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Morning Everyone. I was sorting out some paper work early this morning and I found this leaflet what one of my Special Diabetic Nurses gave me when I was firsted diagnosed with Diabetes I will attach the photos and see what you think of it. This leaflet was produced for the East Sussex Health care NHS Trust
I am afraid that I think it's misleading to the point of being dangerous - certainly for anyone with diabetes because what raises your blood glucose isn't just sugar it's all carbohydrates. The advice to have mashed banana on toast is terrible!
Must confess I was looking at it and thinking that the teaspoon equivalents were wrong ie a chocolate digestive just 1 teaspoon (5g) and not 2 (ie 10g carbs) but they are only showing sugar (which of course is what the info is all about) and not total carbs, which is what it should be all about. I was paging through looking for the info on bread and sandwiches etc. It is really just half the story and unfortunately doesn't help the majority of diabetics as a result. I appreciate that it may help people improve their diet but it will not help them get control of their diabetes and many people will eat more starchy carbs as a result of cutting out the sugar (and think they are doing well by following this info), simply because their body will likely crave more once they cut the sugar.
So can someone on here put me straight about bread if I have a hypo which I do a few times if I eat a slice of wholemeal bread will it lift my glucose level up or is it just a old wives tale that bread won't help me, it's know wonder I am getting confused with what can help me with my diabetes.
I have just checked the back page of the leaflet and this was printed in 2011 so I think a lot as changed since it was published because it was 10 years ago when I was first diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. My how things have changed for me my glucose level readings have always been steady but now they are all over the place I am lucky if I get 3 days of steady readings before it goes really down oh and sometimes high up I have had glucose readings sitting at 18.7 and I did have two readings sitting at 20.2 and 21.1but I was in the hospital when that happened suffering with fluid in my leg.
If you are on medication (insulin or gliclazide) which can cause hypos (levels below 4mmols) then you should be using fast acting carbs to bring your levels back up as quickly as possible. Bread is not fast acting enough. You should be using Dextrose tablets or jelly babies or other high glucose chewy sweets (not boiled sweets) or a sugary drink like full sugar cola or fruit juice. The starchy carbs in bread will get broken down into glucose but it takes longer which means you are sub 4mmols for longer and that means that you risk losing hypo awareness over time. Some people find that a slice of bread with something like peanut butter on it AFTER they have treated the hypo with JBs or whatever, will help to keep their levels from dropping again as hypos sometimes come in pairs, but personally I find that if I have slow release carbs afterwards my levels head skywards. I often just need 1 or 2 JBs rather than a full 3 (recommended hypo treatment) to bring my levels up, so it is a matter of figuring out how your body works, but you should be treating a hypo with sweet, sugary quick acting carbs in the first instance.
Thank you for that information Rebrascora I will take note of it. Time for some toast and marmite or marmalade for a change what am I saying change for this will be the first lunch I have had at lunch time as I normally don't eat lunch but I am getting hungry.
No I don't that's the one thing I don't use which I know I should but how do you get hold of said diary? Do I ask my dietitian for one or my Diabetic nurse or can I order them off the Internet.
I keep my food diary with an app. I use NutraCheck, but there are others, like MyFitBit. I just search for the item and tap it in. It stores by meal, day and week and shows cals, carbs and 6 other measures per food item. There's the website and I have loaded the app onto my phone, so I can carry it around the supermarket. This was today's breakfast.
A plain little notebook and pen or pencil works absolutely fine or you can use a phone app. or spread sheet if you are into computers. I'm a bit of a dinosaur but surprisingly I managed to use an app!!
@kevinr, I apologise if I am teaching grandpa how to suck eggs, but do you realise that all carbohydrates raise your BGs not just sugar? That means bread, rice, pasta, baked goods and potatoes. If as a T2 you are seeing levels of 18 and 20 then it's likely down to what you are eating e.g. toast and marmalade. It seems like you have the means to test, do you test when you are having these hypos and if you do, what levels are you seeing?
Hi Pattidevans. I had a scare on the 27th of July as my glucose level went down to 2.3 I tried to get in touch with my Diabetic team for help but got nothing I also tried my Diabetic centre and didn't get any reply from the center it was at this point that I was going to give up and let my life end I have no family or friends I have a neighbour who comes down to see me but he is always steaming drunk so he wouldn't have helped me. But I then remembered that if I needed help I could ask Diabetes UK to help me which thankfully they did and I managed to get my glucose level back up. But I eat but I don't check my glucose level after I have eaten as I was told because I am type 2 I don't need to check it. All I need to do is check it before breakfast then check it before lunch and then check it at teatime this is on alternate days so breakfast Monday check glucose level Tuesday lunchtime check it and so forth. But there is on certain days that my glucose level doesn't get checked until supper time.
So in that case you can't be on hypo causing medication? As nobody in their right mind would suggset such little testing if you were, How did you feel when you had your 2.3 reading? xx
I felt c**p my lips was tingling I was sweating like someone had turned a tap on over me my vision was going how do you think I felt I wasn't hop skipping down the garden path I was in my flat suffering being sick I have had to replace my lounge carpet due to the amount of vomit that came out of me I didn't know that much could come out of a person but it certainly came out of me.
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
BREAKFAST
