What is your acceptable spike limit?

[Fenn]

It's realistic to spike like this if you eat normally and inject insulin as a type 1.

Thanks, my life is crazy, I don’t know when I can eat so hardly ever inject in time, I end up injecting 10 seconds before or while im eating, so I get silly spikes, Im a terrible diabetic. I deserve all I get.

 

[Antje77]

Thanks, my life is crazy, I don’t know when I can eat so hardly ever inject in time, I end up injecting 10 seconds before or while im eating, so I get silly spikes, Im a terrible diabetic. I deserve all I get.

You might want to look into getting Fiasp or Lyumjev for fast acting.

 

[EllieM]

Thanks, my life is crazy, I don’t know when I can eat so hardly ever inject in time, I end up injecting 10 seconds before or while im eating, so I get silly spikes, Im a terrible diabetic. I deserve all I get.

Nonsense, you're relatively new to insulin and learning the system. There's no such thing as a terrible diabetic, there are people who have more or less difficulty with managing the juggling act of insulin, food, exercise and dare I say it, life.

I think the concept of spikes is a fairly new one. Pre cgms we never knew what our high points were after meals. as the technology wasn't there to tell. Hence the recommendations of levels 90 minutes or 2 hours after a meal. Doctors worked by statistics and hba1cs to say that people with a certain hba1c were much less likely to get diabetic complications (48 is a popular figure). And a lot of specialists get upset with T1s who have hba1cs that are too low, as that can go with severe hypos , which is definitely detrimental to health and life expectancy. And pre glucometers you measured a spike as being over 10mmol/L, as all you could measure was whether sugar had passed into your urine.

As a long term T1 on insulin, I personally lose hypo awareness if I have too many hypos. I had some of the best control of my life during my two T1 pregnancies, with (presumably) pretty low spikes, but I also had multiple trips to A&E for hypos. Not sustainable in the long term.

Now I am fortunate enough to be able to self fund a cgm, hypos are much easier to manage, and I get to see my spikes .
I'm in the @Rokaab camp, I look at my time in range (4-10), and cheer on the rare days when it's at or near 100%. But there's more to life than watching your bg levels, and if they go higher than you'd prefer, well, there's always tomorrow.

 

[lucylocket61]

Thanks, my life is crazy, I don’t know when I can eat so hardly ever inject in time, I end up injecting 10 seconds before or while im eating, so I get silly spikes, Im a terrible diabetic. I deserve all I get.

not a terrible diabetic. You are a diabetic in a very difficult situation which keeps changing. Under the circumstances I think you are doing well, to be honest.

 

[McHelen]

I am currently experiencing a spike of 32. How long before the spike starts a to come down?

 

[Antje77]

I am currently experiencing a spike of 32. How long before the spike starts a to come down?

You might want to call 111 for advice, being at 32 is really very high.

Are you on insulin? What was your last meal?

 

[lucylocket61]

I am currently experiencing a spike of 32. How long before the spike starts a to come down?

your profile says diet only. I suggest ringing for some medical advice at this point. 32 in a type 2 who is unmedicated is something to be checked out.

 

[Hopeful34]

Have you checked for ketones? Also if you haven't already done it, I'd suggest washing your hands and checking your blood sugar again, in case it was a bad reading/test strip etc.

 

[Onlinecaroline]

Ideally below 7 as a type 2, diet controlled person. Since starting low carb and reverting my numbers to non diabetic levels my BG levels seem to run low.

This week I’ve been between 3.4 and 3.9 almost all week. Lucozade only spiked me to high 5’s and then dropped almost as quickly again. So I feel any higher than 7 would have to be a lot of carb intake.

 

[McHelen]

Apologies for not responding last night but I was a little overwhelmed!!! Morning BS is 14.
I checked my ketones las night and it was negative, drank lots of water overnight. I have an HbA1c booked for tomorrow and a DR appointment when the results are back. So I will keep you posted.
I did have rice for dinner last night, which may explain the spike. Thank you for your concern.

 

[LittleGreyCat]

One thing that intrigues me is that acceptable BG readings for T1s of over 30 years experience seem to be regarded as unacceptable for T2s not on insulin.

I'm not sure that reasonably well controlled T1s (by T1 guidelines) are showing the long term damage that T2s are warned about.

Unless this is specifically damage to the pancreas.

 

[Antje77]

One thing that intrigues me is that acceptable BG readings for T1s of over 30 years experience seem to be regarded as unacceptable for T2s not on insulin.

It's because of the danger of hypo's. On insulin it's dangerous for many to run closer to 4, as this can become a hypo very quick.
It's also because it's very hard to correctly dose for food, as it's not only the amount of carbs you need to take in account, but also the timing of your injection, your current BG, time of month, time of day, weather, planned and recent activity, the fat and protein content of the meal and some other factors which all affect the dose we need.
Injected insulin doesn't work the same as your own insulin, it has a fixed action time but different foods have different action times.

All this combined means that it's simply impossible for most to stay within T2 limits.

T1's often develop the same complications as T2's. Eye damage, kidney damage, amputations, the lot.

