Hi Lachlan
I can understand that this is quite distressing for you. I’d be pretty upset with a reading like that too.
How long are you fasting for overnight, and what are your blood sugar levels doing during the day? It might be an idea to continue to skip the fasting tests but test two hours after a meal. Choose a different meal time each day to test after. This will give you a better idea of how your body is dealing with the food you are eating.
I think if these levels are reasonable, then continue to believe in the theory you posted above and just wait out this period of change. If they are also outrageous then you would need further advice from your GP. Just a random thought, as I have no clue about your age, but given that you are newly diagnosed could it be possible that you are a later onset type one and not type two? No need to disclose personal info, but if all your blood sugar levels are raised despite sticking to low carb. and you are in the 30-50 age group it might be worth checking.
Do the random tests over the next few days and see how you go, it might help you get to the bottom of this.

Hi guys
Happy to say that my readings seem to be stabilising now.
Last few days fasting has been 6.9 to 7.1, pre meal 4.6 to 5.2 and around 6 an hour after food.
Just got my HbA1c results back from the blood test taken 4 weeks into the diet.
HbA1c 46mmol/mom down from 51
Cholesterol 4.3 down from 4.9
Weight 95kg down from 105
Kidneys 0.6gmol down from 1.7
eGFR up from 78.2 to 83.1 (higher is better)
So all in all a pretty pleasing set of results and all the motivation I need going forward.

That’s brilliant news Bill. 🙂

Great news Bill. 😃

Thats fab news Bill, lovely to get results like that.

Well done Bill 🙂

I’ve been working from Lachlan’s theory above, and skipped the morning fasting blood sugar test. Just because it was causing me worry.
I dropped the late evening snack, rather than trying to prevent the dawn phenomenon I thought I’d go with it.
This morning’s fasting blood sugar 4.6!!
Will keep you posted over the next few days as I see what happens.

Wow, cherrieanne, re your fasting blood sugars – amazing! That will give hope to others x

Hi lachlanh – I’m having the same problem – I’m on week 8 and my fasting level this morning was the highest so far (since starting the plan) @ 10.1, and worse than that, when I measured before dinner, normally my lowest point – it was still 9.9.

There’s definitely nothing in what I’ve eaten today that could have caused it – greek yogurt, nuts, chia seeds and pomegranate seeds for breakfast, then cottage cheese salad for lunch and a small plum. My fitbit shows around 8000 steps and I did a body balance class after work which included a relaxation/ meditation session.

My day at work was pretty stressful but I’m wondering if I may have cut my medication too quickly, after the first couple of weeks of really low blood sugar readings I stopped the gliclazide which increases the amount of insulin you produce. So I am thinking perhaps I need to take it for a few more weeks to see if that helps. Only problem is it gives me a raging appetite and I’m fairly sure was one of the main causes of my weight gain.

I’ll have a sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning.

Hi Squidgy,
One of the actions of insulin is to facilitate the storage of sugar. It lowers the blood sugar by storing it in the liver, which is effectively the reverse of what we are trying to do.
We are trying to deplete the stores so that our bodies have less insulin resistance, and can cope with the amount of carbohydrate we eat.
Is it possible you would go with the higher blood sugars for a bit longer and see what happens?
You may need to lower your carb intake even further temporarily until you see those levels coming down.
This is all new stuff to us, I’m willing to try it myself in an attempt to deal with the cause of the higher blood sugars ( which are the symptom not the disease) but can’t advocate for you to do the same. I will continue posting my experience in case it helps others.
In my case I had fasting levels below 5 within about two weeks of starting the BSD, then towards the end of week4 they started getting higher and higher. This morning after a 14 hour overnight fast they were back down to 4.6. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. I’ll let you know 🙂

Just thought I would let you know that my fast bloods have been 4.6 and 4.9 for the last two days. Had a late snack of yoghurt and berries. I am in week7 and weeks 5 and 6 were high ones . Up to 9.9 one day.

When I started this program me I thought that it would be over in 8 weeks. At about 4 weeks in I was worried about sliding back to old habits at the end of the 8 weeks. Now I know that is not an option and I must continue. We are learning as we go. The info coming from the group is so helpful. It’s good to know that what is happening to me is part of the process, not a failure. As Bill says – this has to work.

I definitely seem to be through the sugar level problems.
I posted my HbA1c results yesterday and today’s fasting reading was 6.6
This has taken 2 weeks to stabilise after the sudden rise so stick with it guys, it does seem to be a temporary thing.

