• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Trying to gain control

G

gillyflower

Active Member
Messages
34
Hello There
My name is Gill and I am a T2 diabetic. Was diagnosed a year ago and with the help of my brilliant GP, I was able to maintain a BS level of between 4- 6. Then she retired and I went to pieces. Over the past few months I have tried to ignore my condition

Last week I could not ignore the problem any longer. I was sick - sleeping all the time - raging thirst and when I tried to take a reading could not get a result as my BS was off the scale. Spent the bank holiday in hospital and am now back at home determined to get to grips with my condition.

Utterly confused about carbs - so much controversy - at the moment I am just avoiding anything sweet and taking my meds

3 * 500 Metformin slow release
2 * 80g glicazide

My current BS readings average 26 and dropping
Any advice gratefully received
Gill
 
Hi Gill and welcome aboard. In case you haven't yet seen it, here is the information Ken and Sue, board stalwarts, put together for newly diagnosed diabetics. I know you've had a year of managing your condition, but it sounds like you want to have a fresh go at thinking about what's happening with your bloods and diet.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=17088

I think some of the confusion about carbs stems from there not being clear definitions. There are some really low carbers on the forum, some lower carbers, some low GIers and some small portions of everything-ers. I'm on about 75-100g of carbs a day which seems to help, though every now and then I find myself eating Nutella straight from the jar :lol:

Anyway, I've found this to be a really friendly, helpful place, I hope you do too.
 
Thanks
I have printed the basic help for newbies. Also a modified Atkins diet I saw in the Low Carb Forum.
Have taken to cycling after each meal - jusat hope the weather will hold.

One of my problems is that I love fruit. My husband bought me a juicer and I tend to go mad with orange - apple and fresh ginger. Hopefully if I can get my BS levels within safe limits again - I can indulge occasionally

Gill
 
Hi Gill :) Welcome to the forum. Try eating (or drinking) a small portion of your favourite fruits and test before and 2 hours afterwards. That way you might find you can eat some of them.
 
Hi Gill and welcome to the forum, a lot of fruits are quite high in carbs, I eat an apple and an orange most days but some diabetics find they can not eat these fruits. Fruit juices though are processed. ie squeezed, so the carbs in orange juice will hit your blood much quicker than an orange would. I used to drink a glass of orange juice at breakfast before I started testing before and after meals when I soon saw what it did to my blood glucose (bg) levels.
 
Hello Gill, all fruits are not equal, some apples (Cox's and Golden Delicious for instance) are lower sugar than others and I can manage to eat them without any problems. I find whole oranges are not to bad. I only eat fruit after a low carb meal, it helps slow down the absorption of sugars.

Most berries are good as well, fresh or frozen but not dried.

Some fruits like pineapple are just to high in sugar to eat, bananas can be a fruit to avoid as well.

As aready mentioned, you need to test and see what you can manage without pushing your BGs up to much.

H
 
Thanks Sid and Haalii

IWhat is becoming clear to me is that I must test much more oftern and not follow docs instructions to test twice a day before meals. Thanks to your input I have learnt that I must test my BS with foods I am unsure of. Got an appontment with Doc in half an hour - BS 26.6 this morning. Will really start reducing carbs today

Have a good day
Gill
 
Hi Gill

gillyflower said:
IWhat is becoming clear to me is that I must test much more oftern and not follow docs instructions to test twice a day before meals.
Click to expand...

Hope things go/went well for you at the docs :D

Just testing before meals will only tell you how low/ high your blood glucose (bg) levels are and probably scare the life out of you.

To use bg testing to control your diabetes you need to test before a meal and then two hours after that meal, at the two hour piont your bg should be returning to pre meal levels, if they are still much higher it means that you ate a too high level of carbohydrate in that meal, make a note of the test numbers and what you ate in a notebook then the next time you eat that same meal reduce the carb part of the meal by 50% ie half as much potato, bread, rice, pasta etc and test again before and at the two hour mark and you should see your levels are closer together, if they are still much higher then repeat the experience the next time you eat that meal and make a further reduction in crabs and keep repeating till you find a level of carbs that dont keep you high for too long.

The latest 2011 NICE guidelines for Bg levels for T2's are as follows:
Fasting (waking and before meals).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l
2 hrs after meals........................no more than 8.5 mmol/l

If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.


By careful testing over a couple of months you will soon learn what you can and can't eat and how large a portion of each carby food you can eat. And as your post meal levels reduce you should also see a reduction in your fasting and pre meal levels, everything is governed by the carbs you eat and how active you are.

Intensive testing doesnt have to last forever for a T2, once you get to know what you can safely eat you will probably be able to restrict your testing to new foods or a couple of times a week just to keep in touch with your body and its changes.
 
Thanks so Much Sid,
I really appreciate the time you have taken to explain the testing and carb thing. Last night I completely cut out potatoes from my evening meal and avoided cereal this morning. Instead had 1/2 grapefruit and a little plain live yoghurt


The visit to the docs went quite welll. We tested my meter which is OK and surprise surprise my BG was under 20! First time in weeks. No increase in meds thank goodness.

Hope you have a good day

Gill
 
Back
Top