• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Question about BG

Tower01

Member
Messages
18
Hey everyone, just a question about self-testing. This morning I had a bowl of Alpen (no added sugar) with semi-skimmed milk. My morning BG was 5.8 fasting (not even a cuppa). I see that some people say you should test an hour and a quarter after food to see if you are spiking, so I did this and my BG was up to 7.8. Then after 2 hours it was down to 5.8 again. Does that mean my body is coping with the Alpen or not?
 
I would say you're coping with the Alpen fine. The real test is at two hours. The ideal is then to be back to where you were before you ate. Most times, we don't quite do that, but you did. We do indeed peak at about one hour, according to food type, but unless you have unlimited strips, that's not worth worrying about too much UNLESS you see a huge spike at that stage. Your 1 hour reading was fine to me.
Keep on with the Alpen!
 
By the way, going from 7.8 to 5.8 in 45 minutes shows your Pancreas is still working pretty well, and bodes well for your future management of your diabetes.
 
Thanks Grazer, very helpful. The reason I tested after 75 mins was, after reading the other day that BG can go up and down quickly, I was a bit worried that the 2 hour test was when BG was on a downward path. My Dr seems OK about the amount of strips I use and has not said to test less, so all OK with Alpen which is good as it is my fav way to start the day.
 
Tower01 said:
I was a bit worried that the 2 hour test was when BG was on a downward path.

You're correct, it IS, but that's what we're trying to ascertain when we test. We're not trying to catch the peak (unless you particularly want to for experimental reasons); we're trying to check by testing that we can handle the food we're eating by bringing BGs BACK from the peak to an OK level by two hours. Most of us try to get sub 7.8 after two hours, then, when we've got the diet right and we're used to doing that, tighten the screws further by trying to always be less than 6.5 at two hours because this is the maximum that the average NON diabetic would be at after two hours.
 
Back
Top