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Protein rises

J

JustDomUK

Well-Known Member
Messages
88
Hi all

I've read on here that sometimes people suffer from protein rises. Can anyone let me know what they are and how they deal with them please.

I'm type one and despite being low carb my bs is rising to 10 four hours after I've eaten breakfast. Yet if I don't eat it remains within target.

I reduced all the carbs from my breakfast which today was a cheese and bacon omelette with a fruit tea. The tea doesn't spike me as I've tested this. There are 0.3g in the tea. The cheese and bacon are zero and the eggs are less than 0.5g. I did take the insulin for 1g of carbs. I eat breakfast at the same time every day. I'm wondering if it's as a result of the protein?

Any help would be great

Dom






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You will probably need to bolus for the protein at around 50% - it does take longer to break down so the rise is slow. I normally inject after I have eaten and am using my legs as absorption using stomach was too fast.
 
When I low-carbed I had the same problem with protein, postprandial bg would be fine (up to 2-3 hours after) but after this time my bg would often be in double figures, the only way round it I found was to split-dose, meaning inject some insulin with your food and again 2-3 hours later to counteract that gradual slow rise.
 
Hi Dom,

When low-carbing you DO need to bolus for low or no carb meals. For bacon and eggs I need about 1.5 units bolus. The timing of my bolus depends very much on the meal - protein, carb and fat content and size of meal. I use a carb ratio for the carb, add a unit or so for the protein (in a very low-carb meal about 30 - 50% of the protein converts to sugar) and then another half unit just because I'm eating - I know that sounds mad, but I need a little bolus whatever i eat! If there is some 'real' carb in the meal e.g. bread or potato rather than just veg, I'll jab the whole lot before the meal; if there's no or little carb and a balance of fat and protein e.g. bacon and eggs, I'll jab a little before the meal, but if there is high fat e.g. lots of cheese or high protein e.g. steak and salad, I'll jab 15 minutes or so after the meal and check again at about 3 hours to see if i need more bolus i.e. split bolus a little with the meal and a little later. It's a bit trial and error I'm afraid, but persevere and you'll find something that works for you. To be honest, I now tend to know how much bolus I need just by the size of the meal.

Smidge
 
I appreciate all the help you've all given. I've never previously had to bolus for protein so for the first time in 38 years I'm going to try it.

Dom


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