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PLEASE NEED HELP WITH SEEMINGLY UNCONTROLLABLE BLOOD SUGARS

Hi, according to my DAFNE Carb portion list 50g porridge oats is 3 1/2 carbs & I thought each teaspoon sugar was 1/2 but you are probably right!!! I do tend to have greek yogurt with defrosted berries with superfoods, ground nuts and chia seeds for lunch and I think I will have this for breakfast instead.

I do test before each meal, but I was advised to test 4 hrs after taking my insulin so perhaps I need to start testing after 2 hrs as well.

I am off on holiday for a week in the morning so will have to sort this out when I get back but many thanks for your advice!!!
 
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I suggest for accurate carbs you look at the package.. Dafne is only an average and it depends totally on what beand you purchase.

Also my suggestion would be to get myfitnesspal app for carb counting as this is far more accurate than a dafne course average estimate.

Have a great holiday. Glad you eat berries!!!
 
A breakfast like that would ruin my day, porridge on its own puts my levels sky high and I couldn't dream of putting that much sugar on!!!!

I think a big part of your problem is your carb counting figures are way off.
 
Porridge oats for example from waitrose essential range is 22.4g carb from 40g helping.


I wonder though if you are giving dosage in units that has been estimated for ur porridge and sugar? Because the grams and carbs you quote just don't add up
 
britincali said:
A breakfast like that would ruin my day, porridge on its own puts my levels sky high and I couldn't dream of putting that much sugar on!!!!

I think a big part of your problem is your carb counting figures are way off.
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Sounds like I will have to drop the porridge!!!
 
I think it's weird that your levels have only just started spiking, I take it you've eaten like that for years?
 
britincali said:
I think it's weird that your levels have only just started spiking, I take it you've eaten like that for years?
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Yes indeed and very frustrating, especially now as I get no indication of low blood sugars any longer!!!
 
Woollie777 said:
Yes indeed and very frustrating, especially now as I get no indication of low blood sugars any longer!!!
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When do you get low levels? Ur post seemed to highlight the spike more and a level of 12??
 
Woollie777 said:
Hi, according to my DAFNE Carb portion list 50g porridge oats is 3 1/2 carbs & I thought each teaspoon sugar was 1/2 but you are probably right!!! I do tend to have greek yogurt with defrosted berries with superfoods, ground nuts and chia seeds for lunch and I think I will have this for breakfast instead.

I do test before each meal, but I was advised to test 4 hrs after taking my insulin so perhaps I need to start testing after 2 hrs as well.

I am off on holiday for a week in the morning so will have to sort this out when I get back but many thanks for your advice!!!
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Hi

The porridge breakfast you refer to is 3.5 CHO portions and not
3.5g carb. A CHO portion is 10g carb. So thats why yr bg is going through the roof. The breakfast is 35g carb.
Why DAFNE is teaching people to count carb in portions and not carb grams, well only they know.......Very confusing if you ask me

Porridge once it is made up with milk is not easy to calculate the correct carb value unless the carb value made up with milk is listed on the packaging. The Carbs and Cals book list porridge made with milk....weight being 75g, as being 10g carb but different brands of porridge will equal other carb amounts.

Have a go at eating a slice of toast in the morning instead of porridge and then yr bg wont go up so high and the carb value will be correct.

i sometimes eat porridge myself but I use a mix containing crushed up almonds...2dsp of porridge and 2dsp of almonds shoved in pudding bowl and boiling water from kettle poured over the mix just to çover it, wait 15mins and then the porridge has absorbed the water and I get 1tsp of thick plain yoghurt out the fridge and stir it into the porridge and voila.....a lovely tasting porridge thats only about 12g carb.
 
iHs said:
Hi

The porridge breakfast you refer to is 3.5 CHO portions and not
3.5g carb. A CHO portion is 10g carb. So thats why yr bg is going through the roof. The breakfast is 35g carb.
Why DAFNE is teaching people to count carb in portions and not carb grams, well only they know.......Very confusing if you ask me

Porridge once it is made up with milk is not easy to calculate the correct carb value unless the carb value made up with milk is listed on the packaging. The Carbs and Cals book list porridge made with milk....weight being 75g, as being 10g carb but different brands of porridge will equal other carb amounts.

