What to do?

It could be that your blood sugar was dropping swiftly anyway so the sugary drink brought it up but it was still lower than before.

Can you tell us a little about your insulin, blood tests and daily foods?

Hi, when you say you've recently started having sugar again had you completely cut out all sugar from your diet before this? If so and now you've started to have it again have you adjusted your insulin to cover the sugar/carbs? Sweets and sugary drinks are absolutely jam packed with sugar, i don't drink anything with sugar in apart from lucozade when my blood is low, but I definitely wouldn't have had anything like that of my bg was 16.3 beforehand!? Could you not switch to diet drinks instead? I can't tell you why your blood went low apart from you being extremely lucky, if I was 16 and had a drink like that my bg would be 20+, did you have any insulin on board at the time? Or had you been doing any activity?


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Hi @Alex_B I am sorry you feel you got so much "hate" on the other site, but I read a very similar post, from a similar user name, and the feedback simply came across as people genuinely trying to point you in the right direction. I have spent 30 years as a diabetic, eating sugars and ignoring the best-practices advised by everyone.
Diabetes is now beating me. I have stage 4 renal failure and am awaiting dialysis and a transplant. I have walked a marathon in your shoes, and you can eat absolutely whatever you want but you must bolus appropriately to prevent the spikes, not react to them after the fact.
Are you immune to sugar? Perhaps your pancreas is still producing some insulin, and you are in the honeymoon period, but this is unlikely to continue indefinitely. I doubt you are immune, but you may be, just remember you can master diabetes, but not by ignoring or denying that you have it. Good Luck.

Hi. I can only say sugar has little food value and you don't need (but may like!) energy drinks. I would advise you to avoid them as they may well be increasing blood sugar overall and as the years go by may mean you increase your weight. Energy drinks are highly marketed with no real food value. Try to find other drinks/foods that you like but with little added sugar/glucose/fructose. It sounds like you are not matching your NovoRapid to the actual carbs you take (called carb-counting). Try to match the NovoRapid to the actual carb content using a ratio which many start with at 1 unit of insulin to 10gm carbs. Do use the meter to find out the right ratio for you and start with lower insulin if not sure so you avoid a hypo.

Alex_B said:

I have my background insulin, Levemir 10 in the morning, and 16 at night and I have novorapid daily, I put it to 9 or 10 when I have had an energy drink in the day and if I haven't had any sugar I will put it to 7 or 8.
I don't eat unhealthy, I eat vegetables with every meal, I have fruits after every meal, I have sugar at weekends when my mums at home so she can watch out if my sugars go to high or low, which doesn't really do much as it is always lower when I have sugar. That's it.

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Do you use your sugary drinks to replace meals or snacks?

I drink Lucozade and normal Coke, but only when I'm low or exercising.

It looks like you're adjusting your Novorapid when you have an energy drink, so that will help cover it. As you probably know, it's not just sugar that puts our blood sugars up - all carbs do. So bread, pasta, rice, cereal, cake, etc will all put your blood sugar up and will need insulin.

The reason I avoid sugary drinks except for lows and exercise is that the sugar/carbs in them is absorbed very, very quickly (which is why they make great hypo treatments). When you inject insulin, it's almost impossible to get it into your bloodstream fast enough to deal with that sugary drink's effects.

If you're getting blood sugars like that 16 regularly, you should have a chat with your DSN and see if your insulin needs adjusting. I'm going to tag @daisy1 for you as she has some good advice she posts.

You won't get any hate here. Please continue to post and chat with our friendly members

Alex_B said:

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in April 2016 and I have done pretty well so far. I recently started having sugar again and my blood sugar doesn't go up when I have sugary drinks it just goes lower. I don't know if this is suppose to happen or I am just immune to it. I am seeing my diabetes nurse next month and I am going to speak to her about it when I am there. I just want to have some advice if this has ever happened to anyone else. I posted on another site's forum but I got some hate for drinking an energy drink, it's not like I am drinking them every day like I use to ( I use to have about 4 every day, before I was diagnosed). I have sweets and other sugary stuff, it's not like I am not eating healthy as I eat vegetables and carbs and fruits.

