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How high does your BG need to be to cause damage?

Ronni.p

Active Member
Messages
25
Location
Brisbane, Australia
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I ate some herb bread the other night before bed after a few glasses of red wine. I think this was the first time I've had white bread since diagnosed in December just gone. I didn't test my BG before bed, but in the morning it was 7.9, the highest I've had yet. It got me thinking, at what level are you causing damage to yourself and risking complications?
 
@Ronni.p I wouldn't think that an occasional high reading is going to cause damage, it's more to do with prolonged high readings. Everyone, including non-diabetics, get high readings from time time, not always caused by food but other things like stress, fatigue or illness.
 
Ronni.p said:

Oh no, wasn't expecting it to be that bad!
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It might not be. Personally I find it a good motivator as something to aim for. I think in the US, where that originates, it is probably used to sell drugs.
Have a good read around this site, particularly Dawn Phenomenon, and low carb recipies. With some changes to your eating habits you will find that you wake a good bit lower than 7.9. It is thought to be the last measurement to fall
 
AM1874 said:
Hi .. wow heavy stuff ..
The more that I learn about diabetes .. the less I like it but, at the same time, the more confident I feel about managing and controlling it
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The figures from this research are not as bad as they first appear.
For example
.............Neuropathy found in 13% of those with 2 hour post OGTT of GT 7.8mmol/L
but
.............Neuropathy found in 7.4% of those with normal results!
In other words a smallish increase from a very low chance, neuropathy being not much more likely in diabetic than non diabetic. Worth being aware of but not scared of, just another reason to try to keep figures low.
 
And take your Alpha Lipoic acid !
 

I found some statistics re neuropathy
Non diabetic occurrence 4 per 1000 of the population
Diabetics 7 per 1000 of the population

So not something we should worry too much about, diabetes increasing our chances by 3 in 1000 and that generally for those with poorer control.
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/hosplea/diabetes_complications/fig4_neuro.htm
 
I am finding that I get a reading around 8.0 first thing in the morning and having not eaten for previous 10-12 hours. I then get readings between 5.3 and 6.8 at times during the day and even when fasting. I guess this could be the Dawn effect from hormones acting during sleep but not clear how I can control if carb intake is minimal and I am fasting for part of the day also?
 

It's your liver dumping extra glucose in to your blood stream. Do you know what you are when you go to bed, and have you ever tested during the night, if for example you wake up for a loo visit? Stress hormones also play a part but that depends on things such as sleepless night, restlessness, nasty dreams, sleeping too little, sleeping too long. And the list goes on.
 
Good advice and yes, I do need to do more testing at those times. My testing is fairly recent and off my own back rather than what I've been recommended to do and so far I've been recording BG levels before meals. These range from between 5.1 and 8.0 and there doesn't seem to be a pattern or direct relationship to what I have or haven't eaten beforehand. My regime is minimal carbs, often less than 20g in a day ranging to a bit more on other days and typically during the week, I'm recording less than 1000 calories in a day whilst raising my burn rate with around 50mins per day activity. Feeling pretty knackered but in my view it's something I need to do to get where I need to be. (Bariatric surgery of the mind!)
 
Thyroiddiabetic said:
I've been getting spikes up to 11./12 sometimes daily but my hba1c is 5.4 can't really understand that but my blood sugars are not within the safe limit.Bit scared now.
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How long are these spikes lasting? If anyone drinks a bottle of lucozade I doubt very few would see their BS hold below 7.8 in the first hour. It shows in your case, that although you have very good control, you are still very much Diabetic. At a guess you lack first stage insulin response
 
Thyroiddiabetic said:
I've been getting spikes up to 11./12 sometimes daily but my hba1c is 5.4 can't really understand that but my blood sugars are not within the safe limit.Bit scared now.
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Which is one of the reasons why the HbA1c is by no means a reliable marker., and why it shouldn't be relied on to diagnose diabetes without post prandial tests being included, or to tell us how well (or otherwise) we are controlling matters.

https://chriskresser.com/why-hemoglobin-a1c-is-not-a-reliable-marker/
 
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