Mum's first day - fasting glucose 7.1 / 2hr post meal 6.4

[Sita_M]

Hi All,

My mother has been diagnosed as pre-diabetic following an Hb A1c reading of 45.

The Wavesense Jazz blood glucose meter arrived in the post yesterday. This morning the fasting reading was 7.1. She had lunch at 14.30 and at 16.30 the reading was 6.4.

What am i supposed to make of these two numbers?

What should she be targeting, just to get the fasting level down below 6?

Is it normal for the post meal reading to be lower than the fasting level?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rachox]

Here’s what this forum say about blood sugar levels:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html
Fasting levels can be higher than later in the day due to dawn phenomenon, here’s what this site says about it:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose/dawn-phenomenon.html

 

[Sita_M]

Thanks Rachox

The diagnosis table in your link suggests mum is 'diabetic' based on fasting 7.1 but 'normal' based on postprandial 6.4. Is this is a common scenario?

What were your blood glucose meter readings doing when you dropped from Hb A1c 45 to 36 ?

 

[Bluetit1802]

Please, don't concentrate on her fasting readings for now. You can forget that test. It is far more important to measure what she is immediately before eating and 2 hours after first bite. Fasting levels are notoriously unpredictable, as many factors come in play, most of which we have no control over.

Her 6.4 at 2 hours after lunch means nothing at all because you don't know what she was before she ate.

This is the best plan initially:
Test before eating
Test again 2 hours after first bite
Look at the difference between the 2 numbers and keep it below 2mmol/l, preferably a lot less than that.
Keep a detailed food diary including all ingredients and portion sizes
Record her levels alongside the food
Over time, look for patterns - which foods raise her levels the most.
Tweak those meals accordingly by reducing carb portion sizes or eliminating some completely.

 

[Rachox]

Thanks Rachox

The diagnosis table in your link suggests mum is 'diabetic' based on fasting 7.1 but 'normal' based on postprandial 6.4. Is this is a common scenario?

What were your blood glucose meter readings doing when you dropped from Hb A1c 45 to 36 ?

I don’t think there are recommended fasting figures for prediabetics as they’re not included in the table, as Bluetit says the pre and post meal readings are more important.
In answer to your second question when my HbA1c was 45 my average daily reading (that’s the average of eight readings/day) was around 6mmols/l. By the time it was 36 my average was down to about 5.6

 

[Sita_M]

Thanks Bluetit.

Would you advise doing this before and after for each meal? That's 6 test strips per day assuming three meals!

 

[Pinkorchid]

I think her level of 6.4 after her lunch was really good that is well within the recommended level 2 hours after a meal and if she keeps that up then hopefully she will stay in prediabetic levels

 

[Rachox]

I would test all meals to start with, to find out what meals suit her best ie those that show no more than a 2mmol/l rise. I did to begin with. Now I tend to test for two out of three meals/day especially if I’m trying something new, it keeps me on the straight and narrow!

 

[Bluetit1802]

Thanks Bluetit.

Would you advise doing this before and after for each meal? That's 6 test strips per day assuming three meals!

That is up to you of course. Initially it is best to know all the foods causing problems, so that would include all meals, but you could alternate them, so you do one or two meals a day making sure all typical meals are covered. This is only temporary until you absolutely know which are her danger foods. Then you can reduce the testing once these foods are sorted, and test when she has something new.

 

[Sita_M]

Thanks all that replied. I shall establish a before and after pair for tonight's dinner and repeat for various meals in coming days

 

[Bluetit1802]

Thanks all that replied. I shall establish a before and after pair for tonight's dinner and repeat for various meals in coming days

Let us know how she goes on.

 

[Sita_M]

Update

7.2 reading taken at 19.30.
Minutes later she tucked into 2 cod steaks, broccoli, and some hummus.
5.7 reading taken at 21.30

what should i make of that? admittedly it was the perfect meal and i am guessing i need to repeat with other meals but surprised it actually dropped.

 

[Guzzler]

Update

7.2 reading taken at 19.30.
Min later she tucked into 2 cod steaks, broccoli, and some hummus.
5.7 reading taken at 21.30

what should i make of that? admittedly it was the perfect meal and i am guessing i need to repeat with other meals but surprised it actually dropped.

It sounds like you hit on a perfect meal for your Mum. I have never tried hummus so I can't comment on that. But the numbers are looking good. Sometimes the numbers can return to a base line fairly quickly giving a lower number than the pre meal and this mainly depends on what the meal is i.e the carb values and portion size etc. Well done to you both.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Update

7.2 reading taken at 19.30.
Minutes later she tucked into 2 cod steaks, broccoli, and some hummus.
5.7 reading taken at 21.30

what should i make of that? admittedly it was the perfect meal and i am guessing i need to repeat with other meals but surprised it actually dropped.

I agree, it is surprising, and maybe one or the other test was a bit of a rogue one, which does happen. It's either human error (hands not washed and dried properly)) or a contaminated strip. If you get a reading that is unexpected or outside her normal range for that time of day, it is worth testing again, or even twice again, to confirm.

 

[Sita_M]

thanks both. obviously i'm operating with a limited set of data points. but for lunch and dinner her readings were 6.4 and 5.7 2hr after commencing meals. the latter dropping from 7.2 pre-meal. good signs i guess but appreciate i need to build up more data.

 

[Mbaker]

Hi @Sita_M you are doing a great job assisting your Mum. The early signs are very encouraging.