Baseline BG Levels - Strange phenomenon

[finsit]

Hi guys, i have a quick question about a phenomenon that i am unable to understand so would be very helpful if you guys can share your personal experience or any studies on this.

I am T2, was diagnosed with an a1c of 78 in Dec 2020 and managed to bring my a1c to close to 30. I am on a low-carb diet (less than 30g carbs a day). I do monitor my BGs regularly and i noticed that that normally my BGs consistently stay between 6-6.5 mmol for 2-3 hours after food and in the early mornings after i wake up (8-11) even if i hadnt had a breakfast. However, some times they do shoot to above 7 due to change in food and they don't stay there for long, as soon as i cross 7, within 20 minutes they go back to 5s. So the question is as i can imagine that when they are at 6 mmol, they pretty much stay there. So does this mean that we have a predetermined baseline BG levels for everyone of us, which sound 6 for me pretty much? One day i tried to test my insulin and had some sweets and my BG jumped to 9.2 after an hour but came back to 6.5 within an hour. Any explanation why i am stuck in 6s?

My 8 hour fasting BGs are normally below 5.5. interested to know your personal experiences. Appreciate your time.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @zamalik Like most on here I'm only an expert in my own body's diabetic reaction, however here is my guess as to what you may be experiencing:

The liver regulates blood glucose in so far as producing more glucose if the BG levels get 'too low' or if there is greater demand due to vigorous exercise (hence Dawn Phenomenon and also the fact that certain exercise can increase measured BG while less strenuous exercise usually reduces it). The 'too low' level is (like 'normal body weight') just based upon what the body has grown accustomed to. Thus the 'floor' BG of 5 may well be cause by your liver being unused to more normal BG levels since it hasn't yet had long enough to grow accustomed to them.

My own fasting BG is still usually in the high 6's to low 7's even though I dropped from diabetic to pre-diabetic and the to normal HbA1c fairly swiftly starting in summer of 2019.

 

[Ronancastled]

The way I understand it is the body has a baseline it likes to run at. Take body temp for example, the normal human body temperature range is typically stated as 36.5–37 °C (97.7–98.6 °F). For glucose your body seems to like to run in the 6s, correcting any over/undershoots by releasing glucose/insulin accordingly. They say a normal heathy person can be back to fasting 3 hours after eating so that would be <5.6 so you're only slightly above that mark.

For some reason my body wants to be in the low 4s, sometime the high 3s & I don't know why.

 

[finsit]

The way I understand it is the body has a baseline it likes to run at. Take body temp for example, the normal human body temperature range is typically stated as 36.5–37 °C (97.7–98.6 °F). For glucose your body seems to like to run in the 6s, correcting any over/undershoots by releasing glucose/insulin accordingly. They say a normal heathy person can be back to fasting 3 hours after eating so that would be <5.6 so you're only slightly above that mark.

For some reason my body wants to be in the low 4s, sometime the high 3s & I don't know why.

Thank you for this. If you go to low 4s or 3s and have a1c in 30s, i would suspect you have a higher spike after meals? On my low carb diet i can maintain my BG 24 hours pretty much in a narrow range 5.5-6.5 about 98% of the time. Does this help?

 

[finsit]

Hi @zamalik Like most on here I'm only an expert in my own body's diabetic reaction, however here is my guess as to what you may be experiencing:

The liver regulates blood glucose in so far as producing more glucose if the BG levels get 'too low' or if there is greater demand due to vigorous exercise (hence Dawn Phenomenon and also the fact that certain exercise can increase measured BG while less strenuous exercise usually reduces it). The 'too low' level is (like 'normal body weight') just based upon what the body has grown accustomed to. Thus the 'floor' BG of 5 may well be cause by your liver being unused to more normal BG levels since it hasn't yet had long enough to grow accustomed to them.

My own fasting BG is still usually in the high 6's to low 7's even though I dropped from diabetic to pre-diabetic and the to normal HbA1c fairly swiftly starting in summer of 2019.

Thank you. Well that is another way to look at it. I have started 2 days fasting a week so that should give my body a taste of below 5s sugar level because after 12-14 hours, i normally go low 4s.

 

[Ronancastled]

Thank you for this. If you go to low 4s or 3s and have a1c in 30s, i would suspect you have a higher spike after meals? On my low carb diet i can maintain my BG 24 hours pretty much in a narrow range 5.5-6.5 about 98% of the time. Does this help?

Here's my Libre snapshot from my 14 day trial.
Says I only spent 1% of the time over 7.8(140) & that's eating moderate carbs.
As you'll see my average glucose is low at 4.6 but that doesn't tally with the expected A1c.
The phone app was different & estimated my A1c in the mid 20s.
I think there's an algorithm in play with the online viewer whereas the app just does a direct conversion of your average glucose.

 

[finsit]

Here's my Libre snapshot from my 14 day trial.
Says I only spent 1% of the time over 7.8(140) & that's eating moderate carbs.
As you'll see my average glucose is low at 4.6 but that doesn't tally with the expected A1c.
The phone app was different & estimated my A1c in the mid 20s.
I think there's an algorithm in play with the online viewer whereas the app just does a direct conversion of your average glucose.

View attachment 49906

That's interesting. Im sure you are in a good control of your D2, well done.