Hello and thank you for allowing me in your group. Im posting for my mam who is 89. Type 2.she has been having fasting levels of between 10-15. none fasting upto 18.6 . currently on sitagliptin .Doctor says nornal level should be between 4-7 but then goes on to say levels of 15 although not optimal are ok. He also says she can have sweetie treats . Is this true ? I would of thought at those levels chocolate etc should be a no no . He also says just to check her levels now once a day and if you cant do a day not to worry. A bit concerned if this doc is correct or not . any advice would be greatly appreciated . Thank you.
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sweet treats with fasting level of 15 ?
- Thread starter BinaB
- Start Date
Hi @BinaB 
Let me tag @daisy1 for you as she has some basic information.
Some Type 2s will be along soon (maybe more of them in the morning) and they can give their advice. I have Type 1 but I wouldn't eat sweets if my blood sugar was high. I'm wondering if your man's doctor has set higher acceptable blood sugar levels for her because of her age?
Let me tag @daisy1 for you as she has some basic information.
Some Type 2s will be along soon (maybe more of them in the morning) and they can give their advice. I have Type 1 but I wouldn't eat sweets if my blood sugar was high. I'm wondering if your man's doctor has set higher acceptable blood sugar levels for her because of her age?
chalup
Well-Known Member
Hi there
It sounds to me like what this doctor is not saying out loud is that at her age he is not worried about the long term and that she should enjoy the time she has left. I guess the question is do you agree with that attitude or not. If not you should see another doctor. Does your mother understand her diabetes well enough to make the decision on her own? It is really a trade off between short term pleasures and long term complications. Tough call, I wish you well.
It sounds to me like what this doctor is not saying out loud is that at her age he is not worried about the long term and that she should enjoy the time she has left. I guess the question is do you agree with that attitude or not. If not you should see another doctor. Does your mother understand her diabetes well enough to make the decision on her own? It is really a trade off between short term pleasures and long term complications. Tough call, I wish you well.
Hello
Hi @BinaB
Let me tag @daisy1 for you as she has some basic information.
Some Type 2s will be along soon (maybe more of them in the morning) and they can give their advice. I have Type 1 but I wouldn't eat sweets if my blood sugar was high. I'm wondering if your man's doctor has set higher acceptable blood sugar levels for her because of her age?
Hello thank you for your reply. I think I need to make an appointment with another doctor and see if I can get some answers regarding her age. Thank youHi @BinaB
Let me tag @daisy1 for you as she has some basic information.
Some Type 2s will be along soon (maybe more of them in the morning) and they can give their advice. I have Type 1 but I wouldn't eat sweets if my blood sugar was high. I'm wondering if your man's doctor has set higher acceptable blood sugar levels for her because of her age?
Hello thank you for your reply. I think I tend to agree with you regarding her age.I once had a doctor tell me well shes had good inners. I wonder if they would feel the same if it was there mam. when my mam eventually has to meet her maker . I would prefer it to be a peaceful passing and not the possibility of a stoke etc because of high sugar levels.I dont feel its the end of the world if she cant have sweets theres plenty of nice foods she can have instead. My mam is lovely shes so young at heart, very independant ( lives alone) but the family ( me and siblings ) make the decisions even though she does have faculties. im kinda being out voted in wanting a good healthy diet for my mam. I stick to the diet. they give her chocolate and treats and they even got this doctor to write me a note which he even signed sayin level 15 is ok :/ I think I will see another doctor and see what they have to say . Thank you for your time .
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why can't everyone get on........
Hi there @BinaB
I have had Diabetes for 43 years and so trying to be objective I can see this discussion from both sides.
I am pretty sure from what you have posted that your mam's doctor is erring on the side of a little bit of "sweets" will not affect your mums health outcomes in a hugely significant way.
however as a child you must want the very best for your mam in every single day of her potential remaining years..........and for this reason I would certainly request a further consultation with a different doctor.
We all have the right and a duty to do our best in this life and I would firstly ask your mother what she thinks as regards sweets and I would also follow your instincts as you have known your mother longer than anybody and as an obviously caring child will want to do your best for her .
I am sorry if this is a bit of a ramble but it is not an easy subject to pinpoint an absolute definitive answer................
I have had Diabetes for 43 years and so trying to be objective I can see this discussion from both sides.
I am pretty sure from what you have posted that your mam's doctor is erring on the side of a little bit of "sweets" will not affect your mums health outcomes in a hugely significant way.
however as a child you must want the very best for your mam in every single day of her potential remaining years..........and for this reason I would certainly request a further consultation with a different doctor.
