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unusual high level true or false

B

bedshaped2000

Well-Known Member
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286
can somebody please give me some advise. i am type 2 controlled by diet and exercise last long term blood sugar level 6.0. I am still experimenting with foods and readings on the meter. Last night i had 2 sausgaes, chips, 1 fried egg and mushrooms. After 2 hours i did my blood sugar level test and to my horror it was 13.9. this has been the highest reading i have ever had. I was so shocked that after another 1 hr 20 mins i tested myself again without eating anything and the reading was 6.3. can i put this down to a dodgy first test because i persume that my blood sugar levels could not drop a whole 7 points in 90 mins , or is there something more sinister in the meal i had. i have only ever had 1 reading close to this which was 11.5 after eating chinese without any sauces but i put this down to to much carbs in the white rice i had. Please can someone advise as this meeting readings that i do daily although are good results i seem to be getting more anxious and depressed by some of the findings.
 
Almost certainly down to the chips.

If I eat chips I see my BS shoot up dramatically - potatoes, particularly chips are something of a no no - for me at least.
 
I agree with DannyB - the highest fasting level I had in recent memory (8.6) was after a late-night portion of chips.
I seem to cope better with ordinary potatoes, strangely, though only in very small quantities.
 
Almost certainly the amount of chips you ate, the next time you eat this meal cut your chips portion by 50% and see what that does to your post meal numbers, you will probably find that you only go half as high, just keep testing and adjusting you will soon find out what you can eat and how much :D
 
I would air on caution on this one, as there is a possiblity of a false reading...

If the reading his correct then yes the chips will be the culprit indeed..

But what niggles hits the false reading radar alert...

The carbohydrates in chips tend to adsorb a lot slower than other versions of potatoes, this is because they adsorb the oil that they are fried in... Fat slows down the adsorbtion rate of carbs (hence chocolate being naff at treating an hypo)

So I would expect the main impact to spike the blood sugar levels later than the 1 hour mark, even past the 2 hour mark...

I would follow Sids suggestion to test if this was a mis-reading (perhaps you had some food residue on your finger when you did the first test!) to use a set quantiy of chips, weigh so that you know the actual carb value of them... Then repeat if you hit another spike at the hours, then drop as quickly then you know that yes it's the chips and not a mis-reading...

Then you know for sure, and can decide what you want to do about it... Either avoid chips or see if reducing the portion futher helps...
 
thank you all for your replies. ive had another puzzling reading today. i normally have porridge in the morning with a banana and have readings of 5.7. Tonight i didnt fancy a meal so i had porridge and some blueberries. HORROR! 10.5. would this be the apple i had 2 and a half hrs before. Im getting in a right tiss. When i was first diagonsed Feb this year i was 21 stone and my reading was 8.9 long term. I am now 15 stone and have long term of 6.0 through diet and exercise. The confusing thing is ive done what my nurse told me with portions etc, its the carbs that get me. Ive been told to include wheat pasta, basmati rice,whole wheat cereal potatoes fruit and veg etc but the pasta,rice and potatoes are obviously high in carbs. Now ive got my readings down by doing what i was told. Then i was issued the meter and although my long term sugar is good some of the readings im getting are all over the place. this leaves me depressed and very anxious. I used t o be happy go lucky and all i seem to do is worry about what the next 2hours have install for me and can put me on a downer for the rest of the day . Any advise? although ive done the good work losing the weight i feel im losing the battle. i think what makes the anxiety worsre is the fear of losing my hgv license if i ever go to insulin. Please excuse the grammer im a driver not a writer :D
 
The lastest reading is probably due to insulin resistence in the evening...

Try not to get too anxious about it all...

You will find what suits you best, and there might be some food items that are best avoided a certain times of the day, like porridge in the evening... It doestake time to build a picture and it can seem very complex at times indeed..

A very rough rule of thumb

Carbs such as potaotes, rice, pasta and bread are the more problematic of the carbs in the main

Potatoes, you might be able to lessen the impact, by changing portion size, type i.e new boiled instead of mash potatoes etc

Pasta, again portions size is probably the key her

Bread, changing the type of bread, wholemeal and grains such as grannary etc might reduce a spike that you have.. Or perhaps changing to a Burgon, or weight watchers type might prove helpful

Rice.. In general basmati or wild are seem to be bettr than standard type, portion size can also be a consideration..

But some might end up being best avoided if they are too problematic...

