the diabetic doctor at my surgery who passed me onto the nurse who's currently fobbing me off with "I'll get BDEC to call you to get you in this week" and then "I'll call you when they let me know anything".
So far I've heard nothing.

I'm giving them til the weekend just in case, but after that I have no idea what I'm going to do.
The nurse has told me to prepare myself for insulin which I'm fine with as right now I would roll around in horse poop if it had a small chance of lowering my BS :lol:
I just want someone to do something useful instead of constantly passing me to someone else.

Ah well, we shall see what tomorrow brings.
 
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