Type 2 Reading 3.2 not on meds

Healthy people not on medications can dip briefly into the 3’s, particularly after a long fast (overnight for example) or after strenuous or extended exercise. In and of itself it’s not automatically dangerous but it’s the possibility dropping further that is the worry. Our bodies are designed to sense this low and dump glucose from the liver to compensate. This event is commonly known as dawn phenomenon or foot on floor syndrome. It’s not restricted to dawn/getting up but is most common at that time.

Medications for diabetes can override this ability (particularly things like insulin or gliclazide) and cause lows that continue to go lower without being able to self rectify. The warnings are mostly aimed at this situation. There are a few other conditions and medications that might cause a low too but they are far less common.

So as a non medicated type 2 (ie a disease of high levels) it’s more than likely you would have risen to a normal level anyway just by getting up. If not breakfast may well have sorted it without the glucose tablet, the extent of that rise dictated significantly by the choice of breakfast. If that’s not the case then obviously the glucose tablet is an option. If it happens a lot you may wish to look into patterns of when and what precedes it and have a chat with the dr.

MoonStar1970 said:

Hello, my reading in waking was 3.2 which is low for me. No symptoms. Had breakfast and glucose tablet and went up to 6.2 after 15 mins and then 2 hours later 7.1. What causes this, do I need to worry? I did google it and scared myself. Thanks

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If you aren't taking meds, I wouldn't be too concerned. Did you restest to ensure the reading was true? An errant low reading can be caused by a few things, like hands not being completely dry.

For me, if I have a low reading, but food is imminent, I just have my meal, then test again after maybe half an hour. My food will usually be enough to nudge my numbers up a little. If my food wasn't imminent, I tend to have a cup of tea, or coffee with milk in it. Again, that just nudges the numbers. I have never resorted to glucose tablets.

Again, provided you aren't on strong meds, if your numbers go a bit low, your liver will dump some of it's glucose store to prevent any issues. A medically concerning hypo is rare for any otherwise healthy person on my blood glucose lowering meds.

lovinglife said:

In the meantime did you retest when you got the low number to check it was correct? If I get a surprising number I usually do another test to confirm, especially if I get a low test and I feel fine.

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Definitely good advice.

I got a 2.8 result yesterday. Washed my hands, tested again immediately after and got 5.1. To be fair though, this is my first obviously wonky result in 3 months of pretty regular testing, so I'll let my BG meter off this one time!

MoonStar1970 said:

Hi, I have tried that but it won’t give me the option to change. It’s showing read only.

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Are you on the App or on a browser?

If you are on the app, it does have some limitations. I can't completely remember specific details, but it could be worthwhile logging into your account in a browser and trying there. Your login details will be the same.