• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2026 Survey »

Unbelievable!

Hi there! This DP is driving my mum and I crazy. Please help... we are trying so hard and are despairing...

She is Type 2, 3 weeks into LCHF regime... Yesterday she ate no visible carbs whatsoever and this morning before brek, BS was 12.3mmol... 2 hours after brek (Greek ff strained yog, berries, 1 coffee) it was 12.2mmol. But now visible carbs for more than 36-48 hours... what is all that about???
 
BTW, her counts have reduced to around 7-9mmol now, as opposed to 14-15mmol previously...
 

Wish I knew! I've had a day like that today sam, although mine hasn't gone dow, it's so annoying!
 
I've gone and done it again! Just before I started low-carbing I cooked a load of cauli/macaroni cheese, one of my favourites from a slimming club I went to years ago. Rather than waste it all I took one portion out, added more cauli and some broccoli and made 2 portions out of it with more cheese on top. So I had a small portion, half the macaroni I'd usully have.
I was 12.4 before (been high all day, no idea why) and 1 hour later I was 19.7! Am frightened to test again, but i will in another 15 minutes to get a 2 hour readng. Seems I really am very sensitive to pasta and noodles etc
And the rest of the mac/cauli cheese (another 5 meals in the freezer!) will have to go in the bin!
 
rowan said:
2.5 hours post meal 15.9, going down thank goodness! At least it didn't go up to 29 like the other day!
Click to expand...
Well thank goodness it is coming down! Scary. I didn't think cauliflower cheese would be bad? Cauli ok... But is it flour in sauce? How are you @Bluetit1802 ? Do you have any thoughts on rampant BS levels? You were a big help last time, really got us on the straight and narrow :0) very grateful. And what about the weight loss then static situation -
Any ideas how to get the loss going again please?
 
samizip said:
Well thank goodness it is coming down! Scary. I didn't think cauliflower cheese would be bad? Cauli ok... But is it flour in sauce?
Click to expand...

It must have been the macaroni, although there probably was flour in the sauce, I didn't check because at the time I'd never heard of lchf, that knowledge came just a few days later
 
Ah. Yes. I'm only a beginner myself but macaroni would definitely do it! Keep up the good work ;0)
 

Thank you for asking @samizip I am doing well, but still not completely stabilised on the weight issue. I kept losing the odd pound here and there without putting it back on again. I'm more or less stable now but unable to gain the 4lbs I would like to. My BMI is 20.8 so not underweight but I would prefer a bit more meat on my bones.

Rampant BS levels ..... If the meds are the appropriate ones, then the rest is down to diet and exercise. What sort of levels is she seeing before and after meals, and at bedtime?
 

Hi Rowan, I would like to share my experience with you as I think it might help. I have managed to bring my BG from 24.6 at diagnosis on the 9th of january (in hospital) to 5.2 (average FBG). I also have PCOS since a long time ago. If you have PCOS chances are you are very insulin resistant (at least I am), I also was given gliclazide after I left the hospital, took it for a few weeks (2 weeks) and BG's were around the 8's-7's... that was before my first appointment with the diabetic nurse. Because of the insulin resistant I thought the gliclazide was a bad solution for me as the main problem is not how much insulin I produce but how little my body recognises what I produce. So I talked to her and stopped the gliclazide and went very very low carb (I don't eat carrots, or beets for example), immediately after that my numbers went progressively lower and lower... this is all within a month of diagnosis. I take 2000mg metformin (SR) a day (with breakfast and dinner). However a few times I have had eaten something containing sugar or wheat (brown low carb bread :S) and my sugar spiked to the high 7's, so my glucometer has made me realized the massive difference a small portion of these carbs make in my BG... simply, my body needs to produced much more insulin to deal with them. I have acne which is related to the excess insulin (PCOS), while taking the gliclazide my acne got worse and I am dealing with the consequences now. I am not suggesting you should stop gliclazide as everyone is different and it should all be done within medical supervision, but going very low carb and off the gliclazide has worked for me.
 

Thank you You're a week ahead of me so hopefully this time next week i might be down to the 5s too
I'm not sure if I still have pcos as I was diagnosed in my mid 20s, and had one ovary removed during a hysterectomy 10 years ago, the other wasn't to be found!

I have realised that even tiny amounts of wheat or sugar affect me badly but I'm getting used to doing without them. the only thing I haven't tried yet is rice, I have some brown basmati in the cupboard but seeing what noodles and pasta do to me I'm not holding out much hope!

