Hello and help please

[zazzy46]

Hi,
I'm a quite recently diagnosed type 2 56yo male. I don't take any medication however I have invested in a blood sugar monitor.
The truth is that in the past and during prediabetes, I've kind of forgotten that I am even diabetic, life is pretty normal. Then all of a sudden, it hits me like a brick.
Last night I came home from work and suddenly felt awful, assumed I was coming down with a virus and rested/slept till lunchtime today. It was then I done a blood test.
Reading shortly after lunch=13.4mmol
2 Hours later after 20minute walk=6.4mmol.
Should I expect such a change after such a short time?

Any advice greatly appreciated x

 

[MrsA2]

Just 2 measurements are like trying to work out your overall speed on a car journey from London to Edinburgh. Not enough data yet
.
Do a test just before each meal and then 2 hours after. You are looking for a pre meal test in 5 6s or 7s (as you are new) thena rise of no more than 2 above your start point. If its higher than that it means what you ate and had too many carbs in for your body

Initially your pre meal tests may be higher than ideal as you might already be running too high amd it might take a few weeks of eating low carb to lower it over all.

Keep a note of what you eat, and your tests and you'll soon see .

And, yes sharp rises and drops can and do happen. Exercise can help lower things and carby meals will raise bg. Aim is to avoid them where possible, but it takes time and learning so don't panic. It's a marathon not a sprint

 

[zazzy46]

Just 2 measurements are like trying to work out your overall speed on a car journey from London to Edinburgh. Not enough data yet
.
Do a test just before each meal and then 2 hours after. You are looking for a pre meal test in 5 6s or 7s (as you are new) thena rise of no more than 2 above your start point. If its higher than that it means what you ate and had too many carbs in for your body

Initially your pre meal tests may be higher than ideal as you might already be running too high amd it might take a few weeks of eating low carb to lower it over all.

Keep a note of what you eat, and your tests and you'll soon see .

And, yes sharp rises and drops can and do happen. Exercise can help lower things and carby meals will raise bg. Aim is to avoid them where possible, but it takes time and learning so don't panic. It's a marathon not a sprint

Thanks for your reply, it has been more than helpful.
My diabetes nurse didn't neither recommended or discouraged me in getting a monitor, it was my choice to get one and today was the 1st time I've used it in earnest.
The difference in results came as more than a bit of a surprise so I'll probably carry on monitoring if only to learn how to interpret the results.
Thanks again

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @zazzy46 and welcome to the forum.
As has already been said Blood Glucose keeps changing during the day and especially when we take exercise, concentrate hard for a long period (like when we took school exams) and for around 2 hrs when we eat.

It sounds as though you took that first reading at around the peak for your lunch. We test 2hrs after starting a meal because for a non-diabetic, it takes around 2hrs for their Blood Glucose to return to the level it was before eating (all things being equal). But during the period from putting the food into their mouth, there is whole digestive process during which the Blood Glucose rises , followed by a response to that BG rise during which insulin is produced to drive that glucose into muscle cells and fat cells. All this takes time , so it's completely normal to find much higher BG readings between starting to eat and 2hrs after first bite.
So the first reading you took was not at all representative of anything!

 

[zazzy46]

Hi @zazzy46 and welcome to the forum.
As has already been said Blood Glucose keeps changing during the day and especially when we take exercise, concentrate hard for a long period (like when we took school exams) and for around 2 hrs when we eat.

It sounds as though you took that first reading at around the peak for your lunch. We test 2hrs after starting a meal because for a non-diabetic, it takes around 2hrs for their Blood Glucose to return to the level it was before eating (all things being equal). But during the period from putting the food into

their mouth, there is whole digestive process during which the Blood Glucose rises , followed by a response to that BG rise during which insulin is produced to drive that glucose into muscle cells and fat cells. All this takes time , so it's completely normal to find much higher BG readings between starting to eat and 2hrs after first bite.
So the first reading you took was not at all representative of anything!

 

[zazzy46]

Thanks Ian,
I'm still not sure whether my feeling awful last night was because of an infection or directly linked to diabetes but it did shock me to read the high blood glucose readings require exercise, not rest. Also infections can push up your BG levels.The last thing I wanted to do last night was exercise.

 

[MrsA2]

Many of us find out meters invaluable tool in working out what works for us an individual.
It's a shame t2s aren't prescribed them for 6 months as you can learn most of what you need to know in that time .Don't be surprised if nurse tells you not to test. Unless your someone who have severe anxiety or food related issues, its a very visual and immediate way of seeing how our body reacts

 

[Helen40]

Thanks Ian,
I'm still not sure whether my feeling awful last night was because of an infection or directly linked to diabetes but it did shock me to read the high blood glucose readings require exercise, not rest. Also infections can push up your BG levels.The last thing I wanted to do last night was exercise.

To make it even more complicated, exercising sends my bg high, even when they were spot on prior, my DC has told me to have a correction dose of insulin afterwards and then watch for hypos, but that rarely happens, it's very frustrating and after 28 years I'm still learning and take each day for what it is. Your post meal, at 2 hours, reading was fab though well done!

 

[zazzy46]

Many of us find out meters invaluable tool in working out what works for us an individual.
It's a shame t2s aren't prescribed them for 6 months as you can learn most of what you need to know in that time .Don't be surprised if nurse tells you not to test. Unless your someone who have severe anxiety or food related issues, its a very visual and immediate way of seeing how our body reacts

I wouldn't say that I don't get anxious from time to time, especially when the effects of diabetes come knocking but I usually get anxious by the not knowing. I'd imagine most people are the same.

 

[zazzy46]

To make it even more complicated, exercising sends my bg high, even when they were spot on prior, my DC has told me to have a correction dose of insulin afterwards and then watch for hypos, but that rarely happens, it's very frustrating and after 28 years I'm still learning and take each day for what it is. Your post meal, at 2 hours, reading was fab though well done!

