I've learned so much from visiting this community. I hope someone can give me some insights into what is happening. First some background:

My mother is a type 2 diabetic. My A1C had been creeping up in the past few years; eventually it reached 6.5. My doctor gave me a meter and sent me to the diabetes educator. I was given a diet, a monitor and told to check twice daily. Things were going very well: I lost about 35 pounds and my A1C fell to 6.1. I had a brush with renal cancer (a surprise find: tumor on my kidney), but since they removed my kidney and the tumor, I've needed no other treatment. That was at the end of 2006. I continued monitoring and was doing well.

Then, in January and February of '07, my sugars began to rise slowly. At the end of February '07 I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder very similar to lupus. (I have many of the markers but not enough to actually have a lupus diagnosis.) To treat that I was given prednisone, and to protect me from increased blood sugars, I was given 1 mg. glimeperide (Amaryl) to take once a day and told to test my blood sugar four times a day. I continued to stick to the diet but have gained all the weight back in the past year that I'd lost prior to going on prednisone. I don't have to tell you how demoralizing that is!!

Everything was going well otherwise until about the past month, when my blood sugars have begun to rise. My morning sugar reading used to be around 80; now it's 115. My evening sugar at bedtime was below 140 (except when I could account for a treat now and then). Now it's over 160.

Tonight before dinner it was 181. I thought, "That can't be right!" I recalibrated my meter and it read 206. All I had eaten was a mid-afternoon snack was a small amount of dry-roasted almonds and 1 tablespoon of dried cranberries. (I had eaten two pieces of low carb chocolate very soon after lunch, but that had never affected me before). 2-1/2 hours later I did my pre-dinner testing and had those high readings.

Is this something I did wrong? Has my weight gain from the prednisone caused this? Do I have to cut my carbs lower than what I've been told? I'm feeling like I'm not trying hard enough, or I should be trying harder to keep from gaining weight. I just haven't had this kind of bad results before now!

Help, please!
Ann

Thank you for your insights!

I got in to see the diabetes educator (she's a nurse practitioner in my doctor's office). She told me the same things you both did, although she didn't mention the possibility of my having Type 1. She told me the the autoimmune/inflammatory process may have notched things up, and that the weight I've gained from being on prednisone could have contributed to it. She recommended I use Metformin but wanted to run it past my doctor first.

My doctor's other nurse called a bit later to say that because I have only one kidney and the autoimmune situation, she wanted me to add one milligram of Amaryl (now I'll take a total of 2) rather than use Metformin. I'll be checking in with them in two weeks.

By the way, when I took my sugar reading before lunch (having eaten nothing during the morning), it was 181. :mad: I guess I have to quit responding like that for now.

I agree about the whole grains. The educator is the one who got me on an eating plan that was working beautifully (see the second paragraph of my original post). I told her I'm sticking to that plan and she agreed. Some years ago I used to follow a low carb way of eating, limiting my intake to 60 carbs. My plan now is a limit of 150. I usually stick between 120 and 140, so I'm doing what I'm supposed to in spite of a temptation to cut the carbs way, way down.

Again, thank you for your help! This is a wonderful community, and I feel lucky to have found it.

Ann