Going up to 8mmol/L

Talya2022 said:

Not sure if you write it as 8mmol/L but anyway…..if you go up to an 8 and never go over after eating is this good. I know there is room for improvement like cutting down on cereal bars, porridge, chips…but if 8 isn’t too bad I thought I could just cut down on the portion sizes to get that bumper down further? I’m also taking Ozempic for 11 months now. Still getting to grips with diabetes management because I have complex mental health needs and these have been taking over my time and energy.

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If you are eating cereal bars, porridge and chips, and getting a reading of only 8mmol/l at +2 hrs that's on the face of it not too bad. If it was me I'd expect a much bigger impact, as all three of the food items mentioned are really carb and sugar heavy. I don't eat any of them so can't give you any comparator figure.

The recommendation is (at the two hour mark) to be not above 7.8 (8 might be close enough) and within 2mmol/l of your reading before eating. I would expect you have a lot of scope to remove more carbs from your diet, if you want to, and see lower figures.

I have no direct experience at all with Ozempic but I understand it is intended to reduce both blood glucose and weight. What I've read on the website for this forum indicates that it works as long as you take it. The idea is that while you're on Ozempic you start to make lifestyle and diet changes that would enable further BG reduction and weight loss once you come off Ozempic. I'd expect on that basis that the figure you're reporting is "Ozempic-assisted" and you might not see 8mmol/l without it.

Talya2022 said:

I have 8 before the 2 hour mark? I have a libre and that’s what it shows. What does it mean if it peaks before the 2 hour mark?

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Testing at +2 hrs is not to see how high you go. Testing is to see how well your system (plus medication if any) deals with the carb load you've just been placing on it. At the two hour point you ought to be back where you started, that's the idea. I'd expect to see my "peak" reading after about 20-30 minutes. I don't know exactly how your Ozempic would affect this for you, but all your readings will be affected by the fact that you're taking a semaglutide that reduces blood glucose.

My favourite example is that a small latte (with carb in the form of lactose) will take me from low fives to over 9 inside 30 minutes and back to low fives by one hour. That shows at the minute I can deal with that level of carb tolerably well. If I was fingerprick testing I'd have no idea about what was going on between tests.

Reducing carb intake is a way of lowering the glucose your system has to deal with. I can cope at the minute with 20g/day, and maybe 30. There's no incentive to eat more, because I know my BG would rise. As my severe diabetic symptoms start at A1cs of 43/44, I don't have any headroom.