Waking higher than bedtime

are you type 1 or 2?

It could be a number of things...

dawn phenomenon... where you blood sugar rises in the morning for no apparent reason.

night hypos... you could be bouncing from a low in your sleep, first port of call would be to lower your basal dose in the evening if you split it.

We need more information really on your diabetes and your treatment plan to really help!

But there's a couple of things there for you to mull over...

Hoolyuk is type 2 diet only,Stu.

Hooly,

Your last post implies that you are now making time for a breakfast and that's had a positive impact on your morning figures, is that right?

If it is DP other members have reported that having a small snack before bed helps.

Regards, Tubs.

Hi Hooly,
Those BG numbers are far to high you need to be looking at the carbs your eating, bread can cause your BG to soar. I suggest you have a read at some of the threads regarding carbs.

Regards Graham

Somebody one here (sorry don't recall who, possible Stu?) once explained to me about the effect of the type of food consumed the previous evening - using pizza as an example ... in that I had pretty good BG readings after scoffing my once-a-month pizza treat (I'm T2 low carber) and then the following morning my BGs were higher, even though I'd eaten nothing in between times -

*I THINK* it was because the type of carbs consumed took longer to break down and then enter the bloodstream ... and partly due to the fat in pizza covering for the carbs on my initiall 2 hour PP reading ...

Just a thought ... if you have a carby dinner it may be lasting longer than you think ???

Hooly,

Yes I think you can say the numbers are heading in the right direction, so congratulations on your effort. Without knowing more about your typical day, I do think your portion sizes need looking at.

Have you been referred to a dietitian?

Regards, Tubs.

I have to say that one of the biggest changes I made upon diagnosis was practically cutting out all the obvious sugars - sweets, beer, beer, and sweets, and full-fat Coke. Additional exercise also helped. I still have the occasional glass of wine or whisky, depending on the occasion - but alcohol has largely disappeared from my life. *gulp*, *sob*

The other change I made was to eat regularly, breakfast, lunch and dinner. My pre-diagnosis regimen was terrible.

I don't want to disappoint you, they weren't big enough changes to bring my BG down to levels I was happy with. I did need to study how what I was eating affected my BG levels and use that information to make further changes in order to bring down my BG. Slowly but surely I'm getting there, I am also taking Metformin which also plays a part.

It's good to see that you are seeing a dietitian and relatively quickly. They will go through your food diary in more detail and perhaps make more appropriate recommendations than I can.

Regards, Tubs.

Hooly,

About one month after diagnosis - I could stand on the scales without breaking them - 24 stones, and I'm 6'2". Two years before diagnosis I was 28 stone.

Firstly, I'm not the one who should be setting you targets. It's between you and your healthcare team to agree those targets. As I understand it, you've made a great start.

My approach to readings is, that as long as I see them go down, then I'm happy. F'r instance the week after diagnosis my FBG was 19.6 and my Post Prandial was 22.2. The following week 17.2 and 14.7. By the end of July I was getting lots of readings below 10 and so on. Now, my FBGs are in the fours and low fives and my PPs are, generally < 7.

I believe that an HbA1c < 6.5% is achievable, and indeed there are many members of this forum who have achieved that. As I understand it a non-diabetic HbA1c is > 4.5% < 6.5%. There are plenty of opinions about where you should aim for and I guess the ultimate would be to revert to normal numbers, but remembering not to kick yourself too hard if you miss now and again.
To me, the key thing is to bring down your BG at a rate you're happy with to levels you are happy with, knowing what the risks are of running high BG. In other words, any improvement brings you benefits.

Regards, Tubs.

It's a matter of risk management. The longer BG levels are higher than normal, the more likely complications are likely to arise and the sooner they will come about. Is that risk acceptable to you? I would not be happy keeping my BG constantly higher than normal, I like my feet, my eyes, and my kidneys, it's almost as if they are a part of me

There are two elements to BG management, 1) your diet and 2) your exercise levels. You can find out how both affect your BG by testing. You will be able to see how your mid morning two rounds of sandwiches and 2 yoghurts affect your BG by taking a pre prandial reading and a post prandial. Is the difference acceptable?

Do this, for as long as your fingers can take it. Take readings before each meal, one hour after each meal, two hours after each meal, and before bed. Make a note of what you eat at each meal. You should be able to identify which foods affected your BG more than others, they will be the carbs, these are the ones to reduce, change or avoid.

It could be that you need to move input around, you say you have a small breakfast, it might need to be a little larger, reducing the need for a large mid-morning break, evenly distributing the input throughout the day rather than in different sized hits.

Part of your diet must be a realisation of what you do, are you in a sedentary job? or are you physically active? carb/calorie intake differs.

Seriously though, speak with your dietitian, talk to her about the various options low carb, moderate carb, low GI. You and I, we have to lose weight and maintain our BG, what we eat and what we do with that input has a lot to do with both.

Random thoughts from here on

carrots are a wonderful source of fibre and will fill you, also much lower in carbs than a slice of bread, and raw, they have a lower GI than bread too - meaning they'll leave you feeling full for longer, hummus makes a wonderful dip and is low GI and low carbs (I've found a great jalapeno pepper hummus that goes well with carrot).

Mrs. Tubs does a great pasta, tomato and courgette sauce which is bulky, and filling, and with wholemeal pasta can fall into low GI territory. Ms. Tubs eats it as well, which is a very good thing.

If you increase your fibre input you will need to drink more, otherwise you will become blocked, which makes everything much worse, believe me, been there, worn that particular t-shirt

Regards, Tubs.

What i have noticed via all the testing is that things that sent my BG soaring two weeks ago dont now.....presumably thats because the overall long term glucose content in my blood is gradually dropping as i avoid all the blatantly obvious bad things?

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It is possible that losing weight is improving your insulin resistance. It's a bit of a catch-22 situation, insulin resistance makes losing weight difficult yet losing that weight will help improve insulin resistance.

2 legs of chicken, basmati rice [generous portion] and tinned peas sent me from 10.2 - 14-9 and 6.0 - 13.1, 2 weeks ago....but only from 6.2 - 7.6 last night.....so i guess thats progress.

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Watch the contents label of packaged food, the higher up sugar is in the list of contents, the more there is, I was surprised to see sugar as the second ingredient in a can of Tesco tinned tomatos, yet no added sugar in the brand we now buy.

My job - as a lorry driver - is a mix of sedentary, bullwork and total stress. And i've known from day 1 it would be the death of me ....still like to keep my licence though.

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For a moment there I had an image of an archetypal heavy set trucker, dipping individual carrot batons into a houmous dip, little finger raised, in a transport caff somewhere off the M1 brings tears to my eyes.

On a more serious note, the more work you do now, the better control you have over your BG, the longer it will be before your diabetes progresses. I don't want to confuse matters there are a number of ongoing discussions about the inevitability of progression with diabetes - I firmly believe that progression can be slowed down the better control we have of our blood glucose.

Regards, Tubs.

Edited after posting to replace tinned veg with packaged food when advising to look at ingredients list

Hi Hooly,
Its not just the sugar content you need to watch, the total carbs need taking into account they can affect your BG, have a look at some of the threads on carbs.

Regards Graham