Help understanding readings

2154

Member
Messages
12
Type of diabetes
Prefer not to say
Treatment type
Diet only
Hello,
As I am new, I am asking lots of questions to check and learn. Can anyone give guidance on this.

At 10:30 am this morning I had no testing strips (they were on the way) but I ate 1 small banana, 3 hard boiled eggs and 2 small biscuits because I felt my BS may be low.

I checked BS at 2:45 today and it was 5.6, I have just checked now at 17;20 before I consider eating and my BS reads 6.2, but i have had nothing but water since 10:30.

does anyone understand from this anything that will help me decide of food for now to help me get a better night sleep and be ok until breakfast.

Are those readings right or not for the circumstances?

Thanks agian
 

KennyA

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Staff Member
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2,913
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
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Diet only
Hello,
As I am new, I am asking lots of questions to check and learn. Can anyone give guidance on this.

At 10:30 am this morning I had no testing strips (they were on the way) but I ate 1 small banana, 3 hard boiled eggs and 2 small biscuits because I felt my BS may be low.

I checked BS at 2:45 today and it was 5.6, I have just checked now at 17;20 before I consider eating and my BS reads 6.2, but i have had nothing but water since 10:30.

does anyone understand from this anything that will help me decide of food for now to help me get a better night sleep and be ok until breakfast.

Are those readings right or not for the circumstances?

Thanks agian
Hi again. If I recall correctly, you're not diabetic and those readings seem to reflect what you ate. If I ate a banana and two biscuits I'd expect a much larger rise that would last maybe 12 hours or more. Don't forget there's a 15% allowable error in fingerprick testing.

Eat if you're hungry, and don't stress about it.
 
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Antje77

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At 10:30 am this morning I had no testing strips (they were on the way) but I ate 1 small banana, 3 hard boiled eggs and 2 small biscuits because I felt my BS may be low.
What type of diabetes do you have and what medications are you on?
Do you have a history of hypoglycaemia?
 

2154

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Diet only
Not been diagnosed yet, trying to get in to Doctor on Friday. after the two readings above, I had smoked haddock, brussels, cauliflower, broccoli, and 1 grilled tomato, went for a 40 min walk and just re-tested and it is 7.1 (exactly 2 hours after eating)
 

EllieM

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Not been diagnosed yet, trying to get in to Doctor on Friday. after the two readings above, I had smoked haddock, brussels, cauliflower, broccoli, and 1 grilled tomato, went for a 40 min walk and just re-tested and it is 7.1 (exactly 2 hours after eating)

The T2s on here aim for a rise of less than 2mmol/L two hours after eating so your readings are within that. (If I understand correctly).

At 10:30 am this morning I had no testing strips (they were on the way) but I ate 1 small banana, 3 hard boiled eggs and 2 small biscuits because I felt my BS may be low.

Low blood sugar is only really relevant for diabetics on specific glucose lowering medication. (There are a few non diabetic hypoglycemic conditions but there is no suggestion that you have any of them.) Non diabetics can have their blood sugars go down into the 3s on occasion without any harm.
 

Antje77

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Not been diagnosed yet, trying to get in to Doctor on Friday. after the two readings above, I had smoked haddock, brussels, cauliflower, broccoli, and 1 grilled tomato, went for a 40 min walk and just re-tested and it is 7.1 (exactly 2 hours after eating)
Why do you think there's something wrong?
 

Ronancastled

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,236
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Not been diagnosed yet, trying to get in to Doctor on Friday. after the two readings above, I had smoked haddock, brussels, cauliflower, broccoli, and 1 grilled tomato, went for a 40 min walk and just re-tested and it is 7.1 (exactly 2 hours after eating)
While exercise normally blunts spikes from eating carbs I don't see many carbs in that dinner.
To fuel your muscles your liver then taps fat stores, the great by-product of this is weight loss.
Vigorous exercise causes short term spikes in non-diabetics, very evident on athletes wearing CGMs.
Also a large meal with lots of protein will pulse through your system with gradual highs & lows.

