Newbie

[Celestial123]

Hi all I recently had a call from my doctor to say my sugar was to high he said it was 69 , put me on Metformin been on it for3 week’s first week had terrible diarrhoea but now that seems to be easing off , he said sugar had suddenly gone higher I said don’t know why it has as I haven’t done anything different, I was diagnosed with Spine cancer 2020 so can’ do much excercise, I do need to lose weight and my diet is good but I love my carb’s, anyway I have tested my blood before breakfast and it read 12 the chart say’s this is at the dangerous level can anybody help with any information on the levels bloods should be and how to get it down. I am 76 and with having such an awful diagnosis of cancer I really can’t keep going with this sugar thing it’s so difficult.Thank you.

 

[Drummer]

You may love carbs, but they don't seem to be loving you back.
Many cancers feed off glucose, by the way, as they do not have the ability to use ketones for energy.
Quite a number of type twos can get normal numbers by swapping the high carb foods for lower ones - rather than pasta to make macaroni cheese, try cauliflower cheese for instance.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome.

It is good to see that you have a Blood Glucose monitor to test at home as that is going to be really helpful in figuring out your diet, usig a testing regime of taking a reading immediately before a meal and then 2 hours later. The difference between the 2 readings will tell you if your body coped with the carbs in that meal or they were too much. An increase of more than 3 mmols tells you that you ate too many carbs and need to reduce portion size and perhaps increase some other lower carb component of the meal.... meat or veggies or increase the fat content, maybe by cooking your veggies with some butter or having fatty meat or some cheese or avocado, or nuts. All our lives we have been encouraged to eat carbs and told that fat is bad but many of us are finding that it is the other way around and eating more fat keeps us from feeling hungry and provides slow release energy which will sustain us through the day whilst carbs break down quickly causing us to feel hungry a couple of hours later and spike our BG levels and cause us to gain weight.

Initially your BG levels will be high and apart from drinking plenty of water to help flush your system and reducing your carb intake there isn't a lot you can do but those measures will eventually bring your levels down into the normal range.
Keeping a food diary with a rough indication of quantities of carbs along with your pre and post meal readings will help you to identify problem meals or types of carbs and work out what portion size of them your body can handle or whether you might be best avoiding those altogether and find something else to replace them.
It all seems terribly complicated at first but I can assure you that after a week or so, you start to notice which foods cause bad spikes in levels and just being able to see those spikes helps to motivate you to reduce or avoid them. Trying new foods and finding low carb snack was key to helping me through that difficult few months until I got my head around it all. Things like a pot of olives with feta or a chunk of really nice cheese or some veggie sticks with real sour cream and chive dip or a boiled egg with a teaspoon of full fat mayonnaise.

If you work on one meal at a time and perhaps start with breakfast (if you eat breakfast) as that is usually a meal which is pretty much the same day after day, so once you find a low carb meal you enjoy for breakfast and tweak it to the point that it gives you a less than 3 mmol rise, then you can just keep on with that and then perhaps work on different lunch options. So for me for breakfast I have a fibre drink with chia seeds and psyllium husk to start my day and then a coffee with real double cream.... It is hard to feel deprived if you start the day with this and it tastes heavenly and cream is lower carb than milk and it provides fat to give me slow release energy. Then I have creamy Greek natural yoghurt with a few berries (raspberries are great and in season at the moment), usually about 8-10 of them with mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower sesame etc) and a sprinkle of low carb or nutty granola. If I am having a l;ate breakfast/brunch it will usually be a 2 egg omelette with whatever I have in the fridge which needs using up... onion, mushrooms, peppers, aubergine, ham, cheese etc) served with a large salad and a big dollop of cheese coleslaw.
Neither of those may appeal to you but moving away from the high carb toast/breakfast cereal alternatives can make a big difference to a day's carb intake. Hope it gives you an idea that it doesn't have to be boring or limiting. Sometimes I have cinnamon in my yoghurt mix and sometimes I add a bit of cocoa and I might have stewed rhubarb or gooseberries or blackcurrants or sour cherries in my yoghurt. These all being low carb fruits.

Anyway, I wish you luck with your diabetes journey. It is very confusing at first so do ask if you don't understand anything but I can assure you it does get easier and once your levels come down you will feel so much better.

 

[SB2015]

Welcome to the forum @Celestial123

Sorry to hear about the difficulties that you have been having but pleased that you have found the forum, where there is plenty of experience to tap into. You have already had plenty of suggestions from @rebrascora on how to make good use of your test kit. I know that it can seem a lot of effort but it can not only help to bring your levels back in range, it in doing that it can also make you feel a lot more energetic, as high glucose levels are very exhausting.

I would echo the idea of tackling one meal at a time. Swapping the carbs you eat to lower options that make your levels spike less and/or reducing your portion size can help. We are each different so have to find what suits us. I was surprised at just how high my levels went if I ate porridge oats. I switched to making my own cereal using quinoa flakes instead and halved my carbs for breakfast. I then found I had a lot more energy in the mornings as I was no longer battling the impact of high glucose levels. It takes time but it is worth it.

 

[Celestial123]

Thank you for your reply’s I found them very helpful.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Celestial123, and sorry to hear about your spine cancer - and then another diagnosis so soon after.

It can feel overwhelming to begin with, and many people feel shocked and very worried by their diagnosis, so don’t worry if you are experiencing some pretty strong emotions.

Diabetes is a serious condition, but it’s also one that can usually be managed well with a few changes and adaptations - it’s something that you can learn to live well with, and it shouldn’t stop you doing things you enjoy. Try not to be disheartened about your diagnosis, many people on the forum later reflect that their diagnosis became a catalyst which prompted them to make positive changes towards a healthier and more active life. Perhaps changes that they had been intending to make for years.

Lots find a very useful first step is simply to keep a food diary for a week or so. Be absolutely honest, and make a note of everything you eat and drink. Take the time to calculate (or estimate) the total carbohydrate content in your various meals and snacks. This can feel like a bit of a faff, and involve quite a bit of packet squinting for items or ingredients - but it’s a really helpful way to see which meals and foods are the main sources of carbohydrate in your menu - and it is total carbohydrate, rather than ‘of which sugars’ that you need to be mindful of 🙂

Keep asking questions, and feel free to rant, moan or wail. We completely understand how emotional a ‘journey’ a diabetes diagnosis can be. 🙂

 

[adrian1der]

And welcome from me as well @Celestial123