Newbie mistakes

Type 2
#1

Hello Everyone

I’m so glad I found this web site; it has been very helpful and educational. Thank you.

I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes last month with an A1C of 10.9. Dr. started me with one Metformin ER 500. The next week he upped to two Metformin 500, my numbers were still high so after 10 days he added one Amaryl 2mg twice daily. Right after being diagnosed I started a diet of 1,200 calories and a daily brisk walk. My numbers did go steadily down with 104 being the lowest, and then life happened.

Hubby and I went on a trip to visit family. 1st mistake… I forgot my meds, so I didn’t take them for 4 days till I found a Walgreens. 2nd mistake… I do not know how to deal with family gatherings and all the bad food served, so I ate like a regular person. Still I checked my BG and it never went over 119 fasting. I have been taking my meds regularly for 4 days and this morning when I checked my BG was 170 fasting. Have I messed up the meds accumulation in my body? I do keep a diary of my entire food intake, and I did have a ½ tsp of honey with my green tea yesterday. Would this explain the high numbers?

#2

First off, why would you put honey in green tea?

You may have gone off your meds for awhile, but maintaining 119 fasting in the meantime is pretty good. You cannot attribute a single reading of 170 fasting to events that occurred over four days. And honey in green tea (yech) the day before is unlikely to explain a number the next morning unless you had it just before you went to bed. Your med “accumulation” will even out soon enough.

My first suspicion is dawn phenomenon, which is very common, and refers to a spike in blood sugar occuring on waking. Very difficult to control in Type 2 diabetes. Just moderate your diet and remember your meds. Others here may have more specific or better advice on dawn phenomenon in Type 2 diabetes.

Terry
(Honey in green tea? Really?)

#3

Welcome to the community Liz!

First of all, I drink honey in my green tea too. So you’re not alone. 1/2 tsp of honey should not be enough to raise your blood sugar dramatically. More than that would though.

It is likely dawn phenomenon, as Terry mentioned. Look this us and you will learn more. Many people experience insulin resistant in the early morning hours and have higher blood sugars then.

I would not make conclusions about a couple days, but keep measuring and see the patterns.

#4

The discussion has been relabeled to Type 2 Forum.

#5

Yeah, I sure am in the T1 section, thanks Dave… Just learning all at once is very difficult. Not really (just a little airy up on top) hehe

Terry, thanks for the input. Never heard of “dawn phenomenon” but will look it up. Hahaha honey on green tea doesn’t sound appetizing huh? But the only way I can take my green tea. Before I would load it up with sugar, I don’t know if I am doing any better, but still learning.

#6

Welcome Liz to this great community called TuDiabetes.

#7

Hi Liz! You’re probably well on your way to adeptly managing your diabetes by now, but i’m new to the site & just saw your post. I don’t know your age, but found that my numbers always went up significantly a day or so before my period. My endo said this was quite common for female diabetics. I also found that even something as innocuous as eating low-fat yogurt late at night will profoundly raise my am BG. Perhaps you’re experiencing a number of factors working in concert to raise your #'s?

#8

Diabetes is a very individual disease. You and I have about the same meds, and are working at getting the numbers down in the same manner, but because of life and our bodies, we won’t be able to compare oranges and oranges. We can only surmise after watching the numbers how things are working. I am imagining that going without meds for four days, and then getting back on the wagon was a surprise to your system. Consistency is the key to success at this. I played around with when to take my metformin (the third dose) for awhile, and found that although taking it with a meal is recommended, I did better if I took it after my largest meal of the day…whatever that was. This may not work for you. So all that said, get back to a routine, exercise, good journaling ( I am so proud of you for doing that!!! it’s a key ingredient in this mess) and eating well, taking your meds on schedule, and testing accurately. You’ll get back on track, it’s a trial and error method of what works for your body…so be gentle with yourself, and don’t beat yourself up over this, move ahead and learn much. Stick with this bunch, they are experts in what we all need to be doing.

#9

Thanks for the nice welcome and input everyone. Kristin, Mike, Laura, Cathy Thanks for the encouragement.
I am totally back on track and read this site as much as I can. I have decided that I will not be a diabetic. From what I’ve read so far, we have a lot of control with this decease. I mean, I guess I will always be a diabetic, but it will be under my control and not the other way around. I am now reading Dr. Berstein’s revised book and learning soo much.

My morning readings are anywhere from 91 to 113. I still have not figure out why the lows and why the highs. My goal is to have these numbers without the meds, but I do not know how to achieve that yet–or if it’s even safe to do that. Cathy I have not experimented with my meds yet but will try that. This is such a cool site that one can learn from others, just wish I had more time to spend here. My sugar and bread cravings are almost gone…yeah!! (Boy that was difficult)

#10

Hi Liz,

I love honey on tea, all teas, with the years weIl have learned to take all our hot drinks without any sweeteners at all, and only get honey when I am sick. But I like the taste of tea with honey :wink: