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Is the 2 hour reading conclusive?

C

chocoholicnomore

Well-Known Member
Messages
639
Location
Scotland
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Just looking for some advice/opinions.
I believed that the reading 2 hours after eating is more or less the highest it will go and then it starts to fall again.
However, tonight I tested about 8pm ( 2 hours after meal) and it was 9.6. A friend had told me that sauna/steam room can help reduce bg and that was the main reason that I tested before I went out. When I came home from sauna at 10pm I tested again and it was 13.8. I use sauna alot but this is the first time I tested.
My question is......was the high reading a delayed reaction to my food or was it using the sauna which has caused the increase?
Any opinions much appreciated x

Sent from my D2403 using Diabetes.co.uk Forum mobile app
 
What was your pre eating reading.... and what did you eat?
Sorry I have no experience of the sauna effect but to go up 4 units 4 hours after eating is quite an effect. It might be worthwhile repeating and testing every 1 hour after you started eating to assess what the trend is.... with and without a sauna.
 
Wow, i was going to say the same thing! I had a reading of 8s 1 hr after eating and then in the 9s 2 hours after eating, having read on nhs site that it is 1 hr being the peak and then 2 hrs should be on its way back down, had a massive panic that at 2 hrs was higher!

I will say though that every one reacts differently, some people do better with the heat and some dont! I am one of those who doesnt, the heat makes me feel ill, stressed and bad tempered which has a negative domino effect on my bgl.

I would say to take another look, test hourly after eating and then just before and just after the sauna, just to see a trend, if bgl are on a downward trend and then rise after sauna then maybe your body doesnt like it...
 
I didn't test before eating. To be honest I don't test very often now and my head is in the sand alot of the time. I did have some chocolate and some biscuits before my meal so I expected the 2 hour reading to be high but I didn't think it would go higher. Think I might need to re educate myself


Sent from my D2403 using Diabetes.co.uk Forum mobile app
 
Aaaah, i have seen that! Basically you used your 1st wave of insulin on chocolate and buscuits (2nd also is a possibility) then threw more at you pancreas which couldnt keep up... thus bg rise.

I had that at eid, 2nd day of stuffing my face with almost pure sugar my body was unable to keep up.

Your beta cells produce insulin, the basal is a stream of insulin to keep your sugars constant, they also have a store of insulin which excretes when you eat to tackle the food, if it isnt enough it has a 2nd lot it can throw at your food. For us diabetics some of our beta cells have gone on strike or died and so the remaining beta cells are struggling to keep up with the basal and are unable to produce enough to create a back up as well nor can they replenish the dead beta cells. (Thus why i fast to give the beta cells a break)

I would also say look at the food was there any "slow" releasing carb? If your pancreas ran out of reserve and you ate a slow releasing carb it may explain why it kept going up.
 
Depends on what was eaten...? The heat from the sauna may have also increased insulin sensitivity (it does with me.) & thus lowered your BS with what insulin you were producing..
The figure from your meter may have been worse if it wasn't for the sauna...?
Always test before eating for a reference.
 
Sorry to jump on but its sort of similar.. 3 days diagnosed.6.2 on waking this morning. I read alot of people on here fast, so gave it a go.. Held out till lunch, tested & it was 8.9. 2hrs after was 7.9. I thought it would go down before lunch not up. Still new & confused
 

Even though you fasted your liver can decide that, once the day has started, you might need some help with producing some extra glucose to get you going. It's called a liver dump. You are likely to have some reserves that need to be reduced.
 
If I do not eat something 0 carb in the morning my sugars just drift higher and higher until I do eat. My system does not handle any carbs in the first couple hours after I wake up.
 
So the spike in BG levels after eating depends very much on what you ate. This affects te level of the spike and how long after you ate it occurs. With foods high in fats I generally peak at around 2 hours and then fall but with foods high in carbs and low in fat I tend to peak around 45mins and down again by 2 hours.

Foods like pizza and rice (for me) have a long lasting effect that causes the system to continuously release glucose for some hours. Additionally, I find that overnight when I eat lots of protein the day before (especially dark meats) that that keeps my levels raised for a period and constant.

All in all a BG journey is as individual as you are. The only way to determine what reaction you will have is to eat and test
 
Yup, my experiences back up everything that Jaylee and AndCol say.

Quick release carbs dump blood glucose quickly (peak at less than an hour)
High protein meals tend to raise my bg gently for about 2.5 hours, then subside even more gently
Fat and fibre both slow down digestion, so I have had post meal peaks that look like hummocks, but last 6 hours.

