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Type 2 What am I doing wrong?

L

lorsand

Well-Known Member
Messages
52
Type of diabetes
Type 2
It's me again sorry. Any suggestion please ...
Diagnosed Type 2 two weeks ago with HbA1c of 9.1 (after a previous reading of 9.5)
Immediately started low carb diet and can honestly say I am sticking to it - NO white rice, pasta or bread, NO potatoes (have had one portion of brown rice, one portion of brown spagetti and two slices of brown bread in the whole two weeks!)
Eating lots of salads with tuna, feta cheese, chicken or ham
Stopped fruit one week ago
Not a sweet tooth so no extra sugar in drinks or cakes at all
Blood glucose monitor bought and that's when it has all gone wrong: April 6th - pre-tea 7.9 / 8th fasting 8.0 / 9th fasting 8.5 /10th at 3.15am 8.5 .... on waking fasting 9.8 and two hours after dinner of celery and cucumber dipped in some humus 7.8
I tried apple cider vinegar last night before bed (well that was an experience of taste!) - seems like it did not work
I take Fluoxetine 40mg daily and my son has read that according to the Mayo clinic this could raise blood sugars - any thoughts

My questions are - why is my blood sugars going up the more stick I am with diet and more weight I lose and secondly how long should it take for the low carb diet to have an impact on the blood glucose levels. I am not on any medication.
 
I think it would be a clearer picture if you posted what your bg was before dinner then 2 hours after. 7.8 after dinner is not too bad, but it depends what your meter read before dinner.
 
lorsand said:
It's me again sorry. Any suggestion please ...
Diagnosed Type 2 two weeks ago with HbA1c of 9.1 (after a previous reading of 9.5)
Immediately started low carb diet and can honestly say I am sticking to it - NO white rice, pasta or bread, NO potatoes (have had one portion of brown rice, one portion of brown spagetti and two slices of brown bread in the whole two weeks!)
Eating lots of salads with tuna, feta cheese, chicken or ham
Stopped fruit one week ago
Not a sweet tooth so no extra sugar in drinks or cakes at all
Blood glucose monitor bought and that's when it has all gone wrong: April 6th - pre-tea 7.9 / 8th fasting 8.0 / 9th fasting 8.5 /10th at 3.15am 8.5 .... on waking fasting 9.8 and two hours after dinner of celery and cucumber dipped in some humus 7.8
I tried apple cider vinegar last night before bed (well that was an experience of taste!) - seems like it did not work
I take Fluoxetine 40mg daily and my son has read that according to the Mayo clinic this could raise blood sugars - any thoughts

My questions are - why is my blood sugars going up the more stick I am with diet and more weight I lose and secondly how long should it take for the low carb diet to have an impact on the blood glucose levels. I am not on any medication.
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If you have only been testing for 3 or 4 days it's far too soon to draw any conclusions as so many things impact on the blood scores. Such things, in addition to what you eat and drink are - stress, exercise, sleeplessness, the weather, how well hydrated you are to name just a few.

If you are new to testing, you're unlikely to be very relaxed about it - especially when you aren't liking the numbers you see.

You really need to test regularly, to a system; when you get up, before meals then2 hours after eating are good starters. You also really need to record what you have eaten and any other factors, like exercise or if you're feeling a bit "off".

Once you have a couple of weeks of records, you may see some links between certain foods, or lack of sleep or needingt O up your water intake. Those are just examples, but you are going to have to be a little patient in these early days.
 
AndBreathe said:
If you have only been testing for 3 or 4 days it's far too soon to draw any conclusions as so many things impact on the blood scores. Such things, in addition to what you eat and drink are - stress, exercise, sleeplessness, the weather, how well hydrated you are to name just a few.

If you are new to testing, you're unlikely to be very relaxed about it - especially when you aren't liking the numbers you see.

You really need to test regularly, to a system; when you get up, before meals then2 hours after eating are good starters. You also really need to record what you have eaten and any other factors, like exercise or if you're feeling a bit "off".

Once you have a couple of weeks of records, you may see some links between certain foods, or lack of sleep or needingt O up your water intake. Those are just examples, but you are going to have to be a little patient in these early days.
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Thank you so much, you've pretty much hit the nail on the head with your interpretation. Do I have to drink more ... I must admit that I am not much of a drinker (unless it is wine - which I have not had now for about 4 months!). Will try to drink more water. There seems to be a lot to take in, the more I read and learn the more complicated it gets. But I will get the hang of it, even with my panic over the higher readings I am still motivated with the low carb diet and even have my first session at the gym tomorrow (fingers crossed)
 
Galja said:
just making that rice or that bread or that pasta brown instead of white will not magically transform them into not being carbs. Try cutting out the bread, the rice and the pasta altogether, skip any fruit juices and see what you get
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Thank you, I have cut out the fruit and will also cut out the others to see what happens. Thank you all for your patience with my questions
 
I finally gave up sugar in tea 2 wks ago. I could take tea throughout the day with no sugar, but that first cup of tea tasted awful without it. But after coming off medication as it was making me so ill, I knew I HAD to give up that one heaped spoonful of sugar. I missed it for a few days, but now I'm used to it. I now drink much more water, fizzy or still with slices of lemon and lime in it. I put a bottle in the freezer with the fruit and then drink it throughout the day, that way it keeps nice and cool. I drink much more water this way than just plain water.
 
Your readings are not that bad and as said you need to set up a system, I do pre meal and 2 hours after ...

LCHF works great but iirc it took about 4-6 weeks for my readings to drop significantly.......

Your say you are carrying too much weight, so I assume you are trying to lose it, if so I highly recommend using myfitness pal to track your macros (carbs, fat , protein etc) and also use a keto calculator.

Both of these can be found in links below in my signature.
 
Have a look at www.dietdoctor.com website for good free advice from a doctor about low carb higher fat diets for weight loss and diabetes management. There's a 2 week diet with all meals planned for you which can be helpful in the beginning when you don know too much about it and lots of helpful explanations as well as links to the science if you are interested. They don't try to sell you anything which is refreshing.
You do need to give the diet time to work but testing is a good thing if you have some structure. Fasting then before meals and two hours after the first bite gives you a good baseline if you record what you ate. You can then see which meals are better for you or if certain foods spike you (any wheat based products spike me). Also be aware fasting levels can be last to change and there is also the phenomenon of the morning liver dump when the body prepares you for waking - it can be a bit over enthusiastic. My morning fasting readings are still the highest for me of the day.
 
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