Hello!

[rebrascora]

5.5 is a nice healthy "in range" number, so you don't really want to be eating a lot of carbs at that level (half a banana and a few grapes could be 20g grams of carbs or more) otherwise you will push your BG levels back up and your body will not get used to those normal levels. In that situation I would have no more than a couple of grapes and no banana or I tend to carry dried fruit like apricots or prunes and have just one of those which would amount to about 5g carbs but I would only do that if my BG level was under 5. As a rough rule of thumb, 10g carbs will raise your levels by about 3mmols, so 5g will raise you by about 1.5. So a couple of grapes or a prune at 5.5 would take me up to about 7 which is as high as I want to be to be safe. A half a banana and 5 or 6 grapes would push me up well into double figures unless I injected insulin to cover it.
Learning to moderate your response to allow your body to learn to accept those normal in range levels without it complaining, is a key part of diabetes management. It has probably been running at high levels for a while so those normal range BG readings will trigger warning signals but it needs to get used to them being normal which it won't if you push them straight back up with too many carbs.

 

[rebrascora]

I should add that if your levels are under 4 ie. an actual hypo, then you would use fast acting carbs like dextrose tablets or jelly babies or orange juice etc...which you should be carrying with you at all times when you are on Gliclazide. The dried fruit (or fresh fruit) will not act as quickly as these other hypo treatments because there is fibre in the fruit which can slow the absorption of the sugar. So the dried fruit is just to give my BG levels a gentle upwards nudge when it is getting close to a hypo and the fast acting hypo treatments are for when I drop below 4.... and then it would be 15 g fast acting carbs ie. 3 jelly babies or 4 dextrose tablets and then test again after 15 mins and if I wasn't above 4 at that time, then another 3JBs or 4 Dextrose and another 15 mins to retest. This is called the rule of 15 for treating hypos.

 

[AnnetteMB]

I should add that if your levels are under 4 ie. an actual hypo, then you would use fast acting carbs like dextrose tablets or jelly babies or orange juice etc...which you should be carrying with you at all times when you are on Gliclazide. The dried fruit (or fresh fruit) will not act as quickly as these other hypo treatments because there is fibre in the fruit which can slow the absorption of the sugar. So the dried fruit is just to give my BG levels a gentle upwards nudge when it is getting close to a hypo and the fast acting hypo treatments are for when I drop below 4.... and then it would be 15 g fast acting carbs ie. 3 jelly babies or 4 dextrose tablets and then test again after 15 mins and if I wasn't above 4 at that time, then another 3JBs or 4 Dextrose and another 15 mins to retest. This is called the rule of 15 for treating hypos.

Thank you Barbara - lots to learn!

 

[Drummer]

If you are still going low and needing to eat high carb foods as a consequence perhaps suggest to the nurse that Gliclazide is not a good ideal
Eating low carb is usually very effective at resolving plain ordinary type 2.

 

[AnnetteMB]

If you are still going low and needing to eat high carb foods as a consequence perhaps suggest to the nurse that Gliclazide is not a good ideal
Eating low carb is usually very effective at resolving plain ordinary type 2.

I am on both Gliclazide and Metformin, and Ramipril for BP. I was told to try and regulate BS at about 9 as it was so high last week. I was home alone and wanted a slow glucose release. I have a follow up appt this week. The gluclazade is temporary and was prescribed because of the very high BS to start with.

 

[Leadinglights]

I am on both Gliclazide and Metformin, and Ramipril for BP. I was told to try and regulate BS at about 9 as it was so high last week. I was home alone and wanted a slow glucose release. I have a follow up appt this week. The gluclazade is temporary and was prescribed because of the very high BS to start with.

I wonder if they are suggesting that quite high level initially so you can bring your blood glucose level down gradually as you are then less likely to get issues with your eyes and nerves if it drops too quickly.
Have you found out yet what your HbA1C is as that is going to be a better guide as to where you are and how much you will be needing to do to bring it down.
What sort of 2 hour post meal readings are you getting on your monitor

 

[rebrascora]

Thank you Barbara - lots to learn!

Yes, we have all been on that steep learning curve. It doesn't help that sometimes you get a feeling of wanting to eat everything in sight when you get those hypo feelings, be it a real or false hypo, so be prepared for that if it didn't happen this time. You have to learn to be quite disciplined with them. I keep my JBs in little pouches of 2 or 3 so that I am not tempted to keep stuffing more in my mouth
If your target is about 9 then the half a banana or 6-7 large grapes should take you about up to that from 5.5 which is a sensible goal if your levels have been very high.