BG not under control

[Duane Charles]

Didn’t do a great thing yesterday, due to circumstances, I found myself not eating for 24 hours. I did take a waking BG this morning and it was 10.2 I’m happy with the figure but not how it was achieved.

 

[DaveB]

Hi. You've had good advice about minimising all carbs. Fat and proteins are fine. Personally I would avoid talking to a dietician as very few actually understand nutrition for diabetes (amazing but true). Have you asked for a C-peptide test? You obviously have had problems with the pancreas and it could be that your insulin output is low? The C-Peptide test can measure that and the GP can then possibly change your meds. The GP may need to refer you to the diabetes team to have the test carried.

 

[Duane Charles]

Hi. You've had good advice about minimising all carbs. Fat and proteins are fine. Personally I would avoid talking to a dietician as very few actually understand nutrition for diabetes (amazing but true). Have you asked for a C-peptide test? You obviously have had problems with the pancreas and it could be that your insulin output is low? The C-Peptide test can measure that and the GP can then possibly change your meds. The GP may need to refer you to the diabetes team to have the test carried.

The last time I spoke with my GP we spoke about pancreas damage etc. However, because I’m not showing any “obvious” signs associated with 3c they do seem reluctant, despite my asking for both a CT and enzyme test, to rule 3c out. I do have an appointment with a surgery based DN Specialist next Thursday and of course my questions about the test and scan will be asked again.

I will also be asking about a referral in the New Year, if they feel unable to carry on my current treatment. I’m aware that some 3c are treated as 2 with Metformin.

 

[rebrascora]

I obviously haven’t got this under control yet because my readings have been down as low as 1.2 (something seriously wrong) and as high as 20.8.

Just going back to your original post, I am assuming this reading of 1.2 is erroneous. The reason I say that is that at that level you would likely be unconscious. Some meters actual give you an unnaturally low reading if you don't get enough blood on the test strip rather than an error message..... or it may just be a duff test strip. You should always recheck with another test strip when you get a reading which is unusually low or unexpectedly high. I think it is likely that the reading of 20.8 will have been genuine due to the high carb foods you enjoy, but I am quite certain that the low will be false, especially as you don't mention feeling like you were dying at the time, and even more so, as your levels are running high so even a reading in the 4s or 5s may well feel like a bad hypo to you at the moment, because your body will have adjusted to the abnormally higher levels you consistently get.

Just wouldn't want that low reading causing any confusion with the nurse and suggesting that your pancreas might be throwing out large quantities of insulin every now and then.... which might make them less likely to consider insulin treatment, so personally I would not mention it unless you were laid out on the floor sweating and shaking and feeling like you were dying and to be honest, almost certainly unconscious.

 

[Duane Charles]

Evening @rebrascora, during my time as a Community First Responder I have been sent out to hypos and seen what can happen. I’m happy to say and possibly said in a roundabout way that I didn’t think 1.2 was correct. From memory “something seriously wrong” springs to mind. For all the BG readings I haven’t had one lower to than 8. Whilst the readings taken are for me to judge what I can eat and how it affects my BG, I will share to them next week. It could be that my Metformin dosage is increased to the full amount to see what that does.

 

[rebrascora]

I interpreted "something seriously wrong" as you being concerned that your BG levels were all over the place, both high and low, rather than that you thought the low reading was erroneous. So easy to misinterpret text, but just wanted to clarify it as I hadn't seen anyone else address it on the thread and we do sometimes get people really worried about getting spurious low results.

 

[Duane Charles]

I interpreted "something seriously wrong" as you being concerned that your BG levels were all over the place, both high and low, rather than that you thought the low reading was erroneous. So easy to misinterpret text, but just wanted to clarify it as I hadn't seen anyone else address it on the thread and we do sometimes get people really worried about getting spurious low results.

All is good on that score and thank you for raising the question. Although, should there be a next time I will re-test

 

[rayray119]

That's a good point about the false reading. I was going to mettion it originally but got focused on everything else. Unfortunately flatuly strips can happen. I remember one particular time I checked when starting work I was working as a steward at the time it it said 1.7 and thought to myself "that can't be right" as I felt aboustlly fine(i have been that low before it's felt like I was going to past out). So checked again and it was 14(which wasn't unusual for that time in the morning at that time) could you imagine if i believed the the first test and shoveled some glucose into me.