can some medications actually raise your blood sugars?

I've always heard that some meds can raise your blood sugar levels. I've been taking my blood sugars since Monday (four times a day) and I've noticed that my 2 hour post-breakfast check is always SUPER high. And the rest of the time they are pretty borderline for what my doc wants. I take my blood pressure medication with my breakfast and am wondering if that could have anything to do with it?

 

What are you eating and drinking for breakfast? Also what # is super high?

 

Usually I eat a bowl of cheerios or honey bunches of oats and a banana. Sometimes it's toast with peanut butter. Usually I don't drink anything with my breakfast other than the milk left in the bowl after I eat my cereal. This morning it was 178 at my 2 hour prick. She wants it under 120 at 2 hours. After lunch and dinner it seems to hover right around 117-124. And my AM fasting one has been around 80-90.

 

Beta Blockers can increase your blood sugar (if your medication ends in -olol it's a beta blocker)and to a lesser effect so can Thiazide Diuretics. So yes, depending on what you take, it can.

 

Is it procardia that you are on? I am on it and it doesn't seem to affect my blood sugar.

Morning is the hardest meal. You've been fasting, so any carbs are going to shoot up your levels. You are only supposed to have 15-30 grams of carbs for breakfast, and with cereal and milk and fruit you are definitely exceeding that.

Try eggs and bacon and one piece of whole wheat toast (water to drink) and see what that does.

Good luck, this diet can be frustrating!! :wacko:

 

Yeah it's labetalol. Should I ask to change to a different medication or should I just know that it's going to be a little higher after I take the meds?

 

I haven't seen the nutritionist yet. I go on Tuesday morning. So I have no idea about what I'm supposed to be doing or not doing yet. My OB didn't really give me any direction on anything other than "here use this to prick your finger with and write down your numbers on this chart". Soooooo, yeah. LOL I'm hoping to get a lot more answers on Tuesday as to what I can and can't eat and what I should stay away from.

 

Oh how helpful is that... getting the testing equipment with no diet instructions! lol I just googled your medication and indeed found that difficulty controlling blood sugars is a side effect. I would wait to do anything until you see the nutritionist. You don't really know your true levels until you start eating properly. I would talk to her and the doctor about what you should do about the medication.

 

Is it skim milk? Cereal sends my blood sugars roaring high like you...every...single...time...
ETA: I eat whole grain muffins with bacon, eggs & cheese like an egg McMuffin you get from McDonalds normally. Just lots of protein and hardly any carbs or sugars.
I take Procardia for contractions. I haven't seen it mess up my sugars yet FWIW

 

Yup, we are fat free skim milkers around here.

 

I had to follow the diet for a week or so while waiting on my 3 hour test (I failed the 1 hr badly) and the OB gave me a sheet of what to eat or not eat etc and one of the no-nos was eating fruit before lunchtime so maybe its the banana you were eating ???

 

Just an FYI -- when it comes to carb content, skim milk and whole milk are the same. Skim milk is good because there is less fat of course, just saying it won't really make a big difference in your numbers.

Here is some information from my nutritionist that I typed out for a friend:


-- Avoid sugar and sweets, like cookies, ice cream, donuts, etc. Even 100% natural fruit juice should be avoided.

-- Fat in moderation: butter, margarine, oil, mayo, and salad dressing. Too much can increase insulin resistance.

-- Eat plenty of high-fiber foods like whole grains, beans, and veggies. (Rice, bread, and pasta should be WHOLE GRAIN.)

-- Breakfast is the toughest because blood sugar tends to rise the most after this meal (it's because you've been fasting overnight, so you put any carbs in there and it shoots up). Don't have cereal, juice or milk at breakfast.

-- Personally, I avoid artificial sweetners altogether because I think they are bad for the babies. But my educator said it's okay to have 3 servings or less of Equal or Splenda per day.

-- Eat a variety of foods and don't try to lose weight.

-- Eat foods with carbs every 2-4 hours while awake, it helps keep your levels balanced. If you go too long without eating, your next meal could make your blood sugar shoot up.

-- Snacks should be at least two hours after meals; both snacks and meals should include protein and/or low-moderate fat.


OVERALL MEAL PLAN:

Breakfast should include 1-2 servings of carbs (15-30 total grams)
Snack should include 1-2 servings of carbs (15-30 total grams)
Lunch should include 2-4 servings of carbs (30-60 total grams)
Snack should include 1-2 servings of carbs (15-30 total grams)
Dinner should include 2-4 servings of carbs (30-60 total grams)
Snack should include 1-2 servings of carbs (15-30 total grams)

You can look on the containers of things to see how many carbs they have and eat accordingly (it's about the TOTAL CARBS line, not the sugars line). Once you figure out some meals and snacks that you like that fall in that range, you can just rotate them -- that way you don't have to count carbs for everything you eat. It will get easier, trust me.

Here are some examples of things that have one serving of carbs: one slice of bread, 6-inch corn or flour tortilla, 1/4 bagel, 1/2 English muffin, 1/2 hamburger or hot dog bun, 1/2 cup potato (or peas or corn or yams or sweet potato or beans), 6-inch corn on the cob, 1 small baked potato, 1 cup carrots (or beets or pumpkin), 1 cup milk, 6-8 oz plain or light yogurt, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup bran cereals, 3/4 cup unsweetened cereal, 1/4 cup grape nuts cereal, 1/3 cup cooked pasta, 1/3 cup cooked rice, 3 cups popcorn, 1/2 cup canned fruit (light, drain juice), 1 tennis-ball sized piece of fruit, 1/2 small banana, 1 cup berries or melon, 17 grapes, AVOID dried fruit and all desserts

Here are "free" foods: lean beef, pork, lam, chicken (w/o skin), cheese, egg, tofu, fish, peanut butter, cottage cheese, all other non-starchy veggies, green beans, diet pop, coffee, tea, sugar-free Jell-O, butter, margarine, oil, salad dressing, mayo, nuts, olives, avocado, lard, cream cheese, sour cream


Here is a sample meal plan for the day --

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, 1 oz cheese, tomatoes, onion, salsa, 1 tbsp sour cream, 1 slice whole wheat toast, 1 tsp butter, 1 cup non-fat milk

Snack: 1 light yogurt (I add a tbsp of Grape Nuts cereal to mine and I'm okay)

Lunch: 2 slices whole grain bread, turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, mustard, 1 cup berries, a sugar-free beverage

Snack: 1 oz low-fat cheese and 6-12 crackers

Dinner: Chicken, 3/4 cup pasta, 1 cup veggies, salad, small whole grain dinner roll, sugar-free beverage

Snack: cottage cheese, 1 cup fresh fruit

 

I was thinking about you this morning. I ate some cereal last night before bed. Everytime I do that my sugars will be over fasting limits the next morning. This morning they were 102. It is the cereal that is making your sugars so high. I was also thinking I think Milk and sugar levels are about the same no matter if you use skim of full. Also look at the cereal sugars they are always high. Even the healthy cereals are super high in sugars for GD.

 

Labetalol is the only blood pressure medication that I've ever seen used in pregnancy...I'm a diabetic and didn't have issues with my sugars from the meds...the cereal will blow up your sugar as will bananas...definitely more protein with breakfast should help...

 

Thank you so much! This will definitely help get me through until I see the nutritionist on Tuesday.

 

Which is so SAD! lol I love cereal with a passion. That's what I usually had as a midnight snack when I'd wake up in the middle of the night during the first half of my pregnancy. And I'm such a kid, I drink the milk out of the bowl after I'm done. It kind of sucks that even the "healthy" ones are bad, too. BLAH!