Question for Diabetics

The reading today when I awakened was 149, should be below 130. Two hours after a bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal with cinammon and blueberries and a cup of unsweetened coffee it jumped to 239, when it should have been below 180. Why is this happening?

• Your pancreas is away on Spring Break.

  Metformin

• Are you type 1 or type II?

• OP here. Type II. Metformin and Januvia.

• There are a whole host of reasons for erratic blood sugar levels in a type II diabetic. On way to help with your diet is to always consume a protein. Adding some yogurt to that bowl of carbs might have slowed the sugar absorption. I am not saying they were bad carbs or the wrong type of food only that you may have had a few more beta cells die off and you need the protein and possibly additional fiber to slow your digestion. If that fails over the course of several days see your doctor about adjusting your medication. In addition everything from sleeping patterns to stress have some impact.

• Before getting worried, I would wait to see if this is a pattern. If your readings remain high despite a 12 hour fast between dinner and breakfast (no snacking), see your endocrinologist.

• Holy crap. Why are you eating carbs like oatmeal if you're Type 2 diabetic? That's not far off eating sugar.

• In addition if you used milk, you poured liquid sugar on top of the solid sugar (oatmeal) . . . . plus of course you were already too high in blood sugar on wake-up . . .

  Steve%20K.

• OP here. Thanks for your help.

• Not true R6, it is a slow absorbing carb and loaded with fiber. Everyone needs some carbohydrate, even diabetics. Oatmeal with berries and no protein may be the issue, not the oatmeal by itself.

• OP, are you a healthy weight? Also, r6 has a really good point about carbs. I personally am vegetarian, but there are some interesting books about high protein/low carb diets for diabetics that seem to really control diabeties better than what the ADA recommends.

• Coming to DL for medical advice is like asking a banker for charity. Go to a site such as American Diabetic Association for answers and advice about diabetes. The queens here will just shriek that you are fat and have to lose weight, that you eat nothing but sugar, and with all due respect they have problems of their own.

• I eat my last food for the day before 7pm. At night, around 11pm after eating my 3 meals and some days a snack my sugar reading is usually between 85 and 95. Yet when I wake in the morning, after at least 12 hours of no food, just a few sips of water during the night my sugar reading is high, between 140 and 160. I don't know why this would be, lower after eating all day, higher after a fast.

• Dawn phenomenon.

  http://forecast.diabetes.org/magazine/ask-experts/why-my-blood-glucose-so-high-morning

• Could be dawn phenomenon, r12:

  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dawn-effect/AN01213

• Or, perhaps it is Dawn Phenomenom

  http://diabetes.webmd.com/morning-high-blood-sugar-levels

• You should add a source of pure protein when you eat any meal. You should include a piece of bacon or sausage patty at breakfast. Oatmeal and fruit are fine, but the carbs in them will raise your blood sugar. The protein source should help minimize a spike.

• Type 2 here. You need to add more protein and to watch your portion size. Oatmeal is one of the best carbs to eat for a diabetic but if you have a huge bowl with fruit that would spike anyway. I eat oatmeal most days myself but I always add in a tablespoon of peanut butter and a few chopped almonds, and my sugar never goes high. Sometimes what you ate previously can affect your sugars later on. Finally, if you exercised after you ate that will temporarily raise blood sugar, although it will help lower it for up to 24 hours afterwards so it is worth it.

  anonymous

• R12, that used to happen to me and I wondered the same thing. The problem is the long fast. Your liver responds by pumping more sugars into your bloodstream. If you eat a late night snack like your diabetic teaching nurse has instructed you to, your a.m. blood sugar will look better. A little yogurt or cottage cheese or cheese and crackers-- or some other small snack that contains protein will help your problem greatly. Diabetics do better grazing-- eating three small meals and three small between-meal snacks a day to keep blood sugars on an even keel.

  Anomynous%20

• We have a bunk ready for you.

  Marta, taskmistress of the Fema fat farm in Lancaster Ca

• Thank you very much R13, 14, 15 and 18. I never heard of the the dawn phenomenon or the other one. I have to see my endo next week. I'm going to do those 2-3 am tests so I can report what I find to her. I have to admit R18, I hate to eat at night. I have very severe insomnia and I take Ambien or Ativan at night. I find it doesn't work well if I have food in my stomach. I also like to do my flossing, Water Pik and brushing early on and try to get my body relaxed as possible before bed. In addition I take my BP meds and diuretic before bed (so I don't have to pee every 10 minutes during the day) and I find those too work better if I haven't eaten for a few hours but the AM high sugar makes me nervous. If the doc says I really have to have some kind of snack before bed I'll have to try that. Coming from a family of diabetics I know that of all the things wrong with me high sugar can do the most damage.

  R12

• I was a type II at age 50 & I turned into a TypeI by age 55. I did everything right but ended up on an insulin pump. My aic now is "7" and my blood sugar is much easier to control using insulin & exercising than it was when I was on oral meds. Go see a good endo!

• The answer is in your own post. STOP eating sugar and food that quickly converts to sugar. You ate oatmeal which gets broken down into glucose, fruit and coffee. All of these cause an insulin response.

• FYI, milk is broken down into lactose which is a SUGAR.

• R9, your assertion that 'everyone needs carbs' is not supported by any scientific evidence. There are essential amino acids (derived from protein), essential fatty acids (derived from fat, but there is NO such thing as 'essential sugars'.

• Read Mark Sisson's book Primal Blueprint and Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes.

• 239 is not a particularly high number for two hours after you eat. As everyone pointed out, blueberries, oatmeal, and milk is not a low gluten meal.

• Dawn Phenomenon here. Any questions?

  Dawn

• Dawn Phenomenon, are you related to Dawn French?

• Dawn Phenomenon, are you related to Dawn Davenport?

• R24 you go right ahead and never eat any more fruits or vegetables in your entire life and see how you do.

• Thank you r13 you have given me my drag name.