Blood meter giving weird readings

[rebrascora]

@SweetGuy
Shreddies AND a bacon buttie would send most diabetics BG into orbit. Don't think you can blame the meter for that.
Do you weigh your portion of Shreddies and if so how many grams did you have and how much milk with it? Were there 2 slices of bread or just one? Thick cut or medium? Any idea how many carbs total in that breakfast because it sounds like an awful lot.

 

[SweetGuy]

@SweetGuy
Shreddies AND a bacon buttie would send most diabetics BG into orbit. Don't think you can blame the meter for that.
Do you weigh your portion of Shreddies and if so how many grams did you have and how much milk with it? Were there 2 slices of bread or just one? Thick cut or medium? Any idea how many carbs total in that breakfast because it sounds like an awful lot.

Probably a bit unwise to have both. The Shreddies were an impulse buy I have never been too obsessive about the food. I have been at it 13 years and for most of that time I was well controlled.

 

[Robin]

"1General speed limit for restricted roads.
(1)It shall not be lawful for a person to drive a motor vehicle on a restricted road at a speed exceeding 30 miles per hour." Any such leeway would therefore be discretionary - a decision that prosecution int he particular case would not serve the public good or Mr Plod and colleague deciding they were up to quota and would rather go for doughnuts. You are not prosecuted because your speedo is wrong but because there is extraneous evidence of the offence. I gatehr that the problem with glucose meters is that they deal with whole blood not just plasma and have to rely on an algorithm to make some sort of allowance for the other parts of the blood than the plasma. I still think plus or minus 15% is poor - would you sell your £1m house for £850k? Interestingly Estate Agents/valuers are allowed 15% leeway...

The trouble is, before Blood Glucose meters were invented, the onlly way to test was to dip a strip in your urine, which would tell you if you’d been over 10mmol/L several hours earlier. That’s the equivalent of coming home from Devon, and the speedometer telling you once you’d put the car in the garage, that at some point on the M5 you’d done 100mph, but not necessary when you went through that radar trap. Meters by comparison, are a godsend.

 

[trophywench]

35+ grams of carb in the Shreddies, plus the milk, then another say 35g in the bread, so let's round that up to 80g. That would increase my BG by 24.0 so if BG was 5.0 before , that = 29.0.

The more carb any of us consumes, the more fast acting insulin we will need to get rid of it. It's only at a medium range of BG before eating and a medium carb count of the food we are going to eat, that normal carb ratios apply.

Because I rarely eat more than 60g total in one go, I cannot tell you how much more I'd need for 80g. But if you are going to do that - you need to find out don't you?

What is your insulin to carb ratio on a good day, anyway?

 

[SweetGuy]

What is your insulin to carb ratio on a good day, anyway?

Crikey you're kidding? Am I supposed to know that? LOL. I took 80 units of mixed 70/30 before breakfast so that would have given me 24 units of medium fast insulin and the rest long acting.

 

[trophywench]

I've just realised you are Type 2 - IMHO that's FAR too much carb at ANY mealtime, even if you're Giant Haystacks and get as much exercise as he did.

 

[TinaD]

For those who are Type 2, I notice @TinaD is only taking in 4g carbs. Is there any chance her liver is dumping glucose to compensate for this ultra low amount because I'm struggling to understand why so few carbs would result in such large readings?

I have been doing more research - it seems that steroids increase resistance of the liver to any messages which say "Oy - plenty of sugar in blood - please stop pumping it out". Eventually the pancreas stops sending messages. So it is the steroids that is causing most of the spike rather than the carbs I think. Sadly it seems that another delightful result is that any fat stored goes straight to the middle. Meanwhile I am speeding up my steroid reduction a little but in accord with standard NHS protocol (no, I haven't spoken to GP or nurse as impossible to contact most days even for a telephone conversation and the GPs claim no expertise) and sticking to keto (if I see another green veggie I shall check my ears for length and bum for a cotton tail). FBG last 3 days 4.2-4.3, post food 7.2- 8.2, bedtime 7.2. Carbs under 20g and calories under 1000 (aiming for 800 but tend to either undershoot or overshoot a bit). Have lost another 2 kilos. So 14 kilos off in 11 weeks. NHS guidance seems to indicate that I ought to be taking some form of drug to lower levels but have not been prescribed any - or told to check BG - just come back for a further HbA1c in 3 months. No mention of HHS risk. Making sure to drink gallons to avoid dehydration and apart from frequent need to piddle do not seem to have any of the classic diabetes symptoms. Isn't the NHS wonderful?