I'm on maximum metformin and gliclazide but am hoping that might be reduced in time, I don't understand how the gliclazide works but i will ask the doctor, thanks for the heads up
 

Yes, if you don't have ovaries you most likely don't have the problem with acne I have lol. But the insulin resistance (which is the underlaying issue with some PCOS people could still be there...) and its, in my case, what makes carbs simply very bad for me even in small amounts. As I understand it, Gliclazide stimulates your pancreas to produce more insulin (which in an insulin resistant person might not necessarily be the problem: lack of insulin) while the metformine works by making your cells more sensitive to insulin while at the same time reducing the amount of glycogen your liver produces... this is my limited knowledge though...
 
There is a test called glucose tolerance test which mesures your insuline and blood sugar levels before and after consuming a glucose load. The test the insuline levels at 1, 2 and 3-4 hours after the load. In my case (I had it years ago when my blood glucose levels where within normal ranges all the time) my insuline levels went sky high and remainef high after 3hours... Is this excess insuline in the body what causes weight gain in people like me, the excess insuline is what also affecta the ovaries making them to produces excess testosterone and inducing PCOS symptoms... This is my understanding... Its part of the Metabolic Syndrome and what eventually becomes diabetes if not taken care off... In my personal experience... As far as I understand once one is diabetic an insulin resistance test is not done, but I can't swear on that one... You can read about insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in the main information pages of this website (Outside the forum) there is also really good info about how each medicine works in your body.
 
Sorry about all the misspelings Im ony phone
 
From what I understand and in my personal experience with low carbing, the reason why low carb works is because it reduces the amount if insulin your body needs to process the carbs. The metformine helps the body to recognize the insulin it produces in a more efficient way and stops the liver from producing excessive glycogen (sugar). Everytime I did low carb and metformine, my acne cleared, my period regularized and the weight went down and eventually I was able to keep the weight down for a while (until life came in and made my emotional life a disaster and me emotional eating destroyed everything I had achieved)
 

Thanks, I've never had that test. For years I kept telling my doctor I thought i was diabetic, getting hypos and needing something sweet to stop the shakes etc. I started getting that in my 20s, around the same time my PCOS was diagnosed.
They kept telling me to come in for a blood test and I'd make an appointment for on the way home from work, and all they ever did was a fingerprick test which was always quite low because I hadn't eaten for a few hours. So they said I wasn't diabetic and me, knowing nothing about HBA1C or any other types of tests, had no option but to accept what they said.

I wasn't finally diagnosed with diabetes till I was 50, 25 years after I startedt having these useless fingerprick tests when i was hungry!
 
Hi @rowan

How fit and active are you?

You see, while you are finding your feet with the low carb thing, you are bound to make the odd mistake - noodles, frozen macaroni cheese, etc - but there is a relatively simple way of getting blood glucose down. It can also reduce a spike.

Basically, it's exercise. It all depends on your fitness level, and how active you can be.

I'm built for comfort, not speed, and my idea of violent exercise is a few flights of stairs. Someone else might walk briskly for a few minutes, or climb on an exercise bike. A fit person would probably need longer, harder exercise.

Please don't think I'm suggesting you flog yourself to exhaustion. Simply moving, consistently for a while will help. The best thing to do is try it out for yourself, and see if climbing stairs or hoovering, or popping out to fetch a pot of cream from the corner shop, will help. Test before and after eating, then before and after exercise.

My personal experience is that 4-6 flights of stairs bring my BG down a bit (say from 8 down to 6).
This is great.
But if I am still digesting the food, my BG will then start to rise again.
So I can choose to go for a longer walk (to cancel out the BG rise)
Or I can wait a few minutes and go up the stairs again...

Probably worth mentioning that violent exercise on a full stomach really ain't a good idea, and violent exercise will briefly raise BG anyway, so keep it moderate, and see if it works for you.
 
Well... the awareness about all this is very recent... and I think the medical world is still catching up. I have never met anyone in the UK that had the glucose tolerance test. I had it privately in another country after researching over the internet and been convinced that I had Metabolic Syndrome. It took me a very long battle with the nhs to get the metformin prescribed again cause my gp didn't want to give it to me cause I wasn't diabetic... its a loooong story but I understand your frustration... I have had years of it with my PCOS...
 

I started today again... just coming back from my 40 min walk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…