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How damaging is it?


I kinda knew the polenta was going to get me. I hadn't eaten it in so long and I used to love the stuff.. I'm still in transition into a better way of eating. It takes time, doesn't it? It's been about 6 months and I've mostly kicked my sweet tooth habits but I still have a square or two of dark chocolate or carob.
It's about finding a balance and slowly saying goodbye to those old foods that you no longer should eat. It's a process.

It's even harder when you live with someone who is a good cook! And who laughs (only semi-jokingly) at the idea that we might be killing ourselves with this much good food around. He lives for food in a way - it's a cultural thing. He spends hours preparing these dishes. Fortunately most of them are meat-based and have carbs on the side which can be left out, and that is what I would try to do. Just closed my eyes and opened my mouth today instead. We've all done it. Leaving food behind can be a bit emotional really. But there's still plenty of good options left to be excited about.

It's even harder though with my kids who I now cannot give breakfast cereals and juice to anymore because I know where it can lead. The poor things will have a complex about sugar when all their friends are eating muesli bars and chips for lunch, I'll be trying to get them to eat tuna, cucumber and cheese.
And then I have the old lady across the road who brings cupcakes or chocolates for them every single time she visits. She even handed some to me after I'd explained I had gestational diabetes (at the time) and I was like "Keep that away from me! I love it but I can't have it!"
Must be ridiculously hard for someone in their 20s who is trying to have a social life and eat out with their friends who have no idea what different foods are doing to them...
 
And you could test on two other meters and one would give a 7 and another a 9. It should be the overall picture over a sustained period of time. Blood meters are not accurate enough in my opinion to sweat about such a small variation.
 
Fenn said:
I am obviously a terrible example but if an 8 is very bad, I am bang in trouble, I'm quite pleased when I get an 8
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Same here, in fact given how much time I've spent over 8.5 (going on average readings calculated from my HbA1cs - the word 'decades' explains it fairly well), I think I should be dead by now, but I'm not, I'm still here (being a complete pessimist most of the time, but still here)

But yeah one test over 8.5 is really nothing to worry about.
 
Cocosilk said:
I have been known to run up and down our staircase over and over to bring a number down too. Can't always get out of the house for a walk with 3 little kids so I understand that you do what you have to.
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Hey that works too, as does an exercise bike, whatever does the trick really.
 
It's a spike at 2 hours rather than 1 hour though. And I'm not officially diagnosed with diabetes but had gestational diabetes and may have glucose intolerance according to a 1h spike to 12.1 during my last GTT. But even then my 2 hour had come back down to 6.5mmol. So 8 mmol at 2 hours does concern me a bit... but then again, the metre probably isn't all that reliable and I may have spent longer eating than I would have in GTT so it's probably normal for the amount I ate maybe... normal slightly carb intolerant maybe.
 
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Have you experienced any complications if your levels are over that for decades???
 
Cocosilk said:
Have you experienced any complications if your levels are over that for decades???
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Luckily not much - there have been signs of background retinopathy are now signs of maculopathy - so I have to get my eyes checked every 6 months (rather than yearly), but nothing else needs to be done apart from that currently. But note: I think I have been very very lucky to not really have anything majorly wrong yet

Noting that I'm T1, and for me it's always been a bit of a bad juggling act to try and 'control' it

But yeah one reading of 8.5 really is nothing to worry about

Edit: added the word bad
 
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Glad to know it hasn't affected you too badly!

I had never measured my blood glucose until this year (and I'm 44). I have no idea what my sweet tooth eating habits were doing to my blood glucose levels for all these years but I guess I've had functioning insulin, which is still considered within normal limits in OZ but slightly elevated by UK standards. I probably don't have that much to worry about yet but I'm trying to scare myself out of becoming complacent I guess.
 
Do not beat yourself over an occasional small rise, stress and getting anxious about things, can do more harm than good.
Life is for living, I know.
Enjoy your family and your life
 
It's perhaps worth considering that, generally speaking, T1 autoimmune diabetics are only affected by their blood glucose, whereas T2 resistant diabetics must also consider all-body glucose backed up in their eyes, tissues and organs. It's not really the same ballpark. Glucotoxicity in the blood is not the same game as glucotoxicuty in the blood and everywhere else.

