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Trying to control my blood glucose

K

kaazoom

Active Member
Messages
41
I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 2 months ago. I have seen the the diabetes nurse, who thought I may possibly have some neuropathy in my toes. I have recently started to get some pain on occasions as well as the numbness. I have also on occasions had burning sensations on other parts of my body, a bit like the feeling you get when you have sunburn.

I attended a talk by a dietitian, which wasn't much help, all the usual stuff about healthy eating. My diet is pretty good, I have my five portions of fruit and veg a day and have very few sweet things. However I am finding it impossible to get my blood sugar level down. It is usually at 8 before meals and rises to about 12 two hours after. The only way of getting it down seems to me to stop eating at all!

I know this isn't very high compared to some, but I think it is still to high. I am not sure if it is high enough to be causing the neuropathy though. I have many other symptoms which may be caused by diabetes or may be caused by ME, which is another diagnosis I have. I am hoping that if I can get my blood glucose levels down I may be able to tell which is which. Any advice on reducing my BG would be greatly appreciated.

Paul
 
hya paul,
im also diabetic and have me amongst other illnesses,
what kind of foods do u eat??
hope we can be of some help
 
Hi Paul.

I, like Totsy, wonder just what foods you are eating ? This may be the cause of your problems. I always get alarm bells ringing when I see someone stating, " healthy eating, diet pretty good ?"
I thougyht I was following a 'healthy' diet till I came here.....then I found out I had been mislead by the very people who should have been helping me !

Give us a clue as to a typical days meals, we might be able to make some suggestions to help you get better control.
 
I kept a diary when I was first diagnosed think I would get to see a dietician on a one to one basis. This, as you probably know, doesn't happen. A typical day would be:

Breakfast - Small bowl of cornflakes, skimmed milk and no sugar.

Mid morning - a piece of fruit

Lunch - Sandwiches - 4 slices of bread usually with cheese or ham.

Afternoon snack - a piece of fruit - usually an apple, but I often have nothing in the afternoon until dinner time.

Dinner - Meat or fish or meat pie etc. veg, potatoes, Usually followed by a low fat yoghurt.

I'll occasionally have another bowl of cereal in the evening, without sugar and with skimmed milk.

Of course I do have the occasional cake, very rarely I may have chocolate, but I don't have these everyday. perhaps three times a week.


Paul
 
Mmmmmh ?

This is where you need to be testing before every meal, then 2 hrs after that meal. That way you will see exactly what those foods are doing to your Bg levels.

Cereals, Breads, Pies, Potato and certain other vegetables and fruits were off the menu whilst I was trying to get control of my Diabetes and Bg levels. Once you have that then you may be able to slowly re-introduce certain food back in small quantities.

I have vastly reduced my carbohydrate intake and use a low GI/GL, low fat method. IT works well for me, you just need to adapt your diet to suit.
 
Hi Paul
Ken is right
Your diet is providing you with quite a lot of glucose.
Strange though it may seem, 10 grams of sugar provides only 5 grams of glucose, whilst 10grams of starch provides 10 grams of glucose.
So you need to watch starches too. You will need to cut down in some way. there are several possiblities:
cut down on all portion sizes, cut down on starchy portions. change to low GI starchy foods. this lowers the speed at which glucose is produced, but not the total amount. It works for many people.
Look through the forum, especially the "stickies". This will show you how to change your eating to suit you
 
Thank you for you help. I'll have a look at some of the stickys on the forum. I have a monitor and will be a bit more consistent with making notes. If I am honest, I have so many other health problems I haven't given my BG levels as much attention as I should. The strange thing is the dietitian seemed to suggest that high starch and carbohydrate diets, plenty of bread, potatoes, rice, pasta etc, are the way to go, unless I totally misunderstood her.

Paul
 
hya paul,
most dieticians do say this, i luckily got one who was for lower carbs, ive lost loads of weight and ive good sugars too
 
kaazoom said:
............The strange thing is the dietitian seemed to suggest that high starch and carbohydrate diets, plenty of bread, potatoes, rice, pasta etc, are the way to go, unless I totally misunderstood her.........
Click to expand...
Yes - Paul, they often do give that advice - it really is a quite crazy situation. I followed the advice for eight years and my situation progresssed as the call it - i.e. deteriorated - until eventually I needed medication. However, at that satge, I started reading a lot and reversed my condition and normalising my blood glucose levels over the last twelve months. It was only later that I found my way to these diabetes forums and came to understand what had happened to me. I wish that I'd got here earlier!

Reducing the amount of starchy carbohydrate that you eat - i.e. cereal, bread, potatoes, pasta and rice - is the way to go to get a big improvement in your blood glucose levels - i.e. the exact opposite of what your 'healthcare professional', the dietitian, has told you to do!

Good luck and best wishes - John
 
Paul
you may well find that if you get control of your BG, all your other conditions will improve. My T1 husband's Psoriasis has almost gone since he REALLY got on top of it all after35 years of doing what the medics said was good enough.
Hana
Ps I know Psoriasis isn't as bad as a lot of things, but it can be very depressing
 
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