My dads new to all this

So great you're looking after your dad like this, and so great he's trying so hard to do the right things. His levels aren't extreme - the highs aren't dangerously high and the lows not terribly low, but swings nonetheless can make you feel bad particularly when they happen quick as your dad's seem to. Make a good note of these swings and times involved then get him to see the doc with them. Perhaps you could go to help fight his corner? Us blokes aren't always good at that even if we do pretend we're tough! Meanwhile, tell us what meals he has that produce his swings- the answer could be there and we might spot it even though you say he's on a "good" diet. Good as told to us by the nurse or doc isn't necessarily good!

Ok. His high readings would worry me more than his low ones. The toast and cereal, and half sugar, is a lot of carbs together and he has more bread at lunch. These put his sugars high, so he feels bad in comparison when his sugars drop again. He needs to stop the swings by stopping the high readings in the first place. Remember fruit has fructose so raises sugar levels as well. He doesn't need the sugar you suggest in his drink, nor the biscuits (flour, and thus high sugar spikes) he needs to avoid the high GI foods that raise sugar levels rapidly, so no White flour products, biscuits, sugar, boiled or mashed old potatoes (few new potatoes are ok), keep pasta and rice down. So a lower carb diet, and low GI (glycemic index) carbs. The carbs he does eat, spread out through the day. This will keep his sugar levels mire stable, with hopefully no big highs and thus no big lows. You'll see lots of diet tips on here which is the key to control. Remember, if he has highs and lows, the AVERAGE could be ok so the doctor will think all is ok. Good luck!

By the way, if he's on diet only, he really shouldn't be having glucose tabs. These are for diabetics on certain drug regimes that can cause hypos. He won't get hypos on diet only unless he has some other condition as well. The glucose will just give him big highs which will make him feel bad again when his sugars come down low again in comparison. Figures in the 4's are not to be concerned about on diet only, it's the highs that are bad. Guidelines are that 2 hours after eating, your BG should be under 7.8. A non - diabetic AVERAGES about 5 overall (meter reading equivalent) so you'd expect lower figures than that to balance the higher figures even mon diabetics get after eating.
Remember also, even wholegrain bread, although better than White, has lots of carbs. As do cereals.
It does get easier I promise!

Drop bread, pasta, cereals, spuds and rice and BG numbers will reduce. Very often to non diabetic.

Carbman may be right, but before you get him to make changes to his diet, keep records for a couple of weeks as you said earlier, to see what foods are making him swing quickly enough to make him feel unwell. If he's suddenly dropping his blood sugar then a sudden switch of diet to no carbs might not actually be the answer right now, even if long term it might help.

Grazer's advice is very good: the key things are carbohydrates, because they are the things that affect blood sugar. In this particular case, ie working out why he's getting blood sugar swings, don't worry about 'healthy' or 'unhealthy', it doesn't matter whether he eats his eggs fried or boiled, or doesn't eat them at all, because they don't contain enough carbs to affect his blood sugar. Look for the total carbohydrate in whatever food there is. So for example you said he eats "soup or sandwiches" for lunch. Some soups can have almost no carbohydrates in, some can be full of carbs. Sandwiches have bread in so it's the bread you need to look at - it doesn't matter if the filling is tuna or cheese, they aren't carbs.

Grazer's right too that eating lots of glucose tabs might make things worse, BUT, having experienced what it can feel like as your blood sugar drops fast, even to only about 4, I know it can make you feel very ill and can be quite scary. One or two tabs, if they make him feel better, I'd say is ok - but do be careful that he doesn't scoff down any more. Suck one tab, wait 15 mins and test again. Also, this might be a good test... if the glucose tablet DOESN'T make him feel any better, maybe it's not the blood sugar swings that are the cause?

The only other thing I wondered too was - has he been checked out for blood pressure issues? If that is very high or very low it could be causing faintness and so on too.

Good advice from Snodger. I would pick up on the glucose tabs again though (no disrespect Snodger!). Snodger is on insulin which of course makes things a bit different when you go low - I still feel that as your dad is on diet only he shouldn't need to take glucose tabs. That's the last thing us on diet only usually need. The reason he feels bad when he's "low" is probably because he was so high before and is feeling the difference. I'd try to keep the low's down with the diet changes first before taking glucose tabs which will put him back on "swings" of low to high. If he really is getting lows that make him ill, then he could (as I said before) have other issues like reactive hypoglycemia which would need looking at, so you would need to discuss this with his doctor.

Grazer said:

I would pick up on the glucose tabs again though (no disrespect Snodger!).

Click to expand...

no, fair enough, I appreciate that lows are less serious for you Type 2 chappies.

Agree with Malc.

T2s on diet and metformin shouldn't need Glucose Tabs (unless perhaps they are involved in serious exercise).

I know from personal experience how unlpleasant "false hypos" feel, but you need to just muscle through them if you want to get your BG under control.

From my own experience, as a Type 2 on 3 x 500mg Metformin per day:

When I first joined this forum I read the "4 is the floor" message, so I always carry glucose tabs in my testing kit. I've used them about 3 times, to get my levels back over 4 when they've been in the low 3s. I had no hypo symptoms. As I got more experienced, I realised I probably didn't need to take glucose even with levels in the 3s - but I still carry them. Anyone can have a hypo, even non-diabetics.

But I agree wholeheartedly, that glucose tabs should be used very sparingly, and never more than 2 at a time, then test after 15 minutes.

If you reduce your father's carb intake and spread the carbs he does eat evenly through the day, he should stop getting the wild swings that make him feel so poorly.

Viv 8)