Unpredictability

[pottersusan]

Can anyone tell me why...

Yesterday and today I had the same breakfast. Yesterday my bs dropped by 0.6 and today it rose by 5.8, this is in the 2 hours before I have to eat again.

I think I may have spotted a pattern... 😱
My bs seems to be lower around 5pm most days (emphasis on the most!! certainly not all)

 

[AJLang]

I'm not sure of the answer. But because my tummy emptying is unpredictable due to the gastroparesis then so are my BGs. Whenever my tummy is completely empty e.g. if I haven't eaten for several hours, then my BGs will go much lower than they should - even if I haven't had any humalog. But if I carb count, have humalog and have, e.g. breakfast and lunch, then it will stay higher for the next 24 hours (on both days I would have had an evening meal). Could your differences in BG be due to the rate that food goes through you?

 

[margie]

This won't help particularly but stress levels, illness and time of the month etc can all cause erratic blood sugars.

The DSNs I see tell you to look at the pattern over three to four days and look at the general trend - of course sometimes you have up, down, no change and it can be very frustrating.

 

[pottersusan]

Hmm. I hadn't thought of the 'gut' emptying as part of the equation. Perhaps I need to record that too. 🙄

I also need to take more notice of when my body decides it wants to expel lots of ... are you ready for this?... nasty stringy mucus - ugh! and when I say lots, I really do mean lots. I'm told by my local upper GI nurse that this is fairly common in oesophagectomy (hope I've spelt it right) patients, though the various docs I've seen disclaim all knowledge.

I think I may end up writing a book on diabetes for the pancreasless and stomachless person... Perhaps I'll make my fortune!

 

[heasandford]

I get variations dependent on what I did & ate the day before! I have variations, which I still struggle to predict! Best of luck!

 

[pgcity]

Hiya
I'm still fairly new to all this but have been experimenting for the last 4 months. I have had the same breakfast every day just so I can control as many variables as possible. The range has been between a decrease of 2.3 and an increase of 4.8. The factors that make a difference are....
What time I eat (the earlier the better, which for me is before 8)
How long after getting up I eat (within 30 mins of getting up is best)
Whether I do any activity (reduces any spike)
What time of the month it is (week before is most erratic)
Whether I am ill (again v erratic and high)
Hope this helps.

 

[schmeezle]

Another factor worth taking into account - is how fast the carbs are eaten. I say carbs because if I eat a salad before meal, say beef stew, I'm not factoring the salad in carb count and only keying-in on the potatoes & carrots in stew. All else being equal, 30 carbs taken-in over 10 min vs 30 min yield different results. How fast I eat the carbs on my plate all depends on levels going into meal (CGMs aided) and speed (GI) of subject meal. Most of the time, I opt for slow(er) route on carb intake.

 

[pottersusan]

I think diabetics ought to be given a 1st class degree in 'managing diabetes'! Why couldn't I have something simple