Hot bath and blood sugar levels

[Oldvatr]

Libre does perform filtering and smoothing. It updates the reading every minute, and stores the result every 15 minutes.

 

[Oldvatr]

I wonder if it is electrical interference. A hair dryer perhaps?

 

[Hopeful34]

If you remove the Libre @aaq it can't be reattached and has to be thrown away.

 

[aaq]

I wonder if it is electrical interference. A hair dryer perhaps?

no that's not the case in this situation.

 

[Oldvatr]

Hot baths are known to increase the effectivity of insulin, leading to a lowering of sugar readings. Hot spa treatment can give rise to hypogylycenia especially for insulin users.

Can A Hot Tub Help With Diabetes?

Your hot tub can be used for so much more than just pleasure. While enjoying a good soak in the warm, churning waters can be relaxing and help you de-stress after a hard day, there are many other health benefits to be found with regularly soaks in hot tub. While it is common knowledge that a nice

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.

 

[MrsA2]

My bg always rises after a shower but lowers again very quickly. It's nothing to worry about

 

[Oldvatr]

Has anybody seen this happen with fingerprick results, or is it just CGM users? There was a problem reported for the early Libre in that the Libre reading always lags the fingerprick test by a fixed 15 minutes, so whatever spike you see happened 15 minutes before (Libre 1) but if Libre 2 or 3 then this lag is only 2.4 minutes. So anything that raises cortisol in the 15 minutes before the bath or shower might register a high value which subsides quickly when relaxing in thje tub.

Another problem with the CGM is in the predictive algorithm used to foretell the blood sugar in advance of actually measuring it. The problem with linear progression is that it relies on the slope of the graph to not change direction suddenly and this can lead to overcompensation and instability. So stepping into a hot tub and opening up the capilliaries and thus changing rate of blood flow might be causing a wobble in the meter. It was reported in the early days, and I have seen this effect in my work on life supporr systems where instability crept in unexpectedly.

 

[davidfsavage]

Hi

I have been registered for some time but this is my first posting.

My name is Nasir and I am 77 years old. I was diagnosed accidentally in 1997 with type 2 diabetes. I am on Gliclazide tablets, 4 daily. I have no diabetic complications.

My question is rather unusual.

I am very fond of very hot (40-43 C). I usually have my bath before going to bed about 2100, about 2 hours after supper and it lasts for about 1 and a half hour. Usually I have a fairly high protein supper.

Now, the weird thing is that my blood sugar 2 hours after supper is in the region of 4-7 mmol/L. However, after the bath it frequently rises to 9-12 mmol/L.

I am a retired doctor and just cannot understand why a bath should raise my blood sugar.

I have searched the internet and found almost always that most people find that a bath reduces their blood sugar!

Can someone give me some idea what is happening?

Many thanks.

Hi Nasir
I have just had a hot bath and my blood sugar raised from 7.1 mmol before to 12.6 after........... now 50 mins later it is 9.9 .........I would say that is good evidence hot baths do lower BS

 

[Oldvatr]

Hi Nasir
I have just had a hot bath and my blood sugar raised from 7.1 mmol before to 12.6 after........... now 50 mins later it is 9.9 .........I would say that is good evidence hot baths do lower BS

I think you mean evidence they raise BS

 

[davidfsavage]

Hi

I have been registered for some time but this is my first posting.

My name is Nasir and I am 77 years old. I was diagnosed accidentally in 1997 with type 2 diabetes. I am on Gliclazide tablets, 4 daily. I have no diabetic complications.

My question is rather unusual.

I am very fond of very hot (40-43 C). I usually have my bath before going to bed about 2100, about 2 hours after supper and it lasts for about 1 and a half hour. Usually I have a fairly high protein supper.

Now, the weird thing is that my blood sugar 2 hours after supper is in the region of 4-7 mmol/L. However, after the bath it frequently rises to 9-12 mmol/L.

I am a retired doctor and just cannot understand why a bath should raise my blood sugar.

I have searched the internet and found almost always that most people find that a bath reduces their blood sugar!

Can someone give me some idea what is happening?

Many thanks.

I have been looking on web about this and there is research saying hot bath lowers BS. but mine and most posters find it raises BS. I bet the researchers tested healthy young college students who didn't have type 2 Diabetes .
as I said early I tested mine tonight 7.1 mmol. before to 12.6 after a hot bath

 

[davidfsavage]

I think you mean evidence they raise BS

my bad

 

[ON A MISSION 4 REMISSION]

I have been looking on web about this and there is research saying hot bath lowers BS. but mine and most posters find it raises BS.

May be the relation between temperature and glucose is U-shaped.

Also I wonder if the dawn phenomena plays a confounding role.
I suspect so, because while I take a shower in the morning my BS is lower, but as soon as I get out of the shower it spikes.

 

[finzi1966]

My two cents worth - a hot bath (or shower, cos we don’t have a bath) will definitely raise my (Libre) readings by this sort of amount (say, 5.5 to 8) for a short while, perhaps 10-15 minutes.

Getting into a hot tub does similar.

However, going into a steam room does the opposite- Libra will regularly drop to 4 or even 3. I very much doubt this is a genuine hypo or even a genuine drop in blood sugar - I don’t have any symptoms, I almost never get hypos, and it “resolves” again within minutes of leaving the steam room.

Libre definitely spikes up a bit when I get cold (more prepared to believe this is “genuine” as there could plausibly be the cortisol/stress mechanism.).

 

[plantae]

My high blood sugar alarm goes off nearly every time I have a hot shower, but by the time I get out of the shower and check my BSL it’s normal

 

[Oldvatr]

Well of course I just had to do my own (n=1) experiment. I chose a time when I was relaxed, and in a general fasting state, and I used 2 meters on the same sample.

Before bath:= meter#1 = 7.5. Meter#2 = 6.7 mmol/l Time =17:21
After hot bath = meter#1 = 6.8. Meter#2 = 6.7 mmol/l Time = 17:48

So I cannot claim a rise in bgl after a hot bath worked for me.

Note that having a bath involves climbing stairs, thus potentially raising cortisol. Coming down stairs after said bath is risky due to low BP and a cat intent on tripping me up.