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Is this normal
- Thread starter flonvic
- Start Date
catinahat
Well-Known Member
4hrs to get back to a reasonable level after porridge isn't normal, but for someone with T2, understandable
With the porridge and fruit - um yes especially if you are a type 2
But it dropped slightly after breakfast.What is classed as base number?
But it dropped slightly afetr porridge?
Thankyou.will do.
Im learning a lot with a continuous monitor, consider buying a Libre 2 sensor... (costs less than 50 in UK for 14 days)
Usually my 24 hour day is like this:
During sleep from 1 to 3 AM I get almost hypo 3.6+, then as it approaches morning it starts rising (its called dawn effect syndrom) when your liver starts dumping stored stuff because its almost morning and you will need it.
When I wake up it raises even more (sometimes to the max of the day - still fasting). The more stressful the mornings the higher it gets... Sunday mornings are cool, but manic Mondays not so much...
Often after meals, BG goes down insteady of up. This is because liver stops dumping it and insulin is fired with the meal... That insulin dosage your pancreas released may be too much for the meal you had... in this case liver starts taking it for storage instead of outward release.
This doesnt always take place (depends on what I eat), but the pattern is not always easy to notice, many variables are involved.
For example, I did a glucose tolerance test last week. This means blood is taken in lab, you drink 75g of pure glucose and 2 hours later you get another lab sample to see how your body managed to lower the glucose.
Well, I started at 4.4 Lab Result (fasting), I tracked with the continuous monitor, it went up to 11.4, then dropped fast, after 2 hours I got a lab result of 5.8... Well actually the continuous monitor was showing me that 2:30 hours later (I was actually hypo glycemic) going even below 3.4...
(for context I used to be diabetic type 2 - at averages 14+, now Im normal UNDER a strict almost no carb diet, no medication)
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catinahat
Well-Known Member
Your base number would be the test you did immediately before eating the porridge. Did you test before eating, or are you using your fasting level as the base number for your porridge.
Depending how long after waking you ate your breakfast, your before porridge level could have been quite different to the 8.5 fasting result. Our sugar levels are not static, they are constantly changing even 15min can make a difference. That's why testing before the first bite is so important, it's the difference between the before and after results that show you how that meal affects your blood sugar levels.
The slight drop you noticed could be that your pancreas finally woke up when you added a high carb breakfast to an already high fasting level. Or maybe your fasting level was already on its way down?
Even so, your tests have given you some useful information.
Your fasting levels are too high, often the most difficult to control, all you can do is cut as many carbs as possible from your diet, and hope to reduce the amount of stored glucose.
You have also learned that porridge really is a slow release carbs that keeps your blood sugar elevated for hours. Not ideal for people with T2
Thankyou.
Swarnag, libre 2 provides 2 types of readings (on demand, which is what you have described) and continuos at the same time.
Once you scan, you get 2 things: the current on time value and you also download into the phone the last 8 hours of data, which contains 1 reading every 15 minutes.
Now (bare with me that I have to translate the items in the app menu into English - continental Europe here) :
Somewhere on top should say (second entry: something like "LogBook"- dont know exactly how it translates but should be the second item. This contains only the list of values read on demand (like you described).
Then much below you should see another item, called Daily Graph. This is the one that is taken automatically every 15 minutes and is downloaded into the phone from the last 8 hours every time you scan.
Then there is also libreview (which you can subscribe - this is more advanced stuff) and your phone will send the data into a cloud database and you can either use the charts and functionality they provide or download into excel and do the charts yourself...
(Im a tech guy so sorry if i went too far)
Found a picture of the menu, click on daily graph - that is your continuous monitoring (you can walk back in dates).
This morning.fbg 7.1. Reading before breakfast 8.6. Reading 2 hrs after 7.7. Same breakfast.What do you think?
catinahat
Well-Known Member
I think that provisionally it looks like you handled the breakfast pretty good. A difference of around 1 mmol/l, when you consider the +/-15% accuracy of the meters puts your pre & post meal levels in more or less the same range. It looks like you could be one of the lucky few who can get away with eating porridge.
Personally though before I decided to make it a regular breakfast I would want to test it another two or three times, just to make sure. I would also do an extra test at two and a half or three hours to make sure that the slow release properties of porridge were not causing a later rise.
Just guessing here, but looking at your fasting numbers and the steady rise up to the 8.6 pre breakfast test.
I would say that the porridge is not the only carby thing in your diet.
The excess glucose from the carbs in your diet will be stored mainly in your liver, your liver will release this stored glucose just as you are getting ready to wake. It's called the dawn phenomenon, if your liver has lots of excess glucose it will continue to get rid of it until you stop it by eating.
For a more detailed explanation do a Google search for the Dawn Phenomenon, and while you're at it do some research on our main problem, Insulin Resistance.
Thanks.i did same test on 5/3.readings as follows.fbg 8.0.Pre b/f 8.9. Two hours after b/f 6.4.
So it seems ok? Just tested lunch.pre reading 6.2 post reading 8.2? Ok?
Lobsang Tsultim
Well-Known Member
That post-lunch reading is higher than I would like, personally. If I'm in the "sixes" pre-lunch I prefer to try and keep to at most "sevens" 2 hours later.
Thankyou for reply.I thought +2 after eating was fine.(wrong again!)
The rise of 2 was at the top end of ok but your before number was a little bit high, this could be a “hangover” of your breakfast numbers, but don’t be hard on yourself, keep adjusting your carbs down and testing you’ll get there
catinahat
Well-Known Member
You're not wrong, there is no right or wrong way, testing gives you the info you need to find your own way.
The 2mmol rise at 2hr thing is just a rule of thumb guide, a non diabetic person would generally see their blood sugars back to their pre meal level within 2hrs.
So if we can keep our blood sugar levels as close as possible to someone who doesn't have diabetes, it gives us the best chance of avoiding the more unpleasant consequences of T2.
We give ourselves a limit of 2mmol rise just to give us a little wriggle room and because the meters are not accurate enough to worry about, point something of a mmol.
But again the 2mmol is not carved in stone, you have to decide what is realistic for you, and what levels are right for you.
For me personally if my lunch raised me from 6 to 8, it would have to be something I particularly like, a treat only to be enjoyed occasionally, otherwise I wouldn't be having it again.
For me an everyday, run of the mill lunch will have very little carbs and barely register on my meter.
