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Newbie. How to find out what makes my bg reading go up.

H

hawnet

Well-Known Member
Messages
83
Location
Essex
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
judgemental people, billy liars,
I am brand new at this game and am lost as a lost thing.

I have been given a microdot reader and take my readings morning noon and evening and bedtime, write them on a bit of paper and then look at them wondering what I should do with them. I have been on the metformin 3 days, got 2 out of the 3 side effects and am kind of drifting in and out of the forum looking for a magic guide sheet. I get the gyst of why and what happens but not sure of how to avoid those spikes (whatever they are) to get an even reading continually.
theres enough in here to start I am sure. I woke up this morning took my reading 8.8? now what.

Cheers guys.
 
hi, welcome

test before you eat and then 2 hours afterwards, the before test is a baseline, the 2 hour test is to see what effect that meal had on your blood sugars, the idea being you learn what foods to eat and what foods not to eat, your doing great writing it all down, you have to look for foods that dont spike you, many of us find that carbohydrates are nastie little buggers so we try to avoid them, bread, potatoes, rice and pasta are the basic groups but they crop up in many foods, fruit is also very high in sugar so needs to be eaten sparingly, berries are best, but everyone is effected differently by different foods so testing is essential

best of luck, ask questions, we have all been through this so happy to help here we can

to elaborate, you have too much glucose floating around in you, the less you put in, the less will be there, the meter reading is a sugar/glucose reading and its that being too high thats bad for us, exercise is also a very good method of reducing blood glucose so if you can, do some, even a brisk walk is awesome, you could use your meter to give it a try, test your bloods then go for a nice walk for 20 minutes then test again, you will see what i mean, the whole subject is massive so probly best to have a read and ask questions about the bits that dont make sense to you :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
OK, when first diagnosed there's a lot to take in but don't try to do it all at once. You've made a great start by finding and posting on this forum, keep reading and asking questions. So, 8.8 in the morning is a little high but early days yet. I would continue to take readings before eating and record them. If you have enough strips, test 2 hrs after a meal too. This gives an indication of how much a certain food raises your blood glucose levels. Keep a food diary too for a while until you understand what foods affect you the most and what you can safely eat. In the meantime, to help things in general, try to reduce amount of carbs eaten and try to take regular exercise, even if it's just walking. Daisy will post some more great advice soon. Good luck !
Mo
 
Hi Hawnet and welcome to the forum:)

As Mo said, here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it helps you. Ask more questions and you will get good advice.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find well over 70,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum, i endorse all what has been said above plus the metformin you are taking can take 2-3 weeks to get into your system properly
 
Thanks for your replies guys.

I keep finding foods that I am not sure about, I will brain storm them and perhaps you quickly reply for me?

Sauces to flavour foods, i.e. ketchup + brown sauce.
Alcohol !!
Condensed milk
How do I know if my portion is too big.
How many rashers of bacon and how many eggs constitute a proper size breakfast.


I saw the cauliflower rice and the cauliflower pizza and have tried it and loved it. I dry fry everything anything so no issue there.

So what is a spike and what isn't? I've seen 7.8 go up to 12.9 and go right down to 7.7 but don't know if that's normal or a spike.

See lots of questions that spring into mind and nobody to ask at the time.

Thanks again guys.
 
hi hawnet, I think a good breakfast is about 2 rashers and 1 egg for a lady,3x2 for a man, you can add half a tin of tomatoes'( sugar free) or grilled fresh x2plus and grilled or poached mushrooms.
a spike would be the 12.9.
hope this is a help.
 
Condensed milk is very high in carbs. Alcohol, you can drink but certain drinks affect you differently. You will need to check for yourself but a good rule of thumb would be stick with things like vodka, gin, bacardi with slimline mixers. Beer has a carb content but depends how much you drink as to how much your BG will be affected. With alcohol, test before going to bed as you may experience a delayed lowering of BG levels during the night.
A "spike" is what happens to your BG levels when you get a rapid rise. Certain foods ( usually high GI foods ) can cause this. If you eat lower GI foods this shouldn't happen but everyone is different. I don't want to try to bombard you with too much info this early but feel free to ask anything else.
Mo
 
Hi Hawnet, your diabetic team should invite you to do a diabetic education program which runs for 6 weeks, 2 hours per week. This will address portion sizes plus all essentials for self management.
 
thanks Christine, Mo, and Glenn.

