Type 2 Fasting Glucose Reading

[Johnjoe13]

Is there a set fasting time cos I've seen 8 to 10 hrs mentioned here and there so was my 12 hours too long?

So the readings for my fasting over the past couple of days have me confused. From 7.2 up to 8.3 yesterday and today 8.1 Now I have had cold but saw my level start to come down, but then yesterday it went up? So last night I decided i'd not eat a thing after 6.30 pm until my morning FBG 12 hours later, so to my surprise only a drop of 0.2 to the day before. Why is this happening when I am watching carbs? And besides surely these have gotten out my system by 12 hours later and my levels should have come down a bit more than they have? Or am I being too over critical and looking at this too deeply?

 

[Lamont D]

Fasting can be anything over 3-4 hours.
There are so many ways of fasting from missing a meal to days or a week, it is entirely up to you and what you want to achieve.
If you do more than a few hours, called intermittent fasting, then speak to your GP and he may suggest what you need to do or refer you to a dietician.

Fasting blood glucose readings can be confusing because of dawn phenomenon and the recommendation from a lot of diabetics is to do your testing before a meal and two hours after first bite.
This way you can discover which foods are giving you too much of a spike.
If you haven't yet, I would start a food diary so you can show your GP or dsn, also you will see trends in how you are coping with the condition.

Hope this helps.

 

[chalup]

My fasting numbers are always my highest of the day and the longer I fast the higher they go. This is my liver "helping".

 

[Johnjoe13]

Thanks guys tbh I'm already looking at what I eat and have made some changes that have lowered the spikes thanks to the meter. Knocked a lot of stuff on the head and changed my diet so maybe it's just this dawn phenomenon thing which i'm guessing just comes and goes from time to time? I've just been reading up on this and it says the liver releases glucagon to help get you up in the morning, well I do not get much sleep due to getting up and weeing 2 -3 times some nights, so you don't suppose because i'm tired my liver is deciding to give me an extra boost?

Maybe i'm getting too hung up over this and the levels are not such a big deal if they drop later in the day, it's just that i'm seeing quite a few people on here posting great low numbers on a morning and trying to understand why i'm not.

 

[daisyduck]

My levels can be great during the day. It's those night time and early hours when it does it's own thing.
As @chalup said it's the liver being "helpful" I'm nearly always in the 7's first thing in the morning.
As yet I haven't convinced it to be less helpful, but my LCHF diet has got my Hb readings down to 48 despite that, and without medication so far.

 

[Johnjoe13]

My levels can be great during the day. It's those night time and early hours when it does it's own thing.
As @chalup said it's the liver being "helpful" I'm nearly always in the 7's first thing in the morning.
As yet I haven't convinced it to be less helpful, but my LCHF diet has got my Hb readings down to 48 despite that, and without medication so far.

Thanks daisyduck, Looks like i'll have to put up with it. I will say that over the few weeks leading up to xmas and now even, I've had a lot of trouble waking and getting up and it seems to be getting worse. Before I always awoken naturally every morning and not had an alarm in years, but now waking later and later it's making me late for work.

 

[bulkbiker]

It took ages for my FBG to come down.. months not days or weeks so don't worry too much about it.

 

[Bluetit1802]

I think you are getting too hung up on fasting numbers. They aren't important. Even my GP surgery stopped doing them, replacing them with an HbA1c for anyone (not just diabetics) who has a routine blood test. I do take my fasting test when I get up in a morning, but do not rely on it to tell me how well or how badly I am doing and I certainly don't fret about it.

For me, the most important indicator of how well we are doing is the test before evening meal.(providing you don't have any snacks that would increase levels during the afternoon) By that time our livers have reduced the amount of any glucose they send to our blood streams, and any insulin resistance we may have improves as the day progresses. Morning fasting levels swing up and down almost at will for many, many reasons. Later in the day, before evening meal, they should be stable.

 

[Johnjoe13]

I think you are getting too hung up on fasting numbers. They aren't important. Even my GP surgery stopped doing them, replacing them with an HbA1c for anyone (not just diabetics) who has a routine blood test. I do take my fasting test when I get up in a morning, but do not rely on it to tell me how well or how badly I am doing and I certainly don't fret about it.

For me, the most important indicator of how well we are doing is the test before evening meal.(providing you don't have any snacks that would increase levels during the afternoon) By that time our livers have reduced the amount of any glucose they send to our blood streams, and any insulin resistance we may have improves as the day progresses. Morning fasting levels swing up and down almost at will for many, many reasons. Later in the day, before evening meal, they should be stable.

Thank you Bluetit1802, you know I think you may be right and I am getting too hung up over this, I'm now just going to continue with what I'm doing and stop fussing about these numbers, what ever they are on a morning then that is what they are. And as Bulkbiker says it will take time!

 

[Bluetit1802]

Thank you Bluetit1802, you know I think you may be right and I am getting too hung up over this, I'm now just going to continue with what I'm doing and stop fussing about these numbers, what ever they are on a morning then that is what they are. And as Bulkbiker says it will take time!

Maybe stop taking them in the morning for now. Concentrate on before evening meal and 2 hours later.