Understanding my diabetes

[Mrs Wardy 1966]

Hi there, I’ve recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (6 months ago) I’m on metformin slow release (1000mg x2) & Januvia 100mg. I’m finding everything very confusing at the moment. I’ve started on a healthy eating plan & my last meal is a NO CARB meal. So just meat, fish vegetables, salads etc. Only problem is I’ve been in hospital since Boxing Day for another health issue but because I’m diabetic they’ve tested blood sugars. With extremely unusual readings. I’ve gone from 7.2 to 23.6 in a matter of hours. Should I buy a blood testing kit so I can begin to understand my own sugar levels?? Many thanks.

 

[Rachox]

Hi Mrs Wardy and welcome to the Forum
I was in hospital just before Xmas and the menus were a bit of a nightmare if you’re on low carb diet. I ate non of the breakfast on offer, carb ladened toast and cereals washed down with fruit juice, all no nos on low carb. The lunches and dinners were easier as there was always a plain omelette, veggies and salad but it did get a bit boring having omlette at every meal. The dishes were all coded on the menu and as a diabetic I was supposed to choose BC ‘balanced choice’ but these all had potato, pasta, rice etc.
They also only tested before meals so I took my own meter with me and when I was able I did my two hour post prandial readings too.
I don’t know your reason for admission and don’t want to pry, but maybe your other health issues and/or treatments are causing the high blood sugars?

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hi and welcome aboard,

Diabetes is a very confusing, and very mysterious disease. What needs to be remembered is that carbohydrate causes blood sugars to rise, and not only that but so does stress, illness, injury, disturbed sleep, other medications, and the state of our hormones. Having just been in hospital myself I can testify that unless you have your own food brought in for you, it is virtually impossible not to eat carbs. Add to this the stress and everything else you may be experiencing whilst in hospital, and it is no wonder your levels have increased.

However, 23.6mmol/l is very high. What were you doing in that period when they increased so much?

I also found that the blood sugars were taken randomly with no regard to timing after or before meals, and no chance to wash my hands before being finger pricked, so to me were a waste of time. I had my own meter with me and kept tabs that way. I should add that I am T2 and not on any diabetes medication.

 

[Biggles2]

I’ve gone from 7.2 to 23.6 in a matter of hours. Should I buy a blood testing kit so I can begin to understand my own sugar levels?? Many thanks.

Welcome to the forum @Mrs Wardy 1966!

Definitely buy a meter so that you can track your levels when you are home (and in hospital if you are still there when the meter arrives).

@Rachox makes a very good point about treatments, (and I would add - as a general thought - not wishing to make any assumptions about your individual circumstances) patients in hospital frequently receive intravenous fluids and/or IV antibiotics (especially during the Winter flu season for example). IV antibiotics can be mixed in a salt or dextrose (sugar) solution. Using a dextrose solution could account for a high spike in an individual with Type 2 diabetes. So think of everything that is entering your system by whatever means, oral or intravenous.

Also, as @Bluetit1802 mentioned above - the timing of the test is so important, as is handwashing before testing.

I hope that you are on the mend soon and wish you well!

 

[Deleted Account]

The advice above is very good.
I would add that getting your own BG meter is probably a good idea to help you understand wha causes your BG to rise.
You could try requesting one from your doctor but, unfortunately, the nhs does not seem to have enough mone to fund test strips for everyone with type 2.
If you have to buy your own, consider the price of the test strips as this is where most of the mone goes.
Others on this forum can probably advise the best/cheapest option.

 

[Elaine T2]

Check price of strips on Amazon they sometimes have good deals on purchasing 100 strips.

 

[Tophat1900]

Yep, get a meter, don't let any medical professional tell you that you don't need one. You do!

In order to stay healthy, you need to have decent control of your bg levels and you can't do that if you don't know what they are. It's that simple, you need a meter to know what they are.

As others have said about random testing in hospital, it's done just so they can check it off their list. This ignores timing, both pre and post meals as has been mentioned. The food is very high carb in hospital, I had my gall bladder removed in 2015 and actually went down to the cafeteria and bought my own food, all low carb stuff or meats, fats etc. No way I was going to damage my health eating high carb hospital food. Interestingly enough, here in Australia, if you tick diabetic, the food choices are even more high carb on the menu then if you checked unrestricted diet.

Hospital interfers with sleep, stress, and drugs used to treat conditions often do have an impact on bg levels. If you get a reading that seems off, it could be a bad strip and or result. I would test again to double check it and if it is very different the second time around I test a third and you usually get two results that very similar and that's going to be what it really is.

Welcome to the forum.