A little confused

[carolinelucy]

Hello all,

I have been trying to get to grips with testing my bloods before, 1hr after and 2hr after food. Results have not been too high after food, (8.7, 8.2, 9.1,9.2) but I am still rather high before(7.9, 8.1) I would not say I am eating tons (tuna and cheese wrap and 2 satsumas for lunch, homemade fishcake, roasted peppers and courgettes for dinner) Is there any reason the before meals are still high? Should they come down in time? Is it best to just eat meals and leave 4 hours in between??

I am taking my glucophage all at breakfast and the one gliclaside before bed.

 

[Northerner]

Hi Caroline, I moved you post to the General Messageboard so more would see it. The before meal numbers are your 'background' levels. These should decrease as you make your diet and activity adaptations as you should become more sensitive to your insulin and the medication you are taking - don't worry, if you stick to your guns it should happen. If not, and you are doing what you can regarding your diet and exercise then your doctor may have to introduce more medication to help get these 'fasting' levels down.

The post meal values you are getting are, in fact, very good indeed, because they show that you are rising very little after eating compared to your pre-meal levels, so it does look as though you are eating the right things and in the proportions your body can cope with. 🙂

 

[carolinelucy]

Hi Caroline, I moved you post to the General Messageboard so more would see it. The before meal numbers are your 'background' levels. These should decrease as you make your diet and activity adaptations as you should become more sensitive to your insulin and the medication you are taking - don't worry, if you stick to your guns it should happen. If not, and you are doing what you can regarding your diet and exercise then your doctor may have to introduce more medication to help get these 'fasting' levels down.

The post meal values you are getting are, in fact, very good indeed, because they show that you are rising very little after eating compared to your pre-meal levels, so it does look as though you are eating the right things and in the proportions your body can cope with. 🙂

Wow - I can't tell you the relief of starting to feel in control of this!! I know it's early days but having a testing regime to work to and seeing results has taken away the panic of feeling you are walikng about in the dark. I think it will help my family to take it more seriously too.

 

[Northerner]

Wow - I can't tell you the relief of starting to feel in control of this!! I know it's early days but having a testing regime to work to and seeing results has taken away the panic of feeling you are walikng about in the dark. I think it will help my family to take it more seriously too.

Knowledge is power! 🙂 I hope your family realise how difficult this can be and how well you are doing at tackling it!

 

[margie]

Hi Caroline as Northener says your after values are great ( if you look at the before and after figures) hardly any rise.

Before I say more and risk confusing you, glucophage is a slow release version of metformin which is meant to give a gradual release of the metformin over 24 hours.
One word of warning which is in the PIL but not always on the Dr's instructions but you must swallow the glucophage whole. If you don't then you reverse the modified release and its just like taking straight metformin. Where this might matter is that you will then have a peak of metformin in the blood stream rather than a gradual release over 24 hours. As you are taking it in the morning if you chew or bite the glucophage you may have little metformin in the early hours when the liver is at its busiest causing your blood sugar to rise. Of course your probably swallowing the tablet whole in which case ignore my last paragraph.

 

[carolinelucy]

Hi Caroline as Northener says your after values are great ( if you look at the before and after figures) hardly any rise.

Before I say more and risk confusing you, glucophage is a slow release version of metformin which is meant to give a gradual release of the metformin over 24 hours.
One word of warning which is in the PIL but not always on the Dr's instructions but you must swallow the glucophage whole. If you don't then you reverse the modified release and its just like taking straight metformin. Where this might matter is that you will then have a peak of metformin in the blood stream rather than a gradual release over 24 hours. As you are taking it in the morning if you chew or bite the glucophage you may have little metformin in the early hours when the liver is at its busiest causing your blood sugar to rise. Of course your probably swallowing the tablet whole in which case ignore my last paragraph.

Thanks Margie - I am taking the tablets whole but that was more through luck than judgement!! sometimes my prescripton comes back with 500mg tablets then I take 4 but sometime 1000mg when I need to take 2.

 

[Caroline]

The advice I was given was to take the gliclizide 20-30 minutes before meals. The effect is to stimulate the pancreas so that the insulin is ready for when food arrives in our stomachs. My metformin I take after I have eaten.

Taking the gliclizide before the meal instead of before bed might help. Has the doctor or nurse given you any advice? Mine didn't I had to find out in other ways.

 

[Andy HB]

I am taking my glucophage all at breakfast and the one gliclaside before bed.

Like Caroline, I used to take my gliclazide before meals too. But, if your gp told you to take the gliclazide before bed then so be it. I'd be interested to know why though.

As others have said, it's looking pretty good for you at the moment. Just need to tweak those pre-meal levels down a bit! 🙂

 

[carolinelucy]

Caroline/ Andy - thanks for the advice - It was actually myself that suggested taking the Gliclicide at night to the nurse at my surgery as I was having hypos after taking it in the morning. She obviously didn't know how it works as she just said yes try it!! tomorrow evening I will take it before my evening meal as my levels are still raising throughout the night.

last night 7.1, took tablet, this morning 9.3 - had a coffee and went for a run 12.5?? Think maybe the caffine?? - have bought some decaff. Any ideas?