Huge blood sugar spike...why?

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Went from 109 to 256 in 2 1/2 hours! Still learning about my diabetes.

I had to undergo a stress test today. My out of bed bg was 156. (kinda normal for me) Had an apple and 2 eggs at 9:30. Went in for the test which took hours (imaging, etc.) I was ready to eat by 3pm...we went to a chinese restaurant and had tea, spring roll and cashew chicken. I took my bg at the table before I ate -109. Came home, felt tired, napped and then tested bg again - 256.

What caused this spike. I've never had this high a reading before (highest 212...after eating some "sugar")
I know the chinese food was very salty. Can that cause a spike?

Replies

  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,703 Member
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    bump for responses
  • retiree2006
    retiree2006 Posts: 951 Member
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    Did you have rice or noodles of some sort? Those always send me pretty high when I eat Chinese or Thai food. How long was it from the time you ate and when you took your BG? I know you mentioned taking a nap so I imagine it was several hours at least.
  • Lindamillion
    Lindamillion Posts: 11 Member
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    White rice. But had total of 1 1/2 cups....lots more cashew chicken than rice. 2 1/2 hours between readings. BTW....I'm not on any meds for diabetes. Trying to learn what to avoid.
  • Lindamillion
    Lindamillion Posts: 11 Member
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    Bump?
  • Gentyl
    Gentyl Posts: 184 Member
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    Chinese food has this affect, generally. It can last for many, many hours. Read Dr. Bernstein's book, The Diabetes Solution. He goes into detail about the "Chinese food affect".
  • Lindamillion
    Lindamillion Posts: 11 Member
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    Thank you! I will avoid the chinese food! And I'll check out that book, too. If I'm going to try to even these out and eventually lower my bg, then I need to know how certain food affect me....lesson learned today!
  • sryoung1957
    sryoung1957 Posts: 4 Member
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    1 1/2 cups of rice is HUGE for me....my BP would be soaring!!
  • MarisaDLS2
    MarisaDLS2 Posts: 108 Member
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    White rice is a high glycemic index food, it will spike your blood sugar. 1.5 cups of rice is 3 carb servings (approx 60+ gm of carbs). Better to eat smaller quantities of brown rice ie half cup max. The fiber/bran in brown rice slows digestion/release of glucose.
  • Snooozie
    Snooozie Posts: 3,447 Member
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    Took me a while to figure things out too and agree with everything everyone else already said. There's a great group on mfp called type 2 diabetes with loads of info and a link to a great website called something like blood sugar 101 ill go find the Lin and post it it was a great help to me when first learning. Also boo k called blood sugar solution by mark hyman great info
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,703 Member
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    Besides avoid high GI foods, I was told by the diabetes nutritionist to limit carb servings to 50g at any single sitting.
  • Lindamillion
    Lindamillion Posts: 11 Member
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    Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll check out the websites and look into the books. I did Atkins years ago - didn't lose much weight, but curbed some cravings by cutting those carbs. Diabetes team wants me to eat more carbs than I think I should. Now I know my bg will react to show me which carbs are bad for me.

    BTW, I ate 1 1/2 cups total of cashew chicken (1 cup) with rice (1/2 cup).....just wasn't prepared for the huge spike. Lesson learned.

    Again, thank you all!
  • jaygreen55
    jaygreen55 Posts: 315 Member
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    Did you confirm your meter reading with a second test? Sometimes a meter will give an erroneous result because of a bad strip or food residue on your hands. Last week after dinner I had a reading of 310 that was a total surprise. I was about to take a supplemental dose of insulin but decided to wash my hands well and recheck my sugar. Lo and behold the result was 160. Had I taken the extra insulin I would have had a really nasty low in the middle of the night
  • Lindamillion
    Lindamillion Posts: 11 Member
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    I probably should check the accuracy of my meter....good reminder!
  • jknops2
    jknops2 Posts: 171 Member
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    1.5 cup of rice is 65-70g of carbs. For one meal that is a lot for most of us diabetics.