Oh no... glucose in my urine

[Jajabing]

Hi all

For a week now I felt like emotions were going all over the place and decided to randomly test my urine. I also have PCOS so i'm really wary of my glucose, cholesterol and the whole bunch of problems associated with it. I found that the strip turned dark brown and there was glucose in my urine. Went out in a panic and bought a tester and saw that my first number were 7.7. So I started testing and going low carb the next few days and these are my results.

Day 1
7.7 before dinner
8.8 two hours after dinner
10.0 after snack
9.2 Before bed

Day 2
8.7 out of bed
10.6 after breakfast (i had milk, 2 pieces of toast with cheese)
6.3 before dinner
8.0 two hours after dinner
8.4 before bed

Day 3
7.5 out of bed and before lunch
7.1 two hours after lunch
9.3 before bed (miss out on the numbers for dinner, i forgot to bring my tester along)

Day 4
7.2 out of bed
7.6 before lunch
6.7 two hours after lunch (i took these after lunch as well chromium, Vitamin B complex, Vitamin D, Q10, Vitamin C, Alpha Lipoic Acid etc and it seems to have an effect glucose levels)

However the bad news is, where i'm at anything below 10 is considered prediabetes and no medication is needed. Without an approval from the doc i can't get meds and cheaper consultation fees. Which would mean i have to rely on a strict low carb diet. This is really depressing for me.

 

[dancer]

You say you had milk and toast for breakfast which isn't low carb.
Depending on the size of slices, there could be anything from 20 to 40g of carbs in the toast and around 10g in the milk.

Remember it isn't just sugar you should limit/cut out, it's the carbs from flour, pulses, rice, potatoes and foods made from these.

Bacon and egg or an omelette would be a better choice for breakfast.

 

[Robbity]

If you need more help, you really need to tell us what you have eaten for each meal as well as providing your test results for them.

And I agree with @dancer milk and toast isn't low carb, and certainly not strict low carb. But while your readings are on the highish side, they're actually not all that bad, and a reduced carbs diet should certainly help. Look at the UK recommended levels here.

Robbity

 

[Daibell]

Hi. I agree those levels are in the pre-diabetic range and actually not bad so don't worry at present. Just keep the carbs down and if the readings go up over the coming months then get the doc to confirm your diagnosis

 

[Jajabing]

Thank you for your responses! I really appreciate it. I will be more careful about milk and toast now. My dad is diabetic as well and he never seems to spike over toast, rice or potatoes, just meat. I was curious if I am the same but apparently not. Have to try harder to maintain a better diet that suits me.

I'm also quite surprise by the health supplements I took. There's so much to learn!

 

[PatsyB]

always learning I know for a fact cerials are high carb but my Nurse says I must have them in a morning

 

[Jajabing]

I know right. We are still doing the food pyramid nonsense here. I thought I am ok until I started reading what people are sharing here. This forum is a gem.

always learning I know for a fact cerials are high carb but my Nurse says I must have them in a morning

 

[JAY1JAY1]

Hi and welcome , I'll tag @daisy1 she will give you the information for new members to the site ,have a read of this to get you started, even if your not diabetic it will give you an insight and may help , good luck . If we can help just ask JJ

 

[daisy1]

@Jajabing

Hello and welcome to the forum

Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask any questions you like and someone will 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.

 

[Jajabing]

Thank you everyone. I will read through all the information given. On hindsight, i've rushed through my meals and life, never sparing a thought. It's like everything else is more important than me. Perhaps it's time to practice mindfulness in my eating and think about what it all means. Diabetes is a disease with no cure as yet but life is all about trying (i'm telling myself). Your kind words is a big bonus. Thank you again!

 

[Daibell]

Thank you everyone. I will read through all the information given. On hindsight, i've rushed through my meals and life, never sparing a thought. It's like everything else is more important than me. Perhaps it's time to practice mindfulness in my eating and think about what it all means. Diabetes is a disease with no cure as yet but life is all about trying (i'm telling myself). Your kind words is a big bonus. Thank you again!

The good thing is that the right low-carb diet and medication if needed (possibly insulin if necessary) can virtually always bring your blood sugar back into range so you can avoid the long-term damage. It's a serious disease but we are lucky that it can be managed very well.

 

[Jajabing]

I've got one question that puzzles me. Are the readings post meal suppose to be higher than pre meal? If so, my readings don't make sense.

Out of bed - 8.0
Before Lunch - 8.7
After Lunch - 8.4 (I had bacon with 3 eggs and some mixed vegetables)

(took health supplements for glucose as recommended by this website)

Before dinner - 6.8
After dinner - 6.7 (i had a slab of crispy pork belly, broccoli and a tiny bit of fish)

Is this suppose to be normal?

