Disappointed...

[Tropical83]

Today is my boss' birthday and I knew she would buy us lunch and we'd have some cake for dessert. I added one more unit to my basal for the time that we'll be over eating. I have been low-carbing for about three weeks now (been loving every minute of it) but I would like to enjoy regular food on special events like birthdays and every time I try to eat something "carby" my sugar shoots straight up! For example, before lunch my sugar was 134, I ate a salad (Anything & Everything from Logan's Roadhouse 20g), 1 roll (20g), 1 piece of cake with frosting (30g) and I dosed for all that and my sugar was 300 after lunch. I don't know what I'm doing wrong? Can I never go back to eating regular food ever again just for one day?? It really concerns me because my wedding is coming up and I'd like to have a bite of my cake and enjoy the food that we're serving.

[Gordonm]

How long after lunch did you test? Is your I:C ratio correct. I find restaurant food is always a lot higher in carbs than what is listed. I almost always over bolus when eating at a restaurant. Also most restaurant foods contain a lot of sugars and fat which will make your BS go up later on. I try to eat out as little as possible but yes I can eat some cake or "normal" foods as you call it if I bolus correctly for it and have a normal BS.

[Tropical83]

I tested exactly 2 hours after I ate all that but I just don't understand, when I eat low-carb I do fine but as soon as I eat anything that isn't low-carb like a roll or a piece of cake and I bolus right it shoots straight up and I'm screwed for the rest of the day!

My I:C is 1:15 and I was doing fine with that when I was eating reguarly and I thought I was doing fine now that I'm low carbing but it just feels like I can't eat carbs anymore. I checked my sugar at 2:34 and it was 300mg and I re-checked it again at 3:45 and it is 314!!!! :confused: UGH.

[Mich]

Hi T83,

One of the topics discussed on this board previously is that many of us have observed an exponential requirement for insulin the higher your blood glucose. That is, if you are at 200, it may take you (example) 2 units to get back down to 100. If you are 300, it may take you 5 units to get back to 100, and so on. This is just one of those things it takes a while to develop a sense for.

For me, the secret to keeping things manageable is to just have one bite...or two if it's really really good. Somehow I'm OK with that.

A WEDDING? Congratulations! :flowers: For heaven's sake have some of your cake and sip Champagne and have a wonderful day. You'll probably dance and shake enough hands to work it all off anyway. We all deserve to "not be a diabetic" for a while every now and then. Make your maid of honor carry your test kit :)

Mich

[notme]

Your blood sugar was a bit high when you started your lunch and they probably will account for some of your high numbers. I will bet you that the cake you ate was more than 30grams of carbs. Cake and frosting KILLS my blood sugar and it rebounds on me. I know this because I bake for my granddaughters and it is hard to walk away from it. Frosting generally has a lot of saturated fats unless it is made from scratch (and they rarely are anymore) and this will really wreak havoc on blood sugar. Then another 20 carbs in a roll and whooo hoooo your blood sugar is off the charts.

Next time try this. Eat your salad and forget the roll. Put a couple of croutons on top and call it good. Give up the roll and eat the cake or have a much much smaller piece of cake if you really want the roll. You will learn the foods that will drive your blood sugar out of the ballpark. For me, cake is one of them.

At your wedding?? Have fun. Forget diabetes as much as you can for the day. Take your insulin and guess as best you can and correct later. That is one day you should not have to be diabetic. Congratulations!!!!

[Tropical83]

AW, thanks guys. I knew I was doing bad by eating the 1 roll and the 1 piece of cake but I kind of wanted to do a "trial test" on how to have a 'normal day with carbs' because I am 17 days from my wedding day. I like eating low-carb, it's far healthier than any way I've ever tried to eat and my good bloodsugars are my 'treat' at the end of the day. But I guess it just depends on how I react to different things.

Mich: You're right, I did have a total of 5 units to cover that 300, it was a pain and I thought I was losing it for a little while. I'm finally back down to 200 and it's almost 6. My pump gave me 1.2u. So, hopefully I'll be able to eat a little bit of celery and carrots with tuna by 7? *cross your fingers*. Thank goodness my Maid Of Honor is my sister and she'll spot the highs and lows before I do, she's pretty good at it...whew!

notme: Thanks for the extra advice, the cake did have frosting on it but I used to be able to eat all that and I'd dose correctly but now if I even think about eating sweets I feel like my sugar will rocket. I'd really rather not eat the cake or roll and feel good for the rest of the day. I will keep in mind that one bite of the my cake will be enough, it's just white vanilla anway.

Thank you everyone!!!! :)

[jimmychi15]

I feel sorry to tell you that your blood sugar control so bad. You have 16 years of D history, you should be an expert now. Why your A1C above 7? some countries, if your A1C above 7, then the D doctor will recall you back to stay in hospital for some period to re-tune the dose.
It is very difficult to estimate the sugar contain in the cake, different chef use different recipe.
For my case, I first eat things without extra dose, then after 2 hours, test, another hour, test, and test.... then, I got roughly idea on ice cream, cheese cake, normal cake, etc. I knew roughly how much extra dose is required. I dose then eat, surely after 2 hours, I have to fine adjust my BG (blood sugar), sometimes too low, sometimes a bit high, but I always make it not too far away.
I found when BG higher than 300 (16), it won't go straight up, it will delay for a while, then go up. so, you measured 300 maybe not really 300.
Anyway, I suggest if you does not know how much to dose, try 4 unit first, then test after 2 hour and have another dose.

[CarolinaJoe]

Tropical: I have had luck experimenting with serving size to understand bolus amounts. If there is an item that I really do not want to give up I will eat a small amount of it and take the approprate bolus guess. Small quantities make small errors. I can adjust the serving and bolus up once I understand whet is going on. I love that salad. I always have trouble with the rolls. I gave them up. They are pretty close to eating the sugar bowl!