Advice on Readings Type 2

[adrianj]

Hi Iam 55 years old and I have been taking 500g of metformin twice a day since September 2021 along with Atorvastatiin 20mg for Cholesterol.
I haven't been that structured with taking my blood sugar readings but have not been feeling that great of late. It is a difficult things to explain but it is like iam light headed and fuzzy during the later afternoon and evening. I still dont think i have explained it properly 🙂
I measured yesterday when i got up and i had a reading of 10.1 and after two weetabix i measured two hours later and it was 13.6. I had two ham salad wraps for lunch and a handful of walnuts and almonds in the afternoon. I didn't measure during the afternoon but at approx 17.30 i had a tea of regular size fish and chips. I did not feel that great for the rest of the evening and at approx 22.15 i wanted to take a reading to try and understand why i was feeling poorly my reading was 18.8. I thought this was an anomaly and tried another strip on another finger but still the same reading. I understand the meal i had at 1730 was maybe the catalyst for the high reading but I am concerned it was that high nearly five hours later. I have had two H1ABC tests before September 2021 and these were both 8%. I have tested myself again this morning and my first reading was 9.3. Are these readings abnormally high or about what i would expect to see ? Thanks for any help or advice you can give.

 

[Kaylz]

As a diabetic you'll struggle to tolerate carbohydrates and all the things you have listed are full of carbs, 2 hours after a meal your looking to be no more than 2-3mmol higher than your pre meal reading so although the rise from the weetabix isn't too far over it would have been a wiser decision to have something lower carb especially as you started on such a high level

Metformin doesn't lower BG so it's best used with a combination of exercise and adjustments to diet

It would be expected levels after all the carbs but ideally that's not what you want to be seeing, have you made any adjustments to your diet? xx

 

[adrianj]

As a diabetic you'll struggle to tolerate carbohydrates and all the things you have listed are full of carbs, 2 hours after a meal your looking to be no more than 2-3mmol higher than your pre meal reading so although the rise from the weetabix isn't too far over it would have been a wiser decision to have something lower carb especially as you started on such a high level

Metformin doesn't lower BG so it's best used with a combination of exercise and adjustments to diet

It would be expected levels after all the carbs but ideally that's not what you want to be seeing, have you made any adjustments to your diet? xx

Thank you for taking the time to reply, i have made some adjustments to my diet and have reduced the amount of carbohydrates i have been eating in general. I think i have a long way to go with this though and i think yesterday was quite a wake up call for me. I need to look at my diet a lot closer than i have been and hope to reduce these figures down to a more manageable level overall. I will monitor myself over the next few days and hopefully see a reduction in numbers. It is difficult at times especially when you see the numbers going up and up. i have a diabetic check up tomorrow with the nurse and i think this has made me check my levels more than i would have done normally done so and probably has fuelled my panic over rising numbers.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi Iam 55 years old and I have been taking 500g of metformin twice a day since September 2021 along with Atorvastatiin 20mg for Cholesterol.
I haven't been that structured with taking my blood sugar readings but have not been feeling that great of late. It is a difficult things to explain but it is like iam light headed and fuzzy during the later afternoon and evening. I still dont think i have explained it properly 🙂
I measured yesterday when i got up and i had a reading of 10.1 and after two weetabix i measured two hours later and it was 13.6. I had two ham salad wraps for lunch and a handful of walnuts and almonds in the afternoon. I didn't measure during the afternoon but at approx 17.30 i had a tea of regular size fish and chips. I did not feel that great for the rest of the evening and at approx 22.15 i wanted to take a reading to try and understand why i was feeling poorly my reading was 18.8. I thought this was an anomaly and tried another strip on another finger but still the same reading. I understand the meal i had at 1730 was maybe the catalyst for the high reading but I am concerned it was that high nearly five hours later. I have had two H1ABC tests before September 2021 and these were both 8%. I have tested myself again this morning and my first reading was 9.3. Are these readings abnormally high or about what i would expect to see ? Thanks for any help or advice you can give.

I think you need a better understanding of what dietary changes you need to make in order to reduce blood glucose levels. It is not just sugar or sweet things that will increase your levels but all carbohydrates.
Have a look at the Learning Zone or check out this link. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/ for a good explanation or having just been re reading The Diabetes Weight loss cookbook by Caldesi, there are good suggestions for how to go about managing diabetes as well as lots of good recipes. (£12 from Amazon, £4.99 for a Kindle version) It would be money well spent.

 

[adrianj]

I think you need a better understanding of what dietary changes you need to make in order to reduce blood glucose levels. It is not just sugar or sweet things that will increase your levels but all carbohydrates.
Have a look at the Learning Zone or check out this link. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/ for a good explanation or having just been re reading The Diabetes Weight loss cookbook by Caldesi, there are good suggestions for how to go about managing diabetes as well as lots of good recipes. (£12 from Amazon, £4.99 for a Kindle version) It would be money well spent.

Thank you for taking the time to reply, i have ordered the book now from amazon and i think you are right i need to educate myself a lot more than iam about foods and their relationship to diabetes.

 

[Mrs Mimoo]

Thank you for taking the time to reply, i have ordered the book now from amazon and i think you are right i need to educate myself a lot more than iam about foods and their relationship to diabetes.

you might want to try an app like Myfitness pal and enter all the foods you eat to see how many carbs you are consuming. I try to keep below 100g a day (at the moment i'm on about 50g a day).

Carbs like bread, cereal and chips are not great for type 2s. Maybe you should substitute out the carbs a bit? Try a change e.g. have eggs and tomato for breakfast and half a piece of burgan bread, and chicken and a salad for lunch, and then a steak or fish and veg for supper, with greek yoghurt and a handful of berries for pud? This evening I had a small steak, sprouts and some chips made of roasted celeriac. Only 9g of carbs in 300g of celeriac.