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Nervous newbie
- Thread starter JT01
- Start date
mashedupmatt
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- Type 1
Leadinglights
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If you would like to share what led to your diagnosis and what your HbA1C result was and if you have been prescribed any medication then we can point you in the right direction to make a start on getting to grips with your situation and hopefully put your mind at ease that you can do this with some lifestyle changes mainly diet, but what is suitable will depend on those things.
Thank you guys
I have just been diagnosed with type 2 after a year of being pre diabetic. I haven't been put on medication yet but I do have a very poor diet ( I eat 2 pks of crisps at night!! ). I'm really worried about hypo's as I've been having them a lot. Just wondering what helps everyone who suffers with hypo's.
I have just been diagnosed with type 2 after a year of being pre diabetic. I haven't been put on medication yet but I do have a very poor diet ( I eat 2 pks of crisps at night!! ). I'm really worried about hypo's as I've been having them a lot. Just wondering what helps everyone who suffers with hypo's.
Leadinglights
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If you are not on any blood glucose lowering medication it is unlikely you would be getting low blood glucose, how do you know they are hypos as the feeling can be very similar to high blood glucose.
Many find that following a low carbohydrate approach is successful at reducing blood glucose so this link may give you some ideas for modifying your diet, I'm afraid the crisps will need to be substituted for a lower carb alternative like nuts.
Freshwell Low Carb Project - Home
lowcarbfreshwell.com
Martin.A
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- In remission from Type 2
Unless it's this?
Reactive Hypoglycemia – Hypos After Eating
Reactive hypoglycemia is the general term for having a hypo after eating, which is when blood glucose levels become dangerously low following a meal.
www.diabetes.co.uk
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Welcome to the forum @JT01
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. But glad you have found us!
As others have said it would be unusual (though not impossible) to have hypos with diabetes when not on glucose-lowering medication. Diabetes generally leads to high blood glucose (hypers) rather than low blood glucose (hypos).
What signs or symptoms have you been experiencing? And do you have a BG meter to check your levels when they happen?
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. But glad you have found us!
As others have said it would be unusual (though not impossible) to have hypos with diabetes when not on glucose-lowering medication. Diabetes generally leads to high blood glucose (hypers) rather than low blood glucose (hypos).
What signs or symptoms have you been experiencing? And do you have a BG meter to check your levels when they happen?
Thanks for all the replies. I really appreciate it. It was my diabetic nurse who confirmed it was hypo's. I have another appointment in a couple of weeks so will be having bloods done again. If I remember right my last bloods that was done read 49.
Thank you for this information. My biggest problem is I don't have an appetite, I've always struggled with eating unfortunately.If you are not on any blood glucose lowering medication it is unlikely you would be getting low blood glucose, how do you know they are hypos as the feeling can be very similar to high blood glucose.
Many find that following a low carbohydrate approach is successful at reducing blood glucose so this link may give you some ideas for modifying your diet, I'm afraid the crisps will need to be substituted for a lower carb alternative like nuts.
It is based on a suggested no more than 130g carbs not just sugar per day. The book or app Carbs and Cals is a good resource for giving carb values for various portion sizes of a whole range of foods so helps with making better food choices.Freshwell Low Carb Project - Home
Leadinglights
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I am a bit puzzled as to how your nurse would have determined you had low blood glucose as if it was a finger prick test then that gives the level at that moment in time, and blood glucose would go up and down throughout the day and night and your liver would release glucose to bring you level up if it was low. What reading did she get when she tested.
The blood test you had done would have been an HbA1C test and the result at 49mmol/mol you are just over the threshold for a diabetes diagnosis.
It is not necessarily how much you eat but what you eat that will affect your blood glucose level.
harbottle
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Did she take a reading?
If not, she's just guessing.
It can happen in the early stages of type 2 diabetes - there's a delayed insulin response to a meal which causes the body to overproduce. But it's rare.
harbottle
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RH happens after a meal, usually one that's high in carbs.
Type 2 diabetes is generally more likely to cause high blood glucose, not low.
Leadinglights
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The HbA1C is a test that is basically an average of your blood glucose over the previous 3 months and as your result was just over the threshold it is usual to do a second test to confirm.
It would not tell you if at any moment in time you were experiencing low blood glucose that would need to be from a finger prick test using a blood glucose monitor. Levels below 4mmol/l would be considered to be in hypo region and if people are taking medication which has the potential to cause low blood glucose then people would need to respond and treat with something 'sugary' but if not then the liver will normally release glucose when levels go low.
The symptoms of high blood glucose can be very similar though. But if people make dietary changes when they get a diagnosis they can get 'false' hypos as the body has been used to higher levels but reducing carbs has brought it down but not low enough to actually be hypo.
Also if people have a high carb meal then the pancreas can over produce insulin and blood glucose can drop quite quickly.
