Many Uncertainties

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DianeS said:
Diagnosed type 2 in May this year, at a reading of 75. At the start of July - got myself a glucose meter, and have trundled along on a low carb diet with readings first thing between 4 and 6 - rising over 7 with the odd 8 depending on what I ate. Yesterday I tried a bacon sandwich ( on homemade wholemeal bread) and two hours later 10.5! Had a crisis..... later in the day down to 7.5, but a 9 when I woke up this morning. It's settling down again now to a 6.5. I didn't think I'd have such a dramatic reaction to bread, but it seems that it really doesn't like me..... anyway - my question is - do you think it would have been different if I'd eaten it at a different time of day?
Honestly happy to leave bread alone going forward - but I really craved a bacon butty........
Not sure what kind of readings I should be getting to be honest.
I have a diabetic nurse phone appointment on August 12th, and a blood test (first one since diagnosis) on the 19th. I think if I want to see a dietician any time this year I'll have to pay for it......
Thanks for welcoming me to the forum....... 🙂
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That is a known effect of a low carb diet.
The only way to actually get any meaningful insulin response is to eat normally for three days, allow your body to adjust back to carbs, then test.
 
Eliora said:
Hi, I was diagnosed only last month, and I had two very helpful telephone sessions with my GP's own diabetes dietician,and have a third one scheduled for next week. I am keeping bread now to one slice per day, which I have for breakfast in the morning. I use only multi seed wholemeal bread. The dietician told me that I should envisage around a cupful of carbs, one cupful of veg and one of protein. For fruit she said only, what fits into your palm, and to keep fruit to three such portions per day&about six portions of vegetables.
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Seems a very good starting point, I had an excellent NHS dietician as well.
We focused on losing weight on a low fat diet, I made some major changes, and eventually reversed my diabetes.
It's takes around two weeks at least though for your body to settle down to any change in diet, so you will see some inconsistencies in you BG for a while.
 
DianeS said:
I've just completed one full month with the glucose meter...... made up a spreadsheet of the results, and worked out my average reading is 6.3 (for July)... I'm pretty happy with that, as at diagnosis it was 11.5.. I'm hoping I can stay off any drugs and just keep working with the diet and exercise. In total now I've lost 18lb, dropped down 2 dress sizes. Official HbA1C on August 19th..... fingers crossed...... (of course the bread thing didn't help)...
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The timing of the readings is quite important particularly for a type 2 - when sorting out my diet I took tests after eating - 2 hours after starting to eat as I'd probably see readings around 5 or 6 before meals, but these days under 8 even after a meal with a dessert.
If you have any readings under 7 after a high-ish carb meal then you are doing very well.
 
A point to note, do wash hands before doing a finger prick test, I have been stunned beyond belief after some readings, retaken them after washing hands and found up to 3 mmol difference! I just forget sometimes to wash my hands, the slightest trace of anything carby can upset readings, one major culprit I managed to track down was the oven glove! Washed it and all was well. I am so used to the sensations now that I feel when I have gone too carby I often use my body to check my meter and retest if I get an unexpected result.
 
Dave_Z1a said:
A point to note, do wash hands before doing a finger prick test, I have been stunned beyond belief after some readings, retaken them after washing hands and found up to 3 mmol difference! I just forget sometimes to wash my hands, the slightest trace of anything carby can upset readings, one major culprit I managed to track down was the oven glove! Washed it and all was well. I am so used to the sensations now that I feel when I have gone too carby I often use my body to check my meter and retest if I get an unexpected result.
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I had not given any consideration to carbs on my hands..... I shall take this as a warning and be much more careful... thank you....
 
travellor said:
That is a known effect of a low carb diet.
The only way to actually get any meaningful insulin response is to eat normally for three days, allow your body to adjust back to carbs, then test.
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Interesting, have you any references to more info about this?
 
DianeS said:
I had not given any consideration to carbs on my hands..... I shall take this as a warning and be much more careful... thank you....
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I remember when I was first diagnosed, I was told that printing ink contains sugar and our readings could be affected by reading a book or newspaper. I don't think the same is true for a Kindle but it is surprising what we can pick up that can affect our readings. It's not just food.
 
Hi @DianeS, thank you for sharing your experience, being diagnosed can be a bit of a whirlwind. If you do want to speak to someone about how your feeling you can give the helpline team a call on 0345 123 2399* Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm. 🙂
 
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