Timing of blood glucose testing

Brunneria

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Hi Gudrun, Hi Bluetit,
Yeah well since my last post I have seen my GP and am booked in for fasting blood test next Thursday - HbA1c. I took with me my readings right up until Thursday morning and he didn't seem to like the number of readings over 6 from my Accu-Chek device. Certainly all readings - Fasting, Before Meal and After Meal are all showing a marked increase in readings over 6 !
Now something else to ask - anybody - blood pressure ? I've had a blood pressure issue for over 7 years and it has been controlled by Ramipril. In fact until recently its been about 127/75. Now, all of a sudden my resting blood pressure readings (all taken on my Omron home blood pressure monitor) are all over the place, quite erratic can be as low as 112/71 and swing as high as 160/93 ... all within hours. When I saw GP he took my blood pressure, said it was 160/90 ( I told him don't worry - 'white coat syndrome') ... then he announced he wanted me to wear a 24hr blood pressure monitor.
So I'm now wondering if there is a link between erratic resting blood pressure and raised blood sugar levels. I might add I never complained to him about my BP.
Lastly, does anyone use meditation as a technique for dealing with stress ?
Many thanks.

Can't comment on the bp questions (except that my bp is lower when I am low carbing).

Regarding meditation, I consider it is as necessary as breathing. But I have never tested its effects on stress. Not willing to stop meditating to see what difference it makes.

There have been various studies on the subject though.
 
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Gudrun

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Hi Gudrun, Hi Bluetit,
Yeah well since my last post I have seen my GP and am booked in for fasting blood test next Thursday - HbA1c. I took with me my readings right up until Thursday morning and he didn't seem to like the number of readings over 6 from my Accu-Chek device. Certainly all readings - Fasting, Before Meal and After Meal are all showing a marked increase in readings over 6 !
Now something else to ask - anybody - blood pressure ? I've had a blood pressure issue for over 7 years and it has been controlled by Ramipril. In fact until recently its been about 127/75. Now, all of a sudden my resting blood pressure readings (all taken on my Omron home blood pressure monitor) are all over the place, quite erratic can be as low as 112/71 and swing as high as 160/93 ... all within hours. When I saw GP he took my blood pressure, said it was 160/90 ( I told him don't worry - 'white coat syndrome') ... then he announced he wanted me to wear a 24hr blood pressure monitor.
So I'm now wondering if there is a link between erratic resting blood pressure and raised blood sugar levels. I might add I never complained to him about my BP.
Lastly, does anyone use meditation as a technique for dealing with stress ?
Many thanks.
There are a lot of questions I would not be comfortable in answering. Remember, we are not medically trained and couldn't comment on anything medical like blood pressure and what effect if may have on raised blood sugar levels. For me, at least, the answer would be that I have no idea....

Stress certainly has an effect but I don't know of any medication that would be advisable (other than anti-depressant, perhaps, but that has it's own problems). Can you try and deal with stress by meditation? Changing something in your life that causes the stress? Sometimes we are confronted with things we can't change, but we can change our attitude towards them.

You'll need to see what the HbA1c test results are. Let us know when you find out.

For now, the best advice I can give is to avoid starchy carbohydrates and eat a low carb / high fat or low carb / medium fat diet. This way of eating is found to be very healthy and it certainly would drop your blood sugar levels a little.
 

NoCrbs4Me

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I have found that a LCHF diet for me has reversed all the metabolic syndrome symptoms: High BMI, too big waist, high blood glucose, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and wrong cholesterol numbers.

A month ago I joined a gym and am now in the best physical shape of my life. Oh, and I'm 50 years old. I wished I'd figured out what a healthy diet is long ago, but better late than never!
 
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Restormel01

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Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
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Can't comment on the bp questions (except that my bp is lower when I am low carbing).

Regarding meditation, I consider it is as necessary as breathing. But I have never tested its effects on stress. Not willing to stop meditating to see what difference it makes.

There have been various studies on the subject though.
Many thanks, seems like I should look at meditation, and also review my eating plan, but, that will be a challenge as I am already doing that and it could be that something that is good for dealing with my heart arrhythmia could be not good for dealing with prediabetes, i.e. I have tried Xylitol but it didn't work for me and ended up going back on sugar - obviously no sugar at all now I guess).
 

Brunneria

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Retired Moderator
Messages
21,889
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Many thanks, seems like I should look at meditation, and also review my eating plan, but, that will be a challenge as I am already doing that and it could be that something that is good for dealing with my heart arrhythmia could be not good for dealing with prediabetes, i.e. I have tried Xylitol but it didn't work for me and ended up going back on sugar - obviously no sugar at all now I guess).
I like xylitol, except for the dog thing. So I have now switched to erythritol.
:)
 

Restormel01

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
I have found that a LCHF diet for me has reversed all the metabolic syndrome symptoms: High BMI, too big waist, high blood glucose, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and wrong cholesterol numbers.

A month ago I joined a gym and am now in the best physical shape of my life. Oh, and I'm 50 years old. I wished I'd figured out what a healthy diet is long ago, but better late than never!
Many thanks, that is a highly impressive medical performance - well done. I clearly have to re visit diet/eating plan - I am following a diet to control heart arrhythmia and it may seem there is an outside chance that this may conflict with prediabetes. food needs. I am already gluten free, following fructose free but may need to become more disciplined, LCHF or LCMF may pose some issues in the context of heart arrhythmia. Need to do more exercise for sure. Current meds are Ramipril (high blood pressure); Simvastatin for Cholesterol; Bisoprolol (heart rate control), Warfarin (anticoagulant for stroke prevention). Probably unwise to tamper with that lot. I'm 70 by the way. What's this about feet and diabetes ? I've noticed a few comments in this vein !Thanks again.
 