 

[Kaylz]

NHS guidance seems to indicate that I ought to be taking some form of drug to lower levels but have not been prescribed any - or told to check BG - just come back for a further HbA1c in 3 months.

Some manage on diet and exercise alone to lower their hba1c and if I was facing Type 2 I'd prefer to try that first personally seen as the most common prescribed drug first can cause tummy troubles, also they don't have to issue you a meter if not on hypo causing medications so they also seem to be under the illusion you don't need to test which I agree is the wrong advice, I can't fault the NHS though, if it wasn't for them I'd be dead by now

 

[TinaD]

Some manage on diet and exercise alone to lower their hba1c and if I was facing Type 2 I'd prefer to try that first personally seen as the most common prescribed drug first can cause tummy troubles, also they don't have to issue you a meter if not on hypo causing medications so they also seem to be under the illusion you don't need to test which I agree is the wrong advice, I can't fault the NHS though, if it wasn't for them I'd be dead by now

Well I am very glad the NHS kept you alive! However I am finding it in deepest rural Wales a bit like the curate's rotten egg "Good in parts".

 

[TinaD]

A little celebration is in order - in August Hb1AC was 68. Today is 43. Thank you Mr Banting, Dr Atkins etc....keto rocks. And yesterday I got in to a pair of jeans 2 sizes smaller than I was wearing in August. Onward and downwards....

 

[rebrascora]

Many congratulations on your fantastic blood result and weight loss/dress size reduction. It feels great doesn't it, but it is only a reflection of the work you have put into it. Well done! It does make you wish you discovered low carb eating sooner though doesn't it. So much easier and more sustainable than the low fat diets most of us have tried and yo-yoed over the years.

 

[TinaD]

Another reason to be chuffed - managed to get them to put my strips and lancets on my NHS prescription which will be a useful saving! Not exactly new to low carb (Atkins in the 1970s) but a dedicated returner owing to the better science which is silencing family and medics who all insist it is bad for you. Weight came on steadily with increasingly stressful, sedentary job, mostly way from home and arthritis pain limiting activity - and, I have to admit, an attitude of mind which said "Oh Bugger it, I'm old, who cares?". Now retired I have the time - and the diabetes diagnosis was a wake up call - I do not feel so old now I am eyeing the bottom drawer for the next size down....Thanks to this site for help and support - a bit more use than yesterday's nurse who urged me to eat more fruit as the sugars in it are "natural". Felt inclined to say "so is arsenic" but resisted and instead patiently explained about fructose..

 

[pm133]

35+ grams of carb in the Shreddies, plus the milk, then another say 35g in the bread, so let's round that up to 80g. That would increase my BG by 24.0 so if BG was 5.0 before , that = 29.0.

Wow. Are you seeing that sort of rise even with enough insulin???
How long does it take you after eating to see that sort of spike?

 

[Kaylz]

Wow. Are you seeing that sort of rise even with enough insulin???
How long does it take you after eating to see that sort of spike?

As far as I'm aware it wasn't a result for TW it was a guide to what it would do minus insulin

 

[trophywench]

It would be the result for me without taking any fast acting insulin - 10g carb increases my BG by more or less 3.0 so 80g increases it by 24. But of course I don't eat more than single figures of carb grams ever, without some insulin. (Unless I'm hypo to begin with!)

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

A little celebration is in order - in August Hb1AC was 68. Today is 43. Thank you Mr Banting, Dr Atkins etc....keto rocks. And yesterday I got in to a pair of jeans 2 sizes smaller than I was wearing in August. Onward and downwards....

Great stuff @TinaD

Glad you’ve found an approach that works for you

Congratulations on the terrific HbA1c reduction, and the weight loss!