Struggling with type 2 diabetes

[pinkjude]

Thankyou all. I started testing yesterday but today my bs was 9.9 on waking and 8.5 2 hours after breakfast which seems wrong to me. I am testing before deciding whether to start the one a day Metformin.

 

[pinkjude]

Fresh meat and fish, eggs, salads, veg, berry fruits, nuts. I don't eat sweets, cakes, biscuits, chocolate, potatoes (except a couple of small roasties if we have a roast dinner, otherwise I have mashed cauliflower) or rice (I have riced cauliflower instead). If we have a pasta dish I have a 30g portion of wholegrain spelt pasta. I use low carb bread but restrict myself to 2 slices per day.

Thankyou. Can I ask why my BS level dropped after eating my breakfast today? I am puzzled as to what is going on.

 

[EllsBells]

Thankyou. Can I ask why my BS level dropped after eating my breakfast today? I am puzzled as to what is going on.

There's a thing called Dawn Phenomenon (DP) and another known as foot on the floor (FOTF). The DP occurs when your liver helpfully dumps glucose into your system in readiness for you to go out and hunt for your breakfast - this usually happens in the early hours - 4am ish. With FOTF, the same thing happens but later - when you get out of bed. A lot of people on here can have a sensible reading whilst still horizontal and then it shoots up as soon as they stand up.

I've noticed that my levels usually drop across the morning unless I've had a comparatively carby breakfast, so I think this is pretty normal.

As your sugar levels start coming down, you'll find that the fasting readings are also the last ones to tumble. Hope that helps!

 

[pinkjude]

There's a thing called Dawn Phenomenon (DP) and another known as foot on the floor (FOTF). The DP occurs when your liver helpfully dumps glucose into your system in readiness for you to go out and hunt for your breakfast - this usually happens in the early hours - 4am ish. With FOTF, the same thing happens but later - when you get out of bed. A lot of people on here can have a sensible reading whilst still horizontal and then it shoots up as soon as they stand up.

I've noticed that my levels usually drop across the morning unless I've had a comparatively carby breakfast, so I think this is pretty normal.

As your sugar levels start coming down, you'll find that the fasting readings are also the last ones to tumble. Hope that helps!

Thankyou. Its back to 9.9 again now. I did wonder if I need some carbs with my egg breakfast? Would it be better to have some extras with my eggs? I have tingling in my arms which concerns me but I am hoping it will go as levels drop. My DN would like me to start 1 tablet of metformin to help me to get the glucose under control whilst losing weight and changing my diet. I am reluctant to do so. You dropped down quickly. What does your general breakfast, lunch and dinners look like please? I am low carb but poss too low. 2 eggs for breakfast, salad with prawns, a bit of mayo, salad leaves, cucumber, celery, olives and tomato for lunch. Dinner tonight stirfry with garlic, spring onion, pakchoi, broccoli and tofu . dessert raspberries. Also will have a few unsalted almonds, brazils and walnuts. I do have a 5% greek yoghurt in but havnt eaten it as dont know the best time to do so. I had gin and soda last night so wonder if no alcohol tonight would make a difference? Sorry to ask so many qns

 

[rebrascora]

As @EllsBells so well put it, your liver outputs glucose when you are not eating to keep your vital organs going and to give you energy to start the day. In prehistoric times before cupboards and fridges we would need to hunt or forage for food before we could eat. The act of eating actually stops the liver from doing that and triggers the pancreas to start producing insulin to deal with the blood glucose which will be produced from the food we eat and digest, so the combination of the liver switching off and the pancreas ramping up insulin production drops your levels a bit.
It is all a very fine balancing act and with diabetes, the balance is off a bit and your pancreas may just be a bit slow to get the message to start producing insulin to cover the FOTF/DP but then when breakfast comes along into the stomach it gets a kick up the backside to get some work done pronto!

 

[rebrascora]

I also meant to say, a big WELL DONE for starting to test your levels again. Don't worry too much about individual readings but look for longer term trends and keep a food diary along with a record of your before and 2hrs after readings so that you can see which foods are OK and which are best avoided or portion size reduced.

 

[EllsBells]

There's a thing called Dawn Phenomenon (DP) and another known as foot on the floor (FOTF). The DP occurs when your liver helpfully dumps glucose into your system in readiness for you to go out and hunt for your breakfast - this usually happens in the early hours - 4am ish. With FOTF, the same thing happens but later - when you get out of bed. A lot of people on here can have a sensible reading whilst still horizontal and then it shoots up as soon as they stand up.

I've noticed that my levels usually drop across the morning unless I've had a comparatively carby breakfast, so I think this is pretty normal.

As your sugar levels start coming down, you'll find that the fasting readings are also the last ones to tumble. Hope that helps!

I think what you are eating makes perfect sense - there are carbs (albeit minimal) in lots of things so don't worry you're too low. A lot of people (I think I am one) are more insulin resistant in the morning so low carb breakfasts make a lot of sense.

For breakfast I mostly have some berries with full fat greek style yoghurt drizzled with a little flaxseed/chia mix or two scrambled eggs with bacon, sausages or smoked salmon and sometimes mushrooms - they keep my BG level all morning but the protein gives me a rise mid-afternoon so it stacks with lunch carbs. I'm trying to cut down on the amount of protein I eat now as well as a result. By comparatively carby, I mean by adding say 150ml orange juice or too many berries - and the rise may be around the 0.5mmol mark! I got all of this from reading around people's comments on this forum by the way.

 

[pinkjude]

Great thanks

 

[pinkjude]

I think what you are eating makes perfect sense - there are carbs (albeit minimal) in lots of things so don't worry you're too low. A lot of people (I think I am one) are more insulin resistant in the morning so low carb breakfasts make a lot of sense.

For breakfast I mostly have some berries with full fat greek style yoghurt drizzled with a little flaxseed/chia mix or two scrambled eggs with bacon, sausages or smoked salmon and sometimes mushrooms - they keep my BG level all morning but the protein gives me a rise mid-afternoon so it stacks with lunch carbs. I'm trying to cut down on the amount of protein I eat now as well as a result. By comparatively carby, I mean by adding say 150ml orange juice or too many berries - and the rise may be around the 0.5mmol mark! I got all of this from reading around people's comments on this forum by the way.

Thankyou .