Libre - day 4

Rocinante

Well-Known Member
Messages
66
Hi all,
Following from my previous thread... I've now had the Libre for 4 days and think I have spotted some interesting patterns.
It seems that my blood sugar goes up in the mornings and then drops later in the day, but it only drops when eat.
I normally miss breakfast, but if this pattern is real (I realise this is 4 days in) then surely the implication is that I should have something small to stimulate insulin production to lower my BS levels?

Does anyone else have this?
 
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LittleGreyCat

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,233
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diet drinks - the artificial sweeteners taste vile.
Having to forswear foods I have loved all my life.
Trying to find low carb meals when eating out.
I have what I think is called extended Dawn Phenomenon where more or less whatever I do my BG levels rise from about 06:00 to 12:00.
After that they seem to drop again, and react as expected to food etc.
Exercise in the morning often makes this worse.
Especially strenuous exercise.

I do have Bullet Resistant coffee in the morning - that is coffee, butter and double cream.

It does look as though you are getting useful information from your Libre which you wouldn't get from finger prick testing.
So try having a small snack at the start of the day and see if that helps.
Perhaps vary it from fats and protein to a small amount of carbs.
One biscuit might even be enough.
Experiment!
 
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Rocinante

Well-Known Member
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66
I have what I think is called extended Dawn Phenomenon where more or less whatever I do my BG levels rise from about 06:00 to 12:00.
After that they seem to drop again, and react as expected to food etc.
Exercise in the morning often makes this worse.
Especially strenuous exercise.

I do have Bullet Resistant coffee in the morning - that is coffee, butter and double cream.

It does look as though you are getting useful information from your Libre which you wouldn't get from finger prick testing.
So try having a small snack at the start of the day and see if that helps.
Perhaps vary it from fats and protein to a small amount of carbs.
One biscuit might even be enough.
Experiment!

Thanks - this is very interesting. It does seem that my BS rise in the morning and recently I did a long morning cycle which actually resulted in high blood sugar levels (7-9mmol) and then only came down an hour after I'd stopped (but then were much lower the next day, was 4.8 when I woke up (which was remarkable).

Do you find that the timing of exercise makes any difference?
 

LittleGreyCat

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,233
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diet drinks - the artificial sweeteners taste vile.
Having to forswear foods I have loved all my life.
Trying to find low carb meals when eating out.
Thanks - this is very interesting. It does seem that my BS rise in the morning and recently I did a long morning cycle which actually resulted in high blood sugar levels (7-9mmol) and then only came down an hour after I'd stopped (but then were much lower the next day, was 4.8 when I woke up (which was remarkable).

Do you find that the timing of exercise makes any difference?

Yes.
Morning cycling is what pushed my BG through the roof.
Cycling in the afternoon takes my BG down.
Weird or what?
 

Doolie

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Type 2
I have also been using the Freestyle Libre recently. I have similar findings. My blood sugar starts to rise at about 5am and continues to rise until noon. It happens regardless of what I do the day before. It sometimes starts to fall if I eat a low carb snack. I often go out for an early morning cycle and this pushes my blood up drastically too. Evening cycling or swimming seems to lower it considerably .
 

Rocinante

Well-Known Member
Messages
66
This is all quite fascinating stuff. I have been reading up Dr Fung here: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/fasting-blood-glucose-higher

He talks about physiologic insulin resistance, which could be what I have, and might explain why my recent Hba1C is worse.

The question is, should I be eating a bit to reduce BS levels, or should I let them stay high? And should I then be cycling in the afternoon, rather than in the morning if my aim is to improve insulin sensitivity and lose fat?
 

LittleGreyCat

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,233
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diet drinks - the artificial sweeteners taste vile.
Having to forswear foods I have loved all my life.
Trying to find low carb meals when eating out.
@Rocinante I've now started a Libre (after some months coasting through pandemic times) and the first couple of nights were as expected - start low and climb gradually through until mid-day then drop dramatically.
This in the past has been independent of what I eat or drink.
Yesterday I just drank water until early afternoon and my BG still went up the same way.

Today I was going to experiment by eating something with a high carb content first thing to see if it would provoke a peak followed by an insulin response, but for some reason I had a much lower rise so had to abandon the test.

My initial theory is that I am producing too much glucagon which inhibits insulin production until I hit a point when insulin production kicks in anyway.
High carb first thing in the morning to provoke an insulin response may prove or disprove the theory - or at least give me a working solution.

However fitting a Libre has made me much more strict about my diet in the short term (and I have 5 more to use before the end of December) so I won't really have more idea for a few weeks,

Dietary testing is very disruptive because you can't do anything on impulse and you have to severely limit the foods that you eat, and what you drink, to be able to connect food/drink with BG trends.
Having to also limit certain foods to certain specific times is also a disruption.

I just fancy a.................{hard stare from Libre sensor}
 

MrsA2

Expert
Messages
5,575
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dietary testing is very disruptive because you can't do anything on impulse and you have to severely limit the foods that you eat, and what you drink, to be able to connect food/drink with BG trends.
Know your pain. I was diagnosed on lockdown day and at first was really down about it all, but then realised it was easier to do with deliveries and restricting what I bought. Its much harder now i can go to the shops again
 

Rocinante

Well-Known Member
Messages
66
Littlegreycat - very interesting and that's very similar to my level behaviour. Typically wake up between 4.8 & 6.2 and then rises irrespective of what I do (bear in mind I haven't tested myself with high carb early morning foods) until about lunchtime then decreases. and hovers between 5 & 6 until the evening.

I too wonder if, because I'm eating so little sugar or carbs, that my body is less responsive to smallish movements in blood sugar levels. I have done the school run a couple of mornings and the walking definitely brings my BS down. I was going to test this out with a morning run, but unfortunately I've pulled a muscle and can't run at the moment.

Excuse for another Libre I think.

Looking at my levels, my estimated HBA1C is about 5.2 which is significantly down on the actual test and I think its because I have been somewhat relaxed about what I ate (raisins in salads etc) and because I've generally been on a low sugar / carb diet my body is less responsive, than if I had a move "balanced" diet.

Ultimately I guess I think I am thinking I am prediabetic, but not very significantly so but what I still don't have a clear answer to is what is my metabolic health and how do I measure this properly.
 

LittleGreyCat

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,233
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diet drinks - the artificial sweeteners taste vile.
Having to forswear foods I have loved all my life.
Trying to find low carb meals when eating out.
Another day, another slightly different result.

A bit of a ragged rise, not a smooth line, but still rising from 06:00 to 12:00 then a steep drop.

This morning I had my normal coffee+butter+cream.
As it is very low in carbohydrates I didn't see a BG kick.

Also checked the Libre against a finger prick.
My finger says 7.7 and the Libre says 7.1.
BG still dropping.
So my LIbre is reading around 0.5 low when below around 8.0.

My first check was when I had just activated the Libre.
Well, day after.
Finger and Libre agreed on 12.8 (oops!).
I know that the Libre is less accurate for lower reading so I think I may have to wait for a high reading then check that against a finger prick.

I think tomorrow may be the day for an early carb snack.
Can you say "Parkin", children?
 

Rocinante

Well-Known Member
Messages
66
How did the high carb breakfast go?

I have just a few more hours on my Libre... will probably try having a more balanced diet with some low GI carbs for 3-4 weeks to see what the impact on my BS levels is, also to see impact of running which I haven't been able to do due to injury.