First few results - how to interpret?

[ruthytoothy]

So my Codefree arrived this morning before breakfast so I decided to put it to use straight away! For background, according to routine GP bloodtests I am bordering on Prediabetes, but the GP doesn't want to retest for 3 mths so I'm not receiving any medical help or support, and I'm self-funding my meter.

These were my results:-

10.09am nothing yet eaten today - 5.0
12.31pm so 2hr after finished brekkie - 10.7!

Breakfast was my old "usual" - large bowl of Malt Wheaties and S/S milk, with a white coffee with 2 aspartame tabs. Wanted to prove to myself that this breakfast needs to be off the menu, and boy was I right!

1.55pm pre-lunch - 3.9 with little beep thingy telling me I was hypo.

Had lunch of chilli (125g lean minced beef, 1/3rd tin toms, 1/3rd tin kidney beans, 25g green pepper, 7.5g tom puree) served with huge mound of broccoli and Brussels sprouts.

Concerned by hypo result before lunch so tested again shortly after finished eating:

2.36pm - 4.3 and more beeps and flashing pics of sweeties!


First Q - should I be worried that I dropped so far in 90 mins - from 10.7 at 12.30 (2 hrs post) to 3.9 at 2pm?

Second Q - how low should make me worry?

Third Q - if low immediately before a meal, should I eat as planned, or take glucose tabs or similar first?

Fourth Q - should I be eating something else just now to bring my levels up, or will the meal do the job?

I was expecting to be using the meter to help me work out what I can and can't eat. I didn't expect to be getting hypo results on day 1!

 

[Clivethedrive]

Hello ruthytoothy, glad your testing, like myself i bought my own meter and strips after my doc said sorry not on nhs for t2, anyway after 1 yr of lchf i lost 3st and my bs's dropped from 26.8 to 4.7 mmols and my blood pressure dropped from 155/85 to 115/ 60 my doctor was amazed... And i told him it was only by eating to my meter....then he relented and now i get my strips on prescription, you are doing well testing , if a food splkes us by more than 2 mmols we need to cut down or cut it out ,for most lchf regime that means nothing made with flour ,no rice pasta or veg's that grow underground,have you had the info for new posters yet? Clive

 

[ruthytoothy]

Thanks for the reply, and congrats on your fantastic results!! I am attempting LCHF, and hoping to achieve something similar to your wonderful success. I think I just needed to convince myself of the need for change, hence this morning's brekkie, and the resulting spike certainly proved to me that change is needed! I think my lunch was pretty LC, with veg instead if my usual rice. I suppose I'm a bit worried that since lunch was so LC my body hasn't had a hit of sugar to bring my blood back up?

Would you expect BG to go very low after a spike? I assumed it would slowly taper back down, and if anything I expected my pre-lunch to be on the high side.

I have had the info from Daisy on an earlier thread thank you

 

[Bluetit1802]

First of all, you can set your meter to wink, bleep, show pics of sweeties etc at any level you wish (see instruction sheet on how to do it.) The 3.9 is the default setting and doesn't mean you are hypo. A reading of 3.9 is fine before meals for a non-diabetic. You are only properly hypo if you start to feel ill. The NICE recommendations for a Type 2 diabetic before meals is 4 to 7, so you were more or less within that range. Just eat as planned, no need for extra sugar.

It is unusual for a diabetic to drop by such a lot in 90 minutes. All I can suggest is you keep testing before and at regular intervals (consistent) after starting to eat, perhaps 1 hour, 90 minutes and 2 hours, and maybe 2.5hrs if you are still up on where you started. Keep a food diary, record your levels alongside, and watch for patterns.

 

[Clivethedrive]

Thanks for the reply, and congrats on your fantastic results!! I am attempting LCHF, and hoping to achieve something similar to your wonderful success. I think I just needed to convince myself of the need for change, hence this morning's brekkie, and the resulting spike certainly proved to me that change is needed! I think my lunch was pretty LC, with veg instead if my usual rice. I suppose I'm a bit worried that since lunch was so LC my body hasn't had a hit of sugar to bring my blood back up?

Would you expect BG to go very low after a spike? I assumed it would slowly taper back down, and if anything I expected my pre-lunch to be on the high side.

I have had the info from Daisy on an earlier thread thank you

Hi ruthytoothy, it is and can be a shock to our digestive system's when we abruptly change our diets,i lowered my intake of carbs and proteins slowly,this worked for me ,but we all react differently so easy does it, treat your blood and what you use to "feed it" with care ,clive