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Reading confusion

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Overnight (often approaching dawn or just at waking) the liver releases glucose to ‘help’. With a fully functioning metabolism/pancreas this is fine, but for people with diabetes it can be a bit of a nightmare and mean out BG rises overnight or is extra difficult to manage around breakfast. This is often called ‘dawn phenomenon’ and may explain your waking reading.
 
If you can't get the Hovis Lower Carb (Big Tescos and Morrisons sell it) which is a good substitute, then a wholemeal/seeded bread that's also high in fibre will be a good change anyway for a start. A lot of people here have Nimble bread, or Burgen loaves, as they're also better than normal bread.

Have you tried keeping a food diary as well? I found this to really help me in conjunction with my readings, as I could see what might be causing issues. And I tend to try things a couple of times, just in case. You can have the same meal one day to the next and get differing results, so it's worth getting a bit of a consensus with your testing.

I am often higher in the morning than later in the day. It's infuriating, but there doesn't seem to be a lot I can do about it. If you focus on getting your diet right, then it'll all hopefully feel a lot better. But as others have said, there's no rush right now in you getting your BG test readings down between 4 and 7, like tomorrow. It takes time and it's worth taking the time to get it to become comfortable for you in the future.
 
I tried wholemeal rather than white bread at breakfast and my two hour reading was 11 rather that 14 but I'm not allowed wholemeal bread so we will have to see if it makes me ill again .
As I said we are country and even by 'bus big supermarkets are difficult because I don't drive anymore so stuff is difficult to carry,but I remember Nimble so maybe the Tesco local keeps it.
I am beginning to understand why my doctor said don't self monitor because the readings are unreliable, just come here every three months and we will do it.
Stoopid question I am sure but, if you have normal readings most of the day do the spikes actually matter if otherwise your bp and cholesterol are normal and your optition does a back of eye examination every year and says they are fine as well?
I expect like everyone I find this most frustrating, it my time I've run a multimillion pound marketing dept, managed a polling station, chaired a Parish Council and now I cannot even regulate my own blood sugar!
 
The spikes can definitely matter if they happen a lot. Everyone has off days though, so occasional ones aren't don't need to be worried about.

Personally, I think testing is invaluable, particularly when you have not long been diagnosed or BG levels are high. You've got to know how your body reacts to stuff. But you don't get used to having diabetes in a week or two, or even a month or two. You have to keep plugging away and it really does take time.
 
The thing with testing is that it gives you a guide. Don't take the readings as gospel as there is a 10%-15% window of inaccuracy. Two readings from the same drop of blood will vary.
 
Hello Country Folk. Loads of good advice on here. Most of us go through this learning curve with its cold turkey baggage. Its really about getting used to YOU and the diet elements that spike your BG. It takes a bit of time. I have binned root vegetables pretty much and no alcohol for a year now. My BG on the finger test is between 6 and 6.9 in the morning and with a moderate exercise in the day low to mid 5's. After meals it spikes to mid sevens but returns under 6.5 two hours after food. The first reading of the day can be a bit alarming as previously said your liver can give you a glucose dump prior to waking. I find this is really high for me high 7's if I over portion things like fruit, berries or nuts (cashew nut and blubbery addict). I lost 20kg plus in the last year watching carbs and taking nourishment from proteins and fats BUT with good exercise. I also tend to graze little and often in the day and look to eat BEFORE 7:30pm. Later than that I have a good tea or coffee. I set myself to find the dietary regime that returned my BG to under 6.5 two hours or so after food. Then I plan in my diet for the week looking forward to the elements. One of the key things is to keep as active as you can and "busy!" On the measuring front. If you are using a BG finger pricking test with strips ( I did like a maniac for the first six months or so cos I was paranoid) MAKE SURE the digit you prick is clean. Early on I was testing and finding readings of like 11.0! Then I realised that I had cut an apple and there was residual sugars on the hand. So under the tasp and dry first. If you get a surprise result retest on another digit. The key point is that your body will take time to settle into a diabetic food and exercise regime and for me I think the ping pong effects were due to sudden steady weight loss. 200%+ more exercise and stress.
 
