just had a bowl of porridge for my breakfast - blood was 6.5 before eating - now about 45 mins later its 10.7!i took 4 units of insulin with the porridge and it was a small bowl. how do some people manage to keep it under 8 the whole time?? (i read this on the american site) it seems impossible. my blood sugar will be back to normal within 2 hours so just ranting here!!!
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porridge!!
- Thread starter lo123
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Hi - as you probably know i am still new to all this so probably wrong - but - insulin 'peaks' 2 hours after having it (as i understand it)- so as it wasnt 2 hours its not a 'true' reading? Also, porridge is slow release,so ,perhaps it hasnt hit its peak either yet? I am sure someone far more knowledgeable than me will answer this soon - so i will keep an eye out for their answers as its a learning curve for me too!😱 Bev
aymes
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- Type 1
45 mins after eating is quite soon to be doing a test, as Bev said, your insulin wouldn't have reached it's peak yet so you would expect to be having some sort of spike in your reading, and 10.7 just after eating doesn't seem too bad to me, especially if you're confident it will return to the correct level in 2 hours. I'd have thought it'd be quite unusual for someone to keep their levels under 8 the whole time (including soon after meals) without following a very strict low carb and low GI diet.
Hi lo123
I agree with the others that 45 mins after eating is too soon. Also, are you on the pump or on injections? People in the US are mostly on the pump which allows them to drip insulin into their body in tiny increments and so their control will be tighter than someone who is on injections.
aymes
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It's great that you've managed to get such good control by cutting down carbs but I would still highly recommend doing a course, dafne or similar, if you get the chance as there's a lot more to them than just getting good control, there's dealing with lifestyle issues, quality of life etc so just helps you to have that flexibility if you want it.
DAFNE is a group, I think we had 15 people. It isn't just counting carbs. You do learn a lot of factual info on all kinds of things - exercise, sick days, pregnancy, hypos among others, but it is more than that. I really valued the chance to meet face to face with other diabetics, and share our blood sugars every day on the OHP. Boards like this are great but it is also good to meet people as well. Because of DAFNE, I faced my issues and my fears seemed less scary.
And there is a lot of stuff that you may think you know but you actually don't. After 15 years I was a little blase about some things but on DAFNE I realised that I was not as certain as I had thought.
For example, until a couple of weeks ago I had only had ketones twice - once at diagnosis and another time when I was ill and my blood sugars got out of control, and I had to go to hospital to get rid of them. Then I got flu and ketones the week when we had all the snow, public transport was down and the news said not to go to hospital unless it was a life threatening emergency. With the help of the DAFNE handbook and my very supportive dietitian and family, I managed to get rid of the ketones. But I don't know what I would have done if I had not known about the DAFNE sick day rules and been taught what to do to control my blood sugars.
And there is a lot of stuff that you may think you know but you actually don't. After 15 years I was a little blase about some things but on DAFNE I realised that I was not as certain as I had thought.
For example, until a couple of weeks ago I had only had ketones twice - once at diagnosis and another time when I was ill and my blood sugars got out of control, and I had to go to hospital to get rid of them. Then I got flu and ketones the week when we had all the snow, public transport was down and the news said not to go to hospital unless it was a life threatening emergency. With the help of the DAFNE handbook and my very supportive dietitian and family, I managed to get rid of the ketones. But I don't know what I would have done if I had not known about the DAFNE sick day rules and been taught what to do to control my blood sugars.
aymes
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yeah, I did dafne just under 2 years ago and I can honestly say it is one of the best things I have ever done. Even though a lot of it is carb counting I think it is worthwhile, even for someone who may be very experienced in it. There is also so much more to it and for me it felt like it just gave me the opportunity to take control over everything, knowledge is power I guess.
It was delivered as a group over 5 days, probably 5 of the most draining days of my life, I was exhausted by the time it was over but I don't think before I had every spent so long thinking about my diabetes and just having that space to think of nothing else was so beneficial. There was also a few opportunities during the week for some 1:1 time with the DSN and dietician which was useful and having got to know them so well during the week I have found it so much easier to work with them afterwards.
aymes
Senior Member
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- Type 1
I loved putting my readings up on the OHP, was terrified of the idea at first but I found after the week I really missed it, I've contemplated making a wall chart at home sometimes so recreate it as I found it so motivating to have the numbers up there. Not sure my housemates would be as impressed with the idea though....!!!!
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