Newbie here

[chocaholic]

Hi to you all, I'm writing for the first time. I have been on this site so many times, its absolutely fab and iv'e learnt so much from reading about others and their advice. this is my story, i've had impaired fasting since 2007, was told this after having GTT. then in 2008 was told im borderline. 2009 went for my Hba1c( was pregnant at time ) so was reffered to hospital diabetic clinic. thru pregnancy lost too much weight because of restrictd eating , doc put me on short term insulin so that i could eat and put on weight.Hba1c was fine until end of pregnancy, it shooted to 7 and has been same since. i came off insulin straight after birth of my son. last week doc put me on metformin 500mg once a day with evening meal. i'm finding my morning reads are good, at work im active and try to walk 30 min while on break, its the dreaded evening meals that read high. i havnt noticed any diff yet since taking meds( apart from feeling bloated). doc said it takes upto a month for the tab to kick in. MY question sounds silly but please can someone confirm the 2 hour reading im supposed to take, does that start from the min i start eating or from the time i fin my meal? I am low carbing but maybe my portions are big. whats the best way to bring down my Hba1c? cos i have apt coming up soon in may and would love to have it come down.

 

[daisy1]

Hi chocaholic and welcome to the forum In general it is best to test 2 hours after finishing your meal. I'm glad you already know and like this forum and I am sure you have already had a good look around. However now you can post and can ask all the questions you like. In your travels you may have seen the basic information written by the Forum Monitors but I am posting it especially for you to make sure that you see it as it contains very useful advice on how to manage your diabetes as well as possible. The diet advice will help you to reduce your HbA1c but this is an average over the last 8-12 weeks so if your appointment is very soon you won't be able to reduce it much. The advice on testing is particularly important.

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. 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.

This is NOT a low carb diet suggestion, just a reduction in your intake of carbohydrate. You have to decide yourself how much of a reduction will keep your blood glucose levels in control.

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

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. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have 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!!

If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l........(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)

2hrs after meals....... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)

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.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.

Sue/Ken.