Another one. Its metformin that brings down the BG level during the day and night plus any exercise I care to do, BUT when I wake up today at 05:40 I go in shower, do teeth, etc then prepare my rolled oats porridge no sugar fully skimmed milk and water, and before I eat I do my BG its 9.3??? so do I eat the porridge or not and wait for the BG to go down on its own? today I did eat it and then went to work but I couldn't do another reading until 4 hours after its 8.1!! It seems to be slightly higher than yesterday as I got readings of 6.6 and 4.9, I am not eating anything that can be classed as bad carbs its mainly protein and good veg. Can anything I had at 6pm for dinner be affecting me in the morning? I'm on 1.5g of metformin at the moment.

Sorry to sound like a beginner but I am. just given the equipment and told to get on with it, I guess the DR will send off to the diabetic centres and get them to get in touch with me?

I have a knee operation today I bet they cancel it like they did my eye test.
 
I just saw under 8.5mm 2 hours after food is ok, so I'm doing okay with porridge I guess. Must re read threads more. ;O)
 
I love the Carbs and Cals book too. I thought I knew a lot about food but there was lots of useful stuff in there.

Porridge is one of the better carbs but if you want to make a big difference try to lower carbs again. Maybe eggs for breakfast?

You may find that when your blood sugar is lower and you have lost weight if you needed to, you can re introduce some foods and still get good numbers

Cara
 
hawnet said:
thanks Christine, Mo, and Glenn.

Another one. Its metformin that brings down the BG level during the day and night plus any exercise I care to do, BUT when I wake up today at 05:40 I go in shower, do teeth, etc then prepare my rolled oats porridge no sugar fully skimmed milk and water, and before I eat I do my BG its 9.3??? so do I eat the porridge or not and wait for the BG to go down on its own? today I did eat it and then went to work but I couldn't do another reading until 4 hours after its 8.1!! It seems to be slightly higher than yesterday as I got readings of 6.6 and 4.9, I am not eating anything that can be classed as bad carbs its mainly protein and good veg. Can anything I had at 6pm for dinner be affecting me in the morning? I'm on 1.5g of metformin at the moment.

Sorry to sound like a beginner but I am. just given the equipment and told to get on with it, I guess the DR will send off to the diabetic centres and get them to get in touch with me?

I have a knee operation today I bet they cancel it like they did my eye test.
Click to expand...


Your body runs on glucose which you get from food. If you don't eat for some time, such as for 5 or 6 hours or overnight your glucose is depleted. Your liver has a back up store of glucose and will supply it under such fasting conditions. This is sometimes called the 'dawn phenomenon' or 'liver dump' and mostly happens in the morning to get you going.
As you get better control, you may find this less of a problem. That was my experience anyway. I now average a fasting BG of 5.2.

This quite common with porridge - I LOVE porridge, but I can't eat it either, even a small amount spikes me - you might have to ditch the porridge or try smaller portions.

We were all beginners once.... it's a big learning curve and we understand - no questions are stupid - so keep asking...

I hope your knee operation goes well - best of luck!
 
@caraway and weens12, thank you for your replys. Some superb quick answers for me there, I did suspect that porridge and brown wholemeal bread (its the only bread I eat) have been giving me high readings, no more so than last night and this morning, I had 2 a brown toast after my surgery in hospital and also a dry ham sandwich when I got home (10:40) 13.7 mmol, I woke up this morning (03.30) 15.3 mmol ate my porridge 3 hours later (7 a.m.) tested again at 9 a.m. and its 15.7mmol. I know its only been a week but I have noticed lower readings when I have the eggs and bacon and meat and veg.

weens the operation went well they did test me before and told me if it was high they would have to ask the surgeon but it showed 6.0mmol so they went ahead THANK THE LORD. thank you for asking.

I have been struggling with my weight since I gave up smoking and developed torn cartledge in both knees after playing league badminton, I love cycling but due to the knees have had to slow down a wee bit, to a stop ;O) so that's made my weight go on and the hba1c go up too to 7.7, I hope as a result of my healthier living I do drop weight but at the moment I have put 2 lbs on?????? I will buy that book you suggest too thank you.

My next pop up question is. I have to take 3 X 500mg metformin with food, what timing should I use for my spacing apart please I wake up every morning 05:20 ish and start work at 06:00 and I drive for my living until 16:00 hrs, usually tired and going to bed by 22:00hrs.

PROPER NOOB aren't I ?
 
If you drew a graph showing your sugar levels throughout the day then the line would go up after you have eaten or if your liver finds that you haven't eaten and provides glucose to tide you over. The graph will go down with time and go down more quickly if you are active.

