meter readings

I too have found that having a mug of tea around 1.5 hrs or so does affect the 2 hours test - I've put it down to getting hot with the sudden input (ok I'm a pig and gulp it down ) because I think i read somewhere that being hot pushes things up. It doesn't go as high as yours but higher than I want and I feel it distorts the real reading when I'd rather know if I've eaten too many sprouts! So now I always wait and just have water if I haven't finished testing. That works for me. Hopefully someone knowledgeable will explain what is going on if it's not heat!
DG

5.6 after 2 hours is a good reading. Don't worry too much!

I've never noticed that tea spikes my numbers and I drink a lot of tea!

bedshaped2000 said:

it must be the tea theres no other reason grrrrrrr. potato with me is 1 hr highest 2nd hour lower every time. must be the milk or the caffeine at the time when your sugars are working.

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grrrrr....... :?
Why must it be the Tea, it might very likely be stress. Worrying about the readings which are actually fine ? Most times a spike is caused by food intake. I see you had 100g of Potato, that's
around 17g of carbs enough to help raise your Bg levels.

No day would ever be the same anyway. If you do get the same result it would just be a coincidence, Bg levels fluctuate from minute to minute and one would never assume that you would get the same reading because you might have eaten the same food etc.

I too drink loads of Tea, I have never had a spike from tea, never heard of anybody having a spike from Tea....very odd, there is only around 1.5g carbs in a mug using 30 mil milk. What sort of Tea is it ? You must be very sensitive to carbs...... :? Either that or you use loads of milk in it.

Very strange conclusion to have reached in my view. Still I suppose we are all different ?

blood sugars can range on a different day due to many factors,
as already said stress is one, what you have been doing exercise wise, a day house cleaning makes a big difference to me, whether or not u arent too well,
tea doesnt spike me and i drink lots of it, but we are all different

bedshaped2000 said:

if no 2 readings are the same for each meal how do we know whats doing us good do i test a number of times and take a average?

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Just about to post and saw Totsy's reply. I concur with her.

bedshaped.
No, of course not. The readings tell you what they are at THAT time only. If your Bg is well controlled, which they appear to be, then they are not going to be too far off. It gives you a benchmark for that particular food. Once you have that benchmark there is no need to question the result just because it is a little higher on another day.

For instance I regularly have a cereal of some sort for breakfast, some mornings the same one. I test when I wake, then shortly after have breakfast. 2 hrs later I test again.

That result is only the reading for THAT day, THAT time. Now on another day my fasting and 2 hr readings are slightly different. I can still see that the cereal is Ok for me. If suddenly they were way out then I would look to see what else could have affected them....activity, stress, delayed meals meaning I might have been a victim of Dawn Phenomenon, many other variables. I wouldn't expect ANY readings to be the same each day just because I had the same food !

The Endocrine system doesn't work that way. Nobody should assume that Bg levels are always the same day by day, meal by meal, neither should you test to the point of stressing yourself out.....it is counterproductive. That, in itself will elevate your Bg levels, sometimes significantly !

bedshaped2000 said:

i just thought id test a normal dinner tonight which consisted of turkey 100g of potato, sprouts cabbage and brocoli. after 1 hour 6.4 every thing looked as normal i was expecting a 5.9 after 2. SHOCK HORROR 8.3. would this be the cup of tea i had between the 2 hour testing. Just as i think im getting somewhere the meter amazes me

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You are also assuming that the reading given by your meter is absolutely accurate. It isn't. The error margin is quite wide. It is quite possible that the first reading under read and the later reading over read and that you BG actually did go down slightly. BG readings from blood glucose meters are very useful as a guide as to where your diet/exercise/medication regime is taking you. But any individual reading should never be taken as an exact measure of the amount of glucose in your blood.

IanS.

bedshaped2000 said:

i also noticed ian that ALWAYS my left hand reading is always lower than the right hand with only about 10 secs between sometimes 1.00 difference which to me makes the difference if i eat the food or not. i just need to trust food so i can eat and work and know fo sure. im getting there 8)

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BS.
I thought you were going to stop worrying about stuff ! :wink: Am I to take it that you test on both hands at the same time.... :?: That is seriously OTT.

Don't get too technical about it all. Just stick with one meter, one hand at a time and remember that whilst the meters are never 100% accurate they are good enough for home use. Plenty accurate enough. You will drive yourself into an early grave stressing about numbers and meter accuracy.

As you say just concentrate on the foods that you are eating, that's where you will get the most benefit. A slight difference of 1 mmol/l shouldn't put you off anything ! Just have a bit less of it next time.