Question about tonights levels

[MancboyChris]

Hi all,

Newly diagnosed and still trying to process everything. I have a quick question,

Before tea tonight my reading was 15.7
I just checked before bed and it's gone to 16.4

I had fish (no batter or breadcrumbs) done in the oven, 2 scoops of mash and peas for my tea.

I'm just wondering why it has risen.

Thank you.

 

[Deleted member 308541]

I'm just wondering why it has risen.

I think you have answered your own question with this...

2 scoops of mash and peas for my tea.

 

[Antje77]

From 15.7 to 16.4 isn't a big rise at all, in fact, this could even be the inconsistency of your meter.
With mashed potatoes and peas, you've had a meal very high in carbohydrates, which makes bg go up.
Could you please tell us what treatment you have? I presume you are still on insulin? It makes a big difference for the answers you'll get.
If you've injected for your meal, it looks like the amount of insulin nicely matched the amount of carbs you've eaten!

You can adjust your profile too, so people can check before answering your questions.

 

[MancboyChris]

Thank you for your replies. Yes, insulin with each meal and one before bed. I think I'll understand more when I've been on the course the diabetic nurse mentioned. I'm still finding my way around and I will update my profile, thanks for that advice. I'll try to steer away from mash if I need to, I'm still noting my readings down which I need to tell the nurse on Monday and they will see if the insulin dose needs adjusting.

 

[Antje77]

Take your time learning!
Don't suddenly steer away from mash when you're on fixed doses of insulin.
On this forum you'll read a lot about lowering carbs. That's perfectly safe for T2's who use diet to keep their blood sugars in check.
It is not safe to suddenly lower your carb intake on insulin before you know how to adjust!

All the note taking will definitely help. Not only to have your nurse adjust your dose, but also to help you understand how x amount of insulin, y amount of food, z blood sugars relate to each other.
Not a bad idea to log x and y as well.

Good luck!

 

[Marie 2]

The starting point of 15.7 before you ate really was too high. Can you call and ask for an adjustment amount so you can be lower?

It doesn't sound like the amount was that far off for what you took versus what you ate. So you need to start off lower. Be careful as that does sound like a higher carb meal and yet the dose was pretty close to what you needed, so don't decide to cut way back on carbs because your set dose might too high for a lower carb meal. And then start carb counting so you can get used to it. It will be what you will need to learn so you can adjust the amount of insulin to what you eat. I eat what I want I just dose with the right amount of insulin for it.

 

[JPW1]

Yes its a bit frustrating at the start, which i am at as well, they're easing you on to insulin but levels are not settled yet. Sounds like you bolused what you needed more or less but not enough to claw you back to normal levels. I was 15.1 yesterday after late lunch (bad food choice!) but took a walk which brought it down to 11 just before dinner took my 5 which im prescribed plus another 1 and after 2 hours i was at 5.3. It then rose to my usual high 8 level at bedtime and thecsame this morning. Probably need to increase my basal. I'm carb counting everthing at the minute and observing effects as im not yet free to actually adjust insulin last night was an exception.

 

[AlanaPerrin]

Hi!
As others have said, that’s not a big rise at all for a meal with mash, so your meal dose was correct. You started off too high, so you need to ask for a correction dose. If I was at 15 before eating (this is my ratio, so please don’t take it as something you should do without discussing with your doctor), I’d need to give myself at least three units before eating, plus insulin for my meal at my normal carb ratio.
You’re doing well getting your meal ratio right early on, so well done!

 

[Antje77]

Take it easy everyone. 15 is high, but it isn't if you were only diagnosed 4 days ago!
They'll want to lower your bg relatively slowly to prevent you from having a bad hypo. One of the things with insulin is that the only way to find out the right doses for you is trying and seeing what happens.
Some people need less than 10 units over the day, others need 200. So you need to start with relatively low doses to prevent overdosing, and work from there. Which seems to be exactly what your nurse is doing!

The diabetic course your nurse mentioned sounds very good too, it's likely to be very helpful in learning to adjust your own doses from meal to meal and depending on things like exercise and illness.
For now, it looks to me like you're doing exactly right!