Strange BG numbers

Hi all,

I've been doing my testing for the last couple days to figure out what I can
and cannot eat.

I did my lunch and checked my +1 and +2 numbers. It was 160 and then 98. An
hour after my +2 I had a salad (1 1/2 cup iceburg) with some real bacon
bits, vinegar and oil.

About a half hour after that I began to get a familuar "jittery" feeling. I
tested then and found my bg to be 65. I tested twice after that that to be
sure and it was 85 and 75. I've grabed a candy bar since then to try and get
my bg up.

Are such wild fluctuations common for diabetes? I'm not sure if I sould be
overly concerned about this or not.

The testing equipment I'm using is a Rite Aid brand. Could that brand be
generic enough to cause the numbers to be inacurate?

Thanks,

-Puckertoe

x-no-archive: yes

Puckertoe wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I've been doing my testing for the last couple days to figure out what I can
> and cannot eat.
>
> I did my lunch and checked my +1 and +2 numbers. It was 160 and then 98. An
> hour after my +2 I had a salad (1 1/2 cup iceburg) with some real bacon
> bits, vinegar and oil.

What did you eat for lunch, Puckertoe? From your numbers, it appears
that you may be eating a bit more carbohydrate than your body can handle
at one hour, but that you have a strong second phase insulin response
that knocks your bg down quite a bit. That salad had very little
protein in it. Protein keeps your bg level longer, without spiking you.
Have it at every meal and snack.

>
> About a half hour after that I began to get a familuar "jittery" feeling. I
> tested then and found my bg to be 65. I tested twice after that that to be
> sure and it was 85 and 75. I've grabed a candy bar since then to try and get
> my bg up.

If you're just beginning to control your carbs, you may feel jittery at
numbers that are healthy and that won't bother you later. If you feel a
low, you'd be better off having a small ration of glucose tabs or non
fatty candy like smarties, some milk or a quick sip or two of juice.
You don't want to eat something that takes long to act, nor eat so much
that you stay on the roller coaster.

>
> Are such wild fluctuations common for diabetes? I'm not sure if I sould be
> overly concerned about this or not.

Feeling lousy even with normal or near normal numbers is very common in
folks who are adjusting to better control. Your body is used to a lot
more sugar circulating, and it's reacting strongly in the second hour to
what may be too high glycemic a meal for you at this time.

The best thing to do to even it out is to plan meals of no more than
15-20 carbs or so, and to eat three moderate sized ones with two small
snacks between to keep your bg as even as possible and to avoid spikes
that induce to strong an insulin response, knocking you down hard at
that second hour and beyond. Protein and fats are your friends as you
strive for slower bg rises and fewer lows.

Susan

"Susan" <nevermind@nomail.com> wrote in message
news:5853obF2failnU1@mid.individual.net...
> x-no-archive: yes
>
> Puckertoe wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I've been doing my testing for the last couple days to figure out what I
>> can and cannot eat.
>>
>> I did my lunch and checked my +1 and +2 numbers. It was 160 and then 98.
>> An hour after my +2 I had a salad (1 1/2 cup iceburg) with some real
>> bacon bits, vinegar and oil.
>
> What did you eat for lunch, Puckertoe? From your numbers, it appears that
> you may be eating a bit more carbohydrate than your body can handle at one
> hour, but that you have a strong second phase insulin response that knocks
> your bg down quite a bit. That salad had very little protein in it.
> Protein keeps your bg level longer, without spiking you. Have it at every
> meal and snack.
>
I had a P&J sandwich on Rye, Sugar Free Jello, and a handful of peanuts. I
suspect that the Rye has about 25 carbs per slice. So I guess it's safe to
say that I may have had 60+ carbs for lunch.
>>
>> About a half hour after that I began to get a familuar "jittery" feeling.
>> I tested then and found my bg to be 65. I tested twice after that that to
>> be sure and it was 85 and 75. I've grabed a candy bar since then to try
>> and get my bg up.
>
> If you're just beginning to control your carbs, you may feel jittery at
> numbers that are healthy and that won't bother you later. If you feel a
> low, you'd be better off having a small ration of glucose tabs or non
> fatty candy like smarties, some milk or a quick sip or two of juice. You
> don't want to eat something that takes long to act, nor eat so much that
> you stay on the roller coaster.
>
>>
>> Are such wild fluctuations common for diabetes? I'm not sure if I sould
>> be overly concerned about this or not.
>
> Feeling lousy even with normal or near normal numbers is very common in
> folks who are adjusting to better control. Your body is used to a lot
> more sugar circulating, and it's reacting strongly in the second hour to
> what may be too high glycemic a meal for you at this time.
>
> The best thing to do to even it out is to plan meals of no more than 15-20
> carbs or so, and to eat three moderate sized ones with two small snacks
> between to keep your bg as even as possible and to avoid spikes that
> induce to strong an insulin response, knocking you down hard at that
> second hour and beyond. Protein and fats are your friends as you strive
> for slower bg rises and fewer lows.
>
> Susan