It might be useful for you to invest in a home testing blood glucose monitor so you can check your level when you get the symptoms.
What is it you are experiencing?
rebrascora
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The only way to know if you are having a hypo is to test your blood at the time when you feel the symptoms. High and low Blood Glucose (BG) can give similar symptoms for some people.
You could purchase a home BG kit and test yourself if you feel like that again and you could also use it to test before and 2 hours after meals to see how your body reacts to different foods and in particular different sources of carbohydrate. That is what many people here on the forum find really helpful in adjusting their diet to manage their diabetes. Then they develop a list of meals that they know doesn't raise their BG too much and is therefore safe for them and as and when they have new meals or foods they can then test those and adjust as necessary. Basically you are looking for a rise in BG of less than 3 whole units on a meter than measures in mmols/L. So if you test just before eating and your reading is 6.2 and then you test 2 hours later and it is 9.6, then the difference between those 2 numbers is 3.4 which is more than 3, so you need to reduce the carbs in that meal a bit and then test again. If it was a Sunday dinner with meat, potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and veg, then the highest carb foods are the potatoes and Yorkshire pudding, so depending upon what you like most, you could have a smaller Yorkie and the same amount of spuds or have the same Yorkie and reduce the potatoes and test again next Sunday. If it still rises too much then cut the Yorkie and just have the potatoes, meat and veg and see how that works the following Sunday or vice versa. If still too high have less spuds as well and more meat and veg.
It sounds complicated but if you keep a food diary alongside the readings you start to see which foods cause the biggest rise in BG and you might decide that they are not worth the BG upheaval or settle for a very tiny portion of those or perhaps just have those foods on very special occasions like Christmas or Birthday and then they become an even better treat.... or you find that after you have lived without them for a few months, when you do have them, they are not actually as much of a treat as you thought they were. I am like that with bread and potatoes most of the time. I had a hot beef butty with 3 roast potatoes today and to be honest, the bun was naff and the roasties were a bit dry and I would have enjoyed a plate of beef with vegetables far more.... unfortunately it was a set meal that a club I am in had organised and I didn't want to make things awkward. It happens twice a year so I can live with the BG upheaval for the sake of making things easy for others. Usually, if I am going to have a Sunday lunch I go to a carvery and have meat and lots of veg and maybe one roastie and my partner eat my Yorkie.
This system of testing and adjusting meals based on results is what many of us do and once you get into the swing of it, you soon learn what to avoid and what you can get away with.
What sort of things do you typically eat for breakfast, lunch and evening meal? Perhaps we can help identify the high carb foods in your diet and suggest lower carb alternatives?
You could purchase a home BG kit and test yourself if you feel like that again and you could also use it to test before and 2 hours after meals to see how your body reacts to different foods and in particular different sources of carbohydrate. That is what many people here on the forum find really helpful in adjusting their diet to manage their diabetes. Then they develop a list of meals that they know doesn't raise their BG too much and is therefore safe for them and as and when they have new meals or foods they can then test those and adjust as necessary. Basically you are looking for a rise in BG of less than 3 whole units on a meter than measures in mmols/L. So if you test just before eating and your reading is 6.2 and then you test 2 hours later and it is 9.6, then the difference between those 2 numbers is 3.4 which is more than 3, so you need to reduce the carbs in that meal a bit and then test again. If it was a Sunday dinner with meat, potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and veg, then the highest carb foods are the potatoes and Yorkshire pudding, so depending upon what you like most, you could have a smaller Yorkie and the same amount of spuds or have the same Yorkie and reduce the potatoes and test again next Sunday. If it still rises too much then cut the Yorkie and just have the potatoes, meat and veg and see how that works the following Sunday or vice versa. If still too high have less spuds as well and more meat and veg.
It sounds complicated but if you keep a food diary alongside the readings you start to see which foods cause the biggest rise in BG and you might decide that they are not worth the BG upheaval or settle for a very tiny portion of those or perhaps just have those foods on very special occasions like Christmas or Birthday and then they become an even better treat.... or you find that after you have lived without them for a few months, when you do have them, they are not actually as much of a treat as you thought they were. I am like that with bread and potatoes most of the time. I had a hot beef butty with 3 roast potatoes today and to be honest, the bun was naff and the roasties were a bit dry and I would have enjoyed a plate of beef with vegetables far more.... unfortunately it was a set meal that a club I am in had organised and I didn't want to make things awkward. It happens twice a year so I can live with the BG upheaval for the sake of making things easy for others. Usually, if I am going to have a Sunday lunch I go to a carvery and have meat and lots of veg and maybe one roastie and my partner eat my Yorkie.
This system of testing and adjusting meals based on results is what many of us do and once you get into the swing of it, you soon learn what to avoid and what you can get away with.
What sort of things do you typically eat for breakfast, lunch and evening meal? Perhaps we can help identify the high carb foods in your diet and suggest lower carb alternatives?