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Type 2 Low carb diet but blood sugar stalled around 8

Toilet Duck

Toilet Duck

Member
Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Can anyone help me with advice about this?

I'm a Type 2 diabetic and have been back on a low carb diet for a month now and my blood sugars have decreased, but have stuck at about 8 for more than a week. I'm checking about four times a day, but have only had seven readings of 7.5 or lower since I started monitoring things closely on July 13 (2014). That's about 124 separate readings.

Some background:
I'm 47. I've been diagnosed Type 2 since 2005. I made some lifestyle changes then, but generally followed the dietary advice I was given from the NHS dieticians I saw. I lost some weight, but my blood sugar crept up.

Two years ago, it got high enough for my GP to say he was worried. A friend (non-diabetic) suggested a low carb diet and when I tried it, I had the usual miraculous results - blood sugar down very quickly, lost weight, blood pressure down, lots more energy etc.

It was so amazing that I promptly convinced myself I didn't need to worry and although I kept some low carb elements in my diet, I re-introduced some previous bad habits, particularly bread and beer.

Now, I'm back where I was in 2012 - my last HbA1c was high (94, I think?) and the blood sugar meter readings I took were up to 14. I got strict again on my diet and the blood sugar dropped, but has plateaued at about 8 - my daily average has been between 8 and 9 for ten consecutive days now.

I usually get some exercise every day - at least 30 mins in the garden or an hour's quick walking.

A typical day's meals is:

Breakfast
tin of tuna and full fat mayonnaise (pretty much every day)
cup of coffee

Lunch and evening meal. Anything from this list:
egg mayonnaise mixture/cooked meats (salami or chorizo-type thing)/cheese/smoked mackerel/olives - a bit like a picnic
bacon and eggs and mushrooms
stir fry vegetables (mostly green ones) and chicken/fish/meat
steak and spinach
cauliflower cheese (with cream)
omelette
scrambled eggs

Portion sizes are not huge, but occasionally I've felt fiercely hungry when there's been a long gap.

I have at least two cups of tea or coffee most days. I also drink water and sometimes Pepsi Max. No beer for more than a month!

I'm a bit concerned that I haven't seen the same drop in blood sugar that I saw two years ago. I've been wondering about things like the dawn phenomenon, or proteins producing more sugar than I thought, or that I should up the exercise. Or even if I'd burnt out my pancreas...!?
 
Nice food choices. And I'm impressed you can stand tuna every day.
I think I would alternate with tinned salmon and kippers, but I just have a limit on tuna intake ;)

When are you taking your readings? Is it always in the morning that you get the steady 8s? Or is 8 the average?
 
I test my blood when I get up and before I go to bed and then usually two hours after breakfast and two hours after lunch. It's sometimes three or more hours after the meals, but the other two are standard.

So 8 or 8-point-something is more or less what I get. Sometimes a low 9.

Today I got 9.3 when I got up, 8.2 after breakfast (and after walking for an hour - 3 miles), 8.7 after lunch. (Yesterday 8.2, 8.3, 8.7, 9.1. This is getting like the figure skating...)

Salmon's a good idea. And I had a couple of beautiful kippers last week, but then was reaching for the Rennies... Tuna's about the only thing I can stand day in day out. People who know me would laugh, but sometimes I don't even fancy bacon and eggs, if I have it too often!
 
I should have added:

I take Metformin twice a day (2x?) and Januvia (sitigliptin) once a day.
 
Have you checked the carb content on your mayonnaise? Some brands are better than others. I find Hellmans the best. Just a thought.
 
Why not vary it a bit, and test just before you eat.

Have you heard of 'dawn phenomenon'? If not, google will explain it much better than I can!

I'd be very interested to know what your pre meal reading are - for me, they are usually the lowest of the day. Knowing the before and afters will tell you if the problem is food or drink, or your background fasting level.

So if you are 6 pre meal, and 8-9 2 hrs after, then your food is sending you up 2-3. That's ok, but maybe there's hidden carbs sneaking in, or your body is reacting to a certain food you thought was ok...

But if you are 8 pre meal, and 8.5 after, then your food is fantastic, your low carb diet is awesomely more effective than mine ;), and your base BG is the problem...

See what I mean?
 
