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Permalink Reply by Jeannie Wagner on June 18, 2009 at 12:20pm

I respect my doctor for his medical knowledge but he told me to test a few times a week to save money on strips. I have a high decuctible HSA. Even when I went to my CDE she didn't stress testing 2 hours after meals. It wasn't until I joined several D forums that I realised how many times I should be testing. I was told by my CDE to be 140-180, 2 hrs after a meal. I did that for 2 years, thinking 180 was fine. I have now dropped my carbs to 50-75 a day to stay under 140 after meals. My original CDE wanted me to eat over 200 c a day. No wonder my numbers never changed. I'm glad you're fighing back. Thank you

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Permalink Reply by elaine peterson on June 14, 2009 at 10:52am

Hi Lora..I live in Weston FL.....lots of young families. My friend's T2 husband is treated by a doc at Cleveland Clinic, S FL. He is told to take a pill once a day and take a fasting test only. World class care!

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Permalink Reply by Lora on June 14, 2009 at 2:30pm

There HAS to be an ADA approved class around...Does your friends' husband ASK for education.....If not no one comes forth--The MD isn't interested in the wellness of his patient

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Permalink Reply by elaine peterson on June 14, 2009 at 3:54pm

I have suggested that, but he is not interested. When he was diagnosed, he was assigned to a 1 hour class. (This was in another state.) His wife went along. They seemed to take away nothing. I have tried to turn her on to more healthful options for him.....nuts as opposed to pretzels.....but he is in some kinda serious denial and refuses to cut back on carbs. They don't really seem to know about carb counting at all. She prepared a frozen entree with about 65 grams per spoonful for me because she assumed it would have less carbs than a sandwich. I had just gotten my pump, so I walked her through my routine of carb counting and dosing. She didn't seem to have ever looked at the nutritional info on a food package. This is an educated, smart mature person, mind you. After we went through the dosing, she brought out fruit. She was surprised that I had to take insulin for fruit! The bigger problem is that she could try to influence him, but she feels she is not being a "good wife" if she doesnt buy the ice cream and cookies and chips and prepare the foods he requests.....and he requests potatoes and pizza. I don't know how to argue with that! That concept is so bizarre to me on a few levels!

Before I was diagnosed, I volunteered at the foot center at a hospital. It primarily dealt with diabetics and their foot wounds that would not heal. I knew nothing about diabetes but did have an idea that these people had to be careful with carbs. There was a dear sweet older couple that I always looked forward to seeing. The wife was complaining one day that her husband's constant need to snack drove her crazy. The poor gentleman was about 300 lbs and confined to a wheel chair. He said that his favorite snack was potato chips. I asked if he didn't need to balance the carbs with some protein. His reply was that the chips were flavored with real cheese. He was so proud. I related that story to the doc on duty and I overheard him ask the nurse if they had any nutritional info to pass out. I could just see this older couple studying a brochure and changing all their bad habits. NOT!

I do have another friend with a T2 husband....they are both extremly conscientious, have educated themselves, probably thanks to a great educator like yourself (I have been lucky with that, as well.)

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Permalink Reply by Steve Carithers on June 15, 2009 at 5:02pm

I have only been diagnosed diabetic since May 9, 2009. My blood sugar at the time of diagnosis was at 276 and, with the help of a friend who has been diabetic for over 50 years, I brought it down to generally around 100 to 115. In the last 2 weeks I noticed a pattern with my blood sugar. It seems that it will want to spike very early in the morning. Generally it will hit around 120 to 125, but has gone as high as 136 to 140 but then it comes down to around 100 to 110 within 2 hours. I have even noticed that after a meal, it has only spiked to say, 115. My good friend told me that it may just be my liver cycling and dumping Glycogen into the blood stream. He said that I cannot control that and not to be too worried about that as long as it does come down quickly. I am not on insulin, just pills. What do you say?

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Permalink Reply by Gerri on June 15, 2009 at 5:28pm

Hi Steve,

It does sound like dawn phenonmenon & there's lot of info here on this topic for you to search. The way to get a better idea about this is to test right before bed to see how much your BG is going up overnight. Nothing much you can do without insulin to control this & some Type 2s do take basal (slow acting) before bed to prevent the overnight spikes.

A couple of things you can try. Don't eat dinner (or snacks) for 4-5 hours before bed. In case this isn't dawn phenonmenon, eating to close to sleep can cause morning highs because you're still digesting & not active. Eat breakfast as soon as you can after waking to prevent your liver from dumping more glycogen. Realize this sounds odd, but it works.

You want to aim for as normal BG as possible. Morning fasting should be under 100. If you can't control this, worth speaking to your endo about basal insulin before bed.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Carithers on June 15, 2009 at 5:50pm

I have actually tested my blood before going to bed. It has been anywhere from say 100 to 105, The strange thing is that if I find myself getting up around 6:00 AM...that is when it spikes to those high levels. I have even tested after eating and NO KIDDING...my levels fell instead of rising. It would go from 125, for example and go down to 108. Later in the day, it would fall to 95. I am on a low carb diet (Atkins) and it has been working down with the occasional spikes.

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Permalink Reply by Gerri on June 15, 2009 at 7:30pm

I believe you about eating lowering BG. I'd wake up to high numbers & not want to eat fearing I'd be off the charts, but found that eating right away helps. Exercise also sends me high in the morning.

Everything you've said points to dawn phenonmenon, as your friend suggested. Some basal insulin before bed would take care of this.

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