Hello,
Almost everytime i eat breakfast my sugar spikes to about 300 before it comes down? Any idea why? it happens if i take my insulin before meal- or after. The only thing that I have noticed has helped is if i exercise after i eat. But i don't have the time to do that everyday.
Suggestions?
And i spike high after most meals before coming down but breakfast is the worst
So what are you eating for breakfast? That makes a huge difference. For some of us, we may be particularly insulin resistant in the morning. This can make those carbs at breakfast particularly volatile.
ps. I like eggs and sausage for breakfast. You should give it a try.
I eat mostly protein for breakfast & very few carbs. Mornings are often a time of carb sensitivity/insulin resistance. 300 is a crappy way to start off the day. Timing of insulin is as important as doses to prevent spikes & just as tricky to figure out. You should try experimenting with both.
I agree with BSC. The other thing that I think happens at breakfast is that Dawn Phenomenon is "working" while you are getting up, showering, etc. so the BG number on your meter may actually be higher than the (unk) number 20 minutes ago. I sort of cheat with a CGM but I still like to test twice in the morning and, if it's going up, I avoid most carbs. A lot of times, I'll be in the 70s when I wake up, make some coffee, go take a shower, bolus .3U to "cover" being unplugged and sort of "hedge" against DP and then go down and it'll be 90-100 anyway, which isn't "bad" but I interpret it as evidence that there's "on board" hormones acting like carbs and I skip cereal/ toast/ waffles/ hash browns and other "goodies" that would just bounce it up higher.
I've skipped carbs enough that, most of the time, I'll have some spinach and broccoli in my eggs but that's about it. More for vitamin/ vegetable servings than b/c of a need for carbs. I like eggs a lot anyway and skipping toast isn't a huge deal for me anyway and it's well worth it to stay on top of my BG, get the day off to a good start, etc.
Well who doesnt like eggs and sausage :) But i like to get carbs too- though not with my sugars going so high.
I usually eat a bowl of cereal, a bagel with peanut butter and a glass of milk.
I might sound stubborn but i know im sure if i changed my diet it might help but everyone always says "don't not to anything because of your diabetes" so if i want to eat a certain way- i want to figure out how. :)
But i am now in the mood for eggs and sausage!!
Bagel+ cereal would explain the post-parandal highs I think!
I don't look at it as "carb sensitivity" or "insulin resistance" as much as "home grown" carbs from the DP hormone thing. That could be entirely in my head though as probably all of the above seem to be cooking away...
Hi, Im kinda like you I LOVE my cereal in the morning but I've also noticed too depending on what kind of cereal it is makes a difference for me. For instance I usually eat Kashi Berry Blossom cereal in the am 3/4 cup and 25 grams. It gives me that carb/cereal fix I want but for me doesnt shoot me up horribly high either by two hours Im at 130 or below the majority of the time. I also use unsweetened almond milk to cut back on extra carbs that come from dairy. It is 1 gram of carbs for 8 oz versus the 13 or so for milk.
I've noticed for me...if I eat eggs, and maybe its just the type of sausage (chorizo sausage) which only has 3 grams of carbs per sausage link...I spike higher on that than I do from the cereal. Lucky for me though I dont suffer from DP, and I tend to drop very low by morning. But maybe changing the type of cereal or portion size might help some. If it were me I'd eliminate the bagel and just eat the cereal.
Breakfast is not easy for us either, up to 150 on school mornings, but one day last week he flatlined around 100 thru breakfast and lunch. We come at it this way, pre-bolus as much time as we can given his current BS and trend. His basal is set to do a pretty good job with DP, but not always. Nathan is on the Omnipod and Dex too. His ratio for breakfast is 1 to 8, (13 and 15 for lunch and dinner) then we bring the bolus suggestion up to make it 80% an extending 20%, 2 hours. So his gets all of his carbs covered up front and gets more for the peak. This is our go-to breakfast: 1/2 ww eng. muffin, canadian bacon, egg, and graded cheese on top, cut with fork and knife. Hood chocolate milk (5 grams of carbs for 8oz.) and melon, 1/2 banana or orange. 28grams Total. We usually don't have any issues with post-parandal highs on the weekend, and if he's on the high side to start with, there is more time to pre-bolus. This morning he woke up with average 170 (2 checks) and we pre-bolused nearly an hour! Even though he went to bed at 85, we had pizza last night and I was not suprised this morning. Though he Dex said 109, Arrgh. :)
I agree with the above comments, cereal is terrible for spiking BG, unless it is relatively unprocessed like Harvest Crunch or oatmeal. If you take the shot earlier you will likely not completely eliminate the spike, but you will should drastically reduce the peak of the spike.
