Blood Sugar - what levels are harmful?

[chris270181]

When my glucose metabolism still worked as it should I never seemed to go above 5 at any time. When my diabetic friend was at 15-20 after a meal I'd be at 4.7. Normal normal people rarely seem to get a rise of more than 1 or possibly 2 mml and that only for a very short time.

Have a look at this site: http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/index.php

I find it interesting especially the rises that non diabetics have been said to have which fall in line with my own, there is a lot of conflicting info on whats safe and what's not. When you say your metabolism was still working was this before you had been diagnosed ? And did you test prior ?

my 2 hour levels are back in range 99.9% the time and spikes if I've had any occur at about 1hr - 1.5 hr.

 

[Totto]

I find it interesting especially the rises that non diabetics have been said to have which fall in line with my own, there is a lot of conflicting info on whats safe and what's not. When you say your metabolism was still working was this before you had been diagnosed ? And did you test prior ?

my 2 hour levels are back in range 99.9% the time and spikes if I've had any occur at about 1hr - 1.5 hr.

I used to take every opportunity to test my blood sugar as I have a heavy genetic diabetes inheritance. Up until 2009-2010 my bg was perfect, then started to go downhill fast and I was diagnosed diabetic early last year. It took some time to get diagnosed as my fasting still was considered normal. The OGTT wasn't though, 20.6 at one hour and 13.8 at two hours.

 

[mikej1973]

When my glucose metabolism still worked as it should I never seemed to go above 5 at any time. When my diabetic friend was at 15-20 after a meal I'd be at 4.7. Normal normal people rarely seem to get a rise of more than 1 or possibly 2 mml and that only for a very short time.


Have a look at this site: http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/index.php

That's one study. Others say over 25% of non diabetics spend several hours a day over 7.8 mmol.

I am.a.diabetic and my 2hr ogtt was 4.8 go figure.

 

[Totto]

That's one study. Others say over 25% of non diabetics spend several hours a day over 7.8 mmol.

I am.a.diabetic and my 2hr ogtt was 4.8 go figure.

I would have thought a result of 4.8 ruled out diabetes as the cut off is somewhere around 12.

 

[mikej1973]

I would have thought a result of 4.8 ruled out diabetes as the cut off is somewhere around 12.

Whole different topic. I'm not convinced one way or the othe. However if I eat enough white bread (a whole baguette) I can get my two hour reading over 9 so something isn't quite right. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Lamont D]

That's one study. Others say over 25% of non diabetics spend several hours a day over 7.8 mmol.

I am.a.diabetic and my 2hr ogtt was 4.8 go figure.

Hi Mike,

I'm not diabetic, and my bloods never had a recorded rise above 8.0 since my diagnosis.
I spike really quickly with foods that I react to, mainly flour, starchy veg, pasta, rice etc. Or anything with the wrong sugars in.
I intentionally try not to spike, cos that's where I live.
When my specialist described what was going on, he made a point of what normal non diabetics eating curve is, it was only higher for brief periods during the day and only after eating, that's why 2 hours, is used as a measurement for testing. Constant snacking keeps bloods abnormally high.

 

[mikej1973]

Hi Mike,

I'm not diabetic, and my bloods never had a recorded rise above 8.0 since my diagnosis.
I spike really quickly with foods that I react to, mainly flour, starchy veg, pasta, rice etc. Or anything with the wrong sugars in.
I intentionally try not to spike, cos that's where I live.
When my specialist described what was going on, he made a point of what normal non diabetics eating curve is, it was only higher for brief periods during the day and only after eating, that's why 2 hours, is used as a measurement for testing. Constant snacking keeps bloods abnormally high.

Hi Nosher,

I think normal isn't an easy thing to define with blood sugar. A level that causes damage to one person may have zero impact on another. To say a Hba1c of 47 is not diabetic and 48 is seems bizarre. Obviously you have to draw a line somewhere but the difference in health implications between the two is non existent. Likewise a normal response maybe a two hour reading of less than 5.5 but a non diabetic reading can still be over 8. As you rightly point out 3 meals plus 2 snacks cab lead to 10 hours in a day when the blood sugar is nearer 9 than 5.

It really is a disease that needs to be managed as an individual by the individual.

 

[Lamont D]

Hi Nosher,

I think normal isn't an easy thing to define with blood sugar. A level that causes damage to one person may have zero impact on another. To say a Hba1c of 47 is not diabetic and 48 is seems bizarre. Obviously you have to draw a line somewhere but the difference in health implications between the two is non existent. Likewise a normal response maybe a two hour reading of less than 5.5 but a non diabetic reading can still be over 8. As you rightly point out 3 meals plus 2 snacks cab lead to 10 hours in a day when the blood sugar is nearer 9 than 5.

It really is a disease that needs to be managed as an individual by the individual.

Totally agree with you, diabetes or insulin, pancreatic, liver and blood glucose problem patients, are so unique and can't be treated like other health conditions, what would work for you, certainly wouldn't work for me.
As you say what is normal? I'm certainly not!
But you have to have a measurement and a baseline so you can monitor your condition.
As I have learned, control is the key to unlock healthier living!
Also, this is why, most GPs don't have a clue about diabetes and certainly nothing about my condition.

 

[phil1966]

I did a test this morning as both myself and my wife (who isn't diabetic) had the same "carby" breakfast (oatibix flakes) at the same time.
Before eating, I was at 4.9 and my wife 5.1
After an hour, mine was 7.7 and my wife's was 5.7
After 2 hours, mine was 5.3 and my wife's was 5.2

So, from this single unscientific test, it seems the carbs definitely spiked me more than my wife initially, but my blood did come down quite quickly and although I had a 0.4 spike after 2 hours it was well within guidelines. This corroborates my own testing over the last few weeks which shows my body is slightly slow to react to dealing with carbs but does take care of them once it realises.

Of course, if I ate a "normal" amount of carbs (i.e. 250-300g) I think I wouldn't cope so well as the spikes would be that much higher but my current 100-150 definitely seems to be manageable

 

[mikej1973]

Totally agree with you, diabetes or insulin, pancreatic, liver and blood glucose problem patients, are so unique and can't be treated like other health conditions, what would work for you, certainly wouldn't work for me.
As you say what is normal? I'm certainly not!
But you have to have a measurement and a baseline so you can monitor your condition.
As I have learned, control is the key to unlock healthier living!
Also, this is why, most GPs don't have a clue about diabetes and certainly nothing about my condition.

I think I'm at point now where I'm losing weight because I'm changing my diet to keep blood sugar in check rather than the other way around.

As I said to my gp knowledge is power!

 

[Lamont D]

I think I'm at point now where I'm losing weight because I'm changing my diet to keep blood sugar in check rather than the other way around.

As I said to my gp knowledge is power!

I believe that, controlling my blood glucose levels, has played a major part in my losing weight, but also plate size is integral!!