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Weird blood glucose results

K

katie505

Member
Messages
10
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Hi, sorry for the long post. I havnt been on the forum for 18 months as I got fed up with my docs and diabetic nurse who refused to give me testing strips that I can’t afford to buy and said a yearly test is enough. I have a good diet and have ignored diabetes ever since. However, during lockdown I had a tension pneumothorax and have lost a third of my lung due to bullae and emphysema. I previously tried metformin that made me really ill with Pain and I couldn’t move off the toilet so stopped it. In the hospital my blood sugars were really high around 16 to 19. They came down to around 11 but I hardly ate for 2 weeks. They tested my blood 4 times a day and the diabetic nurse came to see me and gave me some testing strips to take home. During my stay I was on a lot of medication and one day they gave me a cup of sticky orange stuff to drink. I asked what it was after drinking it and the nurse said glucose because your blood sugar is too low!! and said ‘oh, I thought you were type 1. I havnt had any low ones since I started testing. I can’t remember much but do diabetic 2 get low BG on no medication? Since I came home I had a bad day where I couldn’t see properly so tested and my BG was 16.9. It has frightened me so I’m back on the low carb and testing regularly again and seeking support from here. I only have enough strips for one more month. While testing I find my morning is high, about 13.5 and it’s high before I eat, maybe 9 to 11 and two hours later after food at least 3 to 4 lower than before food. All meals do this. I don’t remember this before as I always tried to keep it no more than 2 higher and under 8.5. Am I remembering it wrong? It seems the wrong way round to me. The GP is insisting I’m type 2 and don’t need testing strips. Is it because I’ve been ill? HELP! I’m getting worried!
 
Hi,
The glucose tolerance test you had in hospital, for how long were they taking readings and how long after the drink of glucose did you get the low reading?

The answer to your question about T2s getting hypos is that it is unusual unless there are on blood sugar reducing meds. Or have another condition that causes hypos.

Are you on a low carb diet? Or can't you diet because of everything else going on?
All your numbers are diabetic, and it all depends on what you ate to get those results afterwards?
Your control of blood sugar is all over the place and only reducing those levels can you hope to feel better, and it will take time.
When you test ignore the fasting, take the first reading before food, then after two hours like you have been doing and then at three hours after food. If possible do another after about three and a half hours. That will give you a better idea understanding of what is happening.
Could your blood sugar levels be unusually high because of your other conditions such that your body is still adapting to life after your hospital stay?
Do you know that the meds you are on are not steroids, because they will have an effect?

Keep safe
 
Hi, they didn’t give me a glucose tolerance test, just routine testing but they thought I was type one. I am on low carb which is why I didn’t eat for weeks in the hospital. I’m not on any meds for my other health conditions as I am sensitive to drugs and usually get a paradoxical effect, working the opposite way! Go figure! I’ve tried testing as you say. It’s around 9 to 12 before food, my meals are carb free mostly. I don’t ever eat potato’s, bread, rice or pasta. I don’t like fruit but love veg except peas, carrots, onions and turnips. I don’t eat crisps or chocolate or sweets or cake. I have always hated pop of any kind or juices or milk and drink only water and decaff black coffee. Yes, I was a weird child!
After eating salad and eggs, omelette or boiled, my blood sugars drop to about 6 to 9 then after three hours have gone up to 10 to 12 again. If I eat, they go down again. Don’t get it!
 
Hi again,

I think that there is more going on than just a diagnosis of diabetes, it is unusual for glucose levels to be so up and down unless there is something of an imbalance in how your body digests food.
Do you keep a food diary?
With using your glucometer and testing before and after meals, can you give your doctors a semblance of how you react and why your blood sugar levels are in a state of continuous fluctuating despite being on a very low carb diet.
If it was normal, your blood sugar levels should be in normal levels, before meals, they should not be high and get higher because you're not adding too much glucose for your levels to go higher. If anything after an hour it should lower back towards normal levels.

I can only surmise that your insulin levels are not enough to help the glucose from your food. But not the whole story.

I have to be so careful with meds. No lactose, no sugar, and enteric for certain drugs.
It is probably something to do with how you can't tolerate certain foods.

Keep safe.
 
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