I was wondering what the normal range of fasting readings people get is, and how it can vary. The reason is that this morning, at about 6.45 my reading was 8.4, which is the highest for several months. At 7.30 I took it again and it was a much more reasonable 6.6. The only difference was about 2 sips of a sugar free drink and 45 minutes looking at the internet. Is a 1.8 difference in 45 minutes normal? My normal readings are from about 5.8 to 7.2, with a mean of about 6.5. (I do all the stats - histograms, SDs, means etc - just waiting to get to 512 readings to start doing Fourier transforms on it!)
Variability in morning readings
- Thread starter smudges dad
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wd6ecc
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- Type of diabetes
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- Diet only
did you take into account the 20% in meter error readings if i get a high in the readings in the morning i recheck with a fresh strip
Thanks for this reply. Yes, I have taken into account the meter error readings and this happens quite a few times with instant repeat readings giving the same number. The drop is often over 1.0 in an hour, and there seems to be no pattern to the appearance of the high readings. A carb filled evening usually only pushes me up to 7-7.2 compared to the normal mid 6s, but sometimes I'll get readings in the low 5s, with the exceptional 4.8-5.0. One explanation given by the doctor is that my level could have dropped very low and the surge from the liver coincides with when I take the reading, but the last HbA1c was right on target so I was told not to worry.
An interesting "experiment" was a few days I took frequent readings throughout the day and I discovered a Weetabix effect. Reading 7.2 at 8.19 when I ate 2 Weetabix, 10g of bran but no sugar (and minimal milk). 9.13 it was at 17.2, 11.51 down to 4.7. I don't eat Weetabix any more! A cheese omelette for breakfast only pushes the reading up to 8ish.
An interesting "experiment" was a few days I took frequent readings throughout the day and I discovered a Weetabix effect. Reading 7.2 at 8.19 when I ate 2 Weetabix, 10g of bran but no sugar (and minimal milk). 9.13 it was at 17.2, 11.51 down to 4.7. I don't eat Weetabix any more! A cheese omelette for breakfast only pushes the reading up to 8ish.
It's probably safe to say that's there's no such thing as normal. You might like to look into liver dumping and how that works, and how it is switched off. It's a big subject and I'm not in a position to say one way or another what's going on. We all seem to have different results from doing different things, so I'm not even sure what normal is.