We all have the right and a duty to do our best in this life and I would firstly ask your mother what she thinks as regards sweets and I would also follow your instincts as you have known your mother longer than anybody and as an obviously caring child will want to do your best for her .
I am sorry if this is a bit of a ramble but it is not an easy subject to pinpoint an absolute definitive answer................
Winnie53
BANNED
@BinaB A place to start might be to begin figuring out what her carbohydrate intake is for each meal, also for each snack. You'll probably need a scale to weigh (or measuring spoons and cups to measure) each individual ingredient for each meal to calculate the carbohydrates.
Whole food ingredients are preferable to processed foods.
Once this is done, perhaps you can help her find equally pleasing foods that are lower in carbohydrates.
If this feels overwhelming, perhaps you could work on one meal of the day for a week or more first, then move on to the next meal, etc.
Foods that are high in carbohydrates and problematic are sugar and starches: sugar, fruit, grain flours or grains, below ground vegetables, and legumes.
Find ways to replace sugar and grain based flours with a natural sweetener, Stevia, and nut flours.
As for treats, there are many low carb treats that you and your family could make for her that could be frozen in individual servings and thawed one at a time. If treats are important to her, perhaps she could trade a sugary or starchy food for a low carbohydrate treat.
Once you have a better idea of what she's eating and how many carbohydrates she's eating you can ask for help here for recipes, tips, and strategies.
By approaching the problem this way, you'll hopefully gain more support from family members. I'm assuming that some will be willing to provide your mam with healthier, lower carbohydrate treats if provided guidance and recipes.
I hope so...
Whole food ingredients are preferable to processed foods.
Once this is done, perhaps you can help her find equally pleasing foods that are lower in carbohydrates.
If this feels overwhelming, perhaps you could work on one meal of the day for a week or more first, then move on to the next meal, etc.
Foods that are high in carbohydrates and problematic are sugar and starches: sugar, fruit, grain flours or grains, below ground vegetables, and legumes.
Find ways to replace sugar and grain based flours with a natural sweetener, Stevia, and nut flours.
As for treats, there are many low carb treats that you and your family could make for her that could be frozen in individual servings and thawed one at a time. If treats are important to her, perhaps she could trade a sugary or starchy food for a low carbohydrate treat.
Once you have a better idea of what she's eating and how many carbohydrates she's eating you can ask for help here for recipes, tips, and strategies.
By approaching the problem this way, you'll hopefully gain more support from family members. I'm assuming that some will be willing to provide your mam with healthier, lower carbohydrate treats if provided guidance and recipes.
I hope so...
daisy1
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@BinaB
Hello Bina and welcome to the forum Here is the information which we give to new members and I hope this will help you to help your Mam. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will be able to help.
BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS
Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.
A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.
On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.
The role of carbohydrate
Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.
If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.
The bad news
Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.
The good news
People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.
Controlling your carbs
The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
Reduce your carbohydrates
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.
The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.
Choosing better carbohydrates
Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html
The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.
Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes
LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program
Eating what works for you
Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.
To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.
The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:
Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.
You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic
Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Hello Bina and welcome to the forum
Here is the information which we give to new members and I hope this will help you to help your Mam. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will be able to help.BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS
Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.
A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.
On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.
The role of carbohydrate
Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.
If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.
The bad news
Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.
The good news
People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.
Controlling your carbs
The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
- Reduce your carbohydrate intake
- Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.
The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.
Choosing better carbohydrates
Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html
The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.
Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes
LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program
Eating what works for you
Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.
To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.
The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:
Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
- structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
- self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education
Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.
You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic
Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
catapillar
Well-Known Member
Sounds like your mum is pretty with it and probably able to consider the risks/benefits herself - have you had a chat to her about it? If she is able to make the decision then it should be her decision, if you don't feel mum is able to fully consider the more complicated, long term bits you should at least take into account her views on the bits she can understand - you know, does she really love chocolate? Is a lovely bit of cake her favourite treat? Would she feel deprived and left out if she had to give it up and couldn't have tea and biscuits when her lovely family come round to visit? Does she feel alright in herself when her levels are up at 15? I appreciate it is probably a really difficult conversation to have, but if you feel you are being out voted, do try to make sure your mums vote is the most important one. She sounds very lucky to have such a lovely family who are all trying to do the best for her.
