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Sugar Exposed

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@kevinr If as it appears you are getting hypos when not on Insulin, Glic or an SGLT. Then as a Type 2 it's likely that your hypos are due to insulin production overshoots caused by you eating too many carbs.
This is a cyclical situation can can be very dangerous since both BG the spike highs and nasty drops both cause damage and you are probably experiencing them quite frequently since a BG high leads to a huge drop which in turn (if you survive it) leads to another spike high and around it goes.

I strongly suggest that you ignore that useless NHS advice about not needing to test your BG reaction to your meals. Many self-funding Type 2 diabetics do just that in order to control their BG as do all Type 1's.
 
Hi @kevinr - so sorry you've not been feeling very well.

I am just quite new to all of this too. It is a huge change isn't it? All the advice I got from the nurse at my doctors surgery was to head here and have a read of the diet information and go back for a further HBA1C test in 3 months (will be the end of September). This was said in a 2 minute phone call. I didn't have a clue what I was doing.

What I am doing now after reading lots of advice in here is checking my blood glucose levels as follows -
  • when I wake up
  • an hour before breakfast/lunch - I normally have one or the other not usually both
  • 2 hours after breakfast/lunch
  • an hour before dinner
  • 2 hours after dinner
  • just before I go to bed
I made up a very simple spreadsheet (I have attached a picture for you but you could scribble your numbers down on a bit of paper or in a notebook as advised above) and every time I do a test, I record what the reading was. This lets me see if what I am eating is having a big or small impact or even a good or bad impact on my blood glucose levels. Strawberries for example made my level just up by 5.5 and I only had about 5 of them. I have avoided them since and have other berries instead eg raspberries.

I have probably reduced my level of carbohydrates I am eating too quickly (which can cause other issues) but I have been trying to avoid as much bread. rice, pasta, potatoes, some fruit, some vegetables, all crisps, chocolate bars as much as possible. There are always other options to have instead - I now have cauliflower or other vegetable rice, the very rare slice of Burgen bread (much lower level of carbs than normal bread), if I want a treat, I will have a small amount of salt and vinegar nuts, cheese and a cracker etc. I always check the amount of carbs I am having by checking the food content here - https://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/search When I am doing the food shopping, I always make sure the carb content on the back of the packet isn't too high.

In my head, I am determined to do what I can as a Type 2 diabetic to try and get back to 'normal' if I can and if that means I have to do without some of the foods I loved eg crisps to get there then I am happy to do that - and I look forward to a time in the future when I can enjoy SOME of the things I am avoiding at present. This has taught me a HUGE amount about food and the impact it has on my body.

Try and take what has happened to you and make changes where you can to improve how things are for you at present. There is a thread in here where people post what they eat each day and that will give you some ideas.

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/what-did-you-eat-yesterday.30349/

Take care of yourself

readings spreadsheet.JPG
 
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What a terrible and mis-leading set of information. Almost as bad as my Hertfordshire NHS Diabetes manual given to me around 15 years ago. Since when are bananas a good idea for us; nice though they are.
 
Hello Molly M. Thank you for your thread but I have been a type 2 Diabetic for 10 years and I still can't get it right all this talk about carbs just throws me I just look at my phone screen and think what's carbs nobody as actually told me what I have to do with carbs but this will all change tomorrow when at last 6 emails later my Diabetic nurse is going to ring me at 09:00am tomorrow. This will be fun and games because when she will have told me what to do I will not remember what she as said to me. My doctor told me about my next injection this morning but for the life of me I can't remember what he said.
 
@ianf0ster The OP said in another thread that they’re on Humulin M3.

@kevinr If you’re going to have trouble remembering what your nurse tells you, tell her that right at the beginning of your conversation. Hopefully she’ll either go slowly to allow you to write things down or, better maybe, send you a follow-up email with the key points she’s said written down in it so you can refer to it when needed.
 
so sorry I thought you were new here @kevinr - apologies

Carbohydrates (also called carbs) are a type of macronutrient found in certain foods and drinks. Sugars, starches and fibre are carbohydrates. Other macronutrients include fat and protein. Your body needs these macronutrients to stay healthy. When you are a T2 diabetic you want to be reducing the amount of carbs you have so that they are not adding even more sugar into your body. Hope that helps.

