Prediabetes diagnosis

[Lynn1]

For some people their fasting levels will be the highest of the day. Assuming your tea had some milk in it, that would have nudged you up a bit,.......... probably. So, your 6.8 is neither fasting, nor postprandial. It's not an issue.

Record it, and move on. See how it looks tomorrow. For the next few days you are purely data gathering. Don't be stressed by anything you see. In fact, in some ways, be pleased if you see the odd, slightly elevated score, because those could be hints for the way forward.

Just a reminder; record all your blood scores, your food diary, and if you feel off, or exercise a bit more than usual, write all that down. Are you doing that?

I guess you're probably now just about waiting for your additional strips to arrive.

Yes, tea had a dash of semi skimmed, no sugar! Recording everything. Tried porridge and blueberries for breakfast. That will be interesting!

Waiting for additional strips and lancets? to arrive.

 

[Brunneria]

Hi Lynn,

I should have a read up about what to expect, in terms of blood sugar readings.
That way, you will understand what is normal, and what isn't.

This site has a good page in it here.

And my personal favourite site is the bloodsugar101 site. See the link in my signature? That will take you straight there.

There is all the information you need to work out what your readings mean.

 

[Lynn1]

Hi Lynn,

I should have a read up about what to expect, in terms of blood sugar readings.
That way, you will understand what is normal, and what isn't.

This site has a good page in it here.

And my personal favourite site is the bloodsugar101 site. See the link in my signature? That will take you straight there.

There is all the information you need to work out what your readings mean.

Thanks.

Was a little concerned about my first reading this morning (see previous post), which was 6.8. Decided to try porridge, blueberries and coffee for breakfast and after 2 hours my reading is 6.1. Is that OK?

 

[Brunneria]

Thanks.

Was a little concerned about my first reading this morning (see previous post), which was 6.8. Decided to try porridge, blueberries and coffee for breakfast and after 2 hours my reading is 6.1. Is that OK?

Lol

Have a look at the links I gave in my last post.

They give better info than I can in a few sentences.

 

[Lynn1]

Whatever you ate worked.

Breakfast readings 6.8/6.1. Ate porridge, blueberries and one coffee. Lunch 6.1/7.0. Had 1 slice Burgen soya and linseed bread, tuna/mayo filling, very small tomato and green pepper salad, quarter apple with water and lime to drink.

Had virtually the same yesterday, apart from bread at lunchtime, so was surprised at 7.0 reading 2 hours after lunch. Bread maybe?

Have felt a little shaky this afternoon. About to have dinner now.

As I only have one testing strip left before supplies arrive, should I wait and test after dinner?

 

[andcol]

yes that would be desirable

 

[AndBreathe]

Breakfast readings 6.8/6.1. Ate porridge, blueberries and one coffee. Lunch 6.1/7.0. Had 1 slice Burgen soya and linseed bread, tuna/mayo filling, very small tomato and green pepper salad, quarter apple with water and lime to drink.

Had virtually the same yesterday, apart from bread at lunchtime, so was surprised at 7.0 reading 2 hours after lunch. Bread maybe?

Have felt a little shaky this afternoon. About to have dinner now.

As I only have one testing strip left before supplies arrive, should I wait and test after dinner?

Lynn - Are these the foods and quantities you ate before your diagnosis?

 

[Lynn1]

Lynn - Are these the foods and quantities you ate before your diagnosis?

Yes, apart from the soya and linseed bread. Plus, I would have had a large glass of Ribena to drink!

 

[AndBreathe]

Make sure you try your usual bread, and all the other carbs you would usually eat, otherwise you won't learn all you need to..

 

[Lynn1]

Make sure you try your usual bread, and all the other carbs you would usually eat, otherwise you won't learn all you need to..

Advice please. Couldn't test before breakfast as waiting for strips etc. For breakfast I had porridge, blueberries and one coffee. Just tested 2 hours later and reading 3.7. What's going on?

 

[AndBreathe]

Advice please. Couldn't test before breakfast as waiting for strips etc. For breakfast I had porridge, blueberries and one coffee. Just tested 2 hours later and reading 3.7. What's going on?

Lynn - 3.7 is just fine, provided you feel fine.

You are testing to learn stuff. You're learning. Record, move on and review when you have at least 7 days (ideally, 14) full information.

Again, is that a pre-diagnosis breakfast?

 

[Lynn1]

Lynn - 3.7 is just fine, provided you feel fine.

You are testing to learn stuff. You're learning. Record, move on and review when you have at least 7 days (ideally, 14) full information.

