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Newbie T2, starting testing

C

Culry247

Member
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5
Hi

Only recently diagnosed T2 as being just over treatment line - took one month for them to decide that! Diet and exercise - no meds.

I have cut out sugar/sugary things and gone for high GI as replacements. Considering low carb, but the one meal I did this with I felt really spacey/shakey afterward and ended up eating a small amount of carb - felt better.

Fed up with feeling rubbish and not knowing what is happening with energy levels/foods to eat /timings, etc so decided to monitor BG levels for today (bought monitor yesterday).

Previous tests

4/9 - HbA1c 48, 7.3 BG (fasting)
22/9 - HbA1 49 (no BG given)

Today BG's so far

6am fasting - 7.1
porridge breakfast (oats, sk milk)
9am 2hrs later - 12.3
11.45 - 4.4 (feeling whoozy, concentration going)
12.00 - lunch , quinoa & sml amount of korma (bad I know!!)
2.00 - 7.4

Is this the 'right' testing strategy to produce useful results?
My job is desk based but uses a lot of brain energy - do other people get lower BG's during the day than when fasting?
Does anyone else experience the loss of concentration/spinny type feeling pre meals?

Thanks
 
Hi. You need to persevere with the low-carbs as it's the key for most diabetics to help with blood sugar and no med. BTW I think you meant low-GI not high-GI as the latter is bad news. Once you go low-carb and make up with proteins, fats, veg and some fruit you should feel fine and full. The low-carb will avoid the sugar hit but it will take a while for the body to get used to this
 
Daibell said:
Hi. You need to persevere with the low-carbs as it's the key for most diabetics to help with blood sugar and no med. BTW I think you meant low-GI not high-GI as the latter is bad news. Once you go low-carb and make up with proteins, fats, veg and some fruit you should feel fine and full. The low-carb will avoid the sugar hit but it will take a while for the body to get used to this
Click to expand...


Thank you! Yes I did mean low GI!!! High GI tempting but gives me headaches!
 
Culry247 said:
I have cut out sugar/sugary things and gone for high GI as replacements.
Click to expand...
Hello. Do you mean low GI?
I just checked a GI chart and most of the "low" stuff is off my radar. I eat low carb, which is different. You've already found that porridge on its own is no good for you. Skim milk is more sugary than full fat milk and cream is fine. But these are details in a broad spectrum of diet changes you will be looking to make.
Confused? We all were to start with. That's why we advise to test at set times and see a pattern emerge.
I'm sure your shakey episodes will disappear when you feel more settled and confident.
Check out what others are eating on one of the "what have you eaten today" threads.
 
The breakfast oats are not a great choice...as your BG shows 2 hours later.....bacon and eggs would have a far better effect than all the carbs in the oats. Not sure if @daisy1 has sent you the info pack so I have tagged her for you so you can get some much needed information
 
Your body gets acustomed to high sugar levels and reacts adversely to normal levels, its called a false hypo
http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.co.uk/2007/07/type-2s-understanding-false-hypos.html

So be patient while your body becomes accustomed to healthy blood sugar levels. Don't respond to feeling as if you were having a hypo by eating carbs to push up your blood sugar as long as your blood sugar tests at 4.4 mmol/L or above. Give your body a chance to adapt and eventually you will feel completely normal when you have a normal blood sugar.
 
Welcome
Have a read of the post from daisy1 on a previous thread. Lots of good information. Yes testing on waking and before and 2 hours after a meal helps you build up a picture of what foods work for you. We are all different. Try to keep the rise to less than 2. It is a learning curve and will take time.
 
@Culry247

Hello and welcome to the forum :) Here is the information we give to new members which I hope will help you with your diet choices. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will be able to help.


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 over 150,000 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 bloodglucose 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.
 
One thing you might want to consider is planning a low carb diet that will work for you then starting it either at the weekend or on some days off work. You may get symptoms of "carb flu" as your body adjusts to fewer carbs. For me this lasted 4 days then I felt better than ever. It can last longer than that in some people, and others don't really get it at all.
 
Just to answer your last couple of questions - yes, some people, including myself, have lower blood glucose during the day than fasting. In my case, it happens because my meals are low carb and therefore do not elevate BG levels dangerously high, and then overnight a thing known as the dawn phenomenon happens.

In your case, it seems that a low of 4.4 was caused by crashing from a high of 12.3, due to high-carb oats. Such sudden drops are responsible for loss of concentration, extreme hunger and shaking. Eating low carb meals would not lead to this type of rollercoaster blood glucose levels, and it would provide plenty of energy to feed your brain too.

Good luck!
 
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