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Are brief high sugar spikes OK?

Evie_May

Member
Messages
5
Location
Shropshire
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I was diagnosed as type 2 six months ago, and have reduced my average from 83 to 49 with lowish carb. diet, exercise & 2 x 500 daily Metformin. I have just invested in a freestyle libre pack which gives constant monitoring, and have discovered that I have quite high spikes after some meals, particularly breakfast. I can go up from, say, 5.7 or 6.0 to 8 or 9 after 1 hour but back to previous levels well before 2 hours. Are these spikes once or twice a day OK, as they are so brief?
 
In my opinion, no they are not ok. We want to keep bs as steady as possible with as little fluctuation as possibles.
 
I was reading a link from another post about normal blood sugars which gave the following link

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/16422495.php

and found about halfway down the page

This study also found that the same amount of carbohydrate eaten at a meal other than breakfast does not raise blood sugar anywhere near as high as it does at breakfast.

I was wondering if people do get a higher spike with breakfast. I can't tell for myself as I don't have a continuous monitoring system but some people here do use a libre or similar. I'm sure ideally it would be good to eliminate the spikes but do feel you are doing really well with lowering your HbA1c.
 
I certainly get a Much bigger spike with carbs at BF. Less with lunch and less with dinner. Most people are most insulin resistant at BF after fasting through the night. I spike without food. I eat a very small BF and the only carbs are one piece of lettuce.

I don't consider 8-9 non diabetic. Living on the edge. I keep mine in the 4's

Are you talking around 150-200. As in 8-9.? Never want to go there. That is not non diabetic even if short term in my books.
 

I would say that not only are these spikes ok...they are pretty normal...depending on what you are eating. Type 2 guidelines though very basic suggest that a spike that is about 2mmols higher 2 hours after eating (particularly if there are simple carbs in the meal), so log as its not above 8.5 mmols..is acceptable (in fact for many its a target). I know somebody has said its not ok...but...well it is! In a perfect ideal world, our blood sugar wouldn't fluctuate so much - that is true BUT what exactly is fluctuation (if its within normal range then there's no problem). Even non-diabetics can have spikes like this and many people would be shocked if they tested inside an hour post meal (particularly breakfast - as there's been fasting and inactivity and possibly insufficient fluid intake as well as the liver dumping glucose (a natural phenomenon). Sure you don't want it going much above the 8.5...but so long as its down again after 2 hours or so - there is nothing to worry about at all. While its true to say that we all have different systems and different targets etc...your figures are nowhere near alarming. I notice you say you eat a lowish carb diet..what is "lowish"? I usually eat less than 30g of carbs a day and my levels can go from 5.6-6.2 up to 8.5 inside an hour no problem. In fact I test closer to 3 hours post meal as my system is slow due to lots of other meds I take (including steroids) BUT if I had a bowl of cereal say - then that figure can be up to 10 or even 12 up to 3 hours later. So, what are you eating for breakfast? Again - NO your elvels are pretty normal for a Type 2 and at the low end of the scale...so don't worry...but by all means cut the carbs more and get the average down further if possible.
 
We all have our personal goals. 8 and 9 are not mine. I have altered my food accordingly. No big deal. It's just food IMO
 
Those spikes would be normal for me if I ate carbs. But I don't, because I'm diabetic. My body has a problem dealing with sugar, so I don't worry about what's "normal", I just avoid the stuff - including the sugar in milk, bread and porridge. Why take the risk of spikes, no matter how normal they may be, when I can easily avoid them?

Kate
 
I think 8-9 falls within the range of what normal people may get (we are all different). Some people quote 11 as 'normal'. But the key thing is that normal people only hit those numbers for a few minutes, occasionally, after pigging out. Not every day, for up to an hour, after ordinary medium carb food.

My partner (who has patiently submitted to prick testing when I feel the need to persecute him) has never been tested above 6.6

Yet I have a friend whose bg regularly rises to above 8 after carbs.

HOWEVER, who is to say that this friend (curvacious 50+ years) isn't heading towards diabetes? She hasn't had a test with the doc in years, and gains weight really easily. She thinks I am a scaremonger and enjoys eating toast. And feels she is immune.

After reading the www.bloodsugar101.com website I decided to set my own preferred upper bg limit at around 7 to 7.5 and I only hit that on a bad day. I want to be in the 5s as much as possible. I have to be very low carb to achieve this.

It is lower than the official guidelines, but I don't place much faith in the official guidelines. The same people who set them believe T2 to be a progressive condition. But I believe it is only progressive if keep abusing our bodies with high blood glucose...
 
My Partner has also submitted to prick testing and has also never tested over mid 6's.

I am recently diagnosed (mid March) and been following a LCHF lifestyle since 3rd March (I think I knew on the day of my blood test it was not going to end well!).

My diagnosis from that test on the 1st March was 17.7 which ws scary.

I started testing on the 19th March when I got my meter.

I have set my goals as follows

Green range 4.5 - 7.0
Amber - 7.0 - 8.0
Red > 8.0

My levels are coming down steadily I only ever hit the Amber zone on my fasting reading (good old liver dump) for the rest I tend to jog along at low 6's to mid to low 5's depending on how much I am excercising and drinking.

I have not had an 8 or over reading for 2 weeks.

I do eat very low carb and my levels stay flat I am just looking at my numbers and my average rise after food is 1 - 1.5 mm/ol.

I guess I just feel better flat with no huge spikes.

Hopefully as time goes on I will be able to reduce my upper limit to 7.0 as a ceiling. Not sure I really want to enter the world of the 4's as that seems for me personally to low with not much room between ok and hypo.....of course it could be that my body is used to running high and would adapt with time......at the moment my all time low of 5.1 had me sitting on the soafa with a cup of tea feeling a wee bit woozy.
 
Hi @Evie_May

Congratulations on reducing your levels. I wouldn't worry about those highs unless they were at 2 hours and if you keep doing what you have been they should improve. It wouldn't hurt to look at your breakfasts and maybe change meals or reduce portions if they contain too many carbs
 
I second every word, especially of your first paragraph.

More than a few moments over 7.5 is *not* okay.
 
The guideline for non-diabetics is under 7.8 at least 90 minutes after eating. Also, the NICE recommendations no longer give a specific 2 hour level. I wonder why this changed?
 
As has been said, everybody is different and everybody will also have their own targets/aims.

If your Fasting Levels and HbA1c level is where you want them to be, then an occasional spike in BG in the 60 minutes after eating shouldn't be a worry, as long as it drops again just as rapidly.

If it doesn't and stays elevated for a period of time, then probably your fasting and HbA1c are also not where you would want them so in that case your overall control would need improvement.
 
I think it's wonderful that many of you strive for levels in the 4s at all times, and I generally try to do the same myself.

However, let's make sure we're clear that for the most part that isn't necessary. Of course, we want our blood sugar to be as low as possible (without being hypoglycemic), but there becomes a point when it has diminishing returns.

Sure, the chances of developing complications are lower with an a1c of 4.5 compared to 5.5 but how much lower? Are we talking about reducing our risk from .5% down to .2%? Unfortunately, it's impossible to know exactly what our individual risk is. However, we do know that roughly 75% of diabetics have an a1c greater than 6.0 (based on statistics from the USA CDC). That doesn't necessarily make it okay to have an a1c of 5.9, but all things considered, it puts you at a lower risk compared to 75% of the diabetic population. I wonder what percent have an a1c below 5.5? Below 5? Are we talking about 5%? 1%? Even less?

My point is, at what point do you draw the line and realize that it's negatively affecting your life just in a different way?
 

Very sensible view point.
 
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