Stress?

[Donnadoobie]

Since my second Hba1c test in March, which was 46, I was doing really well and my fasting levels were around 3.9-5.6 with the few 6. something's. For the last 3 weeks I cannot seem to get it to go below 6.00 and I am stressing about it, checking my levels constantly until they go down, I mean over the top, using a new pack of 50 strips in 3 days! Can my stress be putting up the figures? Or is it it likely that it is progressing to type 2? My husband says he is going to hide the monitor as It is making me so anxious! I am not eating anything different and doing more exercise. Maybe I should give myself a break from testing for a few weeks. Next blood test is not until March next year. Any advice is welcome.

 

[urbanracer]

Hi @Donnadoobie

What are you're actual numbers ? Being a little above 6 isn't exactly the end of the world!

 

[Jo123]

Gosh, that is a lot of strips!
You are obviously concerned quite rightly, but what are you eating at night?
Are you testing at other times of the day, ie before you eat and two hours after to see what happens to your blood sugar.
I find I need to limit most types of carbs to keep my blood sugar at a non diabetic level.

 

[Donnadoobie]

Fasting levels are ranging from 6.1. - 6.8, I have had the odd 7ish sometimes but this has tended to come down when checked a few minutes later. I have been testing after lunch sometimes around 2-3 hours after and levels have been between 7-8, I have got it back down to 5.4 ish before tea in the evening on occasions other times it sits around 6 ish. I don't know whether the stress is putting the numbers up as I must admit to panicking a bit. I think checking is being counter productive at the moment as I am struggling to stay positive, it all seemed to be going so well. I have followed a similar diet from March with Porridge with blueberries, flaxseed and cinnamon and almond milk for breakfast, homemade seeded stoneground bread with either cheese or sugar free peanut butter at lunch and then dinner will be a protein with veg. I don't eat pasta, rice or potatoes or anything with sugar. I do eat Greek yogurt with frozen berries after dinner, maybe I should swap this for breakfast. I snack on nuts (almonds or Brazil's) or cheese. By following this way of eating I have lost almost 2 stone this year. I have lost all my joy for food and panicking about my holiday to Greece in three weeks time.

 

[ButtterflyLady]

I wonder if it would be helpful to have an HbA1c test in September. I am a fan of 6 monthly testing rather than 12 monthly, as a lot can happen in 12 months. It sounds like your level is headed downwards, which is great. Maybe if you have this test then, it will give you a confidence boost. It might be good to get other things tested for at the same time, such as vitamin deficiencies etc.

I'm not familiar enough with home BG testing and low carbing to give you any suggestions on that front. I don't know how much effect stress has on BG levels but it's not good for you in general, so I hope you are able to find a happy medium between taking care of your health and relaxing, soon.

 

[Robbity]

Take it from me - stress amongst other things ( including illness, changes in weather, hormone levels...) can increase your glucose levels. So the hard to follow advice is to just let it go and try to relax. You are dong nothing to help yourself by incessant monitoring, all you're going to do is end up spending your holiday money on your extra test strips.

Your glucose levels are fluctuating all the time as your blood circulates and checking too frequently will just show this happening, so such readings can be pretty meaningless. Checking before, and one and/or two hours after food is useful for telling you how you're reacting to a particular type of food, so in this case sudden high spikes usually says "take care when eating this!"

But what you should be watching for are trends/patterns over longer periods of time - i.e. weeks and months, thought I hesitate to say this in case I make things worse! If you have a monitor than can save readings, and give you averages over various periods of time, you can then check to see how you're really managing, and if you wish you can use these figures to estimate your three monthly HbA1c by using the conversion tool on the UK Diabetes main site.

Robbity

 

[Donnadoobie]

Thanks for your advice. It has been really helpful. My husband says he cannot take any more and he will take the next lot away when they arrive in the post. I think I will not test any more until I return from my holiday and ' eat mindfully' when I am away, while still enjoying the odd treat. I will see how it goes. I do have a tendency to obsess about things! I have also read the thread about monitors and it may be that mine is not too accurate so will wait for next HBa1c. Glad I found this forum as the groups on Facebook are not very helpful.