Blood glucose stuck at over 20mmol/l

Status
Not open for further replies.
G

gushingtide

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi, no matter what I do, take exercise without eating, fast or sleep I can't bring my BG reliably below 20 mmol/L. I take metformin twice daily but no other meds at the moment. Suggestions welcome!
 
Two main options.

First, get back to your GP or diabetic nurse and see what they have to say. There are options for other medication which might have some benefit.

Second, have a good look at what you are eating and try to reduce your carbohydrate intake. If you could do with loosing a pound or two then that might help.

Above all, don't ignore it. You are well into the amber zone and need to find some way of getting back control.
 
Hi there, can I ask what sort of foods you are eating? An example of breakfast, lunch and dinner would be helpful🙂
 
No breakfast, only meat or fish with green veg at lunch or dinner. My only treat is cheese, about 4o grams a day. Thanks for your consideration.
 
Docb said:
Two main options.

First, get back to your GP or diabetic nurse and see what they have to say. There are options for other medication which might have some benefit.

Second, have a good look at what you are eating and try to reduce your carbohydrate intake. If you could do with loosing a pound or two then that might help.

Above all, don't ignore it. You are well into the amber zone and need to find some way of getting back control.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your thoughts.
 
How long ago were you diagnosed? If you are eating extremely low carb, avoiding cereals, bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and other high carb root veg, most fruit as well as theobvious sugars, and have been seeing levels of 20+ for a while, the possibility that you are Type 1 rather than Type 2 needs to be considered. Should you begin to feel ill, get to A & E.
 
Hi @gushingtide . Welcome to the forum.
TBH I was wondering that same things as @silentsquirrel .

You see their a a type called LADA ( latent autoimmune diabetes in adults) it like a slow onset type 1 which often responds to T2 meds initially then insulin is req , many GPs/practice nurses have not heard of it.
silentsquirrel said:
How long ago were you diagnosed? If you are eating extremely low carb, avoiding cereals, bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and other high carb root veg, most fruit as well as theobvious sugars, and have been seeing levels of 20+ for a while, the possibility that you are Type 1 rather than Type 2 needs to be considered. Should you begin to feel ill, get to A & E.
Click to expand...
It’s important that if you start to feel ill do go to A&E fast.

Cheese is low carbohydrate and is part of my normal diet .
It does sound as though you are not eating many carbohydrates esp the starchy ones, so do get back to your Gp and discuss testing for T1

Their are two blood tests for this,
C peptide. . This checks how much insulin your pancreas is producing, if it’s low, then you have T1 or LADA, if it’s high then you have T2

GAD antibody . This checks to see if you have the anti bodies that destroy the beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.

Whatever type of diabetes you have your nurse/Gp needs to help you more. So I suggest you be a thorn in there side.
What dose of Metformin are you on
 
Hi again, thanks for providing a rough guide to what you eat. I had expecting it to be rather high carb with numbers like that but obviously not. I do also think that a trip to the doc is called for as you are very low carb with high numbers. It is possible you could be something other than T2 which needs investigating further. As the others have said if you start to feel really poorly get yourself off to A&E. Take care and please let us know how you get on. Sue
 
@gushingtide you have been given this advice already - but I would definitely either get a Diabetic Clinic/GP appointment urgently or go to A&E. I imagine if your health team knew your levels were still high they would want to see you.

Lots of good advice - note the tests @Ljc mentioned in reply and ask if they can investigate.
The C peptide tends to not be done as routine due to costs but it is important they find out if you're T2/LADA or T1.

Good luck.
 
If that has been your diet for more than a few days and your levels are still that high then I would say that you are not Type 2 but some form of Type 1 and you require insulin asap. Can I ask, are you also losing weight?
Things could get out of hand and make you very ill quite quickly, so make an emergency appointment with your GP for next week and if you start to feel unwell or your readings start getting noticeably higher towards the 30 mark, then get yourself to A&E pronto. When you see your GP make sure they understand that you are eating almost no carbohydrates and be aware that Type 1 can develop at any age, not just in children and young people, so don't let him fob you off and insist upon seeing a DSN (Diabetic Specialist Nurse) at the very least. The diabetic consultants in my area have an annual competition with each other to see who can find the oldest newly diagnosed Type 1 and I believe it was an 80 yr old this year. GPs often have very little knowledge of diabetes and many have outdated ideas so you really need to see a specialist and get some help to get those levels down.
Go steady on the exercise in the mean time, just some gentle walking. Don't attempt anything too strenuous with levels that high and drink plenty of water to try to flush some of that glucose out of your system.
 
Hi @gushingtide everyone here has given really good advice. I was wondering if you are eating enough? You dont have breakfast and as i understand it the body goes into a bit of a panic about skipped meals and can raise sugar levels to compensate, maybe try a bit of protein for breakfast? yogurt, boiled egg or a bit of bacon. Years ago i had a fasting test for BG, results were up, I asked why? as I hardly ate anything yesterday, (was out gardening!!) She said, "Thats exactly why its high!!", skipped meal & too much work set my body to pull resources from other areas. Temporary through. Yours its staying up? You definitely need to seek some specialised advice as peeps have said already - good luck
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the forum @gushingtide

Hope you manage to get to the bottom of it, and get some clarification on your diabetes type one way or another.
 
Welcome to the forum @gushingtide enough has been advised by the members, It seems they are in agreement with each other and I have to agree. As @everydayupsanddowns has said you need clarification ASAP please keep us informed.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top