BG creep even with low glycemic food and fruits

Hi everyone,

I haven’t posted in a long while, but still lurking. Been battling ‘Uncle Arthur’ (RA) and ‘Cousin Fi’ (Fibromyalgia). Both are kicking my butt something fierce.

Anyway, my BGs are steadily creeping upward again. My PCP doesn’t seem to be worried. She says as long as I’m under 200 consistently I’m fine. But I’m all over the place.

Some days, I wake up at 94, 107, 148, 150, 157, then down to 74.

Lunch is the same way 148, 75, 160, 100, 128, 180, 142, then down to 82.

Supper I’m any where from 111 to 180.

At bedtime I can be from 107 to 189.

I used to be at a constant 102 to 140 range.

Fruit can spike me like crazy. I was told by my rheumy to eat blueberries to help with my inflammation and my overall health. I eat the blueberries in the morning, only the amount designated for a diabetic.

A half a banana for lunch, and a small apple for dinner. I try to eat as much protein as I can such as spinach and or mushrooms or eggs.

I am only on a diet. Tried the pills (metformin, januvia), and shots Trulicity and they made me extremely sick.

So is my diabetes progressing or am I just going through a spell with it because it’s summer; and, it will even out on it’s own?

Right now I’m battling Anemia of Chronic Disease due to my RA and it’s been really hard…chronic fatigue, exhaustion, extreme tiredness, thirst, loss of appetite, cold in daytime, hot at night, nauseous, lightheadness, dizziness.

My PCP told me to just take iron and B-12 vitamins. My rheumy said it was my RA and probably my diabetes due to inflammation. She gave me a steroid shot which bumped my BGs up to 180…:frowning_face::slightly_frowning_face:

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Just to be sure, you do know that banana is a high-carb fruit, right?

How long have you been a type 2? Because misdiagnosis is way too common for us LADA/type 1 diabetics.

Yes, I know bananas are…I try to buy small ones and eat half, due to low potassium. But my concern was mostly the blueberries.

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Diagnosed in August 2013. I asked the endo if he was sure since I was diagnosed at 14 with Graves Disease and received radioactive iodine twice to make me hypothyroid.

I was officially diagnosed with several food and other allergies at 24 and at that time also officially diagnosed with RA.

Then at 43 I was diagnosed with Type 2.

My mom and her four siblings had diabetes but all were different. Their parents were diabetic. Their dad (my grandfather) was Type 1, their mom (my grandmother) was Type 2. One sibling did not have diabetes, one still living has pre-diabetes. My mom had LADA (she was oldest), the youngest had Type 2, and one more had Type 2.

The endo never checked me for autoimmune even though I asked him. The PCP I’m with now also refuses to do so. She says my BGs are affected by my RA meds and aren’t that bad, not to worry.

Right now I’m search my insurance to try to switch medical providers and see if I can get my primary as an internist. My current primary is a family doctor.

The only good thing about my previous endo was that she was tech savvy and uploaded my meter readings. Current primary doesn’t even do that–she doesn’t want to see my numbers or my meter, just bring a sheet for her to see if I want her to see them or tell her.

I’m hoping you can change physician soon, @Kate25! When I read “She says as long as I’m under 200 consistently I’m fine.” I cringed. Keep doing what you’re doing to try to maintain healthy numbers! I’ll send some positive energy, good thoughts, and prayers your way!

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Here’s the thing, people to this day are still misdiagnosed, LADA is very slow acting. 8 years even. And it does run in families. But 2013 is a long time without insulin. And I don’t think you could have blood sugars of 94 ever, even if you were on meds , by now if you had it. But I’m not a doctor so who knows and there are other kinds of diabetes.

I believe anemia can make blood sugars worse. If you have been on or are on steroids they will make your BG’s worse and very hard to control, they have even been accused of causing some peoples diabetes. Plus various other meds can cause BG issues.

But there is a huge difference in doctors and endos, a lot has been written about it in this forum. I switched to an internist who sent me to the new endo who finally properly diagnosed me. The right doctor is a blessing.

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Thanks Marie. I’m trying hard. I truly understand what my mom went through. I felt for her, but now I’m walking in her shoes. My aunt (mom’s sister) the one who reversed her type 2 to pre-diabetes can eat anything within moderation like her mother, my grandmother.

I’m like my mom and grandfather—I have to stay away from starches, eat protein and low starchy veggies like spinach and greens. I’m on a keto diet as my mom was and still my BGs are creeping. My rheumy told me not to feel bad…meds, inflammation, and my immune system is over active.

When my mom passed in the hospital she labeled a ‘brittle diabetic’—her sugars were all over the place…a roller coaster…ultra sensitive—high and then bottom out.

I need a doctor who can understand my BGs because I live alone. A couple of my grandfather’s relatives died of hypoglycemia comas which is what happened to my mom while she was in the hospital, she bottomed out and never recovered.

