BG readings all over the map

nanuck · Jun 16, 2016

I have been a type 2 diabetic since 12 May 2016. Was diagnosed with FBG of 17.5mmol/L and over the last several weeks have managed to bring it down into the 6mmol/Ls and 5mmol/Ls. I have lost over 12 pounds and walk briskly for 30 minutes 6 days a week. I have cut my carb intake in half and do not snack. I eat my meals the same time every day. Over the past week my morning FBG readings have gone from 5.3mmol/L to 7.0mmol/L and my readings 2 hours after dinner have gone from 5.7mmol/L to 7.3mmol/L. I'm finding this rise in readings very frustrating. Anyone else experience this? Any suggestions as to how I can get my readings to be more consistent and at the very least not start rising. Thanks.

Winnie53 · Jun 16, 2016

@nanuck test in pairs: before bed, upon awakening; pre-meal, 2 hour post meal.

A question I have regarding your fasting blood glucose is how much of a difference, if any, is there between your blood glucose from the moment you get out of bed in the morning to when you sit down to eat your breakfast?

By doing this everyday for a week, I learned there's a 30 minute gap between those two readings. If I'm quiet and moving normally, no increase, but if I'm busy, perhaps talking with my husband, blood glucose starts climbing (which can raise your blood glucose levels through lunch and dinner).

I'm impressed you've been able to get your blood glucose levels down so quickly. Well done.

If you provide a bit more information, I might have more suggestions.

What are you typically eating for meals? What is the timing of each meal? Are you doing this with medication and diet? Or diet alone? Are you taking any nutritional supplements?

There's lots of things that can affect blood glucose levels... not getting enough sleep... not feeling well due to an infection or cold... getting too much protein with each meal.... not dividing daily protein intake into similar amounts for each meal... not getting protein, fat, and carbs with every meal...

A formula I'm currently using to calculate grams of protein per day is

[ideal body weight in kilograms] x .75 gram (or 1 gram protein) = grams protein per day (that is protein grams in food, not weight of food). @Kristen251 got me paying attention to this.

Again, you're doing great! But I know it's frustrating when you had really excellent blood glucose levels and they start creeping up. Been there so many times. Sometimes I can figure out why, other times not.

Brunneria · Jun 16, 2016

Food isn't the only thing that affects blood glucose. Sleep (or lack of it), stress, exercise and activity levels, heat and weather...

I shouldn't worry. All the numbers you quoted for the last week are perfectly 'normal' (in the sense of non-diabetic) numbers and a certain amount of fluctuation is not not only perfectly natural - it also shows that your body is functioning normally and adjusting to daily fluctuations and events. You had one 7, but that is just borderline.

To give you an example, my FBG (fasting) readings have varied dramatically over the last week. Was away at the weekend. FBG was 7.3 on Saturday (excitement), this morning it was 5.9 (boring work day). Yesterday was 6.2 (had a large steak dinner the night before).

See what I mean?

Ideally we would all wake up to 5.3, like clockwork, but life just isn't like that. And considering the improvements you have made in such a short time, I would just carry on as you are, let everything settle, and just keep a record. You will soon notice patterns emerging that will shed a lot of light.

Oh, one more thing. All home meters have a required accuracy of +/- 15% which means that any of your readings could actually be slightly higher, or slightly lower than the number on the screen. So the actual numbers are far less important than you might think. It is trends and patterns that are important, and your trend is pretty d*mn good compared with just a short time ago!

Winnie53 · Jun 16, 2016

Brunneria just reminded me of one more thing you can do...

Wash your hands with soap and water and test your blood glucose levels 5 times, one after the other, and note the numbers. I did this with both my Accu-Chek (expensive) and ReliOn Prime (cheap) glucose meters last summer and my highest and lowest numbers were different by 16 to 17 points. Brunneria's right. Sometimes it's not what you're doing, it's about the inaccuracy of the meter.

4ratbags · Jun 16, 2016

Im not too sure what kind of meter you have but I had a similar problem last year and in the end I figured out it was the new bach of test strips I was using.

nanuck · Jun 17, 2016

Winnie53 said:
@nanuck test in pairs: before bed, upon awakening; pre-meal, 2 hour post meal.

