Diabetic Question

[ranger]

I have been diabetic for two years but, when I went on the gluten-free diet, my blood sugar readings started coming down. Fasting readings have run around 80 to 100, which made me very happy. Lately, my readings are in the 50's, and I'm begining to wonder if that good or bad. My post eating readings are only getting up to 110-120. I only concerned myself with high BS - know nothing about low BS. Does anyone have info on that? Is it dangerous? I've had to eat a piece of candy the last few mornings, but I don't know if I should be concerned. Any info would be helpful.

Susan

[missy'smom]

I wish I had some good answers for you. I haven't encountered this problem. My approach would be to test at 1hr, 2hrs after the evening meal and again at bedtime and see what pattern emerges and evaluate that in light of the foods that I've eaten. For example, quick spiking carbs/fruits followed by a sharp drop or slow digesting carbs that follow an up, down, up, down BG pattern as they are digested over time. I have found that on a low carb diet, my BG doesn't go up as high after a meal and also doesn't go as low. It stays in a more stable range. I fast after my evening meal and stay stable overnight. Are you drinking alcohol in the evening? Have you checked the Blood Sugar 101 website? Open Original Shared Link Do you know what you BG problems stem from, insulin resistance?, diminished insulin production? That may help you figure out what's going on too. Good luck to you in solving this new mystery. Sorry to give things to think about and not answers!

[kenlove]

I'm still waiting for the Bernstein book but my BG has started to even out and show some patterns .. your advice has helped very very much. I still wonder why after sleeping my morning readings are so much higher than during the day. 80-100 in the day

and 135 when I wake up -- hope te book comes soon!

ken

  missy said:

I wish I had some good answers for you. I haven't encountered this problem. My approach would be to test at 1hr, 2hrs after the evening meal and again at bedtime and see what pattern emerges and evaluate that in light of the foods that I've eaten. For example, quick spiking carbs/fruits followed by a sharp drop or slow digesting carbs that follow an up, down, up, down BG pattern as they are digested over time. I have found that on a low carb diet, my BG doesn't go up as high after a meal and also doesn't go as low. It stays in a more stable range. I fast after my evening meal and stay stable overnight. Are you drinking alcohol in the evening? Have you checked the Blood Sugar 101 website? Open Original Shared Link Do you know what you BG problems stem from, insulin resistance?, diminished insulin production? That may help you figure out what's going on too. Good luck to you in solving this new mystery. Sorry to give things to think about and not answers!

[missy'smom]

  kenlove said:

I'm still waiting for the Bernstein book but my BG has started to even out and show some patterns .. your advice has helped very very much. I still wonder why after sleeping my morning readings are so much higher than during the day. 80-100 in the day

and 135 when I wake up -- hope te book comes soon!

ken

I'm glad to hear that you are seeing improvement Ken! I'm sending out prayers for that book to arrive soon and for this mystery of the morning BG's to be solved!

[kenlove]

Thanks much, I'm going to leave tomorrow for India and had wished to have it before I left but that wasnt in the cards.. I'll be as good as I can while gone... but cant put it off any longer

take care

  missy said:

I'm glad to hear that you are seeing improvement Ken! I'm sending out prayers for that book to arrive soon and for this mystery of the morning BG's to be solved!

[ravenwoodglass]

  ranger said:

I have been diabetic for two years but, when I went on the gluten-free diet, my blood sugar readings started coming down. Fasting readings have run around 80 to 100, which made me very happy. Lately, my readings are in the 50's, and I'm begining to wonder if that good or bad. My post eating readings are only getting up to 110-120. I only concerned myself with high BS - know nothing about low BS. Does anyone have info on that? Is it dangerous? I've had to eat a piece of candy the last few mornings, but I don't know if I should be concerned. Any info would be helpful.

Susan

Do they have you on any diabetes meds? If so you may want to talk to your doctor. In my case my high blood sugar reading directly correlated to being glutened. Off gluten they are normal.

[kenlove]

Thats interesting, I was only diagnosed with diabetes 3 weeks ago and have not been glutened (knock wood) in awhile.

