Odd things affecting BG, all types

Antje77

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19,284
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LADA
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Just curious what odd or unexpected things others have found affecting their numbers.
I'll kick off with two odd things I'm sure about, and one suspect but odder thing. :)

1. Dentist. (up)
I'm pretty scared of going to the dentist, however much I like and trust my current dentist. I always try to pretend I'm not scared, both to myself and to the dentist.
No way I can fool anyone now I've got the Libre2 with alarms, the moment I enter the dentists practice I shoot up, no matter how stable I was for hours before, and my Libre snitches on me.

It's fine, I mean, I don't go to the dentist all to often, I showed my dentist my ridiculous graph, taught him a lot about diabetes while I was at it, and we had a good laugh about it too!

2. Driving busier motorways. (down)
I live in a rural area, motorways are two lanes, not much traffic, plenty of room between motorway exits. So despite having done my lessons in and around Amsterdam, some 25 years ago, I'm not very used to having 4 or 5 lanes, exits splitting into other exits, exits on the 'wrong' side of the road, and of course cars so close together the car behind me can almost read my speedometer.
While this scares me just like the dentist does, it makes me drop like a brick, so I take care to be aware of my BG and maybe eat a little something whenever I pass eiter the city of Hoorn or the city of Zwolle on my way south, as that's where stuff starts happening.

My guess is that my brain is working very hard at those moments, doing something which takes all my wits and concentration, so the glucose is going to my brain.
Yes, the fear is there, just like at the dentist, but it's not a helpless fear where you need to just sit it out, it's more an active fear of missing something and making a mistake.

3. Going to the vet. (down)
This one may be coincidence, but every time I've been to the vet in the past two years or so (maybe 5 times?) I've had either a hypo while there or right after. By now I know they have a very well filled cookie jar! :D
Today I remembered, so I did an extra check instead of trusting my Libre (in case of a quick drop), even though a hypo was unlikely at that point. 3.8. Perfect value to catch and treat, and share my winegums with the vet and her assistant, asking if someone else had a hypo too. :happy:

I have no idea why the vet would drop me but I'll be alert on sudden drops there in the future.

So what strange BG behaviour have you found?

(Fingers crossed the cat will be alright by the way. He has a heart murmur and it looks like it has turned into heart failure with fluids at his lungs, so he had a shot of prednisone and will be on tablets to make him pee more for 10 days, with the expectation he might need to go on those tablets indefinitely if the symptoms return.)
 

Jaylee

Oracle
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18,215
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Type 1
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Yep, since getting a sensor, though I love my own wagon. Driving the work's vehicle has an effect. (Some sort of liver dump.)
I worked in a busy engineering production plant & a pretty intense manager fired up my BGs too though my colleagues felt I handled the guy well?

Gigs, oddly keep me on the straight & narrow even when my basal should be tailing off or even depleted?
Some nights I can cruise at 4.8. (Checked with the meter too.)
 

JoKalsbeek

Expert
Messages
5,939
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Just curious what odd or unexpected things others have found affecting their numbers.
I'll kick off with two odd things I'm sure about, and one suspect but odder thing. :)

1. Dentist. (up)
I'm pretty scared of going to the dentist, however much I like and trust my current dentist. I always try to pretend I'm not scared, both to myself and to the dentist.
No way I can fool anyone now I've got the Libre2 with alarms, the moment I enter the dentists practice I shoot up, no matter how stable I was for hours before, and my Libre snitches on me.

It's fine, I mean, I don't go to the dentist all to often, I showed my dentist my ridiculous graph, taught him a lot about diabetes while I was at it, and we had a good laugh about it too!

2. Driving busier motorways. (down)
I live in a rural area, motorways are two lanes, not much traffic, plenty of room between motorway exits. So despite having done my lessons in and around Amsterdam, some 25 years ago, I'm not very used to having 4 or 5 lanes, exits splitting into other exits, exits on the 'wrong' side of the road, and of course cars so close together the car behind me can almost read my speedometer.
While this scares me just like the dentist does, it makes me drop like a brick, so I take care to be aware of my BG and maybe eat a little something whenever I pass eiter the city of Hoorn or the city of Zwolle on my way south, as that's where stuff starts happening.

My guess is that my brain is working very hard at those moments, doing something which takes all my wits and concentration, so the glucose is going to my brain.
Yes, the fear is there, just like at the dentist, but it's not a helpless fear where you need to just sit it out, it's more an active fear of missing something and making a mistake.

3. Going to the vet. (down)
This one may be coincidence, but every time I've been to the vet in the past two years or so (maybe 5 times?) I've had either a hypo while there or right after. By now I know they have a very well filled cookie jar! :D
Today I remembered, so I did an extra check instead of trusting my Libre (in case of a quick drop), even though a hypo was unlikely at that point. 3.8. Perfect value to catch and treat, and share my winegums with the vet and her assistant, asking if someone else had a hypo too. :happy:

I have no idea why the vet would drop me but I'll be alert on sudden drops there in the future.

So what strange BG behaviour have you found?

(Fingers crossed the cat will be alright by the way. He has a heart murmur and it looks like it has turned into heart failure with fluids at his lungs, so he had a shot of prednisone and will be on tablets to make him pee more for 10 days, with the expectation he might need to go on those tablets indefinitely if the symptoms return.)
No idea. Which made me realise I really don't test a whole lot anymore, these days. Might need to take it up again and see how I'm doing!
Mouse had a murmur too, the betablockers really helped. Bad kidneys though, but she was well over 15 when she passed. Hope your kitty'll fare well on them too!
 