Hi bill, good news again re your blood sugars – I feel such relief for you and the other type2s following this diet 🙂

Good to hear others experiences with the diet, so it’s good to hear that others have sticky patches, and overcome them. After 10 days I have a downturn in the morning figures again, so fingers crossed.
This HAS to work, or it’s drugs, and the, NHS predicted, downhill run to ill health.

God bless you all and well done Bill!

So good to know I’m not alone so thank you all for posting up your experiences with these blood sugar spikes.

Actually I did my level again last night and it had gone down to 9.0. Still high but at least it was heading south. I heard that diabetics that have more radical extremes in blood sugar levels are more likely to suffer long term problems so if your sugar levels are high but ‘stable’ that is very much a positive. With that in mind I’m going to take my blood pre-dinner tonight and hope that it has gone down but not too drastically. Fortunately my readings have been pretty consistent in that regard albeit just too high.

Amazing what a bit of feedback and shared experience can do for morale. Thank you all. We can do this!!

Hi All – Bill it’s great to see your improved results. It gives us hope! Are you on medication/ have you reduced it?

Today my fasting level was still high at 9.9, and I decided to test more often. 2 hours after my yogurt breakfast, my blood sugar was still high at 9.3.
Lunch was home made vegetable soup (all non starchy) and an apple. 2 hours later my blood sugar had fallen to 5.9 the lowest I’ve seen for ages. However I went to the gym to do a body max class and measured again before dinner and it’s back up to 8.5. So it seems as though my liver is dumping sugar through the day now too. I’mm hoping it’s a good sign, and once I’m at my target weight am thinking about asking for a liver/ pancreas scan to see if it is still fatty (probably will have to go private for that)

Cherrianne – I think I’m eating minimal carbs – only natural carbs in carrots, apples etc (and not many of them) – I think well below 50g normally. I’m slightly worried about letting my levels get too high as I’ve already got some signs of retinopathy.

Hi all,
Thanks Nettyrim for your post. It does seem that the rising levels show up around the 5-6 week mark.
Fasting blood sugar 4.9 for me this morning, again without the evening snack. Dare I dream that I’ve come through the other side of this?
Hang in there Lachlan, we’ll all keep on supporting each other through this 🙂

Hi cherrieanne, great news I hope your blood sugars are ‘steady away’ now! 🙂

Hi all
Checked my Pre-dinner levels tonight and has gone to 7.0 after that horrific rise to 11.5 yesterday morning. I have experienced high levels for two weeks now with yesterday being the worst result but, dare I hope, it looks like the levels are coming down again. So if you’re still getting those high levels hang in there because it seems they will come down. And I’ve even increased my calories per day because I’m getting so thin my wife is telling me I’m beginning to look like a carcass!

Thanks for the good wishes btw Cherrianne and well done for hitting those great results. Keep us posted.

Thanks Hashimoto, I was getting a bit desperate for a while there but it seems it might be sorting itself out finally.
Lachlan, it will happen for you too! It really does seem to be a fairly common occurrence at this stage, judging by what others have posted. I don’t count my calories at all, I just try and keep my carbs around 50,because like you, I don’t want to be too thin. I just want to keep my blood sugar levels within the non diabetic range.
Squidgy, I do feel for you. It is scary to see your blood sugars going up like that, even without your extra concerns about the retinopathy. If you are following the same pattern as some of the others on here you must be about at the end of this period of high sugars. Maybe the gym workout caused your liver to dump extra sugar because of the exercise?
Plain Greek yoghurt is 6.8g carb per 50g, even without any fruit etc. so you might be taking in more carbs than you think. Learning carb values was the biggest part of doing the BSD for me ( and the biggest shock), it has helped me to be more mindful of what I eat and to spend my allowance more wisely. I have tried to have a low carb meal following a high blood sugar. So if I have a high fasting reading I would have a mushroom or two and an egg scrambled with butter for breakfast. Then yoghurt and fruit on a day when it’s a reasonable sugar level. Helps to balance things out and I use an app on my phone to help me choose low carb foods, and track my intake.
Hope this helps, for me it’s a whole new way of learning how my body reacts to certain foods and the cumulative effect of carbs/ sugars over the day.

Cherrianne that’s excellent, well done.
Strange results today, I had very little to eat yesterday, it was one of my not hungry days. I had a small bowl of home made soup for lunch and a small portion of chicken stir fry for dinner of which I left more than half.
Knowing I was under I had a couple tbsp of greek yoghurt at about 9 last night and, for a change I sprinkled some milled linseed on it instead of the berries.
Sugar levels yesterday were 6.6 fasting, 4,6 pre dinner, 6.1 pre bedtime.
Woke up this morning confident of a good result …WHAAAAATT … 9.9!!!!
OK so the linseed will be going in the bin but even stranger, after a week of negative results, my ketosis test showed a positive result of 4.
I thought I was starting to get my head around this but these results have come straight out of left field and I haven’t a clue how to interpret them.

