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Post meal blood sugar levels

Tfqleeds

Tfqleeds

Active Member
Messages
26
Location
Leeds
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Good evening,

Just out of curiosity, what does everybody's blood sugar readings look like after one to one and a half hours post meal?

Is it worth keeping track of these levels as they always shoot up to 10-14 for me.
Will this cause me damage long term?

Before meals I am keeping them steady between 4-8.
 
Well the readings are higher than desired and giving you
quite large swings in your blood. Really you should try to keep swings to a minimum ie if 5 try not to go above 7.5 after
a meal. I think the swings are just as detrimental as permanent higher readings...

Best testing really 2 hours after a meal....
 
as been said above, but it also depends on the food you are eating to make you spike like that
 
After 90 minutes my BG is usually not much higher than a few mmol/l. Have you tried waiting 5-15 min before eating after you have taken your insulin? If the insulin kicks in late you'll see some high spikes. Eating food with low GI in right portions makes wonder as well. Keep track of the the spikes after meals, those are relevant as well. If you have high spikes continuously you might take damage from it.
Measure BG after 2 hours postprandial, you shouldn't have a bigger deviation than 2 mmol/l, given it was a proper meal and not a bag of candy.
 
The general consensus is that damage starts to be caused when your blood glucose goes above approx. 8mmol, so that's a good target to aim for in respect of your post-eating spikes.

Having said that, it's certainly no easy feat to always keep below 8mmol, especially without hypos. Personally, I aim to be in single digits at all times and below 8mmol as much as possible. On my LIbre my "target range" is 3.9 - 7.9 ... but I'm in excess of my target range usually about 6 to 8% of the time.

Whilst it is of course preferential to avoid spikes at all, a temporary spike up to around 10mmol after eating isn't the end of the world if it quickly comes back down (in my opinion).

As @52O342UOIF suggests, a good tip is to try injecting your NovoRapid up to 30 mins BEFORE eating so that it has time to get started. For me, this dramatically reduced spiking. Of course, be very careful the first time you try this.
 
If only we all had Libres! For me injecting ahead of food is like walking a very fine tight rope - a minute here or there and depending on whats to eat I can misjudge it and end up on the floor so to speak, but I can forget pre-injecting if I'm eating pasta or rice and then split dose just before eating and 3hrs after to try and keep my BS resonable. Yes I know don't eat pasta and rice then.....but I have a life to lead.

But I'd go with the rise of 2.5mmol 2 hrs after food as a good guide.
 
Ive always found injecting before eating a little tricky, lets say I give my insulin for what I,m about to eat but then leave half of the meal. Then I would have to much insulin on board, lately I have been and only seen a really small difference in the bloods after eating and I was told a few years back nby my DSN (this was on the DAFNE course) to inject after eating to avoid any hypos if I left some of the food
 
On my DAFNE course they advised not to worry about the 2 hour reading as long as you came down after that.

I however, am not comfortable with that and prefer not to spike at all, which is why i generally low carb. This is because my Libre showed me a load of hidden spikes I didn't even know were happening.

As mentioned above though, try injecting further ahead of your food. Sounds like your ratios are correct as you return to normal levels before your next meal, it sounds like more of a timing issue.

Do you know about the effects of GI ?
 
Yes I am trying to generally eat very healthy and low carb, I was previously very interested in body building and have a fairly good knowledge around nutrition. I spoke with the nurse today on the phone and she said my body is still getting used to the insulin injections.

Forgive me, what is libre?
 
Libre = An indetermined amount of time you have to wait to buy something(!)

A device that continuously monitors your intertersal sugar level - a newish CGM that is relativly cheaper than other CGMs, made by Abbott http://www.freestylelibre.co.uk/
 
Tfqleeds said:
I take it this isn't available on the good old NHS?
Click to expand...

Some hospitals and CCGs are paying for libres now... And have been for at least 6 months. I declined one from my hospital. I prefer my finger pricking after all the fuss I had with the Freestyle Navigator.
 
If I disclose my hospital and the CCG will be inundated....
 
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