I got a load of hate on the other site for experimenting with sugar to see what happens, it's not my fault that I want to know what is happening with my body at the moment.

I tested my blood sugars before I had the energy drink and it was 16.3, then straight after I had the energy drink it was 10.1. I don't know if this has happened to anyone else with type 1 diabetes if so can you tell me why it is happening?

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Hi.

I was diagnosed at the age of 21 which is a similar to your age now. 43 years ago the diet forbade sugar and honey and was quite restrictive. These days I try and eat as normally as possible but I try and not eat too much sugar because it has little nutritional value.

Like you, I believe we MUST experiment on ourselves to find out what works and what does not. How else will we learn? You have to make mistakes in order to learn how to avoid them.

The human body is an amazing thing and despite the huge advances in science and in particular the study of diabetes, I believe there is still much we do not yet understand. Only by living with diabetes do we truly appreciate what is involved with the condition.

I cannot answer your question but can say that in the past I have found that when I am high (16+ MMol) sometimes the best solution is not more insulin but something sugary. It may be that an earlier hypo has sent your BG shooting up when your body attempts to save itself by pumping out glucose from the liver. Perhaps a sudden intake of sugar stems or reverses this? I have discovered that you can get into a vicious cycle of trying to correct high BG with ever greater amounts of insulin and it doesn't have the desired effect. This is when I think enough is enough and perhaps the opposite is the best course of action.

There is always the simple possibility that the first test was way inaccurate ( a bit of sugar still on your finger perhaps?) and the second test more accurate. They are never the same even if does only seconds apart, so don't expect them to be. Meters, strips and conditions are all variables that can alter the result.

If I had an unexpected result I would re-test after thoroughly washing my hands. If the second test reinforced the first I would believe it. If it was radically different, I would write the inaccurate one off. Test strips are extremely sensitive to the slightest trace of sugar or glucose.

Keep on experimenting (with care) and learn as much as you can about your condition and how your body deals with it.
Good luck.

1. You are not "in trouble" with your Diabetes Nurse. Or this forum. Or "the other" one (I agree with paulliljeros, BTW). And no, your mum can't stop you from buying energy drinks - and she really shouldn't. You are legally an adult, and you can abuse your body any way you want: no one could or should stop you.

I am astonished by your "I am in trouble for being honest and people hate me for trying to find the truth about my body" attitude.

I'm speechless as I come to understand that you still have no good grasp of what carbs actually are and what foods contain carbs. For example, you keep repeating that you "eat very healthy", including frequent fruit consumption.

Dude... Some fruit has a worse effect on blood sugar levels than a Snickers bar. And eating healthier for DM is mostly about the effect of various foods on blood sugar levels. E.g, many diabetics eat more fat than our non-diabetic comrades, and it's good for us. Fat slows down carbs digestion and absorption, hence slower raise in blood glucose levels, hence better controlled by modern (slow) insulins.

You were diagnosed in April, and you say you have been getting on pretty well so far. What is your definition of getting on well do far? HbA1c? Energy levels? Weight stabilisation?

Or does it mean that you haven't had too many arguments with your mum over your energy drinks?

I'm sorry to be so grumpy but NOTHING angers me more than a young person who readily admits that their mother ensures that the YP does something they both consider beneficial for the YP's health (e.g., eating loads of fruit), and then remarks that the same person has no power to stop them from doing something damaging to their own health.

Learn about your condition. Take responsibility for your own health.


Edited by a mod

@Alex_B

Hello Alex and welcome to the forum Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask more questions and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

@Alex_B I think you may be noting that generally, diabetics who have spent time both learning about, and living with diabetes over various lengths of time, believe that, mostly through experience, drinking sugary drinks is negative for their health, and usually only do so to increase sugar levels from hypos. I think what @Silas alluded to, was that during a hypo, the body dumps glucagon to raise blood sugars, and then later reclaims the sugars in the blood to restock ... I agree this could have happened at the same time as you coincidentally ate sugar, and it was this that lowered your BG, not the sugar itself.
In order to ensure this thread doesn't turn into a venting point for people who see the harm you are doing (particularly myself from experience) it may be worth considering a few alternate questions you can ask to help you further your understanding of diabetes, and beat it, rather than cheat it! Everyone on here wants to help people, so ask away, and so as long as you take on board the honest, and excellent advice available, I am sure you will find it a great help

Morning @Alex_B its great that you want to understand you condition and understand the impact that different choices make on your body and your blood sugar. In fact, it's probably essential.