Bill, I’m just wondering…I’m not going to pretend I understand any of the science behind it (cos I really don’t ) …but could it be possible that since you have been diabetic longer than, say, cherrieanne that your body might just throw afew curved balls more than short term diabetics before it totally settles? You are clearly getting some very good results so things are moving in the right direction.

Hoping friday morning fbs is back on track x

I’m not going to worry about it Judith, as I’ve said before, I know I’m not putting sugar or bad carbs in so what’s coming out has to be stored fat and sugar. If so it could be that the fat is starting to drain from my liver and pancreas and the strange up and down readings could be down to a combination of more or less sugar and insulin being released into my bloodstream. The fact that I seem to get ketosis on the days I get higher sugar readings could also be significant, ie fat released burned up as sugar shows as higher sugar readings and the remainder shows up as ketosis.
It’s a theory but all facts start that way and I’m probably wrong anyway.

A great set of results for Bill. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not but my surgery has gone on-line and I’m able to view all my test results from home, however every little anomaly is making me have to research it!! Perhaps not a good idea!

Morning Leeanne
you’re right, I think it’s best to take all this in a relaxed manner, if I tried to research everything that has cropped up on here over the last 7 weeks I wouldn’t have time for work.
The bottom line is what I’m doing is working, everthing else is just numbers really.
My surgery is online but I don’t bother looking, they may say something bad about me 😉

Hi Bill, don’t chuck the linseed!!
You didn’t eat much as you said, so your body had to burn fat for fuel. Hence the ketosis increasing. Nothing to do with the linseed ( poor thing getting all the blame), but high blood sugars due to liver pumping it out.
Try having your low carb fatty meal for lunch after a high morning reading, and your next one might be lower. It’s been working for me recently.
You too must be nearly through this phase of blood sugar spikes. I really hope so. 🙂

Hi Cherrianne
I thought I was through it so hopefully this is just a blip.
If the spikes are down to more stored fat and sugar being released then bring it on!! I’m well up for that 🙂
I quite fancy having a liver that hasn’t any fat. There’s never a dull moment with this mind, it’s as good as a brain trainer 😀

Lol, I agree 🙂
I’m the sort of person who likes to know why things are so. You might have guessed that by now! So I observe and monitor and experiment to see if I can find out why and then what I can do to change it. I’m hoping I never get dementia, cos my curiosity would be unrestrained by common sense and who knows what I’d get up to 🙂
Oh well, keeps me out of mischief and the biscuit tin lol.

I’m with you Cherrianne. I’m in my second notebook since starting the BSD. Recording food eaten, fasting BG, other test results from GP/nurse. Even now bought BP monitor and recording that.

As you say, keeps me out of mischief 😃 – and provides evidence for the medics !

Bad news folks. Yesterday and today fbg was 7.6 and 7.4. What will tomorrow bring?

Also where are you all getting your keto sticks from? I would like to test the theory about ketosis equals high sugars. Thanks

Hi nettyrim i ordered my sticks from amazon.
Don’t worry about your fbs as this has happened to a lot of people. Read what cherrieanne has posted as she has turned hers around again. 🙂

Hi net trim

Curious about the ketosis equals high sugar. I’m not aware of that theory. I’d be grateful if you shed some more light. You’re doing bette than me btw. I had a pre-dinner level of 8.4 yesterday and 8.2 tonight. Back up from the 7.0 from the day before – damn! Pressing on though tempted to reach for the metformin again. I’ve not taken any since 16th Feb.

Feel free to tell me to mind my own but curious how many of you re still taking metformin etc or going bareback like me.

Squidgy – just reading your post about going to the gym etc and the high consequent result. I also found out that a really bad time to take a bs level is too soon after a workout – my blood sugar shot up. Make sure you’re well and truly feasted from any vigorous excercise I guess.

Hi lachlanh,
I am not taking Metformin or any other medications and I don’t eat when my BGL is up, I just drink water til it comes down.

Only time my BGL is high is morning and I eat after it comes down, often 1pm.

I’ve not taken medication so don’t know the ins and outs but damage to blood vessels can occur from around a reading of 6.7 according to Jenny Ruhl.