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Thanks Tapestry. I’m going to look for an internist as my primary. This last appointment with my primary, she and I just didn’t click. She didn’t seemed concerned about my BG average on my labs and even my rheumy was concerned about my labs. My rheumy is good at giving me advice on other doctors—podiatrists, hematologists, etc.

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With your family history and other autoimmune conditions, it’s surprising your doctor hasn’t tested you for antibodies. Keep in mind though, you don’t need to test positive for antibodies to be a Type 1.

You really want to preserve any remaining beta cells and exogenous insulin may be the help you need - to keep your remaining beta cells intact and to keep your BGs in normal range. It sounds like you have a great relationship with your rheumatologist. Perhaps they would order the antibody panel for you?

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You and I were thinking along the same lines. I asked a couple of years ago, and unfortunately they said they couldn’t because it wasn’t his specialty. He did recommend an endo friend, but at the time, I couldn’t an appointment because he was booked well in advance.

The doctors I have been seeing do work under the assumption there are only two types of diabetics–traditional Type 1 and Type 2.

The last endo I was seeing she wanted me to have stomach surgery to “cure” my Type 2—both my rheumy and cardiologist freaked out. She left the practice and wanted me to follow her—uh nope. She was also the one who gave me the Januvia and Trulicity that made me sick.

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Don’t forget with your family history, they should also do the genetic test for MODY as that is neither Type 1 nor Type 2

No, they ran no testing on me at all.

When my mom was originally diagnosed her doctor did a lot of testing on her because she was originally given pills that made her sick, and he called her back in and immediately started her on insulin. She cried, but he gently explained to her that insulin mimicked her body’s natural hormones.

All of her endos or internists always kept her on insulin. Unfortunately years later, she had an endo (he was a quack, using her as a guinea pig for research) who talked her into trying to “reverse” her diabetes and getting off insulin. She got sick and ended up in ICU with DKA and one of the ICU nurses told me to always go with her to her doctor’s appointments and to always have her take her insulin. I think that nurse reported him, because shortly after that he left the area. I looked him up and had been sanctioned by the state.

After that episode she had problems controlling her blood sugar levels. She was always very cautious of her blood sugar levels. My grandfather (her dad) had to set the alarm in the middle of the night to checked his levels and the ketones strips to check his urine. My grandmother had him on a very strict food regime—this was the 70s—carbs would make his BGs go up, same with mom, and me.

My grandmother didn’t have these worries, she just ate in moderation. Same with the rest of the family.

So like a hamburger—I have to order it without any bun or wrapped in lettuce; shell free taco salad; and sometimes, the combination of vegetables that people take for granted will raise my BGs such as carrots, beans, peas, etc.

Like my mom, I have to stick to broccoli, greens, cabbage, and spinach mostly. She could eat green beans, I can’t cause I’m allergic.

When I went to diabetic education class, I explained it to the educator, who said it wasn’t true, that I could eat starches. Go figure…I think I know my body and my meter isn’t lying when I test.

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There is one thing that I never got a chance to ask my mom or grandfather about—my great aunt…my grandfather’s half sister who also had diabetes. She was very close to my mom. My mom said that my great aunt would go see her doctor every so often (ex: every 6 months) and spend the entire day at the office, apparently he would be checking her diabetes. But my mom never knew what kind of tests he was running or why she would need to spend the entire day there. She’d get to his office as the first patient, fasting and not leave. This was in the '80s.

She and her husband never had children because they were told the children would have genetic complications.

@Kate25 The test for diabetes used to last hours. They would give you some kind of glucose drink then measure your sugars after a certain time. I think they commonly gave 3 plus drinks over 6 hours time? Plus meters were relatively new in the 80’s and I doubt a doctors office would have used it to run tests. So the blood probably had to go to a lab and wait for results. So I bet it was an all day event. I think I’ve heard they still do a simpler version of the test sometimes.

I bet someone went through it on this site if they see the thread. Maybe they’ll let you know.

Kate and @Marie20

I think they commonly gave 3 plus drinks over 6 hours time? Plus meters were relatively new in the 80’s and I doubt a doctors office would have used it to run tests.

In the dark-days they used to run a series of blood glucose tests prior to and then every 60 minutes after having us drink sugar sweetened Kool-Aid.

It seemed hokey at the time. I’m sure the results were eye-opening

As far as meters go, I got my first Accu-Chek (a big blue brick with a bright orange and yellow button) around 82-83. The doctor’s office didn’t have one as they said “they just don’t provide the accuracy of the lab” :thinking:

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Yes, that’s around the time that I remember her going, of course I was just a little girl.

Thank goodness times have changed Jim. Now I understand the inside joke between my mom and grandparents when they would say “pack a lunch” we’re going to the doctor for my grandfather’s check up. Geesh!

My mom was diagnosed when the Accu-Chek meter came out. It was my responsibility to calibrate it for her. :smile:

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Gastroparesis from damaged vagus nerve perhaps?

My mom had that before she passed away, but I don’t think I have it. She was diagnosed while in hospital.