The 1 and 2 hour tests after meals should pick up initial carb spikes (at 1 hour) and whether your insulin response is dealing with the carb spike (below 7.8 ish at 2 hours), but they won't spot delayed spikes from fatty carby junk foods (pizza, rich curries with rice, etc).
 
chalup said:
If I do not eat something 0 carb in the morning my sugars just drift higher and higher until I do eat. My system does not handle any carbs in the first couple hours after I wake up.
Click to expand...

Thanks Chalup. For the last few days I've been carb free, except for a trace that may been hidden.. 5.5 just now. I've never been a breakfast person. but I will go eat a small cube of cheese & see what my level is before lunch.

Update, still 5.5
 
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That would be a liver dump! Your liver stores energy so when your blood sugar drops too low (by seeing a low level of insulin) dumps a load into your blood sugar, if you dont have enough insulin to tackle it then bgl rises, dont worry. Stay on the fast and lchf diet and you wont see this any more! I had this at the beginning but now my liver has run out of those reserves and now uses my fat instead and so only get a small increase (e.g 5.0 to 5.2 ). The diet is the most important, carbs are pure sugar so raise your blood sugars, your body doesnt actually need carbs it can do the job from protein. Fat actually stops or slows the release of sugars into the body.

It can be SO annoying and confusing... the worst for me was when it went up after exercise (another liver dump) which now lowers my bgl rather than raises it and hormones rise it whether you like it or not and nothing you can do to stop them!
 
oopsie said:
Thanks Chalup. For the last few days I've been carb free, except for a trace that may been hidden.. 5.5 just now. I've never been a breakfast person. but I will go eat a small cube of cheese & see what my level is before lunch.
Click to expand...
What do you consider to be carb free? Dairy produce will contain some carbs, and some cheeses more than others.

Robbity
 
Robbity said:
What do you consider to be carb free? Dairy produce will contain some carbs, and some cheeses more than others.

Robbity
Click to expand...

Hi Robbity, My personal take on in your face carbs is anything made of flour.. Please bear in mind I'm only 4 days in. Ive been having salad (well my version of salad, lettuce) egg & lettuce friday, grilled chicken saturday & tuna sunday. Looking to make something from minced turkey today.. I know there is carbs in everything (different amounts from different web places) The cheese I use is goats cheese. & it was a thumbnail piece.. Just took bloods & still 5.5 so it hasn't risen any at all.
 
busydiabeticmum said:
... having read on nhs site that it is 1 hr being the peak and then 2 hrs should be on its way back down...
Click to expand...
NHS like to think we are all exactly the same and fit into their boxes!!! I wonder how long before they will appreciate we are all individuals and different ?
 
I was only diagnosed 6 months ago, and was doing pre and post meal testing as recommended.
I had a couple of funny meals, where pre was 5.6 and post was 5.2.
I finally got myself a Freestyle Libre to educate myself...

Whilst it was absolutely useless for accuracy (1-3 mil below blood), it did let me see how I was actually reacting to food and different situations.
What I discovered was that

(1) I was suffering from Dawn Phenomenon, and have knocked that on the head by having an apple at bedtime. Funny enough, if I forget and have a high morning sugar ONE peanut m and m gets my sugars to normal within 30 minutes!

(2) Those 'funny' meals was because by blood sugar graph was like a wave, going up and down several times over about 4 hours before stabilising. Because I could simply scan the arm jobby constantly it meant I could see where the crest of the wave was and do a finger prick at that point for the real reading (or as real as test sticks can give!).

I really do think that it would pay HUGE dividends for gp practices to give Libre to diagnosed diabetics for a couple of months to assist in understanding what's going on with your body.

As I say, accuracy is absolutely awful (my Dad, who was diagnosed T2 a few years ago, always reads high!) but the education you can get by watching the trends and finger pricking at spikes rather than guessing the right time is worth its weight in gold!

Sadly I can't afford to use Libre constantly.

However, given all the stuff I've seen online that bloods can go a bit mad when you're ill, I'm a bit terrified at the prospect of my first diabetic winter complete with colds and flus. So I plan to get a couple in so that when it does hit the fan I can get a better picture of what's happening without adding to the anxiety by finger pricking every 15 minute.

I really recommend that you try to get a Libre if you can afford it for a month or so, and cram in as much education as you can. Go to the sauna, go running, lie in the sun (if you get that lucky!), and have some of those naughty food moments that you MAY allow yourself - in the name of education, or course!

Happy hunting in the truth of YOUR diabetes
 
I agree as we have been using the Libre for a week now and it makes it so easy to compare different foods. Hoping that after a month it's only necessary to repeat now and then as £50/fortnight is quite a cost.
 
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