Newly diagnosed: (fasting) blood glucose questions

[Umi2021]

Hi guys!
Newbie here and would really appreciate any advice and support you guys can give .
I have had fasting blood glucose reading of 7.9 and it hardly changes well since the last 4 days it hasn’t. So I am going to go on a low carb diet and see how this affects it but I have some questions .
I had Hba1c readings of 53 two weeks ago and in and was therefore diagnosed with diabetes. However as I have just been newly diagnosed my Gp is not sure which type it is I’m guessing Type 2 but I’ll have to wait till I have my next appointment. Also I am quite young only 20 so am more worried than ever to get my sugar levels down this is suppose to be my golden years and I’m instead researching diets for hours. I am really determined to lower by Hba1c and get into remission stage.
But there’s me going on hehe, but I just wanted to ask is my fasting glucose level suppose to stay the same till I eat? As mine stays at 7.6/7.9 pretty much from 2:30pm onwards till I eat.
Also when should I be testing my blood glucose levels ? I just recently purchased a meter called Sinocare and want to measure my blood sugar levels once a day and the same time every day to see a pattern.
Anyways thank you in advance really look forward to being part of this group and let’s take a control on the silent killer aka Diabtes!

 

[Goonergal]

@Umi2021 here’s your new thread!

 

[Umi2021]

@Umi2021 here’s your new thread!

Thank you so much @Goonergal !!

 

[Goonergal]

Thank you so much @Goonergal !!

No problem. I’ll kick off the replies.

just wanted to ask is my fasting glucose level suppose to stay the same till I eat? As mine stays at 7.6/7.9 pretty much from 2:30pm onwards till I eat.

Blood glucose levels tend to fluctuate quite a lot. The more consistent you are with your eating (assuming you’re type 2), the more likely they are to be stable, but there are so many other influences - stress, lack of sleep, illness and so on.

Also when should I be testing my blood glucose levels ?

The most useful data when you’re first diagnosed is learning the impact of different foods on your blood sugars, so I’d suggest testing immediately before and then 2 hours after the first bite of each meal. Ideally you’re looking for a rise of no more than 2 mmols. Any more and the meal needs adjusting to reduce the carb content.

Sure some others will be along later, but hope that helps for now.

 

[Umi2021]

No problem. I’ll kick off the replies.

Blood glucose levels tend to fluctuate quite a lot. The more consistent you are with your eating (assuming you’re type 2), the more likely they are to be stable, but there are so many other influences - stress, lack of sleep, illness and so on.

The most useful data when you’re first diagnosed is learning the impact of different foods on your blood sugars, so I’d suggest testing immediately before and then 2 hours after the first bite of each meal. Ideally you’re looking for a rise of no more than 2 mmols. Any more and the meal needs adjusting to reduce the carb content.

Sure some others will be along later, but hope that helps for now.

Honestly @Goonergal your a star!
I see okay thank you so I should try and manage all the other co factors alongside my diet for optimum results. I am assuming I am type 2 but I guess I won’t know till my appointment with a diabetic nurse. But would you say 53 hba1c is extremely high?

Sorry for all the questions I am just curious and new to all of this I feel so overwhelmed hopefully this feeling will soon subside.

Amazing thank you that sounds like a great plan I will definitely being do this from now onwards. I am just scared as I am young and was really shocked to have been diagnosed. But I will try my hardest now and am so dedicated to bringing my blood glucose levels down but I guess I should have realised earlier the last few years have been challenging and therefore didn’t think of my diet. However I am going to stay positive and just hope I can do this.

 

[Goonergal]

But would you say 53 hba1c is extremely high?

No. The threshold for diagnosis in the UK is 48 mmol/mol, with pre-diabetes set at 42-47, so 53 is not so far into the diabetic range. For comparison my own number at diagnosis was 108! And it’s come down to non diabetic numbers through a change of diet. There are many other examples on here too.

I’m not sure how often he’s around these days, but @Caeseji was diagnosed very young too.

 

[Umi2021]

No. The threshold for diagnosis in the UK is 48 mmol/mol, with pre-diabetes set at 42-47, so 53 is not so far into the diabetic range. For comparison my own number at diagnosis was 108! And it’s come down to non diabetic numbers through a change of diet. There are many other examples on here too.

I’m not sure how often he’s around these days, but @Caeseji was diagnosed very young too.

@Goonergal Thank you so much that has put me at ease a lot. Wow that’s amazing!!! I can only imagine how much hard work , commitment and a strong mindset that took. What tips or advice would you give? Or would you have benefited from when you were newly diagnosed ? Thank you so much once again I really appreciate it .