I wonder how many of us were diabetic before celiac and how many celiac before diabetic.

  ravenwoodglass said:

Do they have you on any diabetes meds? If so you may want to talk to your doctor. In my case my high blood sugar reading directly correlated to being glutened. Off gluten they are normal.

[elye]

  ravenwoodglass said:

Do they have you on any diabetes meds? If so you may want to talk to your doctor. In my case my high blood sugar reading directly correlated to being glutened. Off gluten they are normal.

I share this with you, Raven. When I'm glutened, I get all the classic digestive issues now, AND my blood glucose spikes.

I am a type one, so my knowledge is really only limited to insulin dosing. Early morning high readings, whenever I have had them, have called for more long-acting insulin at supper-time. I am also quite sensitive to cardiovascular exercise, and a hard workout at night really helped with this.....but the tradeoff is that I had some trouble getting to sleep!

I have been a diabetic for 36 years, and a diagnosed celiac for 4. But I was a silent celiac, so it is difficult to say when the gluten problems were "triggered" . . .. ..I suppose I don't really know which came first. I could well have been having gluten problems as an young child, before the diabetes diagnosis. . . . .....

[Juliebove]

50's are bad. That's a hypo. But there is much we don't know. Are you type 1 or 2? What (if any) meds or insulin are you using?

What are your meals like? Can you give examples?

If you are type 2 and perhaps even if you are type 1, you could be eating too many carbs at a time, particularly of the fast acting kind, like white rice and having a spike in blood sugar, followed by a drastic drop. To find out, try testing your blood sugar at both the one and two hour marks.

Another possibility is the pizza effect. If this is your problem, you are eating carbs with too much fat. The fat delays the aborption of carbs so they don't get into your system when they should and you have a hypo.

Another possibility is a thyroid problem. When I was hyperthyroid I had very frequent hypos.

Or it could just be that you are not eating enough carbs for your body.

Or if you are taking meds, it could be that you no longer need them.

You need to call your Dr. In the meantime, try eating a snack before bed. Eat a small amount of fat and some protein with all meals. You might need a snack between meals. You might need to eat more carbs with each meal. Or maybe even less carbs. If you could give an example of a meal you are eating, that would help.

[ranger]

I should have given more info. I'm a thin type 2 diabetic. I am prescribed Glyburide 5 mg twice a day, but cut down to one a day several months ago. Here's what I normally eat in a day:

Breakfast- 1 egg vege omelette or some fried mush and a little sausage.

Snack- A piece of fruit and a few crackers.

Lunch- A bowl of vege soup with a little bit of meat in it and maybe rice or noodles (not if I'm having starch for dinner). Sometimes a small piece of bread.

Dinner- Meat, starch and heavy on the veges. Sometimes a casserole or past, but still the same combo.

Evening- Crackers with cheese or PB

After all that, this might be what's going on. As my intestines heal, I'm not only digesting more food, but also more meds. So I'm going to cut down to 1/2 pill a day to see if that works. Does that make sense? Thanks for the input.

Susan

[mattathayde]

^^ i have been seeing people say they start to absorb more meds after going gluten-free.

but ya low numbers i think are more dangerous than high because you have less room for error before you pass out (looking at logic and from seeing family/friends with diabetes).

i am guessing you are not on insulin since you didnt mention it

i know morning readings are supposed to be low but 50s sounds too low for sure

-matt

[missy'smom]

It's important to understand what the medication does/how it works. From what I understand there are 2 kinds. One that stimulates the pancrease to put out more insulin and one that helps the body utilize the insulin that is already out there. The one you are taking seems to be the former. Open Original Shared Link. Double check this next bit(wish I could locate where I read it), but I thought that I read somewhere that if there is too much insulin put out you can end up with a hypo(well that's what happens with insulin users if they miss-calculate the dose I think), and if that's true, then it may help to cut back the dose because of how the med. works. But from what I understand 50 is getting in that danger zone so I would let my doctor know before changing anything up. Be careful. If cutting back puts you too high again, maybe you can try dietary adjustments to compensate and achieve a better balance. Maybe it would help to pose your question on a diabetes forum where there may be others who are familiar with using that med. Take Care.

[mattathayde]

ya insulin lowers your BS. i wonder if with going gluten-free and getting your body back to a normal level if you need to change your approach with how this is being treated.

-matt