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sudden increase in BG-level on empty stomach - why?

TStine

Member
Messages
12
Location
Norway
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi all,
I have type 1.5 (LADA). Diagnosed 1.5 weeks ago.

Anyone knows how the BG level can jump from 6.5 to 13 in 1.5 hours?

I had dinner at 18:30 and BG before dinner was 6.5. Two hours later, at 20:30 BG was 6.4. So far so good, but then, 1,5 hours later (3,5 hours after dinner) BG level was suddenly 13.0.

Any ideas? I did not eat any snack in the meantime, I did walk slowly for 2 miles, and nothing else happened.

I am recently diagnsed (1.5 weeks ago), and use no pills, only insulin (Insulatard and Humalog).

Appreciate all feedback
 
Hi there @TStine

welcome to the forum

a late rise from eating is not unheard of ..... it would be helpful to know what you ate and how much insulin ( fast acting bolus) you took.
the overall impression from what you have described is that you took a bit too much insulin for the carbs consumed.
as you are recently diagnosed perhaps your body kicked in with a bit of its own insulin to help you out ( not)
even the exercise will have had an impact.
somteimes the body can react to the carbohydrate longer after the dose of insulin
 

Thank you @himtoo

I ate a tomato-pasta-meat-zucchini caserole with some cream in it (not very much cream but it was 20% fat). I did calculate the carbs pretty accurately (used an app) and included carbs for all the ingredients. It added up to 40 g carbs for the portion of caserole. I also ate 2 small pieces of chocolate covered licorice (10 g carbs for those 2) so in total the meal had 50g. carbs. I injected 5 iu fast acting bolus to cover these 50 grams of carbs.

I read somewhere that it's so little carbs in vegetables that they don't need to be counted, but I thought it sounded weird so I have counted the carbs for both the tomatoes and the zucchini, -maybe this is not wise? Do you count carbs in the vegetables or do you leave them out?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Daibell said:
Hi. Did your meal have a lot of fat in it as this would slow the absorption of carbs?
Click to expand...

Hi @Daibell and thanks alot for replying. The meal that I ate had 24g fat (and 53g protein, 50 g carbs, 7g fiber (this includes 2 pieces of licorice for dessert). Maybe this was enough fat to slow to slow down the carb-absorbtion. Do you think so?
Maybe it is smart to eat first and then set the fast acting bolus afterwards.. ? is that something people do, as far as you know?

Thanks again!
 
It is interesting that the meal contained pasta.
This is one carb that I enjoy eating and indeed the blood glucose rise can be delayed for me.

the counting of every carb in the meal is something that I definitely do but not everyone does.
some do leave out the green veg and salad type foods.
the best thing is to test , as you are doing , and your meter should tell you
 
40 y.o. woman from Norway, diagnosed Type 1.5 LADA late november 2015. Insulin only; basal (Insulatard) morning and evening and fast-acting (Humalog) to meals. This took me by complete surprise and I have much to learn!

Hang around. You will learn a LOT Experts across every spectrum. Good luck

Mike
 
Pasta can definitely caused a delayed blood glucose rise - I think it is usually around 4-5 hours after eating. Pizza often does the same. I understand that it is something to do with the combination of fat and carbs with the veg, but don't understand it fully.

Try googling 'Pizza Effect' and see if it makes sense to you.
 
... and agree with the above ... pasta is not good for many. Me included. Early days for you so testing foods is important to gauge reactions.
 

Thanks @Brunneria , that made sense, -very useful to know about that effect!
 
Yes, the pasta delayed effect is well known. Also, any meal with a lot of fat in it will kick in BG-wise at 2-3 hrs after eating. Sounds like that's what it was.

What 'a lot' of fat is may depend on you. But if I have, for example, raspberries and cream, I generally need to take a tiny second bolus at 2 hrs to cover the rest of the meal.
 
As many have said already @TStine , there are certain combinations of fats, protein and carbs that result in two things happening. The first is that increases in blood glucose are often delayed and the second is that the combination creates an accelerant effect requiring more insulin than you'd normally expect to need. Pizza, Pasta, Fish and Chips and Fried Chicken are amongst the range of things that people have seen this effect with.

It's not abnormal, so no need to beat yourself up there. The best thing you can do is observe and understand so the next time you eat, you know what to do. On MDI, many people take additional insulin doses post eating in order to avoid the spike as @LucySW has described.
 
Thank you @LucySW @tim2000s
I have one serving of the caserole left, I'll see if the same thing happens again and if it does, I'll split the insulin dose in 2 next time I eat pasta, and save some to be injected after the meal.
(Or avoid pasta/pizza, I think 6 shots a day is enoguh )
 
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