Type 1 Strange Side Effect of Eating Sausages

[StewM]

Since switching to the Pump I’ve noticed quite a strange side effect to eating Sausages. Between 2.5 to 4.5 hours after eating, even with an Extended Bolus on board I see a sudden sharp spike in Blood Sugar levels (3.0/5.0 mmol/l in the space of about 30mins, more if I don’t have an Extended Bolus working).

This is, in of itself, is not strange being a food high in fat and protein. But where it gets weird is the 30 minutes later the Blood Sugar crashes back to it’s original level equally quickly. Like it’s as if the my Insulin got blocked behind a dam for 30mins only to be released later. Lengthening the Bolus extension seems to only increase the size of the spike and drop. Shortening has the same effect. Increasing the size of the Extended dose just results in going low later.

So I’m a bit of a loss to explain what’s going on. Technically it’s not a major problem as it resolves itself but I do feel a bit off for that hour with the big sudden swings, so would like to fix it if I can (and yeah obviously not eating Sausages might be the simplest way of doing that).

Interestingly food of similar fat and protein levels don’t have this effect, it seems to be specifically sausages, for whatever reason.

 

[Oldvatr]

What are you using to measure blood sugars? Some meters are sensitive to some of the sugar alcohols such as Malitol, Sorbitol etc Some meat products have added Malitol. I am aware of some brands of faggots that are guilty. Also, it is often added to gravies. I had this problem as a T2D where pork sausages from one supermarket spiked me, but when I changed to a different and cheaper shop, the problem resolved. Same with the faggots - supermarket ones spike, butcher made ones do not. recently a portion of sliced roast beef in gravy spiked me. Normally I can eat a full on beef curry, full of diced beef, without any problem.

Also beware of garden peas in the frozen sections. These are often doctored to make them tender sweet and kiddy suitable. Ditto sweet corn. again, my choice of supermarket nowadays seems offer undoctored.

But I am T2D on orals, so my experience may not read across to yours.

 

[StewM]

What are you using to measure blood sugars? Some meters are sensitive to some of the sugar alcohols such as Malitol, Sorbitol etc Some meat products have added Malitol. I am aware of some brands of faggots that are guilty. Also, it is often added to gravies. I had this problem as a T2D where pork sausages from one supermarket spiked me, but when I changed to a different and cheaper shop, the problem resolved. Same with the faggots - supermarket ones spike, butcher made ones do not. recently a portion of sliced roast beef in gravy spiked me. Normally I can eat a full on beef curry, full of diced beef, without any problem.

Also beware of garden peas in the frozen sections. These are often doctored to make them tender sweet and kiddy suitable. Ditto sweet corn. again, my choice of supermarket nowadays seems offer undoctored.

But I am T2D on orals, so my experience may not read across to yours.

I did think it might be a Libre mirage but the bigger spikes I confirmed with a finger prick with a Glucomen Aero meter, don’t know if it’s effected by these things.

Right enough I haven’t tried with an a variety of sausages so might be worth trying different ones to see if the same issue arises.

 

[Oldvatr]

I did think it might be a Libre mirage but the bigger spikes I confirmed with a finger prick with a Glucomen Aero meter, don’t know if it’s effected by these things.

Right enough I haven’t tried with an a variety of sausages so might be worth trying different ones to see if the same issue arises.

The other one to watch out for is Maltodextrin. It too is a sugar that is added but because it is a starch and not from the sucrose family, ot does not get added to the sugar content. It is often listed as modified starch or E 14nn where nn defines the chemicals used to modify it. It is similar to gelatin and is used as a thickener aa well as a preservative. The ISO standard for home bgl meters had to be modified to include specific tests for sensitivity to these additives

The other thing that I have noted is that meters are sensitive to hematocrit value in your blood. There is an effect in some people that after eating a meal, they suffer a rush of blood to the stomach tissue which alters the hematocrit locally in the extremitites (brain, arms, fingers) and this can also affect meters. I have two meters, and one seems immune to these disturbances, but the other meter adds between 1 and 1,6 mmol/l extra after a meal, but both agree within 0.5 mmol/l on the fasting readings. To reduce this effect drink water bfore eating.