Fasting blood glucose high....what the...???

[winter2342343]

Hello,

So it's fair to say I've completely gone off the rails over the past few months and have been eating terribly, consequently I've had some very high readings (I use a CGM) with spikes all over the place. I've reached a point now where I am really frustrated and determined to get back on track, so have started 16:8 intermittent fasting (day two so far).

My question is if I have been raising my blood glucose levels over the space of a few months gradually getting worse and worse, then suddenly I've gone into fasting, low carb and trying to lower my numbers, is it like dealing with a backlog in a sense? How long should it take for things to improve? I know it's only day two but I would expect my numbers to go down during fasting but they are going up if anything! I know about the dawn phenomenon...

 

[lovinglife]

Are you on any meds or are you just diet only? If you are on meds that can cause hypos then be careful how quickly you cut your carbs. How low carb are you doing?

You’re sort of correct in that your body is dealing with a backlog. It’s used to running at those high numbers so your liver is trying to do its job and throwing out glucose to keep them there. Give it time and don’t be discouraged as you say it’s only been a couple of days and it could take a couple of weeks or more for you to see steady lower numbers. You may also feel a bit pants as you get used to the low numbers, experiences “false hypos” and if you’ve cut your carbs right down maybe a bit of keto flu. Stick it out and it should pass once you are used to the lower numbers.

Don’t be tempted to treat the false hypos and let your body get used to the lower numbers, that only applies if you aren’t on any hypo inducing meds like insulin or Gliclizide etc.

I’m 14 years in diet only 20g carb a day and I don’t fast because my numbers rise when I’m fasting (not the reason I don’t fast though) I’ve seen some members say the same. Maybe just concentrate on lowering your carbs and getting the numbers down first then add in the fasting?

 

[winter2342343]

Are you on any meds or are you just diet only? If you are on meds that can cause hypos then be careful how quickly you cut your carbs. How low carb are you doing?

You’re sort of correct in that your body is dealing with a backlog. It’s used to running at those high numbers so your liver is trying to do its job and throwing out glucose to keep them there. Give it time and don’t be discouraged as you say it’s only been a couple of days and it could take a couple of weeks or more for you to see steady lower numbers. You may also feel a bit pants as you get used to the low numbers, experiences “false hypos” and if you’ve cut your carbs right down maybe a bit of keto flu. Stick it out and it should pass once you are used to the lower numbers.

Don’t be tempted to treat the false hypos and let your body get used to the lower numbers, that only applies if you aren’t on any hypo inducing meds like insulin or Gliclizide etc.

I’m 14 years in diet only 20g carb a day and I don’t fast because my numbers rise when I’m fasting (not the reason I don’t fast though) I’ve seen some members say the same. Maybe just concentrate on lowering your carbs and getting the numbers down first then add in the fasting?

Thanks for this. Yes I am on 4 metformin per day - I'm worried about being put on insulin so I'm now determined to try to avoid that if I can. I will give it time, I realise this post is a bit of knee jerk reaction and probably way to early in this process to start panicking. I've read that you can stop the blood glucose rise in the morning by having something to eat so your body switches to using that for fuel rather than your liver releasing the stored glycogen for fuel so maybe as you say I should first get my diet back into low carb eating then add the fasting on top.

 

[_Steve_]

I know everyone is different but when I was diagnosed my HBA1c was 95 last April.

I started fasting and doing one meal a day, my fasting levels were in the 9-10's for at least a couple of weeks if I remember right. It took a while for the fasting levels to come down and it was gradual, I wake up almost every morning between 4-5mmol now that it is controlled, my HBA1c in October was 34. I haven't really fasted for a few months now either, just watch what I eat and when (no late meals)

 

[winter2342343]

I know everyone is different but when I was diagnosed my HBA1c was 95 last April.

I started fasting and doing one meal a day, my fasting levels were in the 9-10's for at least a couple of weeks if I remember right. It took a while for the fasting levels to come down and it was gradual, I wake up almost every morning between 4-5mmol now that it is controlled, my HBA1c in October was 34. I haven't really fasted for a few months now either, just watch what I eat and when (no late meals)

Thanks Steve, I’m going to stick with it for the next few weeks and keep monitoring.

 

[Jasmin2000]

My question is if I have been raising my blood glucose levels over the space of a few months gradually getting worse and worse, then suddenly I've gone into fasting, low carb and trying to lower my numbers, is it like dealing with a backlog in a sense? How long should it take for things to improve? I know it's only day two but I would expect my numbers to go down during fasting but they are going up if anything! I know about the dawn phenomenon...

It's a good question about how long it takes to re-establish a previous "equilibrium" that has crashed. I spent a year tweaking insulins, diet, exercise, and so on and got to a wonderful balance, except for the odd BG dip at night. My endo said to reduce daytime basal and my whole day and night balance collapsed. It's taken months to get anywhere near where I was, despite going back to my earlier routine immediately.

The body seems to do it's own thing when you make sudden changes and needs weeks or months to settle.