Antje77

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19,284
Type of diabetes
LADA
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Insulin
Gigs, oddly keep me on the straight & narrow even when my basal should be tailing off or even depleted?
Some nights I can cruise at 4.8. (Checked with the meter too.)
Now this is a nice addition! It's not only odd things which lower or raise bg's, there's odd things keeping us stable as well!
 

JAT1

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563
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
If I feel cold and I do a finger prick test, my sugar level is dropping. Although, it could be that low sugar causes me to feel cold.
 

KennyA

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Type 2 (in remission!)
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Ambient temperature. We had a mini-heatwave in the summer (hot for the UK anyway) and my readings went up from the normal 4s and 5s, to 5s and 6s, for as long as it lasted.

Alcohol. Two glasses of chianti or similar brings my readings right down and makes a nonsense of testing around any carby meal with wine. I've seen falls in BG after cheat meals that included (eg) bread, spaghetti, root veg...and a bottle of Barolo.
 
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KK123

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If I feel cold and I do a finger prick test, my sugar level is dropping. Although, it could be that low sugar causes me to feel cold.

Me too, I reckon it's because the body has gone into a panic and all its resources (energy) is rushing to the brain and other vital organs. This might mean the extremities are deprived and go cold, a bit like hypothermia maybe?
 
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Widgets

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I managed to trip over my shoelaces on Sunday - my face broke my fall (I have one heck of a shiner on my right eye!), since then my blood sugars have been a couple of points higher than my normal. They seem to be calming down again now, but 48+ hours of high readings with no change in diet.
 
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Antje77

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I managed to trip over my shoelaces on Sunday - my face broke my fall (I have one heck of a shiner on my right eye!), since then my blood sugars have been a couple of points higher than my normal. They seem to be calming down again now, but 48+ hours of high readings with no change in diet.
Ouch!
Hope both the face and your BG's will improve shortly!
 
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Antje77

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@Widgets story made me think of a very odd occasion where my BG's weren't affected, to the point I almost felt offended by diabetes not being impressed at all by my suffering. :hilarious:

A year ago or so (or maybe two years?) I had a sore arm. Not just any sore arm but a Sore Arm, which caused me to live from painkiller to painkiller, waking up crying from the pain every time when it was still an hour to my next one, and not daring to move at all because even though it was my right arm, moving my left toe was enough to start agony again, you get the gist. (Never found out what it was by the way, despite ultrasounds and x-rays and stuff, but it went away by itself.)

The oddest thing was that my BG's were perfectly fine and predictable all the time this was going on! I don't remember how long it took, but it was at least ten days.
Good thing diabetes wasn't much work of course, especially as testing and injecting one-handedly isn't easy, but I still felt somewhat ignored. I mean, diabetes could at least have acknowledged things weren't right.

It reacts to absolutely everything, and then nothing when you're in so much pain you want to just get rid of your own arm!
Yes, convenient but offending!
 
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Widgets

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@Widgets story made me think of a very odd occasion where my BG's weren't affected, to the point I almost felt offended by diabetes not being impressed at all by my suffering. :hilarious:


It reacts to absolutely everything, and then nothing when you're in so much pain you want to just get rid of your own arm!
Yes, convenient but offending!

That sounds deeply unpleasant. And yes, I would have been offended as well! How dare blood sugar not react to something like that!!
 

Antje77

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That sounds deeply unpleasant. And yes, I would have been offended as well! How dare blood sugar not react to something like that!!
Exactly that!
You worded it much better than I did, that's what I meant!
 
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Yaya10_10

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Dentist up this is I think because of stress.

but when you said down with driving in busy roads..
I felt this is really odd. Stress makes the bg goes up but here drops it downhill.

But look at the bright side of things, when your bg takes off high just drive your car to a nearest busy road. ( Just kidding:D).

Take care Antje
 

Antje77

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But look at the bright side of things, when your bg takes off high just drive your car to a nearest busy road.
At least that's cheaper than visiting the vet every time I go high! :hilarious:
 

sgm14

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1. Dentist. (up)

I had to go to the dentist yesterday and was wondering what effect this would have and suspected that it would also increase my levels.

It is complicated by the fact that I would also be doing some shopping and quite a lot of walking when I was 'in town'. (Yesterday was over six miles) From experience, I found that if I left the house with my figures at eight or below, I knew the walking would almost certainly cause me to go low unless I took some carbs.

I am a bit of a worrier and usually find things aren't as bad I expected, so I had kind of expected my figures to rise before the actual visit, rather than during/after. Strangely enough my lowest reading (8.7) was when I was actually sitting (or lying back) in the dentist's chair, before the actual work started. (I had been asked how my blood sugar levels were, so I did a scan).

I did a scan after the work had finished and my figures had risen to 9.3, but that rise is not really significant. So it looked at this stage as if the visit had not really affected me much.

What happened afterwards was strange and they started rising again and even reached 11.5 two hours later. This was seven hours after breakfast and without any food in-between and for most of those two hours I was walking/shopping.

Not really sure what to make of it.
 

Hopeful34

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It may have been the adrenaline from the dentist's visit that caused the rise later on. I've often had my blood sugar rise 2-4 hours after a stressful situation.
 

sgm14

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It may have been the adrenaline from the dentist's visit that caused the rise later on. I've often had my blood sugar rise 2-4 hours after a stressful situation.

I have had adrenaline spikes and had spikes which I put down to stress, but I never associated the two. Also I would have expected the adrenaline spike to happen immediately as in - I need the extra energy right now for this potential fight or flight.