Lachlanh I stopped my exanatide injections in week 2 and I was planning to drop the metformin as soon as the sugar levels stabilised below 7
Then those all over the place sugar readings started so that was put on hold.
I think they are starting to steady again so if they stay down this week I’ll stop taking them

Hi All, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I think I can say now that I’m through the blood sugar spikes. Last three mornings have been 5.2, 5.3 & 5.3 again today.
So for those who are still going through it take heart. Mine lasted just over three weeks I think.
I hope there are no more nasty surprises in store. All the best to those of you still having the high sugar levels

Good morning or should I say afternoon? Cherrieanne fantastic news! Sounds like you have cracked it! 🙂

Thanks Judith,
I really think I have. The threat of being put on meds is not one I ever want to hear again.
I think all type 2’s should have the BSD book prescribed instead! 🙂

Hi Cherrianne.

It was the looming threat of Metformin (again) that kicked me on to the BSD. I politely told them that I did not want their tablets!

Fabulous idea to prescribe the book. 😃 After all, the medics here can prescribe classes at slimming clubs, or gym sessions, so why not this book?

Hi it wasn’t my theory about ketosis = high sugar. I thought someone else had suggested it I may be wrong though. I’m still taking the metformin, forxiga and statins. Blood tests on the 29th which I think will be after the 8 wk period. Had a bad day today. Have eaten cake and a scone and nothing else. Blood sugar 7.5 now. Going to eat something healthier now. I expect a high fbg tomorrow.

Everything seems to be settling down now,
I’ve had 4 consecutive fasting readings between 6.9 and 7.1 and daytime levels in the 4’s to 5’s an hour after food.
I’ve just done my pre dinner test and got the lowest reading yet, 3.9, getting into hypo territory.
That was the push I was waiting for. From tomorrow I’m going to half my metformin dose (already stopped the exanitide injections)
I’m really hoping that by the time I hit my first weight target , I’ll be able to be med free.
The next few days should be interesting.

Great news Bill

Wonderful news Bill 🙂

Great results Bill and well deserved. It can only keep getting better from now on 🙂

Hello Everyone… I have just take an hour and read through this thread… very interesting stuff… I have been diagnosed for 16years… and I am just on week two now. I will say that over the last ten years I have slowly dropped 20kg. But now have decided to crack the whip and rid myself of the belly weight.

Our body is an amazing machine… it has evolved to protect us well from period of famine. We have lived our lives in a time of plenty and clogged things up a bit!!!… that said…. One factor I am aware of is that BSL fluctuates constantly… a reading is a snapshot, and helpful, but not all we should worry about… it rises at any stress – even being beeped at in the street can give you a spike… so feeling distressed or anxious about a reading may intact skew that reading. Being a bit sick or snuffly can also raise it… thats how the body fights – needs more energy – releases stores… HbA1C reading are an average of the last three months – but not a direct average of your BSL readings… they are a much better indication of where your at long term…

Damn complex machines that, we realise now, are poorly understood are hard to manage!!!…. I miss food!!!.

Bill you are an inspiration… Will be very interested in your cutting back and eradicating metformin…. are you of the controlled release stuff or straight up??…

Hi Fatty (soon not to be)
I take the slow release tablets, 2 twice a day.
Well I did, I cut it to 1 this morning and will do the same from now on, sugar levels permitting.
This is my main goal, it’s lovely to lose the weight but my main aim is to get those levels down and be med free.
I refuse to let this disease be the end of me.

Fasting level at 7.1 this morning 🙂
I have come to the conclusion though that mixed nuts are not the ideal late night snack for me.
I’ve monitored this for about 10 days now and I always have a higher fasting reading when I have nuts as a late night snack than I do when I have yoghurt or cheese.
I think I’ve learned more about my body in the last 8 weeks than I did in the rest of my life.

Inserting is it not Bill 1954…

Different foods do affect us all so differently… I had eggs for dinner with cheese and went to bed on 7. Woke up with 8.9 but had some bad news about a friend in Oz in the middle of the night, SO…. is it diet, dawn Phenom or Stress??… probably all of the above. Haha we need a set of gauges on our body that we can reed, like a car dashboard…. sometimes I think it is like throwing chicken bones on the ground and trying to figure out the future…. But anyway. Lets keep at it and nutting it out when we can and hopefully helping one another too… Did you halve your Metformin yesterday??…
I am like you in that the weight just does not really matter… its the BSL that worries me…. coz if I blame the weight I have too many arguments in my head to defeat myself on weight loss….

Bill I actually find now that some nuts taste really sweet – I’m thinking of almonds and cashews. Do you find the same? I think I’ll google the nutritional value – I should have done it before