Makes no sense to me at all

Hey folks.  Just a brief history.  I'm 53 and about a year ago on my annual checkup my Dr said I was getting high blood sugar but that I could control it through diet.  So I cut out a lot of carbs in the form of white rice, potatoes, sweets and bread.  I mean I cut back pretty good.  Lost a few pounds but was feeling ok with myself.

This Saturday a group of us took a bike ride that lasted from 8 AM to 8 PM.  For lunch I had a Brat, fries sweet tea and a beer.  When we got back I pigged out on BBQ, had a few fries, sweet tea, a beer and *blush* two helpings of home made ice cream.  I was talking to my sweetie and relating that I had been drinking a lot that day and had started to get a headache.  She remarked that it sounded like diabeties.  Aw crap.  She reminded me that I had a test meter and I broke it out.  I was concerned that the test strips claimed to have expired in Feb but she assured me that was just teh prescription expiration.  I ran teh calibration and it came in within range. (PS - lotta reading to use one of these things!)

So anyway - the reading was 336 and that scared teh crap out of me - my dad passed away way too early from diabetic complications so I know what can happen.  I vowed to start start doing better and tracked my calories yesterday. 

First thing next morning no food 1 cup of coffee - it was still 312.  I can low sodium Progresso minestrone soup, 1 cup of 1% milk for lunch, took reading 2 hrs later and it was 249.  Yay!  Supper I made spaghetti and a caesar salad, took a reading 2 hrs later after a 30 minute brisk walk (elevated heart rate) and it was 409!!!  Jeeze Louise!!!

Now all the foods were graded a and b with exception of tomato sauce and my caloric intake for teh day was about 1,500 cal.  I don't get it.

This morning 1st thing no food or coffee and it's 291.

Anyone explain the rollercoaster BS readings?

Thanks for any advice or help.  I feel ambushed and at the moment am unemployed so Dr's are problematical - with teh exception I have a Dr friend that can work with me in a limited way - they want to do a battery of tests and can help me that way eg prescriptions - I need to find a test lab that I can afford.

Thanks

Jon

Have you been diganosed with diabetes?? Are you insulin dependant or diet/tablet control.

I've been Insulin dependant for 22 years. If you are Diabetic it sounds to me that you are having hypo attack during the night. I would suggest the next 4-5 nights set an alarm and wake yourself up at 1am,2am and 3am over the 4-5 nights just to see what your sugar readings are, if they are low you need to adjust your insulin/pill/diet at evening meal.

It was happening to me constantly, i would have a silent hypo in my sleep and wake up the next morning with high sugars. Your body has a store of sugar in supply and if you don't waken while in a hypo it kicks in and puts your sugars up high resulting in high readings in the morning.

Hope this helps.

If your doctor friend can help with diagnosis, there are pharmaceutical companies that will send you the medication for free or a very LOW fee. You just need to go to their website and complete an application. I believe it is usually a 90 day supply. You doctor friend should know more.

I hate to sound like a broken record -- but any activity you can do will help lower your sugars, unfortunately, it is not a long lasting effect. Remember that your sugars are effected by more than just carbs you can see (bread, potatoes, etc.) but in sugars you dont -- read your labels. Every 15 grams of carbohydrates in a food equals one carb serving which goes to your daily goal.

I hope this has helped and I hope I can help steer you in the right way.

You need help to get a better understanding of what you need to do. Cutting out the "Bad" carbs is not the only thing to do. Look into your county or state social services programs for help. They may have references to doctors and labs that will do the work for free or a small fee.  I was unemployed, uninsured and used those services. I wasn't proud about it, but it was better to get what  I needed, than not do anything and end up in the hospital with large medicl bills.

I just re read you discription of what you ate again. I noticed that you really don't mention how much food you ate, but there seems to be a lot of simple carbs eaten and you body is absorbing those carbs because you may not have eaten enough, especially after a twelve hour bike ride. The Bar B Que, was slathered in a traditional sauce made with honey or brown suger. How much Sweet tea, lots of suger. How many is a "few" fries.

I need to eat small portions all day long to keep my levels consistant. It is had to do, I often do not feel hungry, but when my levels drop, they drop fast and there is no way to quickly feel better.

Good Luck.

Hey there!

I just read your post. First off, I am not a doctor, but with numbers like those you have diabetes. There is no pre to it.

Looking at what you ate, I think I would have skipped the pasta. That always spikes my numbers.

There are some things you can do to help lower your numbers. Like jmclion said, eat smaller amounts throughout the day. That helps me. Also, add fiber to your diet. Lots of it. Soluble fiber has been proven to help lower blood suger levels and increase the good cholesterol and lower the bad.

If you are overweight try to shed a few pounds and make sure to exercise for 30 minutes a day at least. Take a nice walk.

Try to replace the starchy foods with better options:

If you are going to have pasta, get whole grain or 'plus' pasta. If you are going to have rice, make it brown rice (brown basmati is best) or try pearled barley instead.

Also, look into glycemic index. Not all carbs are created equal. Try to eat the foods with a low GI score. www.glycemicindex.com)

Hope that helps!

Eric

You know what, coffee always screws with my morning numbers. I heard caffeine can spike it, so I try to limit my intake. But my morning numbers have always been high, and I did the middle of the night reading, about 3 hours after bed, and I had excellent numbers, yet in the morning it had spiked. I adjusted to take a different dose of pills at night, and my a.m. numbers have been better.

Hi! I just read this, but thought I might add my two cents anyways. I've had Type 1 Diabetes for about 23 years. As far as your original post goes, what I saw was: fries, sweet tea, beer, BBQ, fries, sweet tea, beer, Ice cream, pasta. All of these things always sky rocket my blood sugar, due to the high carb content, which is the most important factor for you as pre/Diabetic. You could eat 3000 calories in a day and not have high blood sugar as long as you were eating things low carb/no carb. It isn't calories but the carbs. Another thing to remember is that if your blood sugar is already high, exercising can make it go up even further. If my blood sugar is below 200 I generally exercise, which helps bring it down, anything above will usually make it go up. My advice would be to meet with a Diabetic nutritionist/dietician. They can really help you figure out the best plan of action for diet and exercise, and they can make it flexible to fit your needs. If you get up in the morning and your blood sugar is high you don't have to skip breakfast, just eat something low carb like an omelet with veggies or something else with protein. Keep listening to your doctor, exercise, eat right and keep taking your medication and things should eventually even out!

Also, remember that Diabetes complications take a long time to form, so a few bad blood sugars now as you figure things out can be reversed by long term control. Don't be too worried, just keep working at it! :)