 

[EllieM]

However as I have just been newly diagnosed my Gp is not sure which type it is I’m guessing Type 2 but I’ll have to wait till I have my next appointment. Also I am quite young only 20

Is there a reason you are assuming T2? Family history and or excess weight would make it more likely but honestly I would expect T1 to be more common at your age. Whether you are T2 or T1 reducing the carbs in your diet will help in the short term though.

Most T2s with an hba1c of 53 find it quite easy to cut the carbs sufficiently to get their levels to normal, though everyone is different and you shouldn't get discouraged if it isn't that easy. The modern food industry adds sugar to just about everything and a typical modern diet is pretty well guaranteed to both make you addicted to sugar and give you T2 diabetes eventually if you have the genetics for it.

Anyway, welcome to the forums and I hope you get on top of your sugar levels soon. It's excellent that you've purchased a meter.

 

[Goonergal]

Hi again @Umi2021

Main tip would be to reduce the carbohydrates you eat. It’ll be good to understand though, whether you are definitely type 2 as the advice about how best to do that depends upon the diabetes medication you take (or don’t take!).

This website is a good starting point: https://www.dietdoctor.com/

 

[Ronancastled]

Greetings, I was HbA1c 52 at diagnosis so almost the same as yourself.
Remission, in the form of non-diabetic numbers, may be easier for you as you only have to move the needle a small bit to get <48.
Low carb, exercise, weight loss will all aid your progress if you're confirmed T2.
Diabetes is a wide spectrum as I'm sure you'll soon learn.
I've witness pre-diabetics who despite their best efforts couldn't halt their progression to a full blown diagnosis.
Then I've seen miracles like this contributor yesterday who had an A1c of 122 at diagnosis & reversed it in 3 months.
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/very-pleased-with-progress-t2.181440/#post-2396358

Good luck

 

[Umi2021]

Is there a reason you are assuming T2? Family history and or excess weight would make it more likely but honestly I would expect T1 to be more common at your age. Whether you are T2 or T1 reducing the carbs in your diet will help in the short term though.

Most T2s with an hba1c of 53 find it quite easy to cut the carbs sufficiently to get their levels to normal, though everyone is different and you shouldn't get discouraged if it isn't that easy. The modern food industry adds sugar to just about everything and a typical modern diet is pretty well guaranteed to both make you addicted to sugar and give you T2 diabetes eventually if you have the genetics for it.

Anyway, welcome to the forums and I hope you get on top of your sugar levels soon. It's excellent that you've purchased a meter.

Hi @EllieM firstly thank you for your response!

I think I am Type 2 as my mum also is a type 2 diabetic although hers has been controlled for a number of years I know type 2 is more easily inherited. Moreover I am overweight too which makes me think I am type 2.

Honestly I couldn’t agree more everything has carbs and sugar in it. I am just going to find low carb alternatives and reduce my carb intake significantly.

Thank you so much . I hope so too will be nice to update this forum as I go ahead in my journey. What is interesting is yesterday my fbg was 7.6 but two hours after I ate I was 6.4 after a low carb meal 50g . I’m not sure why this occurred but I did go for a one hour walk right before the meal too? Am I overthinking this but I’m confused surely my bg should have gone up after a meal not down?

Wishing you a lovely day though!

 

[Umi2021]

Hi again @Umi2021

Main tip would be to reduce the carbohydrates you eat. It’ll be good to understand though, whether you are definitely type 2 as the advice about how best to do that depends upon the diabetes medication you take (or don’t take!).

This website is a good starting point: https://www.dietdoctor.com/

Hi again it’s me hehe @Goonergal , sorry if I’m being annoying.

Thank you so much once again for your invaluable advice! I did test this yesterday I had a low carb day yesterday total carbs 50g and my bg went down from my fbg im not sure what I did wrong. I also did go on a one hour walk before I measured my bg before the meal .

I really want to inhibit taking medication as long as I can hence my curiosity in low carb diet. Thank you so much will definitely read into this!

Have a great day!

 

[EllieM]

Am I overthinking this but I’m confused surely my bg should have gone up after a meal not down?

Not necessarily, particularly if the meal was breakfast. Most people find that their liver pumps out sugar first thing in the morning (got to go out and chase down those mammoths ) and so the fasting blood sugar tends to be relatively high.

But the bg going down suggests that you were coping with the carbs in that particular meal. Keep a careful record of food and bgs and you'll eventually work out what is going on, but it may take time.

