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Blood sugar levels

ralphgmr

ralphgmr

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi,

I'm new to this thing and I just started testing my self regularly. But I'm finding the readings so strange. They varied way too much. Not only from day to day but even on the same test. I just tested myself 3 times in a row just changing fingers and readings were 10.7, 13.3, 11.3 (mmol). What should I write it down?

Another thing is sometimes I'm having really lower readings after lunch than before lunch (for example 8.7 before lunch, and 2 hours after, 5.5). I tested for a few days and the pattern seems to repeat. How is this even possible? Shouldn't it go higher after lunch since I'm eating something?

Thank you.
 
Hello. If you've been diagnosed recently, are you Type 2? Any meds?
Do you wash and dry your hands properly before testing? That would be my first guess. Smaller differences are normal since the meters have a +/-15% variation rate I believe.
Someone else will explain the blood sugar variations before and after eating so I'll give your post a bump. We may need to know a bit about what you eat.
 
Hi and welcome,
You seem to be coming.g to terms with what you need to do to get your blood sugar levels more stable. You will only find out what happens after more and more testing. You are trying to find out what foods spike you and those that don't.
Treat it as a experiment with having many different types of food. What spikes me doesn't necessarily spike you.
I've tagged @daisy1 to give all the info all new members receive. Keep posting and keep asking questions, have a look around the forum and read about the success stories and about the wonderful people on here.
 
No meds yet. I have been diagnosed half year ago, I'm 37 years old and quite slim. Exercise more or less regularly. I had to move between countries so I didn't start any treatment yet. Anyway, I'm trying to control my diet. I changed my diet to eat every morning, either oatmeal with milk and berries or musli. That's pretty much what I've been eating in the morning.

Lunch varies, but I try staying with salad and some protein. What I usually add for carbs on my lunch is one portion of either brown rice or potatos.

My levels in the morning are ranging from 6.5 to 8. Around lunch time they are peaking to around 9. Two hours after lunch they go down to around 5.5-6. I've been testing for a week now, but I find these numbers so strange, so I'm very confused what I should do about it.
 
Hi @ralphgmr ,
A week is too soon to get a proper pattern

First you need to be checking what you are when you first wake up, your Fasting figures, if breakfast is very close to that event, then you can do what I do and test just before I start eating breakfast as my fasting test.

Then in the early stages, test just before you start to eat, then @1 hr and then @2 hours, some will even test at 3 hrs.

You should if you were normal be between 4 & 7.5.

Pre meal it would be good to be in the 5s or lower, and after eating 1hr not to have increased more than 2 mmol/L.

If you have increased more than 2 mmol/L then there is something in your meal that has sent you sugars up, probably too many carbs, try reducing or removing that food.

Drinking something like wine with a meal will usually first reduce your sugars as the liver will process that first, before it tackles the food you have just eaten, so your rise in sugar levels maybe much later. Several hours. However drinking beer will usually spike you straight away.

You sugars will rise and fall through out the day, and if you exercise straight after a meal you may not get the rise you expected in your sugars.

You mentioned you add Potatoes and rice for carbs at lunchtime you need to check how these affect your readings as many of us would have very little.

Neil
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@ralphgmr

Hello Ralph and welcome to the forum :)

In addition to the good advice you have received earlier on this thread, here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask more questions when you need to and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 130,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 
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