Restormel01

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
There are a lot of questions I would not be comfortable in answering. Remember, we are not medically trained and couldn't comment on anything medical like blood pressure and what effect if may have on raised blood sugar levels. For me, at least, the answer would be that I have no idea....

Stress certainly has an effect but I don't know of any medication that would be advisable (other than anti-depressant, perhaps, but that has it's own problems). Can you try and deal with stress by meditation? Changing something in your life that causes the stress? Sometimes we are confronted with things we can't change, but we can change our attitude towards them.

You'll need to see what the HbA1c test results are. Let us know when you find out.

For now, the best advice I can give is to avoid starchy carbohydrates and eat a low carb / high fat or low carb / medium fat diet. This way of eating is found to be very healthy and it certainly would drop your blood sugar levels a little.
Many thanks Gudrun - yeah, will let you know when I get results back. Meanwhile will re-visit diet plan as you suggest. Thanks.
 

NoCrbs4Me

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3,700
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I reversed my Type 2
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Other
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Vegetables
Many thanks, that is a highly impressive medical performance - well done. I clearly have to re visit diet/eating plan - I am following a diet to control heart arrhythmia and it may seem there is an outside chance that this may conflict with prediabetes. food needs. I am already gluten free, following fructose free but may need to become more disciplined, LCHF or LCMF may pose some issues in the context of heart arrhythmia. Need to do more exercise for sure. Current meds are Ramipril (high blood pressure); Simvastatin for Cholesterol; Bisoprolol (heart rate control), Warfarin (anticoagulant for stroke prevention). Probably unwise to tamper with that lot. I'm 70 by the way. What's this about feet and diabetes ? I've noticed a few comments in this vein !Thanks again.
It's a common symptom from high blood glucose to get nerve damage in the extremities. Usually it's loss of sensation, pain, pins & needles feeling, and poor circulation control (my feet are sometimes really cold or really warm). Not everyone gets that.
 

Restormel01

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
It's a common symptom from high blood glucose to get nerve damage in the extremities. Usually it's loss of sensation, pain, pins & needles feeling, and poor circulation control (my feet are sometimes really cold or really warm). Not everyone gets that.
Again, many thanks. I certainly do not get the loss of sensation, pain, pins and needles - but feet do get occasionally cold, and probably a bit warm too and this has been the case since diagnosed with heart arrhythmia and have always tended to blame Bisoprolol, a Beta Blocker. It forces my heart to beat at a steady 65 bpm - however - there are times when it drops down to 45 bpm and I usually fix it by going to bed with a hot water bottle sleep it off and get up again and I'm back to normal. No side effects. I've had this heart arrhythmia now for 5 years and the longer it goes on the less feet issues I get - BUT - they are random and much less frequent than they used to be. Nevertheless - something to discuss with my GP.
 

NoCrbs4Me

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3,700
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I reversed my Type 2
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Vegetables
Again, many thanks. I certainly do not get the loss of sensation, pain, pins and needles - but feet do get occasionally cold, and probably a bit warm too and this has been the case since diagnosed with heart arrhythmia and have always tended to blame Bisoprolol, a Beta Blocker. It forces my heart to beat at a steady 65 bpm - however - there are times when it drops down to 45 bpm and I usually fix it by going to bed with a hot water bottle sleep it off and get up again and I'm back to normal. No side effects. I've had this heart arrhythmia now for 5 years and the longer it goes on the less feet issues I get - BUT - they are random and much less frequent than they used to be. Nevertheless - something to discuss with my GP.
What causes the heart arrhythmia?
 

Restormel01

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Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
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What causes the heart arrhythmia?
The jury is out on causes .... can be genetic, can be stress and can be quite different in different people. The particular one I have is Atrial Fibrillation whereby the electrical circuits of the heart - misfire - bit like in a 1950's car engine when the sparks from the distributor cap don't fire in sequence or correctly. Medical treatment is to burn out the offending circuit. Cause can also be a dysfunctional vagal nerve. This nerve is a significant one in the central nervous system which controls the function of BOTH the heart AND digestive system. 4 - 6 months after diagnosis I found the onset of an AF event occurred after food so went to a Nutritionist - she put me on a Probiotic powder, got me going gluten free and introduced me to the FODMAPS diet. I've started reading up on LCHF diets and do see problems because I'm already following some of this, but, other things I can see would be good I can't have 'cos they will interact with Warfarin in an undesirable way - so its gonna be a bit of a balancing act. Fer instance, one of the best things I can have to calm the vagal nerve is Rice products. Pasta too. Cannot have Full Cream milk regularly best not at all. Cannot tolerate much dairy produce, certainly not Yoghurt. My Dad had diabetes which in the end killed him. Other parts of the family have AF - genetics again. All a bit of a challenge. Heres hoping when all tests done it shows no issue, but, I don't think so. Yet I don't have any symptoms of diabetes, thirst, sleepy etc. etc.
 
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NoCrbs4Me

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Interesting. I wonder if the AF is due to or related to high blood glucose? I know it causes nerve damage.