Thank you so mcuh Susan. I was really worried there. It really is going to
be difficult. At least I know now what to look out for.

-Puckertoe

x-no-archive: yes

Puckertoe wrote:

> I had a P&J sandwich on Rye, Sugar Free Jello, and a handful of peanuts. I
> suspect that the Rye has about 25 carbs per slice. So I guess it's safe to
> say that I may have had 60+ carbs for lunch.

Try having half that number of carbs for lunch and see how you feel and
what your meter says about it.

Arnold makes a melba thin rye bread, about 10 grams of carb per slice,
if you think you need two. Switching to no sugar added jelly would
help, too.


>>>Are such wild fluctuations common for diabetes? I'm not sure if I sould
>>>be overly concerned about this or not.

It depends on how you eat. My bg hardly varies now, but I used to have
the type of reactions you do before I began cutting carbs and keeping my
bg spike free with diet.

> Thank you so mcuh Susan. I was really worried there. It really is
going to
> be difficult. At least I know now what to look out for.

You're welcome, and it's really not going to be as difficult as you
think. Use that meter to tell you when you've eaten unwisely for you.
Cut the starch and sugar, increasing protein if you're still getting
spikes. It takes some time to learn new habits, but the meter makes it
easy to see exactly what works and what doesn't.

Generally, starch and sugar will spike you, protein and fats won't. If
you make the largest part of your meal from non starchy veggies, salads,
and proteins, you won't spike and you should stop having reactive lows.

Stick around, ask away and read a lot.

Check your library or bookstore for Gretchen Becker's book, The First
Year: Type 2 Diabetes.

Susan

"Puckertoe" <DontSpamMe@Home.com> wrote in message
news:131qlm2lhasd666@corp.supernews.com...
> Hi all,
>
> I've been doing my testing for the last couple days to figure out what I
> can and cannot eat.
>
> I did my lunch and checked my +1 and +2 numbers. It was 160 and then 98.
> An hour after my +2 I had a salad (1 1/2 cup iceburg) with some real bacon
> bits, vinegar and oil.
>
> About a half hour after that I began to get a familuar "jittery" feeling.
> I tested then and found my bg to be 65. I tested twice after that that to
> be sure and it was 85 and 75. I've grabed a candy bar since then to try
> and get my bg up.
>
> Are such wild fluctuations common for diabetes? I'm not sure if I sould be
> overly concerned about this or not.
>
> The testing equipment I'm using is a Rite Aid brand. Could that brand be
> generic enough to cause the numbers to be inacurate?

You don't want wild fluctuations but unfortunately that's what diabetes is.
I don't know what to tell you about lunch. Sounds like you should have had
some sort of additional carbs with that meal, yet you were at 160 at an hour
after eating and that's a bit too high. It also sounds like you didn't test
before you ate. Could be your BG was too high then. As for the candy bar,
that was probably one of the worst things you could eat for the hypo.
Probably too many carbs and probably contains enough fat to keep it from
being fast acting. Plain sugar like hard candies is a better idea.

Puckertoe, you could test your numbers five times in five minutes and
get five different readings, nothing too drastic, there are meter
variations all the time.

Even though your numbers are not technically low, if you are shaking,
they are low for you. Always be prepared with something on you so that
you limit those experiences.

Loretta

This post not CC'd by email
On Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:44:34 -0700, "Puckertoe" <DontSpamMe@Home.com>
wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>I've been doing my testing for the last couple days to figure out what I can
>and cannot eat.
>
>I did my lunch and checked my +1 and +2 numbers. It was 160 and then 98. An
>hour after my +2 I had a salad (1 1/2 cup iceburg) with some real bacon
>bits, vinegar and oil.
>
>About a half hour after that I began to get a familuar "jittery" feeling. I
>tested then and found my bg to be 65. I tested twice after that that to be
>sure and it was 85 and 75. I've grabed a candy bar since then to try and get
>my bg up.
>
>Are such wild fluctuations common for diabetes? I'm not sure if I sould be
>overly concerned about this or not.