Again, is that a pre-diagnosis breakfast?

Yes, always have it for breakfast. As I mentioned yesterday, I did feel a little shaky in the afternoon. Should I eat something when I do?

What I don't understand is that I had the same for breakfast yesterday and meter read 6.1 after 2 hours.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Meters are only accurate to within plus or minus 15%, and in addition to that, we can all get rogue readings, a faulty strip, not washing and drying hands properly before testing, and so on. If you get an unexpected reading it is best to re-test. When I re-test I can sometimes see as much as 2mmol/l difference, so I tend to do 3 tests in those cases to try and confirm one. Having said all that, it is a mystery why the same meal with identical portion sizes can cause different rises, but it happens frequently.

Also, unless you also test before you eat, the 2 hour reading can be meaningless because you have no idea at what level you started.

 

[AndBreathe]

Yes, always have it for breakfast. As I mentioned yesterday, I did feel a little shaky in the afternoon. Should I eat something when I do?

What I don't understand is that I had the same for breakfast yesterday and meter read 6.1 after 2 hours.

What would you usually do? I imagine you would eat something? Crack on then, and eat what you would have done before diagnosis.

You are trying to get a grasp on your baseline. To reiterate, I think you only have tweaks, rather than sweeping changes, required to move your HbA1c down, and out of the pre-diabetes levels. But, until you baseline things, you won't have the information on which to make those tweaks.

 

[Lynn1]

Meters are only accurate to within plus or minus 15%, and in addition to that, we can all get rogue readings, a faulty strip, not washing and drying hands properly before testing, and so on. If you get an unexpected reading it is best to re-test. When I re-test I can sometimes see as much as 2mmol/l difference, so I tend to do 3 tests in those cases to try and confirm one. Having said all that, it is a mystery why the same meal with identical portion sizes can cause different rises, but it happens frequently.

Also, unless you also test before you eat, the 2 hour reading can be meaningless because you have no idea at what level you started.

Thanks for replying. And sorry to be such a pain. I am really over-reacting. Been a pretty awful few months with my knee replacement, so feeling rather fragile at the moment. Not like the real me at all.

 

[Bluetit1802]

You are definitely not being a pain. You are going through the mill at the moment and are allowed to feel fragile and concerned. Ask as many questions as you like, none of us minds and we will all try to help.

 

[andcol]

Just out of interest... When I exercise the night before or the morning I get a low 2 hour reading after breakfast (so this morning I was at 4.7) and without it I get a 6 reading. So you cannot expect the same reading everytime from the same foods. It depends on how you body is processing it. In this case if my muscles are full of glycogen then they dont take it up and it takes longer to process it but if my muscles are empty they just soak it up.

 

[Lynn1]

You are definitely not being a pain. You are going through the mill at the moment and are allowed to feel fragile and concerned. Ask as many questions as you like, none of us minds and we will all try to help.

Can you please tell me what is regarded as a spike? Had a reading of 5.4/8.1 after lunch yesterday having eaten 2 slices of Burgen bread. BS down to 7.1 after 2 hrs 45 mins.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Can you please tell me what is regarded as a spike? Had a reading of 5.4/8.1 after lunch yesterday having eaten 2 slices of Burgen bread. BS down to 7.1 after 2 hrs 45 mins.

Ideally you should aim for a 2 hour spike to be no more than 2mmol/l (with an odd exception!) but this is not easy to achieve in the early stages whilst you are experimenting. Your spike after the burgen bread may have depended on what you had with it. Butter will slow things down, and if it was a sandwich, what did you have? It is the combination of foods that can help or hinder. Fats tend to slow down the metabolism, so generally you would expect less of a rise but a more prolonged one. Try it again with just one slice. This is the way to work out what you can cope with. I know I can manage one slice of my Hovis, but if I have 2 slices I rocket, no matter what I have with it. It is all trial and error.

 

[Lynn1]

Ideally you should aim for a 2 hour spike to be no more than 2mmol/l (with an odd exception!) but this is not easy to achieve in the early stages whilst you are experimenting. Your spike after the burgen bread may have depended on what you had with it. Butter will slow things down, and if it was a sandwich, what did you have? It is the combination of foods that can help or hinder. Fats tend to slow down the metabolism, so generally you would expect less of a rise but a more prolonged one. Try it again with just one slice. This is the way to work out what you can cope with. I know I can manage one slice of my Hovis, but if I have 2 slices I rocket, no matter what I have with it. It is all trial and error.

It was a sausage sandwich. Just one slice at lunch today and all OK. How are you with unsweetened yoghurt?