This is exactly what happens to me in the mornings. This site and the Dexcom have helped me understand why when I test at home before I leave to go to work and then test when I get to work my reading has gone up so much. I used to get so frustrated because I hadn't eaten a thing yet it was lots higher.
I've learned to stifle my love of cereal, bagels, and biscuits. It just shoots my whole morning it goes so high. Not worth it to me although it does make me a little sad and I do allow myself to do it as a treat every now and then. There's something about bagels my blood sugar just doesn't like - I even tried the bagel thins that are only 21 grams of carb but it still spikes me.
Breakfast is the hardest time for most of us, and our I:C ratio is often tighter then. A couple thoughts: You didn't say what you ate. I tried and tried but found that I couldn't eat any kind of cereal. Even using the correct I:C ratio, I would spike. So if you are eating cereal you might want to switch to eggs. The less carbs the better at breakfast. Second, do you know your I:C ratio is right? If you try eating lower carb and still spike, your ratio might need to be adjusted for breakfast. Finally, you say it happens if you take your insulin before the meal or after. I always take my insulin about 15-20 minutes before I eat (unless I'm low) so it has time to start working.
I'm not really replying to myself; I just took the time to read the other responses and had a couple more thoughts. I understand your not wanting to change things for Diabetes, and if you can find a way, great. But bagels, like cereal, are one food I just can't handle. And I'm from New York so bagels were a staple in my diet...sigh. But to me, it's not like I think of being "forbidden" to eat those things, cause then I'd feel deprived. But like I've chosen not to eat them because it's just not worth the hassle. I have no desire to take huge amounts of insulin to cover them, and also find that for me, certain foods are just not predictable. So I might take enough insulin to cover a breakfast of cereal and a bagel and do fine with my blood sugar one day. Then the next time I would take that same (large) dose and crash low. Just not worth the trouble or the instability in blood sugars to me.
Another option if you really miss certain foods is to try eating them for dinner, if, like many of us, your I:C ratio is more generous then.
I used to spike after every meal too. Especially breakfast even when it was mostly protien. Now I take Symlin with each meal and don't get those spikes. You may want to talk with your doctor about Symlin and how it may help you. There is a Symlin group here that you may want to visit and read more about this.
I have to ask, will Symlin take care of a bagel/ cereal combo?
great post! Im wondering do any of you bolus when you eat nothing but protein? If so how do you calculate I had nothing but protein and I spiked up a lot but I treated a low with a bunch of carbs a little before breakfast I think thats why I had the spike lol!! But it would be great to know if you guys bolus or not for protein and how you calculate thanks!!
I bolus for either 15 or 25 for breakfast, usually to cover the carbs in the veggies in the omlette and if I do more, I'll have a glass of V8 or milk too, just for fun. It may be a bit over? I look at DP as "home grown" carbs so I figure it's worth 5-10G of carbs. I get to work hangout and am usually in the 90-110 range at 9:30-10:00 which is where I want to be so I can start the day with like 4 hours of victory? ooh rah! hee hee...
I know you should calculate 60% of protein which are above your average protein income.
Proteins are low to be converted in carbs, and usually they are not transformed.
But if you eat only protein (and fat) your body derive carbs from them.
So, 60% but beware they are low to come to BG: use extended bolus or temp basal.
As usual YDMV (your diabetes may vary)
Around 58% of protein is converted to carbs whether you eat only protein or not.
I agree "don't not to anything because of your diabetes" , but please take it with a grain of salt.
We don't have to forget we HAVE diabetes, it's something changed our lives so it can change our breakfast too.
Your kind of breakfast is hard to manage, there are many ways to try to keep bg down but consider alternatives to your food.
First, if you are on a micro, you could try to use apidra: it's usually faster to act and has shorter tails of action.
Second, give your bolus 10-15 minutes before breakfast.
Third, add something with fat to slow down CHO absorption (but it's bad for other aspetcs)
Fourth, raise your bolus, but have a "second" breakfast to prevent lows at 2 hours
Fifth keep your food but lower quantities.
Ok, ideas finished ;-)