That's the thing though, I only walked just over half a mile. I was delighted to see it come down but was surprised by how much.
Before I went for the walk, I read that going for a stroll was better than strenuous exercise so yes, something else to bear in mind.

 

[MrsA2]

Exercise can affect different people differently and on different days!
But it is still good overall so find some you can like doing and can do frequently.

For example I like walking, dancing and some exercise classes, but you'd never catch me running and are unlikely to find me in a gym (but never say never!)

 

[zazzy46]

Exercise can affect different people differently and on different days!
But it is still good overall so find some you can like doing and can do frequently.

For example I like walking, dancing and some exercise classes, but you'd never catch me running and are unlikely to find me in a gym (but never say never!)

You're right, I would never catch you, running

 

[KennyA]

Thanks Ian,
I'm still not sure whether my feeling awful last night was because of an infection or directly linked to diabetes but it did shock me to read the high blood glucose readings require exercise, not rest. Also infections can push up your BG levels.The last thing I wanted to do last night was exercise.

In my experience exercise doesn't affect blood glucose that much. Strenuous exercise will often raise BG because the body needs fuel and your liver will add glucose. Once the exercise stops, it should stop adding glucose and levels ought to normalise.

Mild exercise (the sort that doesen't produce adrenalin) might see a fall in glucose levels as the liver doesn't ever get triggered.

However in my view it's better not to take in the carbs in the first place. You don't say what you had for lunch, but my guess is it was fairly carby, and that your first 13.4 reading caught the high point as your system was digesting carbs and adding the resulting glucose to your blood. The "before eating" test is intended to establish a baseline so you can see where you started and what the food impact was.

The second reading of 6.4 is over two hours after where the baseline would have been and after you've exercised a bit. Clearly your system does reduce glucose, otherwise you'd still be high, but you cannot draw a firm conclusion because you don't know what either your starting point or your +2 hr reading was. What you're looking for at the +2 hr mark is a rise of no more than 2mmol/litre over the starting reading, and the second reading also not to be above 7.8.

Everyone's blood glucose varies all the time in response to various stimuli and food is only one, although probably the most significant. What you're recommended to try to do is isolate the food impact, so you know what food you can and cannot tolerate. Although you want to end up overall with lower blood glucose, testing isn't a competition to find the lowest and highest points of your day, or to try to manipulate your readings in the short term. Does that make sense?

 

[MrsA2]

You're right, I would never catch you, running

You'd probably overtake me within metres!

 

[zazzy46]

In my experience exercise doesn't affect blood glucose that much. Strenuous exercise will often raise BG because the body needs fuel and your liver will add glucose. Once the exercise stops, it should stop adding glucose and levels ought to normalise.

Mild exercise (the sort that doesen't produce adrenalin) might see a fall in glucose levels as the liver doesn't ever get triggered.

However in my view it's better not to take in the carbs in the first place. You don't say what you had for lunch, but my guess is it was fairly carby, and that your first 13.4 reading caught the high point as your system was digesting carbs and adding the resulting glucose to your blood. The "before eating" test is intended to establish a baseline so you can see where you started and what the food impact was.

The second reading of 6.4 is over two hours after where the baseline would have been and after you've exercised a bit. Clearly your system does reduce glucose, otherwise you'd still be high, but you cannot draw a firm conclusion because you don't know what either your starting point or your +2 hr reading was. What you're looking for at the +2 hr mark is a rise of no more than 2mmol/litre over the starting reading, and the second reading also not to be above 7.8.

Everyone's blood glucose varies all the time in response to various stimuli and food is only one, although probably the most significant. What you're recommended to try to do is isolate the food impact, so you know what food you can and cannot tolerate. Although you want to end up overall with lower blood glucose, testing isn't a competition to find the lowest and highest points of your day, or to try to manipulate your readings in the short term. Does that make sense?

Yes it does make sense and also very helpful.
My current diet is sensible but not "strict". I intend to follow my current eating habits (and my couple of ales on a Saturday night) and hopefully learn something from it.
Thanks again

 

[KennyA]

Yes it does make sense and also very helpful.
My current diet is sensible but not "strict". I intend to follow my current eating habits (and my couple of ales on a Saturday night) and hopefully learn something from it.
Thanks again

The best piece of advice I didn't get when diagnosed was to forget everything I thought I knew about healthy eating. It all depends what you actually eat, not whether you think it's sensible or not. If you test around eating, you'll see what the impact is, and then you can make an informed choice about whether that's included in your diet, or not.

Point of advice about beer: it's relatively high in carb. The effect can often be masked, though, because alcohol stops the liver balancing your blood glucose levels. You may well get lower readings than you expect, but the carb has still gone in and will eventually have to be dealt with. My experience is that post-meal readings where alcohol has been involved tell me nothing useful.

 

[Helen40]

The best piece of advice I didn't get when diagnosed was to forget everything I thought I knew about healthy eating. It all depends what you actually eat, not whether you think it's sensible or not. If you test around eating, you'll see what the impact is, and then you can make an informed choice about whether that's included in your diet, or not.

Point of advice about beer: it's relatively high in carb. The effect can often be masked, though, because alcohol stops the liver balancing your blood glucose levels. You may well get lower readings than you expect, but the carb has still gone in and will eventually have to be dealt with. My experience is that post-meal readings where alcohol has been involved tell me nothing useful.

Yep if I lift heavy weights it rises and doesn't come down on its own, and I've trained for many years tis annoying but that's type 1 for you, gentle exercise is definitely more effective at lowering bg and of course good for us all, it sounds like you've a great attitude and are taking on board all you can x