Good info from @Inka re taking notes or asking the diabetic nurse to send you an email or letter with the things she tells you - good luck with the call tomorrow.
 
Thank you Ianf0ster I shall put it forward to her and see what she says I can hope she will help me but it might fall on deaf ears. Why oh why did I get Diabetes but it was on the cards that it would happen, you don't expect to win at eating jammy dodgers and get away with it as I have found out to my cost of health problems. I once got asked oh a good few years ago well many years ago if I wanted to enter a Jammy Dodgers eating contest well being a big chap I jumped in I wish to god that I hadn't done it all that sugar I was poorly for a week but I did win it and was the talk of the playground and school until I left school 2 years later. How many Jammy Dodgers did I scoff 25 of them the others in the competition packed in at 10 and 12 Jammy Dodgers but not me my first week of the 6 weeks holiday was ruined as I did the contest on the last day of school. I wish it had never happened
 
kevinr said:
Thank you Ianf0ster I shall put it forward to her and see what she says I can hope she will help me but it might fall on deaf ears. Why oh why did I get Diabetes but it was on the cards that it would happen, you don't expect to win at eating jammy dodgers and get away with it as I have found out to my cost of health problems. I once got asked oh a good few years ago well many years ago if I wanted to enter a Jammy Dodgers eating contest well being a big chap I jumped in I wish to god that I hadn't done it all that sugar I was poorly for a week but I did win it and was the talk of the playground and school until I left school 2 years later. How many Jammy Dodgers did I scoff 25 of them the others in the competition packed in at 10 and 12 Jammy Dodgers but not me my first week of the 6 weeks holiday was ruined as I did the contest on the last day of school. I wish it had never happened
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Not good, but I'm sure that we all did stupid things while at school or sometimes even later in life.
I remember getting so annoyed at a flatmate constantly offering me a cigarette when he knew I didn't smoke, that one time I accepted one and promptly ate it - forgetting that nicotine is a poison boy was I sick a little later!
 
That as made me laugh my cat is looking straight at me thinking he as lost it again my owner as gone La La. I am trying to drive a class 40 diesel loco across the pennines with a load 14 full newspaper coaches still laughing at that with the cigarette that's made my day
 
@kevinr
Is @Inka correct when they say that you are taking Humulin M3?
If so then you (and your Diabetes team) need to be very careful about adjusting your eating habits and your doses of medication. Because the amount of Insulin you take needs to match the amount of carbohydrates you are about to eat.
That is quite difficult to achieve unless you eat pretty much the same thing day after day.
Any variation in sugary or starchy food from one day to the next could throw your Blood Glucose out of balance.
Personally I think that is a good reason for testing more than the once or twice a day that you say you were told to do.
 
Yes @Inka is correct I do take Humulin M3. My last blood test was at 13:15 this afternoon my next blood test will be 09:00am in the morning followed by my Humulin M3 Insulin at 09:15am followed by another one at 16:15 then my insulin injection at 16:30 this is what I was told to do when I was released from Hospital 10 years ago and it's never been changed.
 
Pattidevans said:
I am afraid that I think it's misleading to the point of being dangerous - certainly for anyone with diabetes because what raises your blood glucose isn't just sugar it's all carbohydrates. The advice to have mashed banana on toast is terrible!
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But I like mashed banana on toast...... especially for breakfast.
 
kevinr said:
So can someone on here put me straight about bread if I have a hypo which I do a few times if I eat a slice of wholemeal bread will it lift my glucose level up or is it just a old wives tale that bread won't help me, it's know wonder I am getting confused with what can help me with my diabetes.
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It will raise your blood sugar but very slowly. you would be better having something sweet like a small glass of Lucozade or a small bag of hairdo or 3 jelly babies as these are approx 15-20 cho and are fast acting due to being pure sugar with no starchy carbs.
 
Piglet said:
But I like mashed banana on toast...... especially for breakfast.
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Sorry I didn't get back to you piglet to say thank you for your reply but I have had a really bad afternoon sorting my ps4 console out due to a update that was put in at 05:29am this morning it has been a nightmare trying to sort it out.
 
Thanks everyone, I am quite shocked to be told that my HBCA1 was sitting at 54 I always thought it was higher with the trouble I have been having with my diabetes and suffering Hypos.
 
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