G'day G'day Puckertoe

The answer to your query is more than likely in your use of "wild
fluctuations." The sequence 65, 85, 75 does appear to represent a
wild fluctuation for a T2 diabetic. (T1's will have to talk for
themselves.) They would be on the low side for many T2s. Personally
I'd feel more comfortable nearer the 100 mark (5.5 mmol/L in the
international readings.) However this is a personal thing. Some
people fluctuate more than others. Some people have become
conditioned to higher levels feeling normal than others. The lettuce
and oil dressing would not have provided significant carbohydrate so
low values were to be expected.

Non-diabetics without any significant metabolic resistance have more
stable blood glucose levels.
>
>The testing equipment I'm using is a Rite Aid brand. Could that brand be
>generic enough to cause the numbers to be inacurate?

Americans for some reason generally subscribe to the notion that meter
readings fluctuate by 20%. I don't. There are laws governing their
accuracy. This though is not the same as trend. Accuracy is in part
of matter of correct calibration. In general meter readings from
reading to reading are more consistent. Put simply the expected
fluctuation is much less than the required limits of accuracy.

The reading taken at one hour was high at 160. All this means is that
you have a typical pattern for T2 diabetics in the early stages of the
diabetic progression ... your initial release of insulin is delayed.

The excellent news is the 98. It suggests that once your insulin
release kicks in you are able to bring the blood glucose back down to
normal fasting levels of about 100. If you do what you need to do, ie
exercise regularly, test regularly and more importantly learn from the
testing what you can and can't eat, practice some restraint and
develop a good working relationship with your GP or diabetic nurse
you've a good chance of keeping your body in working order for a
longer period of time.

>Thanks,
>
>-Puckertoe

Best wishes,
--
Quentin Grady ^ ^ /
New Zealand, >#,#< [
/ \ /\
"... and the blind dog was leading."

http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/quentin

On Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:21:52 -0400, Susan
<nevermind@nomail.com> wrote:

>x-no-archive: yes
>
>Puckertoe wrote:
>
>> I had a P&J sandwich on Rye, Sugar Free Jello, and a handful of peanuts. I
>> suspect that the Rye has about 25 carbs per slice. So I guess it's safe to
>> say that I may have had 60+ carbs for lunch.
>
>Try having half that number of carbs for lunch and see how you feel and
>what your meter says about it.
>
>Arnold makes a melba thin rye bread, about 10 grams of carb per slice,
>if you think you need two. Switching to no sugar added jelly would
>help, too.
>
>
>>>>Are such wild fluctuations common for diabetes? I'm not sure if I sould
>>>>be overly concerned about this or not.
>
>It depends on how you eat. My bg hardly varies now, but I used to have
>the type of reactions you do before I began cutting carbs and keeping my
>bg spike free with diet.
>
> > Thank you so mcuh Susan. I was really worried there. It really is
>going to
>> be difficult. At least I know now what to look out for.
>
>You're welcome, and it's really not going to be as difficult as you
>think. Use that meter to tell you when you've eaten unwisely for you.
>Cut the starch and sugar, increasing protein if you're still getting
>spikes. It takes some time to learn new habits, but the meter makes it
>easy to see exactly what works and what doesn't.
>
>Generally, starch and sugar will spike you, protein and fats won't. If
>you make the largest part of your meal from non starchy veggies, salads,
>and proteins, you won't spike and you should stop having reactive lows.
>
>Stick around, ask away and read a lot.
>
>Check your library or bookstore for Gretchen Becker's book, The First
>Year: Type 2 Diabetes.
>
>Susan

Hi Puckertoe

Just reinforcing Susan's comment. In fact, I suspect you
were probably higher than 160 at about 45 minutes.

The way I stopped the overswing hypos was to stop going high
in the first place.

My limit at lunch is about 10gms carb; I can handle a lot
more at dinner. YMMV.

Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia.
d&e, metformin 1500mg, ezetrol 10mg
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.
--
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Athens and The Adriatic

<<Even though your numbers are not technically low, if you are shaking,
they are low for you. Always be prepared with something on you so that
you limit those experiences.
Loretta>>

that is the gospel absolue truth!