Puzzled & frustrated

[Jay123]

Hi from the latest Newbie .

I’m pre-diabetic but with a type 1 son who has well controlled diabetes. You’d think I know what I’m doing … wrong!

Despite avoiding sugar (& artificial) & fat (I’m mainly cooking from scratch) & training for charity 26 mile walk I can not get my sugars under control.

Despite research & raising a type1 child I’m at a loss (GP useless just says avoid sugar!!).

Does it take months &’months of good eating n exercise b4 blood sugars improve ( I have my own monitor)? Cud it b my meds (montelukast & normal steriod inhaler for asthma) r causing probs?

Helpppp!!! ANY ideas gratefully received

 

[Inka]

Welcome @Jay123 🙂 How high are your blood sugars? Are you limiting all carbs not just sugar?

 

[Jay123]

Hi.
Not crazy high - between 7 n 12 but there doesn’t seem to be any correlation between what I’m doing n the counts. Yep I’m carb counting -
I had to do this for my son who was diagnosed type 1 when he was ten ( now 26).

I wonder if I’m steroid induced diabetic ( as I have severe asthma n understand the steroids i take daily could cause this). If I am, could that make the situation any more complex?

Thanks for taking the time to answer

 

[Jay123]

Oooo … hang on … I kinda lied!!

I do understand carb counting n have an awareness of how many counts (roughly) is in a particular portion (having had to do this for my son). But I don’t know how many counts a day someone with pre diabetes (HBA1C 43) should be looking at …??

 

[SB2015]

Welcome to the forum @Jay123

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, and you are not the first with a child with T1 to be surprised at how different it is when you are sorting yourself out, especially as T1 and T2 are completely different diseases.

It is good that you already have an idea about carbs, so will be aware of how there are often carbs hidden in apparently healthy foods, and that carbs are not always in the form of sugar. Any carbs we eat (potatoes, pasta, fruit, veg, …) will become glucose once inside us, but ones with a high sugar content will often do so a lot more quickly, making levels rise more quickly.

There isn’t really a right amount of carbs to eat in general. This will vary from person to person. The important thing is to find out how many carbs your body can cope with. You will be producing some insulin but with T2 there is either not enough for the amount of glucose in your blood, or your bendy is resistant to what you have so it doesn’t work properly, and you there need more than you are able to produce. (That is a bit of a simplistic model but I hope that it helps)

Have you tried keeping a food diary which includes the amount of carbs in what you eat, alongside a log of your glucose readings before and two hours after a meal. If you have enough insulin for what you have eaten it will bring you back to near what you were before the meal. This information will help you to see how many carbs your body can manage and help you to decide whether to make adjustments to your diet/portion sizes.

If youHave any questions, fire away. There is a loads of experience to tap into on here. Just ask.

 

[Inka]

Oooo … hang on … I kinda lied!!

I do understand carb counting n have an awareness of how many counts (roughly) is in a particular portion (having had to do this for my son). But I don’t know how many counts a day someone with pre diabetes (HBA1C 43) should be looking at …??

They’re two different things really. Carb Counting is what Type 1s (and others on insulin) do and it means counting the carbs up and working out how much insulin to take. For people like yourself, you need to be aware of the carbs and limit them. You don’t need to do precise calculations. That’s why I used the word “limiting”. It’s a different thing.

A good starting place is to look at what you ate pre-diagnosis and find places where you can cut carbs and replace them with green veg/salad and maybe some protein and healthy fats. If you get a glucose meter, you’ll be able to judge how well your carb reductions are working.

If you’d like to write down an average day’s food here, you’ll get suggestions about how to reduce your total daily carbs.

 

[Jay123]

They’re two different things really. Carb Counting is what Type 1s (and others on insulin) do and it means counting the carbs up and working out how much insulin to take. For people like yourself, you need to be aware of the carbs and limit them. You don’t need to do precise calculations. That’s why I used the word “limiting”. It’s a different thing.

A good starting place is to look at what you ate pre-diagnosis and find places where you can cut carbs and replace them with green veg/salad and maybe some protein and healthy fats. If you get a glucose meter, you’ll be able to judge how well your carb reductions are working.

If you’d like to write down an average day’s food here, you’ll get suggestions about how to reduce your total daily carbs.

Thank you so much!! That gives me a good starting point .

 

[Leadinglights]

How recent was your HbA1C of 43 as I am quite surprised that it would be as low as that if you are seeing readings on your monitor as high as 12mmol/l. So you may well have tipped over into diabetic zone. Steroids are well renowned for causing high blood glucose so people need to work extra hard to keep them well managed.
Have a look at this link as you may find some ideas for moving forward with dietary changes. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
The aim would be finger prick readings 4-7mmol/l fasting and before meals and no more than 8-8.5mmol/l 2 hours post meal though if you are experiencing higher levels than that then meal increases of no more than 2-3mmol/l after 2 hours is a good aim to see if you tolerate the carbs in your meal.
Remember you have a very different condition to your son so do not try to compare.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thank you so much!! That gives me a good starting point .

The aim would be finger prick readings 4-7mmol/l fasting and before meals and no more than 8-8.5mmol/l 2 hours post meal though if you are experiencing higher levels than that then meal increases of no more than 2-3mmol/l after 2 hours is a good aim to see if you tolerate the carbs in your meal.

Welcome to the forum @Jay123

Good to hear you’ve had some helpful advice so far - just wanted to flag-up @Leadinglights suggestion too. Using the BG meter you have to ‘interrogate’ your meals can be a really practical way of checking how your body reacts to different meals and sources of carbs. You might find you get on better with some sorts than others - you might see that you always get a big rise from bread, but have a gentler response from oats or basmati rice - but it’s all very individual, and might be the opposite!

But ‘eating to your meter’ can give you an impartial opinion on which meals, food options, portion sizes, and sources of carbs suit you as an individual (without relying on something’s reputation - which your body may not have got the memo about!)

Hopefully, with a few tweaks and changes, you’ll be able to find a menu that is enjoyable, flexible, satisfying, and which gradually brings your BG levels back into a healthier range.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on 🙂