 

[Erin]

On this very site the NICE guidelines for recommended blood sugar targets are given. Type 2 diabetics should apparently aim for 8.5 or below 1.5 hours after a meal, and for Type 1 it is below 9. Presumably these are the values on the tail-end of the spike, the spike itself can be higher. The American Diabetes association recommends a target of 10.0 for diabetics.

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html
https://www.diabetes.org/healthy-li...testing-and-control/checking-your-blood-sugar

From some of the the comments I've read on these forums those limits would seem to be a bit generous, I'd be interested to know what limits others use and why? What level of spike would be unacceptable to you?

I find that circumstances of health and diet, make a spike acceptable or avoidable. For example, if am ill, or have experienced a hypo (which for me can happen at even 5 and under, being on insulin), finding balance again, is better with a higher glucose number. Under ideal circumstances, I can tolerate 13 without a problem of sleepiness; sleepiness does come at about 16-18. I aim for 11-12. I have had diabetes 2 for about 13 yrs. now, and have been on daily insulin Humulin + glyclazide, and metformin, for about 3 yrs. I do get anxiety over these numbers, not knowing at which dangers to the organs start, and what role the frequency of out-of-range numbers play.

 

[SwissT2]

Thanks to everyone for replying, I'm trying to get a handle on what my expectations should be of my blood measurements.
I'm on Metformin 2g/day, strict(ish) low-carb diet + exercise, lost 17kg since diagnosis in August but still overweight.
I've generally been as strict as I can with diet so far but I recently started using a Libre device for the first time, I strayed somewhat from low carb to experiment with the effects of various things, the results were quite different to what I had imagined was going on.

Generally my ambient level of bg drifts between the 4s and 5s, some meals that I thought were healthy (pre-packed salads) spike me to 7.5 while others hardly produced a reaction at all. You live and learn. A bowl of Special K got me to above 12 and was still at 10 2 hours later, though this would be OK according to the ADA? Coffee with milk adds 0.5 it seems, a beer adds about 1.0. Big Mac and fries goes to 8.5 but that's silly of course.

What actually actually causes damage to blood vessels, nerves, organs etc. Is it the level of high spikes or high average glucose? It's unknown it seems, but I imagine that medical research into this would be difficult to do.

For those who have already suffered serious symptoms of this disease that can get worse I sympathize completely if you are ultra-vigilant, if that were me I would treat carbs like poison. On the other hand if I can be reasonably sure that certain measures will see me through OK then I'd be happy with that. We never know of course.

 

[lucylocket61]

Thanks to everyone for replying, I'm trying to get a handle on what my expectations should be of my blood measurements.
I'm on Metformin 2g/day, strict(ish) low-carb diet + exercise, lost 17kg since diagnosis in August but still overweight.
I've generally been as strict as I can with diet so far but I recently started using a Libre device for the first time, I strayed somewhat from low carb to experiment with the effects of various things, the results were quite different to what I had imagined was going on.

Generally my ambient level of bg drifts between the 4s and 5s, some meals that I thought were healthy (pre-packed salads) spike me to 7.5 while others hardly produced a reaction at all. You live and learn. A bowl of Special K got me to above 12 and was still at 10 2 hours later, though this would be OK according to the ADA? Coffee with milk adds 0.5 it seems, a beer adds about 1.0. Big Mac and fries goes to 8.5 but that's silly of course.

What actually actually causes damage to blood vessels, nerves, organs etc. Is it the level of high spikes or high average glucose? It's unknown it seems, but I imagine that medical research into this would be difficult to do.

For those who have already suffered serious symptoms of this disease that can get worse I sympathize completely if you are ultra-vigilant, if that were me I would treat carbs like poison. On the other hand if I can be reasonably sure that certain measures will see me through OK then I'd be happy with that. We never know of course.

Because the actual individual level of the spike which causes damage, or the actual individual length of the damaging spike, is unknown, I err on the side of caution and try to keep as near normal as possible most of the time.

 

[Erin]

Thanks to everyone for replying, I'm trying to get a handle on what my expectations should be of my blood measurements.
I'm on Metformin 2g/day, strict(ish) low-carb diet + exercise, lost 17kg since diagnosis in August but still overweight.
I've generally been as strict as I can with diet so far but I recently started using a Libre device for the first time, I strayed somewhat from low carb to experiment with the effects of various things, the results were quite different to what I had imagined was going on.

Generally my ambient level of bg drifts between the 4s and 5s, some meals that I thought were healthy (pre-packed salads) spike me to 7.5 while others hardly produced a reaction at all. You live and learn. A bowl of Special K got me to above 12 and was still at 10 2 hours later, though this would be OK according to the ADA? Coffee with milk adds 0.5 it seems, a beer adds about 1.0. Big Mac and fries goes to 8.5 but that's silly of course.

What actually actually causes damage to blood vessels, nerves, organs etc. Is it the level of high spikes or high average glucose? It's unknown it seems, but I imagine that medical research into this would be difficult to do.

Thanks for that; erring on the side of caution is good advice.

For those who have already suffered serious symptoms of this disease that can get worse I sympathize completely if you are ultra-vigilant, if that were me I would treat carbs like poison. On the other hand if I can be reasonably sure that certain measures will see me through OK then I'd be happy with that. We never know of course.