How High is to High?

[ScottyD]

Hello All,

I have a question asking how high does your blood sugar have to be to be considered above average?

I ask this as once I'm back to work flying, the Civil Aviation Authority have a strict testing regime to follow - an hour before I report for duty and within 30 minutes before take-off (between 4-20mmol/l) and then testing every hour and within 30 minutes to landing (5-15mmol/l) which have to be noted in my flying logbook and said to the pilot next to me so as to be recorded on the cockpit voice recorder.

I totally understand their reasoning. Since I do have a limit to keep within, I have tweaked my insulin so before meals I'm typically 6-7mmol/l as opposed to maybe being the likes of 4mmol/l as that's out with the limits. I have a Freestyle Libre that I use inbetween the finger prick blood testing required by the authority. I have my target on my Libre as 5-9mmol/l with an average being 8.2mmol/l. This make me feel better that I'll be within target for my flying. Overall, I deem this being safe still and won't be contributing to diabetic complications that one may experience down the line?

 

[tim2000s]

Typically, the risk of complications is related to Hba1C, and the point at which complication risk increases is once the Hba1C level gets above 6.5% (that's interpreted as risk of complications being greater than for a normal, non-diabetic). 6.5% is roughly the equivalent to an average blood glucose of 7.7 mmol/l.

At it's most basic, then, if your Libre is giving you an average glucose level below that, then you should be okay.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. Your approach sounds very sensible and should enable you to stay safe. You can't really put an average figure to this but the upper and lower limits make sense.