new to measuring blood sugar

high..lol...i got high...250-380

I am not on any meds.  The doctor told me to follow a careful diet.  I had a high reading a few months ago at a physical and she is having me test my blood sugar.  I'm 57 - so that would be type II.  I've been reading so many articles and trying to figure out what the numbers mean.  Also, I'd like to know how drinking water and exercising affects the blood sugar.  Thanks.

Thanks, Claire, your answer is really helpful!  I've been skimming through this forum, trying to see how I could lower the morning reading (fasting ones).   I don't eat anything after dinner except tea with milk, so from around 9pm to 7am, I don't have anything, yet the reading is high according to the information I've gotten.  I am not eating potatoes, rice, breads or cake but I do eat the "diabetic friendly" cereal Eat Well, Be Well.  It's frustrating because I have really changed my diet to nearly no carbs.  I will eat a couple of those WASA crackers made with whole grains with turkey bacon and an egg about 3x a week for breakfast.  And I realize I need to start more exercise or walking routines.  I need to lose 20/25 lbs.  I'm trying to control this so I don't have to go on meds.  I see the doctor again in January - right after the holidays.  That's just great.  Scrooge has taken my Christmas.  :(

Thanks again,

Margie

Margie,
Sorry to have missed your first posts. My dad died and I've been away from the forum. From the numbers you are giving and the way it's going please don't be shocked if the doc starts you on some low doses of meds. Doesn't matter if you use exercise plus diet plus meds or even voodoo to keep those numbers down, but to save your sight, kidneys and limbs you want them level and medium low. Bless your doctor for being so vigilant and on top of things.

You most likely have the beginings of insulin resistant diabetes. This means that your body makes the insulin but your cells won't let the insulin along with it's buddy sugar molecule into the muscles. The cells tell you that they are hungry all the time while the excess blood sugar is floating around just waiting to get in. You can lower the amount of sugars in your blood somewhat by changing your diet but the key is to get those cells to let the sugars in. This is where exercise and medications are so wonderful. Exercise stimulates the cells to stop resisting the entrance of sugar/insulin molecules and there are great meds that also help with this process.

With diabetes the problems arise from the excess sugars in the blood. They make it thicker, like maple syrup is thick, and the large glucose molecules clog up the arterioles and capilaries and all the other tiny blood vessels, kind of gumming up the works. This clogging can cause the small blood vessels of the eye to rupture and scar right over where we receive our sight on the retina. The clogs can prevent oxygen and nutrition from reaching small nerves in our fingers and toes leading to nerve damage and loss of feeling as well as other circulatory problems that can lead to amputation. When the clogs happen in the little filter places in the kidneys we end up on dialysis. Tiny blood vessels in the brain get clogged and we have loss of oxygen to the brain... mini strokes can happen... All of this is the result of high sugar levels. This is why lowering those numbers is so all fired important.

Losing weight, following your food plan, increasing your intake of monounsaturated fats (nuts, avacado, olive oil), lowering your intake of saturated fats, exercising regularly, getting good rest and lowering stress levels will go far to keep your numbers good, your circulation healthy and your heart happy. Visiting here will help you get quick answers to your questions. Soon you will be helping other newbies and giving them the lift they need to thread their way thru this obstacle course we call diabetes. I'm happy to make you as a new friend. We can take care of ourselves and learn together.

First of all let me say that there is no shame in going on meds if you need to, ok? Let your doctor be the one to decide how and when. The only thing that can be a problem is if you spend a lot of time trying to get numbers in line with 'natural' cures like cinnamon or bitter melon when you could do it overnight with oral meds. Whenever you are at 150 or above two hours after a meal you are doing permanent damage to your eyes, kidneys and blood vessels. So however you need to get the numbers down, do whatever it takes.

To answer your other questions, yes, you can level out and bring your numbers down with weight loss and exercise as well as diet but diabetes is sneaky. One of our members, Warren, was a regular guy without a speck of fat on him... exercised regularly and took good care of himself. He had no history of diabetes or any major health problems. He was blindsided by Type2 diabetes and very quickly progressed from oral meds to insulin. So before you get concerned about the taking of meds or not, you need to know you are a T2 diabetic for life. We can all be controlled diabetics with exercise, food plans, and oral meds or insulin. Or we can be an uncontrolled diabetics and eat whatever we want, drink alcohol, not exercise, smoke and generally ignore all common sense. The overall length of our lives will be about the same, give or take ten years or so... But the quality of life is where the difference is.

My father-in-law ignored his diagnosis for years and ignored his food plan. He was finally was put on insulin. He shortly thereafter went blind, got neuropathy in his feet and had two heart surgeries. He was miserable and suffered a heart attack and died. If nothing else he did me the service of showing me what not to do.

As far as testing goes the best times to test are very first thing in the morning before any food or coffee, before lunch or before dinner and before bed. Probably the wisest thing you can do for yourself at this time is to start a little notebook with a journal of foods eaten, amounts, sugar readings two hours afterward and how much exercise you got. By doing this early on I learned that white rice, corn meal, pasta and potatoes are pretty much the same for me as eating candy. My body reacts to them by spiking my sugars very quickly. Brown rice, bulgar wheat with oil (tabouli) instead of pasta and small servings of potatoes are my way of dealing with this. I can eat corn on the cob but cornbread and corn flakes are out for me.

Everybody's metabolism is different and we each have different speeds of digestion as well. The secret to keeping sugars level and healthy is to eat lots of veggies, less starches, and very little refined grain products. Processed cereals, white rice and pasta have already broken down or removed the cell walls and hulls of the grain so the starch is exposed and readily absorbed in our intestines very quickly. Simple grains like old fashioned oatmeal, barley, brown rice and bulgar wheat berries are in a basic state, very un-processed. It takes a long time for our bodies to mechanically break down these forms of grain so the release of the carbs they contain takes much longer leading to a time release of sugar/carb into the blood stream. This helps prevent spikes. The addition of fats as well as protein with these foods slows down absorption as well and is better for us.

I've probably overwhelmed you with all this so I'll stop now. Just know that you are on the right track and you can do this. You have a good attitude and an excellent doctor who pays attention to your labs. Hang in there girlfriend and we will be here for you.