I am a newbie to this forum and a newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetic. I'm trying to follow the Atkins plan to lose the weight my doctor says I have to lose. Yesterday, my blood glucose reading was 70 two hours after lunch, so I ate a few nuts. I tested again 30 minutes later, and my sugar had dropped to 62. I ate some crackers to try to get me over the drop. What is the best thing to eat for this type of situation that doesn't just wreck this woe?

I was diagnosed Type II a little over a month ago. I'm not an expert, but I figured I'd give you my take on things.

I was in my second week of induction (still on induction) and my doc started me on glucophage (metformin). My sugar crashed constantly. I was hovering around 50-60 if I was lucky and I felt awful. He quickly took me off the glucophage and my sugar came up a little, around 75. I talked with him some more and found that I was not eating enough. I increased my intake and my levels have steadily been around 90-100 daily.

Did your doc recommend you start LCing? Does he know? If you are on meds, they may be working in addition to LCing, causing the dips in your reading. What level of Atkins are you on? If you're in induction, I know that nuts are a no-no and crackers are a big no-no. Try increasing your veggie intake. I upped my spinach and romaine lettuce and it helped drastically.

Again, I'm not an expert, just trying to help!

Nikki

Hi Mfuson and welcome to the forum!

I have to agree with Tiggerdy. If you are taking medications to lower your blood sugar, you should contact your doctor to see about having the dosage lowered or even if you can stop taking the medication completely. You could also try raising your carb levels to 25 or 30 grams a day until your body adjusts. Your body may also be in the process of adapting to such a low level of carbs. If you continue to have problems with going hypo, though, definitely see your doctor.
Low carbing generally doesn't cause problems with hypoglycemia. Assuming you are eating enough, it usually stabilizes your blood sugars quite well.
Are you spreading your carb allowance through the day and not eating them all at one time?

Thanks for the reply.

I had begun Atkins prior to my diagnosis by the doctor as I was pretty sure I had gone into diabetes. I told him I was following Atkins and he said, "Good". I've been doing this woe for about a month now and this is the first time I know of that my glucose has dipped this low.

I am taking 1000 mg metformin twice a day as well as 1 mg of Amaryl once a day. After my appointment on the 30th, I will be starting 80 mg. of Pravachol.

My doctor did tell me that if my BG dropped below 70 that I needed to eat something that would quickly bring it back up. He suggested hard candy, but I really hate to eat something sweet after I finally lost my craving for sweets.

Good job on staying away from the sweets. I had to carry hard candies with me while on metformin b/c it was a quick fix to crashing. I didn't like eating them (6 carbs each!), so I asked the doc about eliminating the metformin completely. He agreed since I was only on 500 mg/day. I had to call in with daily am/pm levels so that he could determine whether or not I needed to return to the metformin or something else. Again, since LCing w/out metformin, I've been around 90-100.

Talk to your doc at your next appt. He may just be willing to lower your dosage or help you to adjust your eating plan. I see my doc every 6 wks. right now so that he can closely monitor my progress w/LCing and my blood sugar.

Good luck!
Nikki

You've been doing this WOE for a month now- maybe your blood sugar levels have naturally leveled out and the medicine is causing the dips. Just a thought!

Nikki

What a terrific doctor that had you call him twice a day to make sure you were doing ok - and seeing you every six weeks too! Not to mention he's supportive of your LCing!

Wish everyone had a doctor like yours !

Great advice Nikkie and Lisa, as always



Denyse

I think the best part of this woe is the support that I receive from my doc, family & friends. I was scared about being diagnosed Type II Diabetic and wasn't sure if this wol was for me, but my doc reassured me that it would all come together. Boy was he right! What's really great is that he followed Atkins for a while to see what it's all about before he'd even recommend it to patients and so that he'd also have insight into questions that people following it might have. I'm sure there's more like him out there...

Best wishes to you all!


Nikki

I'm sure that, due to your new WOE, your insulin resistance has decreased, thus you require less medication--as others have suggested. If your doctor is familiar enough with low-carb to be an advocate ( for him! ), then I am sure he will be not surprised by this great result.
Congratulations! It sounds like you are on the road to getting off of medication altogether!

Btw, for when you do (hopefully less and less often) get low BG readings, a glass of milk works well--raises BG but not too much and doesn't give sweet cravings. It also never hurts to get the extra calcium!

I appreciate all the info.

I go back to the doctor a week from today and may ask him to take me off the Amaryl. I learned from someone else who takes this drug that it is notorious for sudden BG dips.

Everyone else I know with Type 2 takes only 500 mg of metformin twice a day. I can't help wonder why I'm having to take such a big dose. Hopefully, he can cut it back also.

Mfusion'
Why are you taking Pravachol? What are your cholesteral readings? Maybe you can nix that additional medication if your numbers are coming down. My cholesteral readings came down very slowly, then I got a 33 point drop in 4 months, so I was able to stave off my doc who kept insisting I take a cholesteral lowering drug. Have you read the side effects of those things??!!

When my doctor first diagnosed me on Otober 2, he said every diabetic should be taking a statin drug, but that he wanted to wait about a month for me to start Pravachol. He said he wanted my BG levels to stabilize a little before starting a new drug.

My bloodwork was done on 10-4 and were as follows:

Cholesterol 226
Triglycerides 94
HDL 45
LDL 174
LDL/HDL Ratio 3.87

Fasting BG 151


I'm assuming he's putting me on Pravachol to try to lower the LDL. I think my triglycerides are ok and my HDL too low. My next appointment is the 30th so I can find out for sure then.

My last readings had my total cholesterol at 186, my triglycerides were over 400, and my fasting BG was 200. My doc did prescribe metformin (as I mentioned before), but he didn't want to put me on any additional medicines. He wanted to give the LC WOE some time to work on my cholesterol/triglycerides before we tried to medicate anything. As for your readings, a cholesterol reading of 226 isn't far above normal, so this WOE should help to bring that down naturally.

I was only on the metformin briefly before this WOE stabilized my BG. We're doing blood work every 6-12 weeks to monitor my progress in both cholesterol/BG readings. I guess it all comes down to the doc's preferences and routine. I used to go to an M.D. (allopathic physician), but my current doc is an D.O (osteopathic physician) and it has made a world of a difference for me. (For anyone who isn't sure what a D.O. is or wants more info, you can read more here: http://www.aoa-net.org/Consumers/omed.htm. This isn't an ad and I am in no way discrediting anyone's choice of physician, just providing info and another perspective.)

Again, these are just my thoughts and observations and should in no way override your doc's instructions. Heck, if anything, you'll be armed with lots of info from this wonderful board for your next appointment!

Enjoy your day!
Nikki

Mfuson...

Diabetic or not, I'd do some serious research on statin drugs before I agreed to take them if I were you. You might also want to ask your doctor about less toxic more natural methods of lowering your LDL and total cholesterol like Niacin, garlic oil, Fish Oil, Flax oil or Red Yeast Rice and see if he's willing to let you try those before going on the Pravochol. Instead of trying to find ways to raise your blood sugar for the next week until you can see your doc, why not call him and ask if you can drop one of those meds or at least lower the dosage? It seems silly to eat more carbs to counteract the effects of a drug that it seems your body no longer needs and is telling you that by your hypoglycemic episodes. I don't think it's that you're not eating enough carbs, it's more likely that you are taking more medication than you currently need.