Fasting test & levels

[Raspin]

Hi,

I wondered if someone could offer some insight into a fasting test and how bad certain levels of BG is.

I test myself in the morning, i haven't eaten for at least 8 hours before, actually closer to 12 hours as we normally have dinner around 6.30.

I'm aware of something called morning syndrome where your glucose levels can be higher first thing but its usually 5 to 5.5. (Usually around 5.4). I'm diagnosed type 2.

To get an idea of what normal might be my wife also tested and was 5.0, only 0.5 lower than me. She isn't diabetic at all and ate exactly the same dinner as me 12 hours before. This has me wondering if her reading is normal, or mine is more normal than i thought (i always think normal is more 4.5ish but i read somewhere it can vary from person to person).

I have been eating healthily and low carbing with quite a bit of fish in my diet. What i'm confused about is how much is a fasting test influenced by what you had been eating prior to the 12 hour period when you fast. Am i getting 5.0-5.5 because when i am eating i'm being good or is it irrelevant what i ate before the fasting period started as long as i haven't eaten for 12 hours? If i ate a sack of potatoes and then fasted for 12 hours, and tested, would it be higher?

I've been testing every night also, about 9pm, roughly 2 hours, or a little more, after dinner and its been consistently 5 - 5.7. I rarely drop below 5 though, if i do its usually just before lunch or just before dinner with a 4.7 but my average BG level seems to be around 5.3

What does all this mean? Anyone?

Thanks

 

[RosieLKH]

Now, I'm not in any way an expert, but your figures look like your healthy, low carb diet has got your blood sugar levels under control.

It's difficult to tell how well you've done with this without the context of how you've been in the past, why your were diagnosed as type 2, if you are on any medications, what your weight is like etc.

In my experience, what I eat the previous day definitely does affect my BS levels the following day, sometimes well into the afternoon. I also get a noticeably higher level before breakfast than I do for the rest of the day no matter what I've been eating. I've noticed though that the longer I maintain a low carb diet, the more even my BS levels appear to be. They generally remain lower than they used to, and I cope with occasional higher carbs without ever going as high as I used to.

I would expect if you abandoned your low carb ways you would see a gradual rise in BS levels to where they were when you were diagnosed as type 2 (I'm assuming here they were once higher).

 

[Squire Fulwood]

Hi,


I have been eating healthily and low carbing with quite a bit of fish in my diet. What i'm confused about is how much is a fasting test influenced by what you had been eating prior to the 12 hour period when you fast. Am i getting 5.0-5.5 because when i am eating i'm being good or is it irrelevant what i ate before the fasting period started as long as i haven't eaten for 12 hours? If i ate a sack of potatoes and then fasted for 12 hours, and tested, would it be higher?

I have demonstrated many times that I can affect my morning readings by what I eat the evening before. I ran a number of tests where I began with a reading of (say) 10 and by not eating carbs in the evening or drinking wine (a weakness) I can progressively lower my morning readings.

Each day the readings lower by about 0.5 to 1 mmol until the readings can be as low as 4.*. It is important to note that the readings take some days to get low. You can raise them up more quickly by holding a barbecue etc.

This morning my reading was 4.8. Last Thursday it was 9. Getting bored though.

 

[sanguine]

All looks like a very well-controlled low carb BG response to me. Are you on any medication (I'm guessing not)?

I think non-diabetic fasting levels should be 5.5 or less.

Well done!

 

[Raspin]

Thanks for your replies, its not really the whole story. Sorry for the wall of text,

I was diagnosed at the beginning of January this year. I was incredibly thirsty all the time, drinking water by the pint. I have always eaten alot, particularly bread and potatoes. I'm overweight, was more so then, and had eaten wayyyy to much **** over xmas. My blood sugar when tested was 24.

Thing is i'm only 35, though my father was type 2 diabetic and i understand genetics plays a role. I say was because he died mid July last year, age 65, just 5 1/2 months before I was diagnosed. It hit me incredibly hard, particularly as we'd just had our first child, a baby boy, just 6 weeks earlier. My mom died when I was 18 so he was my only parent. I felt my son had been robbed of a grandad who adored him and as much as I loved my son, i still do, there was also a conflict that, because I associated him with my father, he served as a painful reminder of his death. It was probably the most stressful time of my life.

5 1/2 months later i'm diagnosed diabetic and wondering how the hell a 35 year old has diabeties. I also work in sales which can be stressful. The point is, I keep hearing how stress can be a huge factor in diabeties and i'm, wondering if it played a significant role in me developing it.

When i found out i was incredibly determined to do everything I could to fix myself. I went on the newcastle diet, lost 2 stone and improved my readings to the point where i stopped taking metformin by choice. Unfortunately, I started eating badly again some time after the 8 weeks was over, mostly due to convenience, work, running about after child. laziness and denial. I put a stone back on, and although I was not as bad as in the past, i was still pretty bad.

I only started to eat healthy again 7 days ago, just low carb and lots of fish, I started taking my 500g metformin again 2 days ago. I have got 5 - 5.7 every evening (2ish hours after dinner) for the last 7 days.

I went to a bbq yesterday and ate bread and sweet n sour chicken, ribs in source so i expected it to be quite bad today. I even had a cheese sandwich at 7.30ish as i was hungry when i got in and there was no food in the house.

What puzzles me most is why my own BS was only 5.5, and also why it was only 0.5 more than my wife who isn't diabetic, yet she went to the same bbq, and didn't eat anything after 5ish. I'm starting to wonder if she's diabetic or i'm just not as diabetic as my initial numbers suggested (maybe due to stress?)

I've been bad and not made a appointment to go back and see the nurse since January, partly cos i fell off the wagon, partly because her attitude winds me up. She was so dismissive of low carbing & the newcastle diet (she'd never heard of it) and a lot that i've read, here and elsewhere, since my diagnosis, seems at odds with her advice and makes me question whether she's even the best person to be listening to. I want to have a month or so of being "good" before i book an appointment.

 

[sanguine]

I'm sorry for your loss of your father, and I'm sure in time you will see your son without being reminded of that loss.

You've experienced how diabetes can come back and bite you if you stop doing what you did to get it under control. The important thing is to get back on the wagon, which you have done. Stress can be a powerful negative influence on blood sugar levels (to do with the 'conflict' between stress and relaxation hormones in the system). Cortisol produced by stress (along with adrenaline) can trigger the liver to dump glucose - historically to prepare the body for fight or flight. But in this modern world frequently neither of those things happens.

If you are able to reduce your stress levels that would certainly be a good thing.

A lot of us suffer from ill-informed and unhelpful DNs (more potential stress). The best solution is often to just let them talk, nod occasionally and then carry on regardless doing what works for you.

 

[Raspin]

Hi Sanguine,

Thanks for the reply. I'm much more cheerful and less stressed now. It just takes time to get over that sort of thing and having the joy of my new son and the despair of my fathers death was a bit of an overload but time has helped and my son is amazing. Now i see my dad in him and it makes me smile.

I'm going to go back and see the nurse but ill wait the month as i'm being extra good. me and the wife just ordered new bikes with a child seat on the back of mine so i'm gonna be trying to get a lot more exercise too. I read a study today that suggested an hour of excercise a day can raise your insulin sensistivity by up to 50%. Fingers crossed then