The going up after a meal can be rapid if you eat a lot of carbohydrates and more so if the carbs you ate have a rapid absorption rate (high GI). The going up and down of the graph is the spike people refer to. The current recommendation is that the glucose level should have come down to to 8.5 mmol/l or lower 2 hours after eating. If it's higher than that at the 2 hour mark then it is an unacceptable spike.

Eating lower GI foods will tend to flatten the line on the graph and eating smaller quantities of carbs will generally make it lower.
 
Great reply Squire, its explained the spike for me perfectly, now I can definitely say that bread and porridge spike me, and proteins don't, I got a better reading from them.

Thanks again.
 
hawnet said:
@caraway and weens12, thank you for your replys. Some superb quick answers for me there, I did suspect that porridge and brown wholemeal bread (its the only bread I eat) have been giving me high readings, no more so than last night and this morning, I had 2 a brown toast after my surgery in hospital and also a dry ham sandwich when I got home (10:40) 13.7 mmol, I woke up this morning (03.30) 15.3 mmol ate my porridge 3 hours later (7 a.m.) tested again at 9 a.m. and its 15.7mmol. I know its only been a week but I have noticed lower readings when I have the eggs and bacon and meat and veg.

weens the operation went well they did test me before and told me if it was high they would have to ask the surgeon but it showed 6.0mmol so they went ahead THANK THE LORD. thank you for asking.

I have been struggling with my weight since I gave up smoking and developed torn cartledge in both knees after playing league badminton, I love cycling but due to the knees have had to slow down a wee bit, to a stop ;O) so that's made my weight go on and the hba1c go up too to 7.7, I hope as a result of my healthier living I do drop weight but at the moment I have put 2 lbs on?????? I will buy that book you suggest too thank you.

My next pop up question is. I have to take 3 X 500mg metformin with food, what timing should I use for my spacing apart please I wake up every morning 05:20 ish and start work at 06:00 and I drive for my living until 16:00 hrs, usually tired and going to bed by 22:00hrs.

PROPER NOOB aren't I ?
Click to expand...


Oatmeal is fine for some people, but certainly, at breakfast time, it gives me high spikes of long duration. :(:arghh:

Apparently diabetics can be more insulin-resistant at breakfast time. So many of us find that we have to keep carbs and sugars to a minimum particularly at breakfast time. For an explanation of insulin resistance, go to http://www.diabetes.co.uk/insulin-resistance.html

If you're overweight, reducing your weight will reduce your insulin resistance.

I can eat some oatmeal later in the day with little effect on my blood glucose just not at breakfast. It's the same with bread, for me. By the way, lots of "healthy" wholemeal breads contain high amounts of refined white flour, and little real wholemeal flour, so may spike you almost as much as the dreaded white stuff. When I want bread, I eat either small pieces of rye bread or 'Livlife seriously seeded' bread which you can buy in Waitrose.

The only way to find out for sure what effect various foods have is to test your blood before you eat, and 2 hours afterwards. In general, as you've already found bacon& eggs at breakfast and meat and veg (especially the leafy green stuff) give you lower blood glucose (BG) levels. These types of food are your new best friends. Build your diet around them and watch your BG's fall.:joyful:

I'm glad to hear you're op went ahead, and wish you a speedy recovery. Incidentally, the better your blood glucose levels, the speedier your recovery from surgery will be, so try to keep on top of things during this period. I had a small op in the summer, and was worried about my levels, especially since I had to wait all day, getting more and more stressed, until 5pm to be taken to theatre. I thought BG's would be through the roof and that my op would be cancelled, but like you, they were in the 6's. My high temperature was giving them more concern, ( I think this was due to stress), but they got it down with paracetamol, and all was ok.

You say your weight has crept up since you gave up smoking? - I think that you'll find if you can reduce your carbs somewhat, that weight loss will follow. Obviously, once you've recovered from your surgery, you could think about some gentle exercise too, which would also help.

After I was diagnosed, I lost weight quickly on a lowish carb diet. I've lost 3.5 st. in total, since July 2012, most of that came off in the first 4 months. If I can do it, anyone can. I was really determined to go the route of diet and exercise only (brisk walking in my case), even though my GP wasn't keen to say the least!. You might find that if you can lose weight and increase your exercise again (surgery permitting) that you may be able to reduce or even stop your medication. Something to think about.

I can't give any advice on timing of Metformin, as I don't take it, but I'm sure that someone who does will be along soon to give you the benefit of their experience.

Keep asking questions as they come up.

Take care
 
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