Thanks everyone
I've put my results on a chart and it seems that my morning reading is between 8 and 8.5 at 10.45am (I said we are late risers!) Regardless of what I eat during the evening.and about 6 at 5.00pm (we only eat twice a day at 6.00pm).
Evening meals don't seem to cause much of a spike its breakfast that seems to be the problem so less toast and more eggs I think.
All very depressing.
 
Thanks Brian,
Today I managed 8.00 at 10.45, 8 at 1.30, 6 at 4.00 a and then 9.1 although today being Friday is fish and chip day and we eat two hours earlier as my husband goes out.
As my morning reading is somewhere between 8 and 8.5 every day is it safe to assume that to be the norm or should I go on testing at that time.
Exercise is another problem, our main road is an A road with ten 'buses and hundreds of cars an hour, the local lanes have no pavements and the footpaths are too muddy to walk which makes even that difficult.
 
Its good that your waking reading looks to be pretty constant? I went to a little food and often regime when I was looking to find the best intake and diet that I could apply longer term. I settled on berries first thing with loads of tea. extra thick double cream on berries of course. a luxury I can eat! about 11:30 I have a couple of sausages with tons of salad, spinach and rocket are my favorite sometimes red pepper. afternoon perhaps a square of cheese and half an apple and at night I eat the same as the rest but replace heavy carbs like potatoes with a salad or kale or broccoli. I found that little and often helped me maintain a weight loss and it keeps my BG lower and more stable. The other benefit is that if you try a food combo and you get a big spike in BG its obvious what it is.

I test every morning when I am up and sorta ready for the day before I eat or drink. I test at about 3pm as this lets me know what I need to do evening meal. Often if its up around 7.0 or so I will just cut down on the portion of the evening meal and have a small portion of berries after or a small piece of cheese. One thing I forgot to mention..... drink plenty of fluids! I have quite a protein and fat content in my diet, its not quite Atkins but going that way. You need to flush out your kidneys and system. I drink at least three litres a day sometimes over four! Try to reduce your intake per meal a bit cut out the spuds and veg that grows below ground replace with kale, salads etc. As for exercise here is a regime I use sometimes. Bottom of your stairs when you are alone. just step up on the step one foot two feet and down again one foot two feet. do it for a minute or so at least until your heart rate rises to where you can feel it. move away from the steps and just alternately swing your arms up to point to the ceiling and hand down toward the floor. Do it as quick as comfortable for a minute. Have a minutes rest and repeat the exercise (both) as many as you wish. These two things can drop your BG really quite quickly... Don't stop testing... Often doctors will tell you its not really needed if you are type 2... BUT for me in the first six months or so it was important for ME as I wanted to know what foods I could eat and how much. As you get hold of it and get some success a steady set of test results makes you feel good as well. I buy my test strips on line "CodeFree" but luckily the doctor prescribes AccuChek lancets for me box of 200 odd at a time. DO try a smaller portion of foods say three times a day even four times its better than stacking up a lot late in the day. Next time you have fish and chips leave the chips have broccoli and bags of it and see what effect it has on your BG!... Keep going! Target? Get steady in the 6's!
 
For exercise, I bought a trampoline - no need to risk your life on the road in order to do a few minutes exercise twice a day, and I cut out carb heavy foods - there is no reason to elevate your blood glucose because it is considered 'normal' to eat bread. I just don't - and really enjoy eating the low carb foods I select for my meals.
 
Hi there thanks for that but the thought of my aged knees on a trampoline is not a good one.
However the stairs in this cottage are more like ladders and i seem to spend half my life going up and down them.
Now yesterdays readings :-
11.00am 7.5, 1.45m (2 hours after brunch) 8.8, 5.30pm 6.7 and 7.30 after dinner (home made Thai curry and rice)7.8.
Seems that rice , potatoes and wholemeal bread don' t cause a spike but white bread does.

Better that the 14.1 reading when I had two slices of white bread for brunch instead of the slice of wholemeal toast and an egg I have been having since.
At last I think I understand and now I can beat it and get levels back to normal.Not much I can do about the high first reading in the morning but we are getting there!
 
Excellent results!🙂
 
Those readings do seem much better!

Yeah, white bread is just bad :(
 
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