I was just recently diagnosed with diabetes. Unfortunately, I have found no chat rooms for diabetics. This sugar thing can be annoying. I tested myself before breakfast this morning and had a level of 175. Two hours later I tested my blood again and it was at 343. Is that normal ? I ate two scrambled eggs, Two veggie sausage patties, a banana, and a piece of melon. I took my glucophage pills with breakfast, and thought I was being good.

If anyone can help tell me if this is normal I would love to know

Zimmoney...

Neither of those blood sugar readings are normal. It is normal for your blood sugar readings to go up after a meal, but not by that much. Normal blood sugar readings are between 80 and 110. I noticed that you are undecided as to a low carb plan. Have you tried the link "Which low carb plan is right for me?". It gives basics on all the main low carb plans out there so you can compare them. There is also a low carb plan specifically for diabetics, Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. I've been following his plan for a year with great results. Given your blood sugar readings before and after breakfast, I'd say fruit is something that your body cannot handle at this point and you'd be better off sticking with meat, eggs, fish, chicken, cheese and low carb veggies. Bananas are very high in carbs and veggie sausage patties also contain carbs and sugar, so I'd watch out for those too. Before you go any further, I'd really like to encourage you to pick a plan to follow then go out and buy the book and read it carefully. Also work closely with your doctor on this as your medications will likely need to be adjusted as you go. Good luck and let us know how you are doing!

The diet the doctors recomend for "diabetes control" is absurd. I was diagnosed 7 years ago with a fasting bg of over 200. The doctor gave me the traditional low fat, high carb diet sheet with 1500 calories and told me to try it for 3 months along with exercise and see if I could get my blood sugars under control.

After checking my bg levels for almost 2 weeks I realized that the diet was a bunch of nonsense and went looking on the internet for a better solution. I bought Atkins, Protein Power, and CAD, tried them all. I liked CAD the best (of course!!!), but my bgs said no way, so I did a combination of Protein Power and Atkins for 4 months. My results were remarkable. I hadn't told my doctor until after the blood tests were back. When I fessed up, she said that nobody needs any carbs at all. Your body can make fat, carbs and protein from protein.
These are the results:
Cholesterol went down to 138 from 213 (can't find the paper with the breakdown of the ratios, but my LDL went way down and my HDL went up)
Triglycerides went down to 54 from 230.
My fasting glucose went down to 91 from 200.
Unfortunately for me that time around, I had constant, intense carb cravings. I went into denial for 7 years, stopped seeing the doctor, and ate all of everything I wanted with the consequences of thinning hair, reduced feeling in my legs and feet, constant yeast infections, skin sores, numbness in my toes, large mood swings, really dry skin, cracks in my feet.

This time around, I am on Glucophage and taking the correct supplements (per Protein Power LifePlan) and so far, so good. I've been lowcarb faithfully (okay, one slip exactly 1 week ago tonight ) since the latter part of April.
I'm losing weight and feel great most of the time. And I've taken myself off the meds the doctor prescribed for a suspected ulcer. After reading Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution, I think now that the pain I was having was more closely related to vagus nerve damage, not an ulcer.

Just my 2 cents.

You might want to read "The Schwarzbein Principle" - it's a great book and the doctor discusses her own experiences in treating her diabetic patients. I found the book easy to read & understand.

A Low Carb WOL would be great for controlling your blood sugar & for weight loss. You will find as you lose weight, your blood sugar will also be easier to control.

eatright

I have hypoglycemia. It's the pre-diabetis state, at least they figure it is for me after all the dozens of tests they have run...and are still running. This plan has helped me out a great deal. The doctors will tell you that this and diabetis are treated the same was...we want to level out the insuline flow.
I was to the point of passing out because my sugar levels would drop so low due to insuline spikes...this woe has helped me out tremendously...I just need to stick with it true and true.

I hope everything works out for you.

Cin

It took me about 2 weeks to get my blood sugars stabilized after being diagnosed type II. I started out with the usual high carb low fat diet that is prescribed and could not get my blood sugar readings below 120mg/dl.

My doctor put me on glucovance 2.5/500 once in the morning and my glucose readings started coming down below 120 but by 10:30am every morning my BG would drop to the low 50's.

By this time My doctor put me on 30mg of actos. I had also just finished reading Dr. Bernstiens book and started trying LC. I read DANDR and decided that Lc was the way to go for me.

After 2 days of LC my BG was down to between 95 and 105 before each meal. The highest my Bg goes up after a meal is rarely over 130. Within 1 to 2 hours after a meal my bg is back to normal.

My doctor just cut my glucophage dosage in half and said if my numbers stay good over the next month that I can stop taking the glucophage altogether.

LC will control you BG levels. Just pick a plan that works for you and go for it.

Isn't it great that LC made it so much easier for you to control that blood sugar!! I bet it will not be long before you are completely off your medications. Keep up the good work!

Eatright

I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes in January 2002 and my doctor sent me home with a diet sheet and told me to follow it for three months to see how I got on. It was the usual BDA diet (British Diabetes Association - probably exactly the same as the ADA). Of course I was getting nowhere fast. Luckily I came across Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution fairly quickly. I had realised from my blood glucose readings that the BDA diet was going to slowly kill me so, against all regular advice, I switched to the Dr. Bernstein diet and I am SO glad I did!

It has taken six weeks but my blood glucose levels are now normal and that is with no medication just diet alone. When I went back to my doctor she was planning on starting me on glucophage but when she saw that I had lost nearly two stones in weight and saw my blood glucose readings she congratulated me on my success and decided that I was doing very well on my own. She then asked me what I was eating and I showed her my food diary (which I have since scrapped!) and she began to splutter, "but you can't have BUTTER or CREAM!". I pointed out that she had just finished congratulating me on my progress and she had to agree that I was doing exceptionally well but she just COULDN'T accept my WOE! Aren't some doctors strange?!

I have watched ten members of my family die from diabetes related complications (including my father) and I do not intend to follow in their footsteps. I just wish that I had known then what I know now but that was all well before Dr Bernstein came up with his book. I am in time to help my sister though and with the aid of the book she is also doing extremely well.

I am passing the word to everyone I know who has diabetes. I am determined to help as many people as possible to get the same success as myself!