A question I have regarding your fasting blood glucose is how much of a difference, if any, is there between your blood glucose from the moment you get out of bed in the morning to when you sit down to eat your breakfast?

By doing this everyday for a week, I learned there's a 30 minute gap between those two readings. If I'm quiet and moving normally, no increase, but if I'm busy, perhaps talking with my husband, blood glucose starts climbing (which can raise your blood glucose levels through lunch and dinner).

I'm impressed you've been able to get your blood glucose levels down so quickly. Well done.

If you provide a bit more information, I might have more suggestions.

What are you typically eating for meals? What is the timing of each meal? Are you doing this with medication and diet? Or diet alone? Are you taking any nutritional supplements?

There's lots of things that can affect blood glucose levels... not getting enough sleep... not feeling well due to an infection or cold... getting too much protein with each meal.... not dividing daily protein intake into similar amounts for each meal... not getting protein, fat, and carbs with every meal...

A formula I'm currently using to calculate grams of protein per day is

[ideal body weight in kilograms] x .75 gram (or 1 gram protein) = grams protein per day (that is protein grams in food, not weight of food). @Kristen251 got me paying attention to this.

Again, you're doing great! But I know it's frustrating when you had really excellent blood glucose levels and they start creeping up. Been there so many times. Sometimes I can figure out why, other times not.

Thank you for all the great info!

nanuck · Jun 17, 2016

Brunneria said:
Food isn't the only thing that affects blood glucose. Sleep (or lack of it), stress, exercise and activity levels, heat and weather...

I shouldn't worry. All the numbers you quoted for the last week are perfectly 'normal' (in the sense of non-diabetic) numbers and a certain amount of fluctuation is not not only perfectly natural - it also shows that your body is functioning normally and adjusting to daily fluctuations and events. You had one 7, but that is just borderline.

To give you an example, my FBG (fasting) readings have varied dramatically over the last week. Was away at the weekend. FBG was 7.3 on Saturday (excitement), this morning it was 5.9 (boring work day). Yesterday was 6.2 (had a large steak dinner the night before).

See what I mean?

Ideally we would all wake up to 5.3, like clockwork, but life just isn't like that. And considering the improvements you have made in such a short time, I would just carry on as you are, let everything settle, and just keep a record. You will soon notice patterns emerging that will shed a lot of light.

Oh, one more thing. All home meters have a required accuracy of +/- 15% which means that any of your readings could actually be slightly higher, or slightly lower than the number on the screen. So the actual numbers are far less important than you might think. It is trends and patterns that are important, and your trend is pretty d*mn good compared with just a short time ago!

Thank you for your response!

nanuck · Jun 17, 2016

Winnie53 said:
@nanuck test in pairs: before bed, upon awakening; pre-meal, 2 hour post meal.

A question I have regarding your fasting blood glucose is how much of a difference, if any, is there between your blood glucose from the moment you get out of bed in the morning to when you sit down to eat your breakfast?

By doing this everyday for a week, I learned there's a 30 minute gap between those two readings. If I'm quiet and moving normally, no increase, but if I'm busy, perhaps talking with my husband, blood glucose starts climbing (which can raise your blood glucose levels through lunch and dinner).

I'm impressed you've been able to get your blood glucose levels down so quickly. Well done.

If you provide a bit more information, I might have more suggestions.

What are you typically eating for meals? What is the timing of each meal? Are you doing this with medication and diet? Or diet alone? Are you taking any nutritional supplements?

There's lots of things that can affect blood glucose levels... not getting enough sleep... not feeling well due to an infection or cold... getting too much protein with each meal.... not dividing daily protein intake into similar amounts for each meal... not getting protein, fat, and carbs with every meal...

A formula I'm currently using to calculate grams of protein per day is

[ideal body weight in kilograms] x .75 gram (or 1 gram protein) = grams protein per day (that is protein grams in food, not weight of food). @Kristen251 got me paying attention to this.

Again, you're doing great! But I know it's frustrating when you had really excellent blood glucose levels and they start creeping up. Been there so many times. Sometimes I can figure out why, other times not.

nanuck · Jun 17, 2016

Thanks for all the great info!

Keesha · Jun 17, 2016

This Forum had got some really wonderful, negative and supportive members and we all learn from their everyday struggles and successes everyday. Thank you for all the reassurances everyday.

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