 

[Umi2021]

Greetings, I was HbA1c 52 at diagnosis so almost the same as yourself.
Remission, in the form of non-diabetic numbers, may be easier for you as you only have to move the needle a small bit to get <48.
Low carb, exercise, weight loss will all aid your progress if you're confirmed T2.
Diabetes is a wide spectrum as I'm sure you'll soon learn.
I've witness pre-diabetics who despite their best efforts couldn't halt their progression to a full blown diagnosis.
Then I've seen miracles like this contributor yesterday who had an A1c of 122 at diagnosis & reversed it in 3 months.
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/very-pleased-with-progress-t2.181440/#post-2396358

Good luck

@Ronancastled thank you so much for this insightful response!
I am hoping for exactly this to get my HbA1c down to the early 40s or lower if I can.
I will test the lot and hope they will improve my bg.
Wow I see that’s incredible ! I am aware @Goonergal also brought her bg levels down significantly. It is really inspiring knowing people out there are beating this killer disease. Gives me hope I think I have researched so much and overthought that I just need to give it my all as I am so young i won’t be defined by diabetes .

Have a great day!

 

[Umi2021]

Not necessarily, particularly if the meal was breakfast. Most people find that their liver pumps out sugar first thing in the morning (got to go out and chase down those mammoths ) and so the fasting blood sugar tends to be relatively high.

But the bg going down suggests that you were coping with the carbs in that particular meal. Keep a careful record of food and bgs and you'll eventually work out what is going on, but it may take time.

@EllieM thank you so much that has put me at ease haha I love it!

So just to clarify bp being going down from the fbg number two hours after a meal is actually a good thing? I always thought I should be aiming for my bgs to not go higher than 1-2 mmols from my fasting number I wasn’t aware it could go down.

I will definitely log all my foods and hopefully see a pattern.

Thank you so so much!

 

[EllieM]

@EllieM thank you so much that has put me at ease haha I love it!

So just to clarify bp being going down from the fbg number two hours after a meal is actually a good thing? I always thought I should be aiming for my bgs to not go higher than 1-2 mmols from my fasting number I wasn’t aware it could go down.

I will definitely log all my foods and hopefully see a pattern.

Thank you so so much!

You need to measure your bg just before first bite of the meal in order to see the effect of that meal, I'm afraid. Not that useful comparing against the fbg because all your premeal readings will probably be lower than the fbg. (Sorry, yet more blood tests...)

 

[Umi2021]

You need to measure your bg just before first bite of the meal in order to see the effect of that meal, I'm afraid. Not that useful comparing against the fbg because all your premeal readings will probably be lower than the fbg. (Sorry, yet more blood tests...)

@EllieM yes that’s exactly what I did my bg was 7.6 just before the meal and exactly two hours after the first bite of the meal it was 6.4. Hence why I am confused .

 

[Goonergal]

@EllieM yes that’s exactly what I did my bg was 7.6 just before the meal and exactly two hours after the first bite of the meal it was 6.4. Hence why I am confused .

It’s not unusual for that to happen. The liver is a very ‘helpful’ organ and if it gets worried about all manner of things, including where the next meal is coming from, it can push out glucose to help things along. Shows apart from anything else that what you ate suits you!

 

[EllieM]

@EllieM yes that’s exactly what I did my bg was 7.6 just before the meal and exactly two hours after the first bite of the meal it was 6.4. Hence why I am confused .

So, the meal was breakfast??? In any case lower is better so it is all good. Honestly, 53 is a pretty low starting diabetic hba1c so there is a good chance that you won't have to change that much to improve your levels.

And I don't know if this makes any difference, but it can be much easier for younger people to lose weight than older ones, and I suspect it may also be easier for you to reverse metabolic syndromes (aka T2). Just remember that you could be T1 so if your levels start to go back up again after the low carb has improved them, push your doctor to do the tests. (T1 is not a death sentence, just a pain, and has the advantage that it will give you more dietary freedom).

 

[Resurgam]

I started to eat a low carb diet in my early 20s because that is what suited me best - and it is - to my way of thinking - far tastier than the high carb 'healthy' foods we are supposed to thrive on. It was much easier to maintain weight and I could see others flagging or struggling - my nickname was Smiler back then because I was insufferably cheerful in the wee small hours, in the rain when we were lost after a heavy gig - even when we didn't get paid.
It took until I was 65 to get a diagnosis of type two, but I have always had a problem with carbs - I have no problem with - for instance - steak, mushrooms and cauliflower mash, or any other of my low carb meals