I think the issue is with my base blood sugar, as you say, Brunneria. That's what's puzzling me, as having made these changes which have had some effect, they've stopped just short of the finish line. And - again as you say - the food's not having much of an effect on the before and after, as sometimes, when it's 'after lunch' actually just 'before tea', if you see what I mean.

I never thought of checking the carb content of the mayonnaise, but I will do that, Bluetit. I vary depending on which one is on special offer!

Really, I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this. My suspicion is that doing more exercise or making it more uniform day by day might make a difference. Thanks for suggestions though.
 
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My base blood glucose is quite high too.

I say that guardedly, because some people are much higher! But 'normal' and 'non diabetic' are good ideals, aren't they? And I think they would be 3.7-5.5 ish. I think.

So my fastings of 6-7 with occasional 8s are not ideal. I can get low fives, but only ever pre evening meal, or after some extended exercise.

My meals rarely take me higher than +2 from pre-meal, but that doesn't really help.

And, as I have shifted further low carb, I'm feeling better, losing a bit of weight, but those numbers don't seem to be shifting at all.

I'm sure metformin, or other medication would help, but I'm reluctant after my last brush with metformin...

Maybe someone else can suggest something?
 
That's interesting. Sounds like you're describing my situation.

I can stand the low carb, but I was wondering if I actually need to eat more veg, albeit low carb veg.

I was pleasantly surprised to get 'normal' readings around 4 to 5 the time I tried this two years ago, so I hope that's still possible.
 
Hi. Your diet looks quite good. Are you currently fairly normal weight? If over time your blood sugar continues to rise despite having low carbs then a diagnosis of Late onset T1 rather than T2 becomes possible; this is more likely if you are not overweight and hence have low or no insulin resistance. Another tablet that many GPs would add if an underperforming pancreas is suspected is Gliclazide which stimulates insulin production. I asked my diabetes GP for this and he said it was a good idea (!). If you are normal weight and despite low carb your blood sugar continues to rise then you might want to ask the GP for tests for LADA
 
Thanks. I am overweight. My doctor has mentioned Gliclazide and I'm due to see him next week, so I'll bring it up. I'm losing weight on this current diet, so that might make a difference over time.
 
Latest info:
Last night before bed: 8.2
This morning on arising: 8.3

It's getting predictable...
 
I have read that a sustained low carb diet can switch off your pancreas because it doesnt need to do anything. If you have almost no carbs then it doesnt need to release any insulin either after you eat or for background levels. Because the drop in insulin levels causes your liver to provide more until it sees a small rise in insulin (it assumes you are low on glucose if the insulin levels fall). But you have switched it off...

I am now going to be controversial and suggest you try adding a few carbs to your diet (don't go silly just maybe 30g a day more) for a couple of weeks and see if you see any effect.

*go on flame away*
 
@Toilet Duck
Having just started to test your blood sugars again, after falling off the wagon, are you by any chance using old testing strips (let's face it, they're not cheap) or a meter, which has seen better days.
Just a thought. You could get a spot check done, (do Lloyds chemist do these??), or borrow someone's meter.

I think @Andrew Colvin 's idea is an interesting one, although there clearly is sugar there, because you are measuring it. If you see it through, be sure to post and let us know.
Sally
 
That's also a good point, @sally and james I'll test the meter/strips. I think I've got something to do that with. Although I would say that I've used two different sets and the results have been very similar, but it could be the meter.

I think @Andrew Colvin is suggesting my liver is producing sugar to compensate for the lack of it in my diet.

Thanks also for demonstrating how to use the @!

I'll definitely let you know what happens.
 
Hello everybody,

I thought I'd let you know some findings from the last two weeks.

I tried @Andrew Colvin's suggestion and added a few carbs to meals to see if I was actually eating too little carbohydrate, especially at breakfast where I was tending to eat only tuna. It seemed to work. I have had a number of readings in the 6.0 to 7.5 range and had four days with an average blood sugar level also between 6 and 7.5.

It also seems to make the impact of any exercise much greater on my blood sugar if there's a little bit more carb in my diet for it to work on.

I've been away from home the last week or so and it's been more difficult to be strict on diet and exercise, so my readings have fluctuated a bit - still only around the 7.5 to 8.5 range - but I'll try to keep going with including a bit more carb in the diet and see where I get to.

I'll let you know!

Thanks again.
 
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