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Can blood glucose level drop by 2.2mol in 20 mins

N

netter

Active Member
Messages
37
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
I had breakfast (toast) and then 90 mins later I felt my face 'burning' and also felt horrible. I check my blood sugar and it was 9.4. Then I checked 20 mins later, by this point i felt slight more clam and relaxed and it was 7.2 0 just 20 mins later. What could cause this sudden drop from 9.4 to 7.2 in just 20 mins.
 
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I had a similar experience yesterday. It was my son's birthday and I visited with a card and the birthday cake. Before having a small slice I tested my bg and to my horror it had shot up to 10.4 from a pre lunch reading of 6.5. I declined the cake:(. However, after the dam thing had been staring at me for 20 minutes, I decided to check again and it was down to 7.8. A tiny slice was thoroughly enjoyed:) I know diabetes can do unexpected things now and again, so I can only think I must have had a "rogue" reading as to drop by 2.6 in 20 minutes is ridiculous.
 
Given the numbers you have provided, the range of possible BGs on your first reading was 8.0-10.4 and on your second was 6.1-8.3.

It's therefore difficult to say that you did see a 2mmol/l drop in twenty mins. It is possible though.
 
The short answer is yes. Taking meter error into account as well as changing bg, any meter reading only really shows a trend.
 
I watched my blood sugar drop from 4.9 down to 2.8 within about 5 mins so yes it can happen. ( I now feel sick) No lunch tomorrow to find out what has happened to my basal, as that was some drop. :( I use a CGM so could obviously see the arrows pointing down to show the drop.
 
Don't forget that not washing your hands before testing can also give false highs. For instance, test a sugary finger, get a high reading, test again but with a clean finger and you'll see a massive drop...

always my first check if I get a higher than expected reading.... wash hands again & re-test.
 
It also depends in how you squeeze blood out your fingers.. If it is a miniscule drop you will get a lower reading than if you have a huge blob if blood.

I can test on my pump meter (twice because I don't believe the first reading) and get 2 totally different readings because the second drop of blood has been to the air longer.. So my first reading may say 8.6 and I don't believe it so I quickly get another strip out and retest with the same blob before doing a correction and the meter will read 7.2 so a smaller correction dose is needed...

Machines aren't that accurate, it will depend on machine, and how much blood etc...
 
Aaaaarrrr, this diabettic world is becoming ever more complicated. Small blob = lower reading, larger blob means higher bg. I'm beginning to think Diabetes is a science:(
 
June_C said:
Aaaaarrrr, this diabettic world is becoming ever more complicated. Small blob = lower reading, larger blob means higher bg. I'm beginning to think Diabetes is a science:(
Click to expand...

Trouble is it isn't a believable science totally with blood testing.

At least this is my experience... I think this is why we are advised to wipe the first bit of blood away and use the second blob of blood...

Various machines will read blood differently so we just have to go with the flow unfortunately,
 
I give up. I think I'll just muddle along. I have my bg levels pegged between 5.0 -8.5, well at least according to my meter, so I'll just keep doing what I'm doing................
 
3 days ago I had a very low carb meal, bounced up to 11 ish (av. of multiple readings) at 3 hours.
Then dropped like a stone to 5ish (averages again) within 25 mins.

The whole experience was surreal, and totally incomprehensible.
Now I'm wondering how often that happens, and I don't spot it because I usually test around 2 hrs.
 
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