Tight BG control numbers

I'm still new to all this, just waiting for my diabetic clinic appointment to be officially diagnosed, but I've done a lot of reading and am currently following a low carb diet (about 30-50g a day which seems to be keeping me in good control.

I'd like to have 'tight control' though, and was wondering if anybody could have a look at my numbers and see if these are within acceptable ranges...

I start with a fasting bg of 4.6-4.9 most mornings, but then it doesn't matter what I eat for breakfast (it's always zero carb though), I always end up just above 6 and it takes me around 3-4 hours to come down into the 5's.

After a lunch of tuna salad. prawn salad or quorn salad I'll be high 5's to low 6's after 1 hour and usually mid to low 5's after 2.

Evenings are no problem, and I rarely go above 5.5 after eating my dinner.

I understand that these are well within the acceptable range, but they're not really in the 'tight' range, particulary after breakfast and lunch. Will I be given oral medication with these sorts of numbers or just told to carry on? It's just frustrating that I'm eating a very low carb diet, and no carbs at all for breakfast, small portions too, but I still can't get within the 'tight' control region. I'm not trying for the Bernstein range, as although his book is full of great advice, I really don't think those bg levels are acheivable, particularly without insulin, but I don't think 5.5 is an unrealistic target, or is it? :?

Anybody else low carbing and acheiving 'tight control' numbers, particularly in the mornings?

Thanks for your replies

I'm a slim type 2, 36, and not taking any medication at the mo. I was hoping to get my numbers to 5.5 or under one hour after eating, but this just isn't acheivable after breakfast and lunch. I recently read Blood Sugar 101 after seeing a link posted on this site, (think it might have been in one of your posts Grazer ), and the figures she quotes seem much more realistic. I also tested my parter last night after dinner (he's not diabetic), and after a carb heavy meal, he was 7.1 after 1 hour, and 5.9 2 hours after, so I'm thinking maybe I'm aiming for targets that not even non-diabetics get to very often! I read Berstein recently, and as I said, although he's got a lot of great and rigourously tested advice in his book, I don't think those sorts of numbers can be reached by type 2s not on meds.

Think I just need to relax about all this a bit, still in the 'freaking out' stage, I've always been the kind of person who likes to be in control all the time, and I'm coming to realise that diabetes doesn't work that way :?

Thanks for all the reassuring replies everybody, this is such a great forum It's nice to get advice from people who are dealing with this everyday too. There's so much conflicting advice out there about BG numbers, there isn't one definitive number to be aiming for, and I imagine I'll be told something completely different at my clinic appointment to, it makes it quite difficult to know if you're doing the right thing or not!

I have lost a little bit of weight since I started low carbing, I'd be happier a little heavier to be honest, but it seems to have stabilised now, and I haven't lost anymore, plus I have to say, I really enjoy my food nowadays, rather than when I used to just cram in as much carby stodge as I could throughout the day, and still feel hungry afterwards

Thanks again for the advice, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing then, going to have a few potatoes and a slice of cheesecake at xmas though :wink:

Hi Dougie, thanks for the reply. I tend to agree that the acceptable levels set by the NHS are much too high and that regular testing is a necessity for all diabetics, relying on the HbA1c test alone is not a good indication of daily control.

When I told my GP I'd bought a BG monitor and had been testing regularly, she seemed quite pleased that I'd done this, and was quite interested in which foods sent my BG up, and the sort of numbers I'd been acheiving, which seems unusual given some of the reactions other people on this board get when they mention testing to their doctor. I think she's showing a bit more interest in my diabetes as there's a possibility that I may be type 1.5 though.

I really think, as a whole, the general advice given to diabetics from the health service seems to be entirely wrong, and even dangerous in some cases. My dad, who was diagnosed type 2 a few years back, was told that eating carbs and BG levels up to 10 are acceptable, and for this reason he still eats bread, potatoes, etc and thinks this is all fine! He now has neuropathic damage to one foot, but still insists that the dieticians/doctors must know best in terms of diet :x

So, I think in general, for me personally, I tend to go along with the 'lower the better' approach to my numbers and diet, with the occasional treat :wink: