• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2026 Survey »

Low blood sugar in morning

F

FelkaKate

Member
Messages
17
Hello,
First time posting - I've been showing some signs of diabetes (which could also be other things) with tingling in one hand, a yeast infection, a non healing (for last 7 weeks) sore inside my big toe (doctor said it was a pressure sore from callus and my foot pulse was strong so not sure if related).

I've been referred for blood tests for diabetes and thyroid check which I was hoping to go to tomorrow. I bought a glucose monitor to check myself as I've been feeling very low in blood sugar at times recently, especially in the morning before food and before dinner. The results were 3.7-9ish when I was feeling a bit wobbly (apart from one 2.8 which then jumped to 3.9 when I took another so hope that's just an anomaly). Been sweating in the night quite a bit too.

So before dinner last night it was 3.9, 1 hour after 9.4 and 2 hours after 6.4. Is anything above 7.8 bad? From the charts I've seen, if you come back between 4 and 7.8 2 hours after meals, it's normal, but does the spike up to 9.4 matter? And could the low blood sugar be diabetes (or prediabetes) related?

Also confused about how I'm going to last until after 8am tomorrow to eat if my blood sugar is 3 point something when I get up at 5.30am (have a child who is very early riser!) I'm so confused! Help appreciated!
 
Welcome to the forum. First you need a diagnosis.

What are you eating in a typical day?
 
Don't panic about blood sugars in the high 3s (eg 3.7). It's fairly normal for non diabetics to go that low before meals. The reason it is dangerous for T1 diabetics (like me) on insulin is that the injected insulin means that our levels can go much lower. If you're not on diabetic medication then your liver is part of a feedback loop (together with your pancreas) which produces sugar and insulin at such a rate that your blood sugar never goes too low or too high.

Most people look at the levels 2 hours after meals to see if a significant spike has occurred, even non diabetics spike if they eat a lot of carbohydrate.

Having said all that, there is a rare condition called reactive hypoglycemia where people produce too much insulin in response to carbs and their levels go too low (3.7 will make you feel wobbly but isn't really that low). It can also happen to folk who generally don't process carbs well (ie T2 diabetics). A (the?) treatment for both T2 and RH is to eat less carbohydrates, as both conditions are a result of a metabolic disorder where you can't process carbs well.

But honestly, those readings are probably within normal levels, you need a doctor to do a full panel of blood teats to see whether you have an issue.

Good luck.
 
Thank you Ellie for your explanation - it's really helpful. It may be something entirely unrelated but I think I went into a bit of a panic about the symptoms I've got, the slightly weird spiky results and the fact it's come on regularly in the last few weeks (I've not really felt low blood sugary before unless I've gone a really long time without food and exerted myself too much which isn't the case recently). Guess I need to relax a bit and try to investigate more what's going on after the official results.

xfieldok - thanks, hoping it'll be a bit clearer after the blood test though they said it could take up to 6 weeks for results. Food wise - eg. Yesterday was banana and chia porridge and coffee for breakfast, nuts and berries for a snack, scrambled egg, rocket and smoked salmon on toast for lunch, oatcake, nuts, Greek yoghurt for snack, turkey mince and veg bolognaise for dinner (trying to lose a bit of weight so cutting back on the treats)
 
As a T2 I wouldn't touch bananas or grapes they are the worst fruits. Mainly we will have a few berries with either double cream or full fat greek yogurt. Toast and oat cakes are also dubious.
 
Back
Top