Another rough rule of thumb for fruits

If they are juice based fruits such as Grapes, oranges can hit the blood sugar levels very quickly.. strawberries, raspberry type fruit tend to be easier on the system..

Banana's, these tend to be very indvidual indeed... But the riper they are then the quicker they will hit the system in general, but if you like me I digest them so slowly that I actually 1/2 the carb amount for them... But another person finds that they end up on the No list of there foods..
 
i havent had bread for ages because the sugar count in it. i just find the whole thing confusing. why do they tell us to include these carbs if they do this to blood sugar. so now im looking for carbs and sugar. soon it will be just water and fish? i thought i was doing well but the last couple of days have knocked me for six. thanks for the advise btw
 
Hi breadshape2000,

You've had some great advice already!

Yes - cut back on the starchy carbohydrates - i.e. cereals, bread, potatoes, pasta and rice if you want to try to keep clear of double-figure readings - and diabetic complications.

Best wishes - John
 
bedshaped2000 said:
thank you all for your replies. ive had another puzzling reading today. i normally have porridge in the morning with a banana and have readings of 5.7. Tonight i didnt fancy a meal so i had porridge and some blueberries. HORROR! 10.5. would this be the apple i had 2 and a half hrs before. Im getting in a right tiss. When i was first diagonsed Feb this year i was 21 stone and my reading was 8.9 long term. I am now 15 stone and have long term of 6.0 through diet and exercise. The confusing thing is ive done what my nurse told me with portions etc, its the carbs that get me. Ive been told to include wheat pasta, basmati rice,whole wheat cereal potatoes fruit and veg etc but the pasta,rice and potatoes are obviously high in carbs. Now ive got my readings down by doing what i was told. Then i was issued the meter and although my long term sugar is good some of the readings im getting are all over the place. this leaves me depressed and very anxious. I used t o be happy go lucky and all i seem to do is worry about what the next 2hours have install for me and can put me on a downer for the rest of the day . Any advise? although ive done the good work losing the weight i feel im losing the battle. i think what makes the anxiety worsre is the fear of losing my hgv license if i ever go to insulin. Please excuse the grammer im a driver not a writer :D
Click to expand...

Hi bedshaped,
Having what you are eating I'm not surprised your having problems, the advice you received from your nurse is probably why lots of us ended up here.

Porridge is off the menu for me, some can tolerate it but it is high in carbs, and I find that I can only manage minimal carbs in the morning. You say that you get a reading of 5.7 after porridge can you tell us how long after the meal do you test. The following link gives good advice about the best testing procedure.

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045524.php

Banana is another that causes many of us problems, this is why I questioned your reading after porridge + a banana. As far as chips go a 100g would roughly equal about 30g carbs and thats a very small portion, but compare that to a couple of small new potatoes skins on, same weight would equal about 15g carbs. Along with pasta and rice, potaoes and most root veggies and any form of cereal or bread need to be monitored very carefully. The only way is to test, eat to your meter was the best advice I ever received.

Best of luck let us know how you get on.

Regards
Graham
 
I personally tolerate porridge quite well but the GI book I have acknowledges that some porridges are worse than others. You need the old fashioned porridge oats for the best results I normally use ready brek personally without problems. If is just a one off reading I would ignore it as it might be due to a lot of things.
 
There are differences in porridge, but as I and others have found they can all cause high BG spikes. I tried them all to no avail. As not only your health is at stake but you livelyhood the way forward is to test, this is the only way you will be able to stabalise your BG levels this in turn will enable you to keep medication to a minimum.

Regards
Graham
 
hi i normally test 1.45 to 2 hrs after a meal. this morning i had 2 weetabix and some blueberrys awating results will let you know in the next hour. thanks for all the replies all the advice is appreciated. phew all this testing im going to have to brg for more test strips soon :-d
 
bedshaped2000 said:
hi i normally test 1.45 to 2 hrs after a meal. this morning i had 2 weetabix and some blueberrys awating results will let you know in the next hour. thanks for all the replies all the advice is appreciated. phew all this testing im going to have to brg for more test strips soon :-d
Click to expand...
Hi again,

Once you are getting good results 2 hours after eating then I recommend that you then start testing 1 hour after eating to try to find your peaks. You might find that porridge - and 2 Weetabix for that matter - take you into double figures one hour after.

Now that I've sorted out my blood glucose control, I largely only test on rising and one hour after eating. I am managing to keep my one hour after eating below 8 which is just about what I understand the non-diabetic level to be.