I would always recommend caution when comparing one's own diabetes metrics with those of others. Even HbA1c can vary between individuals who might otherwise have identical average blood glucose concentrations, simply because the test assumes an arbitrary red blood cell lifespan, which is not a constant in everyone. There are other factors, too, but not worth overcomplicating things here.
 
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My comments would be:

A one off reading of 8+ for a T2 or pre-diabetic is no cause for any alarm whatsoever, for most of the reasons mentioned above.

However, PLEASE do not compare yourself with T1 blood glucose management and levels.

T2s still have functioning beta cells that produce insulin. EMost T1s do not have functioning beta cells (or have so few that they need the insulin to supplement what insulin production they have left).

One of the goals for most T2s is to preserve beta cell function, and that means keeping blood glucose low enough that the high glucose levels doesn’t kill the beta cells. See www.bloodsugar101.com for references to studies showing that the extent and duration that blood glucose is above (I think) 7.8mmol/l is directly linked to the number of beta cells that die from glucose ‘poisoning’.

Obviously, this is not a concern for T1s once they have gone through their honeymoon period.

So while I am delighted that T1s can endure greater bg fluctuations and avoid diabetic complications, the same levels will not help a T2 to preserve their failing beta cells or keep their insulin resistance down.
 
All the tissues and organs of the body have their nutrients brought to them by the blood, so if the blood glucose is high, the level of glucose in the tissues is also high. That’s why diabetics of all types are able to use glucose sensors such as Libre and Dexcom, because they measure the glucose in interstitial fluid, the fluid that bathes the cells. Glucose isn’t confined to blood contained within blood vessels. That’s why badly controlled type ones are just at risk of complications as diabetics of any other type.
 

I agree with Jim. No way to know, and no need to stress over occasional high individual readings. As someone else pointed out, even non-diabetics are going to have some spikes. Jim - what are the main factors you monitor for overall health?
 

Yes but it's more complex than that. The etiology of resistant diabetes is decades of glucose buildup in the tissues long before diagnosis. With T2 the cells themselves are stuffed full of glucose for several years. This is the cause of the insulin 'resistance'. In T1 these same cells are largely unable to accept any glucose.
 
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A great informative post, an excellent explanation.
Thank you.
 

One thing to look at would be how much did the meal effect your glucose control over the next day or several days.

If there is little effect, then the one-off meal that results in a reading just over 7.8 shouldn’t be that much of a concern. You can always plan some exercise to bring the blood sugar back into the 5s more quickly - maybe even by two hours.

If it has a negative effect on the following day(s) fasting and post-prandial numbers then consider that the effect is then more than the hours after the one meal.
 

I know what you are saying because I have noticed if I had any carbs before bed I would wake up with a fasting in the 5s rather than 4s.

I have one thing on my side at the moment and I'm sure it helps me get away with more than I would if I weren't doing it - breastfeeding.
But I haven't started any kind of serious exercise regime since having babies over the past 5 years (and never really was one for the gym) so getting myself moving into some kind of resistance training is hard when I'm sleep deprived and still healing from pregnancy and birth.

I only had a salad for dinner last night and just now had a morning fasting reading of 4.4 mmol. Which is the lowest it's been in a good while. If I keep fasting while up and about it tends to go up into the 5s again, which I guess is the liver trying to empty itself a bit more. But so far I seem to have gotten away with yesterday's naughty lunch. At least I hope anyway...

Edit: an hour an a half later I was still fasting (about 12 hours) and had just breastfed again and tested expecting to see the 5s, but I was 3.4 mmol... I'm fairly sure my liver can't be empty so I don't know how it works when your body lets you go a bit on the low side instead of feeding itself - I've only seen a couple of 3s in this postpartum period so must be to do with breastfeeding, but I also had something in the 3s about 4 hours after the GTT too. High 3s are still normal and healthy though, aren't they?
 
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Is there a test to measure how many beta cells you have left or is does the fasting insulin test tell you that?
 
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