Salvia
Well-Known Member
Totally agree with this approach. It is your mum's body and your mum's life - she must have the final decision about what she wants to eat, for as long as she has the mental capacity to make that decision, no matter how much you or others might disagree with it. Please try to ensure that no-one inadvertently takes away her personal dignity and choices.
There are many on this site who have the occasional (or not so occasional) treat of cake, chocolate or ice cream, and know full well that it will raise blood sugars for a time.
Daibell
Master
Hi. We all know a BS of 15 is too high but the doc may well be taking her age into account. Is she seeking 'sweeties' or just some nice snacks? For snacks, berries, cheese, nuts etc do the job without high carbs. I have 85% Dark Chocolate so how about getting her to try that?
Heretic1
Well-Known Member
When I was first 'labelled' I went to speak to my uncle - he is the only person in my family similarly afflicted! Which purely by chance) at a family event we found out he was earlier this year (before I knew I had 'it')As he sat munching on his Chocolate Digestive, he told me he couldn't even remember how long ago he was diagnosed - possibly about the time he retired. He goes for his check ups etc when called and understands nothing of monitoring, LCHF, Fbgs, etc etc - and had no idea what his hba1c results are - he just knows the nurse tells him it is fine! He just said he ate healthily and made sure he goes for a 'good walk', but does enjoy 'treats' like choccy bikkies, and sponge pudding - he really likes them. Not possibly archetypical - but there you go!
By the way - the family event we were at when he told us was his 90th birthday party. He still lives independently, is fully compus menus, has only just given up driving - and has a great social life! Who am I to tell him he shouldn't have some of what he enjoys at 90!!
P.S. I know I am where I am through **** lifestyle and being overweight over the last few years, however if there is a partial genetic link also, I just hope and prey I get some of his longevity genes!
Heretic1
Well-Known Member
By the way, as a footnote to the above story....
When my uncle dropped into conversation that he was T2D, my wife and I were horrified - remembering the 'luxury' hamper we had put together for him for Christmas. This had in it - well you guessed it, Pork Pie, jam, crackers, shortbreads etc etc
I profusely apologised for giving him the hamper - not being aware at the time of his 'condition' (or indeed my own!). He said please not to worry, he had very much enjoyed it!!
Hello Thank you to everyone who has commented , all the advise . links and valuable information.. My mam also has pernicious anemia which over the years has caused her to be forgetful now along with the 10 years of damage caused by statins which prob caused the diabetes in the 1st place . Although she is 89 and does have faculties she has signed for me to deal with all her medical things, My mam lives alone and is independant in that respect but basically the only time she is alone is when she goes to bed . then she has emergency alarm pulls if she needs to raise any alarms . We would never take away her right to decide her self where appropiate ,infact she is encouraged to make up her own mind but lets say shes easily led lol. If she asks me for sweets and I explain why I refuse then suggest we get her some lovely fresh strawberries etc shes happy with that then will forget all about the sweets .I do understand the others want to give her treats but they eat chocolate infront of her so the temptation is great for my mam and she indulges . I would love to give my mam loads of goodies but I prefer her to be as healthy as possible. I should mention she already had a big stroke followed by 2 TIAs which the hospital filed as normal and missed. So the concern is there and why I am reluctant to accept what this doc says .I had to go to the docs today my self so have mentioned what has happened and the doc I saw agreed although diabetics can have goodies in moderation she doesnt think my mam at those levels whilst on medication should be having any treats as such .I got the rest of the family to make small changes such as brown bread instead of white . sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes . etc but this silly doctor that said level 15 was ok has told them they can do treats and white potatoes which they now are. . The different doc who I saw today has suggested I see the proper diabetic doctor at our surgery so iv made the appointment for next friday. I have in the past made my mam sugar free cakes . Not the best but edible adding little sugar free butterflies to it lol. I have bought sugar free sweeties but only allow a few a day as not to caused a laxative effect . But realised I was fighting a losing battle when it was discovered they were giving her treats . cakes choco sweeties behind my back. errrrr .I have fallen out with my siblings over the whole thing. when does a treat become more then ! Seriously its not a case of not wanting my mam to have some of what she enjoys .Its a case of is chocolate etc more important for her to have which takes seconds to eat but will cause lots of damage . I dont have diabetes it is not in the family My mam is the 1st we know of . so I am learning how to make my mams life as comfortable as humanly possible. I dont believe in the whole at her age thing. People are living longer and longer and I am hoping to keep my mam here as long as poss .
.