If you are achieving 5.7 two hours after eating porridge (and a banana) then you are doing OK. Your last HbA1c of 6 confirms this too. However, you still do sound to be eating a lot of starchy carbohydrate. Why not now try to get your blood glucose readings even lower by avoiding the peaks/spikes? You should be able to get into the 5% Club without any difficulty whatsoever with a few tweaks to your intake of starchy carbohydrates.

Good luck - John
 
bedshaped2000 said:
........Tonight i didnt fancy a meal so i had porridge and some blueberries. HORROR! 10.5. would this be the apple i had 2 and a half hrs before.................../quote]
Hi again,

In my opinion, I wouldn't expect that the apple eaten two and a half hours before to have contributed to that reading. I'm fairly certain from my experience that the 10.5 would have come from the porridge. It's exactly around the level that I used to see when I was still eating porridge. In fact, I remember well that my first ever test reading was a 10.8 and that was after eating porridge that had been recommended to me so avidly be healthcare professionals. That caused me some HORROR too!

John
Click to expand...
 
hi just done the readings 5.6 on empty stomach this morning breakfast ended up as 2 weetabix one shredded wheat handfull of blueberrys and a coffee all with skimmed milk and candarel in the coffee. 6.4 after 1hour and after 2 hours 5.8 so this looks okand im doing cartwheels. any ideas as to what for lunch? i know this evening im having turkey and veg and now watching the potato portions.also what snacks can i have between meals . i have been having fruit and although the weight has dropped off me this is no good if sugars rise before lunch giving me dodgy readings. its getting to the point where id rather not eat to keep sugar levels level . Ive been told that pre meal should be 5-7 and after meal 7-9 are these numbers correct or have i been given wrong information. sorry about the 50,000 questions i find im getting more answers on here in 2 days than i have in the last 9 months. its ok being told you are doing very well because of the weight loss but this means nothing if the blood sugar levels are not right. Lunch i normally have salad but shouldnt i be watching the sugars in tomatoes peppers onions etc. had a really high reading last week with sesame ryvitas cheese cucumber and onion. Made myself hungry and well deflated after the reeding.The joke at work now is from fat git to anerexic but thats how its getting. When i look at my 2 young kids i think them or food and sometimes just dont eat to keep reading right. Life by a meter hey!
 
Hi again,

That really is a very good result on 2 Weetabix. Yes you really are doing great!

I snack on fruit and my tests show that it has hardly any effect on my blood glucose levels - even grapes. I tend to have regular pieces of fruit between main meals and space it out at approximately intervals of one hour or more. I eat oranges, apples, pears, grapes on a regular basis - at least one portion of each a day and usually more. Carry out some tests and you will soon learn how they affect you. It's very easy to carry small oranges with you if you go out or you are driving - mine need to be the easy-peelers because I'm idle! :D

The pre-meal numbers of 5-7 and post-meal numbers of 7-9 are OK. However, these days I prefer to work to pre-meal 4-6 and post meal a maximum of 8 one hour after finishing eating.

I have salad for lunch most days - in my opinion, tomatoes, peppers and onions are just fine - I add grapes to my salads too.

Turkey and vegetables are just fine - yes, do watch the potatoes!

I don't understand why Ryvitas, cheese, cucumber and onions should have taken you too high. Perhaps too many Ryvitas? However, it is always possible that your level might have been high before you ate that meal.

Don't fret about things because you are well on track to sort your condition out - I can tell that. It took me nine years to get to where you have after only nine months.

Best wishes - John
 
thanks john im going to try a apple now problem is they make you feel guilty for asking for more strips. so ive got to watch sugar and carbs. one more dilema tinned tomatoes or not they are showing 3.8g carb 3.6 sugars per 100g in a 400g tin. half a tin with garlic and onions and a fish portion?
 
bedshaped2000 said:
thanks john im going to try a apple now problem is they make you feel guilty for asking for more strips. so ive got to watch sugar and carbs. one more dilema tinned tomatoes or not they are showing 3.8g carb 3.6 sugars per 100g in a 400g tin. half a tin with garlic and onions and a fish portion?
Click to expand...
You'll not have to test for long - you'll soon get to understand what does what.

Tinned tomatoes, garlic, onions and fish will be just fine.

By the way, you aren't ignoring something in certain meals such as drinks of orange juice are you?
 
no plenty of water coke zero,pepsi max, coffee with semi and canderel (if out of a drinks machine black) tea with no sugar havent touch chocalate, biscuitscake pies or alcahol since diagonsed hence the trauma when i get a high reading off of hidden stuff
 
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