If my glucose readings are above 150 when it is time to eat, do I eat less or the same as usual. I know it may sound silly, but I have had this disease for 8 years and still don't understand it. I know the biological part of it, but not when and what to do. I just found out that when it gets up around 279 that it puts stress on my heart and kidneys. What does that mean? Does it mean my bp goes up, or what. About a year ago I was told I had a heart attack. But then I was told (from the cath) that it was the shadow of my pacemaker. My aterial buildup was minimal with 50% blockage in just one place. But at the same time I know I don't have the energy level I did have.

I have been told not to eat fats. But it is ok to eat good fats. Is this correct? I am not overweight. I was underweight and the doctor wanted me to put on weight. I went from 140 to 150. My bpressure was getting to low and still is low at times.

Once a neighbor of mine had an hypoglycemic attack. I was alway told to eat a little bit of candy. The paramedics had his wife feeding him fried eggs. I don't understand that.

I asked my doctor if my bs was 110 before bed should I take a snack? He said no. It looks like to me it would drop into hypoglycemia while I was alseep. What about below 110, say 86. I will take my bs sugar when I go to bed and it may be 250. Later my wife and I will have sex. I get out of bed take it again and it is 76 in a matter of 1.5 hours. That is a huge drop. Is it harmful?

I have A-fib as well as diabetes. There are a lot of things I can't eat. I had Motherof4 answer a lot of my questions and she did it as if she was a professional, but there is too much I don't understand. I would keep a diary, but the strip are expensive. I take mine one to two times a day. Sometimes I forget for I am feeling very well.

What is too high and what is too low? I get a little shaky when I am at 80, but others don't. I don't understand this. I feel better when it is higher, but know it is not good for me. And lastly, is it long range complications that harm when the reading are high over a long period of time, or can short term be just as dangerous. For instance, If my pre-meal bs is 154 and I eat and it goes up to 279, then is 155 at supper is this harmful? Thanks for any response. This whole thing is confusing to me. Please don't tell me I need to be on one of those card substitution diets or counting diets. I don't even understand them. They are just too confusing to work with. -Sam

Hi Sam, welcome to the board. I don't think mommyof4 is a professional, she's just giving you her experiences. Also her knowledge from being a long time diabetic. Her info was right on the money. I know the test strips are expensive, especially if you have a fixed income. My endo suggested i test at least 3x a day. B4 breakfast, b4 lunch and b4 bedtime.. Sometimes, i skip lunch testing and do b4 dinner. I also use a computer website to track my meals. it is not exact, but gives an ideal of what was eaten and carb, protein, cals and fats.

I have had diabetes for about 12 or 13 yrs. My dietician told me to try and keep my readings below 160 b4 meals. Usually, im at or around 120 or under. Everybody is different, but like you i sometimes become hypo at 80. Usually i feel hypo at 58 or so. My friend goes hypo at 35, Only you know how your body feels, if you start going hypo, i would do a glucose test and then eat if necessary.\
Good luck and hang in there.

Hi JTU!
Thanks for replying. One question I wanted answered is how much damage does it do if say your bs is 120 at meal time, but after eating it is 250 after two hours. Then by the next meal time it is 140-150. When it is 150 it looks like you shouldn't even eat. Do you just cut back on eating? sam

Thank you for the compliment but JTU is right. I am only a professional mother but have gone through serious ups and downs with diabetes. The best thing you can do is to focus on learning only a few things at a time. There truly is so much information to absorb that trying to do it all at once only leads to confusion.

Sugar can not be absorbed without insulin. I have said before that it's like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Your body produces insulin to wrap around the glucose, sugar, molecules so they can be absorbed. When you don't have enough insulin, you get a buildup of glucose molecules in your system. The byproduct of this buildup is ketones. Every system in your body starts to try to fight the high blood sugar. This causes the kidneys to work harder to help your body rid itself of ketones. This makes the heart work harder as it is trying to supply the body with oxygenated blood. When your muscles are starved for fuel, the other systems kick in to over ride what is happening. After so long of this stress being put on the organs, they start to show signs and a reduction in performance. Diabetes is a major cause of kidney failure, cardiovascular disease, and artereosclerosis. Diabetics can have a double morbidity rate than the general population for heart disease and kidney disease. This is why, as a heat patient already, you need to have the tightest control possible.

Some people will tell you not to eat fats while others will tell you not to eat something else. What is really important is to find a regimen that works for your situation. I mentioned before that we all have a different tolerance for feeling blood sugars. Your body gets used to whatever you throw at it. When you are used to being high, the body starts to assume that is normal. Then when you start coming down to a normal number, the body assumes that is low. Its almost like a safety switch telling you to watch out for a dropping blood sugar. I also dont understand why a paramedic would give a diabetic eggs to raise the blood sugar.

Drops in blood sugar are not harmful given that they stop at a safe number. Sex is exercise so it is normal for it to drop a high blood sugar. Another side effect of high blood sugars is sexual dysfunction which I am sure no one wants to deal with :eek:

Ideally, you want to move away from the yo yo of highs and lows. You can have a life of normal blood sugars. What other medicines have you tried? If the list is long and distinguished, you might want to bring up the idea of injectable insulin to your Dr.

HTH

Hi,
I used to post quite a bit some time ago about my wife who suffers from diabetes, familial hyperlipidemia, and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). She was supposed to have past away back in 2000, but she is still with me and doing quite well except for the RA. I want to give some words to the wise here. Everyone should have a family blood glucose meter, whether it is a cheapie like the Wallyworld model my wife has, or a bells and whistles job that costs a lot more. Check your BG about two hours after a meal. If it reads over 170, your either eating too many refined carbs, or you'd better see the doc. Don't guess on self diagnosis. Diabetes kills more people worldwide than AIDS. When you go to the doc, have him check your fasting glucose and run an Hba1c blood test. If it's over 6.0, start thinking about your diet. This is a good indicator of what your average blood glucose has been for the last two months. Don't take a type II diagnosis for granted. Late findings have found such a thing as late onset type 1 diabetes, or by another name, fulmanent diabetes which is also type 1. Type 1 is an auto-immune disease, whether it occurs in the fetus, or develops slowly at a later age. Just like in arthritis or multiple sclerosis, the body attacks itself, in diabetes, it hits the pancreas' islets that produce insulin. The normal pancreas must lose over 70% of its islet cells (Beta cells or cells of Langerhans), before one becomes insulin deficient, and this can take some time if the auto-immune disease is marginal..
Most docs are hasty and diagnose type II, and some late findings indicate that almost 40% of these findings are in error. Muscles don't need much insulin. Insulin opens the gate to the fat cells to store the excess glucose. Fat cells are the ones that become insulin resistant because they have lost functional receptors (gates), or are chock full as in the case of obesity. In this case, the blood insulin level has to be higher in order to force these gates open. When your muscles are insulin resistant, they rely on the fat stored in adipocytes (fat cells). The byproduct of using fat for energy is blood ketones. To be certain that you are type II, the blood insulin level must be checked. Also, a C-peptide blood test has to be run to determine if the pancreas is producing insulin. It's a by product of insulin manufacture. These tests are in addition to the tests the doc normally performs to check for diabetes. In the case of diabetes, it's so complicated that guessing just doesn't work, and the risk is too high. If the doc says type II, have him run the insulin level and C-peptide tests. It's your body and your paying for it....one way or the other. God bless,,, Oldguy
PS: Follow the Glycemic index....It works

I just took my bs 2.5 hours after eating breakfast and it was 145. I have had this for eight years. I try to follow it pretty well through the week. It is on the weekends that I have problems. Thanks for this valuable information. - sam