Blood sugar testing

[Sunnysky]

I have just taken my blood sugar and it is 7.1. This is after not having anything to eat today just a couple of coffees with some semi skimmed milk. My morning reading was 8.5, four hours ago.
I'm intending to test 2 hours after eating but given it is so high already is there any point as I think I read that ideally you don't want the reading to go above 7.8. Is it still useful to measure the difference if its high to start with? Not sure why it's so high unless it's to do with the stress of
going to the dentist this am!

 

[lovinglife]

It’s very useful to test even if you consider the before a tad high, it will still give you useful info eg) the rise after 2 hours if more than 2 will tell you if you need to adjust the meal or not.

Some people (me being one of them) find their blood sugars continue to rise in the morning until they eat, once I eat my bloods will drop so you may be pleasantly surprised. It’s one of the reasons I always eat breakfast to stop my blood rising (dawn phenomenon)

 

[Sunnysky]

It’s very useful to test even if you consider the before a tad high, it will still give you useful info eg) the rise after 2 hours if more than 2 will tell you if you need to adjust the meal or not.

Some people (me being one of them) find their blood sugars continue to rise in the morning until they eat, once I eat my bloods will drop so you may be pleasantly surprised. It’s one of the reasons I always eat breakfast to stop my blood rising (dawn phenomenon)

OK thankyou. Mine seems to vary as yesterday it was only 5.6 before eating at a similar time as today so not sure what's going on!

 

[Deleted member 475901]

Stress can raise your Blood sugar, but I'd always test before and 2 hrs after meals until I was in remission and knew how many carbs I could have and the impact of other events.
Illness or stress raised my BS at first but now it remains in the normal range even with these triggers.

One question, why semi-skimmed milk? All milk contains carbs, but if you are trying low carb then why not full fat?

 

[Sunnysky]

Stress can raise your Blood sugar, but I'd always test before and 2 hrs after meals until I was in remission and knew how many carbs I could have and the impact of other events.
Illness or stress raised my BS at first but now it remains in the normal range even with these triggers.

One question, why semi-skimmed milk? All milk contains carbs, but if you are trying low carb then why not full fat?

I've only just started eating low carb and have always used semi skimmed milk so haven't got round to changing it yet. Im still working out what I can and can't eat. I only tend to use it in a couple of coffees and occasional cereal. I did test before drinking a coffee with semi skimmed milk in and then 2 hours later and my blood sugar hadn't changed so thought I may be ok with some.

 

[Deleted member 475901]

I've only just started eating low carb and have always used semi skimmed milk so haven't got round to changing it yet. Im still working out what I can and can't eat. I only tend to use it in a couple of coffees and occasional cereal. I did test before drinking a coffee with semi skimmed milk in and then 2 hours later and my blood sugar hadn't changed so thought I may be ok with some.

I use full fat, and managed to cut down the amount I use as a result - but I was using a lot of milk before.

 

[ianf0ster]

I have just taken my blood sugar and it is 7.1. This is after not having anything to eat today just a couple of coffees with some semi skimmed milk. My morning reading was 8.5, four hours ago.
I'm intending to test 2 hours after eating but given it is so high already is there any point as I think I read that ideally you don't want the reading to go above 7.8. Is it still useful to measure the difference if its high to start with? Not sure why it's so high unless it's to do with the stress of
going to the dentist this am!

Hi @Sunnysky You already have the answers, but I would just like to comment on the BG levels you had.
A morning reading of 8.5 is a little high. That may be down to one or more of several causes including a one-off extra powerful Dawn Phenomenon, what you ate last night, a poor night's sleep, stress, starting to come down with a cold etc.
However the fact that without food it reduced down to 7.1 is a good sign. There have been lots of times my pre-breakfast reading (or pre-lunch if skipping breakfast) was over 7.0, but it's still worth taking a +2hrs reading. - Who know, that one may well be very encouraging!