Have a go at eating a slice of toast in the morning instead of porridge and then yr bg wont go up so high and the carb value will be correct.

i sometimes eat porridge myself but I use a mix containing crushed up almonds...2dsp of porridge and 2dsp of almonds shoved in pudding bowl and boiling water from kettle poured over the mix just to çover it, wait 15mins and then the porridge has absorbed the water and I get 1tsp of thick plain yoghurt out the fridge and stir it into the porridge and voila.....a lovely tasting porridge thats only about 12g carb.
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Thanks for your reply, I am so confused about counting carbs but I will get to the bottom of it when I return from holiday!!!
 
Woollie isn't far out with her carb count she is saying 10 carbs as in portions which is the same as 100gms of carbs in our language. I worked her breakfast out to almost 100carbs so what she is injecting is correct if the porridge is the 65 carb per 100gm type.

From what woollie has said though the problem is a new event. So IMHO she need to look elsewhere for the problem
 
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Oh dear....o_O sorry for the way Ive misread Woollies msgs on the way the insulin has been calculated for the carb eaten.

@Wooollie777.......its very possible that the Lantus dose injected once per day is no longer giving much background control during the day, hence the need to use more bolus instead. As a very general rule......it is thought that if the bolus greatly exceeds the basal, then if bg levels are not being controlled very well, the basal usuallly needs to be increased but its important to not increase the basal at night time if by doing so, bg levels go very low and cause hypos, hence the reason to get up in the night and test bg to see what is happening. If bg is ok during the night, then its possible that the basal also needs to be injected in the morning to get bg ok and testing bg levels every 2.5hrs to see if the carb ratio needs to change. I didnt do any basal rate testing myself using Lantus or Levemir but tested bg levels frequently to monitor the effects and make the nececessary adjustments.

A good rule that I follow is to eat food that I can afford and prepare easily, keep my bodyweight ok so that I can buy clothes in the correct size for my height and keep my bg levels controlled so that I can achieve levels that are not too low or too high Using a pump, I started to eat less carb about 12months ago and found that by eating egg omelette (example), or meat or fish with salad..lunchtime and meat with vegeatables at dinner, not only did I need slightly less insulin but I also didnt get any bad jumps in bg level and didnt feel hungry either. I dont go as low in carb as donnellydogs does but I still feel ok at eating about 70g carb per day. So good luck with the bg testing with whatever you decide to do.
 
Something else which might help is the amount of insulin injected in one go is a lot. I've read countless times that 7 units is the max in one shot so perhaps do 7 units and then the rest in another shot. This helps with absorption as I understand it.
Not having ever injected more than 5 units I haven't tested the theory.
 
robert72 said:
It's probably worth going back to basics and doing some basal testing. Once you've got that sorted then you can look at your bolus ratios again.
http://www.salforddiabetescare.co.uk/index2.php?nav_id=1007 (directed at pumpers, but the principles are the same).
Also wonder what your injection sites are like, as they could be causing some absorption issues.
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Many thanks for your advice!!! You might be well right about my injection sites! When you say going back to basics, do you mean just using Novorapid insulin on a 1:1 basis plus not using Lantus while basal testing, as in then going on to bolus ratios afterwards? Also whilst one is testing, is one allowed to take insulin to correct blood sugars?
 
Woollie777 said:
Many thanks for your advice!!! You might be well right about my injection sites! When you say going back to basics, do you mean just using Novorapid insulin on a 1:1 basis plus not using Lantus while basal testing, as in then going on to bolus ratios afterwards? Also whilst one is testing, is one allowed to take insulin to correct blood sugars?
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Going back to basics, I meant that you should start reappraising you Lantus and Novorapid doses.

First you have to do Lantus as you need to build your Novorapid doses on a flat basal level.

You still need to take Lantus to do the basal testing, but you will be skipping one meal on each day (and the Novorapid for that meal) to make sure that the Lantus is keeping your BGs level.

Will have a google to find a more appropriate basal test page.

Also I would thoroughly recommend getting the book 'Think Like a Pancreas' by Gary Scheiner which will help you so much with your diabetes management.
 
robert72 said:
Going back to basics, I meant that you should start reappraising you Lantus and Novorapid doses.

First you have to do Lantus as you need to build your Novorapid doses on a flat basal level.

You still need to take Lantus to do the basal testing, but you will be skipping one meal on each day (and the Novorapid for that meal) to make sure that the Lantus is keeping your BGs level.

Will have a google to find a more appropriate basal test page.

Also I would thoroughly recommend getting the book 'Think Like a Pancreas' by Gary Scheiner which will help you so much with your diabetes management.
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Ok, thanks but can I correct my raised blood sugars whilst I am basal testing?
 
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