However, I get the impression that the experiments you are starting off with might be more towards the advanced diabetic challenges end of the spectrum and it might be really helpful for you to get to grips with the basics of diabetic management first (that's not in anyway an attempt to "forbid" redbull in the meantime, course if you want it, that should be your choice, it's just you might not understand how it interacts with you diabetes until you've got a basic overview). There is a great book that provides an introduction to the basics of diabetic management - think like a pancreas - it might help you out a bit.

Alex_B said:

I have my background insulin, Levemir 10 in the morning, and 16 at night and I have novorapid daily, I put it to 9 or 10 when I have had an energy drink in the day and if I haven't had any sugar I will put it to 7 or 8.
I don't eat unhealthy, I eat vegetables with every meal, I have fruits after every meal, I have sugar at weekends when my mums at home so she can watch out if my sugars go to high or low, which doesn't really do much as it is always lower when I have sugar. That's it.

Click to expand...

Just thinking a little more about your situation @Alex_B Im wondering whether you're going through a stage of denial - hoping it's all been a big mistake and you don't have diabetes? That's not uncommon - for some people those "Maybe it's not true?" thoughts can continue on and off for months.

It sounds like you're still learning about diabetes, and that your control is still very variable. You seem to be only thinking about sugar when actually it's all carbs you should be concerned about. It also seems like you may not have been taught carb counting - where you adjust your pre-meal insulin according to the carbs you're about to eat. Push to be taught about carb counting as its crucial for good control.

Why don't you replace your energy drinks with something like diet Coke? That would give you a caffeine hit but no sugar.

I think maybe you're getting upset that no one has actually addressed your question about sugar. So - I will. No, you're not 'immune' to sugar. The sugar you drink will be absorbed and get into your bloodstream just like it would for anybody else. The fact your blood sugar was lower is probably to do with the insulin you had working in your body.

I know Type 1 is hard and that it impacts on your whole life. You don't need to avoid all the foods and drinks you like, but you do need to choose when to have them/moderate your portions/keep your blood sugar controlled.

High blood sugar (look at @daisy1 's info above) can cause short term and long term damage to your body. It's for that reason that we try to make sensible choices with food and drink. @paulliljeros has given a lot of information above which you should take on board.

You are very newly diagnosed and so as was mentioned may have your 'honeymoon period' where reactions to certain foods and drinks do not present the way they will in a year or so. As also mentioned the earlier you were diagnosed the more likely it is that your body could still be producing low levels of insulin. Summertime is hard for many diabetics. Your drop in sugars could be related to the heat and how quickly your body is absorbing the insulin whether that is your bolus (the stuff you take for food) or basal (the basic insulin your body needs to power through the day). If either of these numbers are not working in your system it could create drops in your levels that happen to run side by side with when you had those drinks. The weekend routine differs from your weekday routine which may not seem so different in terms of energy used to you could be to your diabetic system.

Getting carb counting lessons is really important and as others have said fruit can be the devil in disguise so getting to grasp which ones have carbs in them and how they impact you is important. There will come a time to experiment but in the first few months your team will be able to help you more if you stick to what they have advised and cut out sugary drinks. It is like any science experiment and the less variables they have the easier it becomes for them to help you take control of your diabetes. I'd try get in touch with your nurse sooner than next month and have a chat. It comes across to me that you are less in denial as some said and perhaps more frustrated? You are young and your mum is there but you are no child either. The warnings others gave are all true but yeah...I feel frustration more than anything on your part.

So to answer your question I don't know why you didn't go up. There are too many possibilities. You will not be immune to sugar. That just does not happen. I hope I said something that helps and you can always send a message my way if you want to talk more.