 

[Brunneria]

Hi,

Most people's blood glucose rises after eating (there are usually carbs in meals, even if it is only the carbs in green veg). But the idea is to stay inside the target zone (in the uk that is here), by 2 hours after you started eating.

You may find it useful to test consistently for a while. When I was first testing and mapping out all the foods, I tested
On waking
Just before each meal or snack.
2 hrs after I started eating.
At bedtime.

The 2 hour rule means you can compare your readings, food, meals and portion sizes.

Once you know the foods and meals that send you too high, you just adjust portion sizes or swap high carb foods for lower carb foods til you get on target.

I would take medication if my doc told me I needed it to keep control of my blood glucose levels, but I prefer to do it by diet.

 

[AndBreathe]

I've got one question that puzzles me. Are the readings post meal suppose to be higher than pre meal? If so, my readings don't make sense.

Out of bed - 8.0
Before Lunch - 8.7
After Lunch - 8.4 (I had bacon with 3 eggs and some mixed vegetables)

(took health supplements for glucose as recommended by this website)

Before dinner - 6.8
After dinner - 6.7 (i had a slab of crispy pork belly, broccoli and a tiny bit of fish)

Is this suppose to be normal?

I didn't realise this site recommended taking dietary supplements. What do you take?

Personally, I prefer to concentrate on eating well than take any supplements, but that's not necessarily saying they're a bad thing. They're just not for me.

 

[Jajabing]

I got it from here http://www.diabetes.co.uk/vitamins-supplements.html. These are my long list of vitamins, some of it is for my PCOS...

Chromium
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Inositol
Vitamin D
Vitamin B complex
Glucosamine
Coenzyme Q10
Magnesium & Zinc

They seem to work fine for me. Vitamin D is mainly because i'm not getting enough sun from my activities and i get burned very easily.

I didn't realise this site recommended taking dietary supplements. What do you take?

Personally, I prefer to concentrate on eating well than take any supplements, but that's not necessarily saying they're a bad thing. They're just not for me.

 

[Robbity]

After meal readings are not supposed to be anything other than (if possible) within or lower than the recommended guidelines. You're more likely to be doing things right than otherwise if you get close or lower readings 2 hours after your meal, so don't look a gift horse in the mouth!! It may mean that you are getting a small earlier spike, or just that you are eating low carb food that doesn't cause (much of) a spike at all. But if you feel it worthwhile you can test similar foods after 1 hour to see what's happening then too. Meters are not 100% accurate so may possibly not be "seeing" a smallish spike because of this

I eat a very low carb diet and will quite often get either very little or no spike, or even a reduction from pre meal levels, and I'm very happy with this sort of result. I actually prefer to be in this situation where I have fairly consistent "flat" levels than a large rise afterwards: I feel it's much kinder to my body, as it has less work to do.

Robbity

PS Like @AndBreathe I'd much rather eat a good varied diet than restrict my foodstuffs too much and then choose to take supplements because of this.
ETA As I've just seen your post re supplements, needing them for genuine reasons is obviiously a different matter though.

 

[AndBreathe]

I got it from here http://www.diabetes.co.uk/vitamins-supplements.html. These are my long list of vitamins, some of it is for my PCOS...

Chromium
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Inositol
Vitamin D
Vitamin B complex
Glucosamine
Coenzyme Q10
Magnesium & Zinc

They seem to work fine for me. Vitamin D is mainly because i'm not getting enough sun from my activities and i get burned very easily.

Whilst it's clearly absolutely up to you to decide on any supplements you care to take, it strikes me that most of those elements are found in commonly used/diabetic friendly foods. Your supplements must be costing you a fortune!

 

[Jajabing]

Haha ok. I feel like a silly goat. I'm so glad i don't seem to spike over meat, or else i'll have to start chewing on my own arm. I suppose human meat is low carb???? In any case, i'm feeling a lot more stable in my moods. There's a lot of stress and depression in my line of work and i cannot be grumpy hamster all the time. I'm just kinda glad i found a virtual supportive space, hopefully in time when i'm a guru myself i can give some jedi master advice like yours to other newbies like me!

 

[Jajabing]

It's not so bad, i travel a lot and found many countries sell these at a much lower price. Like the United States, Australia etc. Many asian cities are difficult to deal with in diet, especially the poorer ones. Their diet is mostly 90% carbs and some mystery meat. That's when i rely heavily on getting enough vitamins from elsewhere.

Whilst it's clearly absolutely up to you to decide on any supplements you care to take, it strikes me that most of those elements are found in commonly used/diabetic friendly foods. Your supplements must be costing you a fortune!

 

[Jajabing]

I thought I should give an update here after about 2 weeks. I've gotten my blood glucose to between 4.5 to 6.8 most of the time although I sometimes fall off the wagon. Still learning from everyone here and hoping to lose more weight. I've since lost about 3kg. I hope with more weight lost I cAn control my pcos as well. marching on...