Did you test at 3 hours by any chance ?
Nothing in your figures present as worrying to me.
 

finzi1966

Well-Known Member
Messages
183
Your figures all seem normal to me, and your food choices good (diabetics need to be wary of bananas but I see nothing in your figures that suggest that you are diabetic). Blood sugar rises and falls whether you eat or not (not that 6.2 counts as high). Just eat when you’re hungry/when you would normally have your meals. You don’t need to check your blood sugar to see if you’re allowed to eat.

The reason that T2 diabetics check their sugar before a meal is just to have a baseline to compare with when they check 2 hours later (to make sure it hasn’t risen by more than 2mmol). But because your blood sugars are pretty normal from what I can see, you probably don’t even need to bother with that. Just do a two hours after check if you’re curious as to what effect your particular meal had and if it’s high (for a non-diabetic I’d probably count >7.5 at two hours as high) then rethink the contents of that meal for another time.
 

2154

Member
Messages
12
Type of diabetes
Prefer not to say
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi All
Thanks for your messages. To add to the above, so you have an understanding of why I feel I may be diabetic or pre-diabetic, is because I just don't feel right and have been doing my own AGAMATRIX Wavesense Jazz tests, which seem high, first thing in the morning and around 1030 am, before any food, only a pint of water, as not hungry yet. For example as you can see from what I ate yesterday, my readings there and my readings today. I had smoked haddock, brussels, cauliflower, broccoli, and 1 grilled tomato, went for a 40 min walk and then tested and it is 7.1 (exactly 2 hours after eating). This morning at 0725 (no food or water) 7.1, at 1030 (after 1 pint of water and no food) 7.0.

That's what leads me to believe that I am more than likely now a diabetic, as these readings are higher than the recommended readings for a normal non-diabetic and sit in the diabetic range. I am committed to mange this by low carb food and walking hoping I can reduce this, to prevent being officially being diagnosed as diabetic. I am not sure if this is possible, or am I already diabetic and do i need medical intervention also at this stage. I only ask you as those managing the condition for your thoughts, ideas, words that can help me relax, as i must admit I'm anxious about it. Thank you in advance
 
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I've recently been through something similar. Convinced myself I am diabetic/prediabetic, following a series of higher-than-'normal' (for a non-diabetic person) fingerprick tests. I considered a private HbA1C but went for one via my GP. Turned out to be in healthy range suggesting that my numbers weren't -usually- at the higher end most of the time.

I came to conclusion that a few things were probably influencing the situation: very high stress at the time (mostly emotional), PCOS & a decades-long tendency to indulge a bit probably contributing to insulin resistance (albeit not bad enough, yet, to send me to diabetic HbA1C), and some degree of Dawn Phenomenon sending my morning/fasting blood glucose higher. Also it was Christmas period, eben though I'd been fairly restrained with treats I had indulged a bit.

I figured that regardless of what diagnostic category I do or don't fall into, I can use this as an opportunity to learn about my health and make changes accordingly. For example even though I now occasionally dabble in intermittent fasting I'll now have an 8hr eating window earlier in the day, not later (seeing as my liver will probably release glucose in the morning if I don't eat, so not really getting any benefit from I.F. at that time).

My numbers weren't super-high so I feel no need to go super-strict, but I've increased physical activity, focussed on relaxation/de-stressing, and changed my diet. Specifically with an emphasis on meals being low GL/GI (un-refined carbs, significantly smaller portions than before), high fibre from fresh veg & a little fruit, healthy fats (not going to get into what my idea of a heathy fat is, here!) and something protein-rich at each meal (I am also exploring supplements, but that's a whole other angle). Hopefully this can make an impact on any insulin resistance.

I'm taking a break from testing as it caused me too much worry (considering that numbers were never very high) but did see some small improvements in my numbers at the time. What I plan to do is stick to these changes (for the most part, I know I'm priveliged to not have to be super-strict 24/7), and then test for a few days in a month or so, to see what's changed.

I don't know if this is helpful. I guess I'm just saying try not to panic. And if you can make healthier lifestyle changes now that's great, regardless of test results.