5.5 to 5.9 mmol/L Oddity

vit90 said:

Is there an advised time from waking up in the morning to do a fasting blood test? I generally do one within 20 minutes of getting out of bed. Is that too soon?

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There is your mistake. You should test immediately you get out of bed (after washing hands). During the 20 minutes you have waited, you will no doubt have been rushing about, having a shower, making breakfast, whatever. This will encourage your liver to start dumping glucose. Also, higher fasting levels than you like are probably due to some insulin resistance. Insulin resistance tends to improve as the day progresses. Normally our lowest readings of the day are before our evening meal.

Bluetit1802 said:

There is your mistake. You should test immediately you get out of bed (after washing hands). During the 20 minutes you have waited, you will no doubt have been rushing about, having a shower, making breakfast, whatever. This will encourage your liver to start dumping glucose. Also, higher fasting levels than you like are probably due to some insulin resistance. Insulin resistance tends to improve as the day progresses. Normally our lowest readings of the day are before our evening meal.

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I have to slightly disagree. Or, little unsure if it work just like that.

Not everyone has a glucose reader at home, so if you’re taking fasting blood glucose at the doctor you probably have waited 20 minutes and taken a shower, but this does not mean a doctors finger prick test are false. Also, my blood suger does not seem to raise in the morning if I’m not eating, but everyone might be different, so who knows

Bluetit1802 said:

There is your mistake. You should test immediately you get out of bed (after washing hands). During the 20 minutes you have waited, you will no doubt have been rushing about, having a shower, making breakfast, whatever. This will encourage your liver to start dumping glucose. Also, higher fasting levels than you like are probably due to some insulin resistance. Insulin resistance tends to improve as the day progresses. Normally our lowest readings of the day are before our evening meal.

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OK, I'll try that and let you know what happens.

Emile_the_rat said:

I have to slightly disagree. Or, little unsure if it work just like that.

Not everyone has a glucose reader at home, so if you’re taking fasting blood glucose at the doctor you probably have waited 20 minutes and taken a shower, but this does not mean a doctors finger prick test are false. Also, my blood suger does not seem to raise in the morning if I’m not eating, but everyone might be different, so who knows

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If you have a fasting blood test at the doctor's and it is high it just alerts them to the fact that you may be diabetic but they need an HbA1c test to confirm it.

Emile_the_rat said:

so if you’re taking fasting blood glucose at the doctor you probably have waited 20 minutes and taken a shower, but this does not mean a doctors finger prick test are false.

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No of course it doesn't, as it is just a snapshot of what it is at the time of the test, and in most people it is likely to be higher than it was when they first wake up. My surgery stopped doing fasting venous blood glucose tests a few years ago. I was told this was because of the unreliability. Everyone now gets an HbA1c straight off.

If you want the best chance of testing before the liver kicks in or before activity increases levels, or stress, then ASAP after waking is the best chance. Taking it later you don't really know how much your activities have affected matters.

Bluetit1802 said:

No of course it doesn't, as it is just a snapshot of what it is at the time of the test, and in most people it is likely to be higher than it was when they first wake up. My surgery stopped doing fasting venous blood glucose tests a few years ago. I was told this was because of the unreliability. Everyone now gets an HbA1c straight off.

If you want the best chance of testing before the liver kicks in or before activity increases levels, or stress, then ASAP after waking is the best chance. Taking it later you don't really know how much your activities have affected matters.

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Well, highest fasting blood glucose I have had was taken right after I woke up, 7.5 mmol. For me, my fasting blood sugar seem to decrease as time go (if I skip breakfast).

So people shouldn’t be so determinded and say that fasting blood increase as time go. For me it is quite different, because people are different. Just because some experience increase in fasting blood sugar by time, doesn’t mean everyone does.

Emile_the_rat said:

Well, highest fasting blood glucose I have had was taken right after I woke up, 7.5 mmol. For me, my fasting blood sugar seem to decrease as time go (if I skip breakfast).

So people shouldn’t be so determinded and say that fasting blood increase as time go. For me it is quite different, because people are different. Just because some experience increase in fasting blood sugar by time, doesn’t mean everyone does.

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Which is why I said "in most people". There are always exceptions.

The last 12 or so hours were unusually chaotic so the numbers probably aren't representative (much later supper than usual and much later to bed so only 5 hours sleep) - I did a test within 5 minutes of getting out of bed (though I was awake probably 20 minutes before getting up). This was 6.0. 20 minutes later it was 7.0 and an hour after getting up it was 6.7 (still before breakfast though after a short trip out in the freezing cold in the car to fill it up for my wife's commute). I'll skip lunch today and do an 8-hour fasting (plain water only) test this afternoon. This evening's meal and bed time should be back to normal and I'll do the same morning tests once more. Also a bit confused about showering - some seem to say it boosts BG numbers and others say the opposite? I usually shower after breakfast.

Edit: Yesterday's afternoon fasting reading was 5.2, a little higher than usual but significantly lower than the morning fasting readings. As I said elsewhere I will repeat again today.

In my quest to find out if testing as soon as possible after getting out of bed makes a differnce - 5 minutes after rising this morning: 5.6. 35 minutes later (nothing to eat or drink since previous test, but cooked my wife her breakfast and made her packed lunch) - 5.8. So not much difference. I had a good night's sleep this time and an early supper the night before, though was actually awake an hour before getting up and dozed back before actually getting up. Will see what my fasting number is by skipping lunch today.

vit90 said:

In my quest to find out if testing as soon as possible after getting out of bed makes a differnce - 5 minutes after rising this morning: 5.6. 35 minutes later (nothing to eat or drink since previous test, but cooked my wife her breakfast and made her packed lunch) - 5.8. So not much difference. I had a good night's sleep this time and an early supper the night before, though was actually awake an hour before getting up and dozed back before actually getting up. Will see what my fasting number is by skipping lunch today.

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9 hours fasting since breakfast and a reading of 4.8, so I'm leaning towards my personal dawn effect is already in motion by the time I get out of bed. Is this something that I just live with or will it get better with further work on weight and fitness?