Type 2 Spikes for a Dummy

A spike is typically with reference to the highest peak of your blood glucose following a meal.

They are important (to avoid) because a spike is typically outside of your ideal BG range and time spent over and above the upper limit of that range increases the likelihood of damage to your body. Given that the average person will eat three meals per day, we can actually find that three 'spikes' can actually leave us with high blood glucose for a fair amount of time. Spike duration varies from person to person depending on many factors including diabetes type, age, weight and the foods consumed.

We all spike, it's an unavoidable issue. It can be reduced by many various means and methods.

To put it simply, any time outwith your target BG range can result in bodily damage. Limiting spikes helps to keep your BG in range longer and reduce the risk of diabetic complications.

Here's a list of diabetic complications, both short and long term:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-complications/diabetes-complications.html

And here's a bit of info about hyperglycaemia (which is more or less what a spike is). You can see from the article that "blood sugar levels exceeding 7 mmol/L for extended periods of time can start to cause damage to internal organs". That's why we want to avoid spikes:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/Diabetes-and-Hyperglycaemia.html

blood sugar levels exceeding 7 mmol/L for extended periods of time can start to cause damage to internal organs

I hope that answers your question?

Spikes are the increase in your sugar levels from pre prandial (before food) and post pradial(after food) readings, spikes are generally used to describe a reading that it higher than expected or wanted.

You want to reduce the spiking so that you maintain a even and preferably low blood sugar level. I personally try and stay within a two point range from when I test prior to eating and when I retest two hours after eating.

Anything that causes my levels to rise above this point swill call my levels to "spike" and I am far less likely to eat that meal with any regularity.

wiseowl_123 said:

Good afternoon @GrantGam and @MaxRebo001 many thanks my friends

• 
  
• Blood glucose levels greater than 7.0 mmol/L (126 mg/dl) when fasting
• Blood glucose levels greater than 11.0 mmol/L (200 mg/dl) 2 hours after meals

Am I understanding this right
So if 2 hours after a meal my reading is less than 11.o mmol/L that would be alright and perfectly acceptable for me to eat that meal again

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The NICE guidelines suggest - 4 to 7 mmol/L before meals and under 8.5 mmol/L after meals.

wiseowl_123 said:

Good afternoon @GrantGam and @MaxRebo001 many thanks my friends

• 
  
• Blood glucose levels greater than 7.0 mmol/L (126 mg/dl) when fasting
• Blood glucose levels greater than 11.0 mmol/L (200 mg/dl) 2 hours after meals

Am I understanding this right
So if 2 hours after a meal my reading is less than 11.o mmol/L that would be alright and perfectly acceptable for me to eat that meal again

Click to expand...

@wiseowl_123 I'm not sure where you got the 11.0 mmol/L figure from but the guidelines for Type 2's are 8.5 2 hours after eating and I would consider 11.0 too high. What had you eaten to give you that number and is it something that you may be able to 'tweak' eg reduce the amount or substitute one of the constituents for something less 'carby'. Unfortunately being fairly newly diagnosed it's trial and error at this stage in that you will find that some foods will spike more than others but the only to find out is by testing. You never know you may have a pleasant surprise in that you find out you can eat something that you thought was 'off limits'!! Hope this helps

You need to aim for under 8.5 after a meal @wiseowl_123 . Back in March my post evening meal averaged 11, but with careful management of diet I've now got it to 8.7 - still a bit high, but going in the right direction. I am meeting the target with post breakfast and post lunch as they are 8.22 and 8.0 - and all my rolling averages are still slowly falling week by week.

wiseowl_123 said:

Good afternoon @Daphne917 my friend and thank you It is in the link that @GrantGam kindly left for me in his previous post above

ps it was when I first started and had a large bowl of porridge and raspberries but now with your good advice I shall just try a smaller portion until I get it under 8.5 mmol.

So anything I eat if it reads under 8.5 mmol after two hours then I can safely eat that

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Yes although there are some forum members who like to keep it lower but I don't get too concerned if I have the occasional 8.5.!! It's all down to experimentation at this stage so enjoy - in fact I'm still experimenting as I have found that there are some foods which used to give me a high reading I can now eat!

@wiseowl_123 I would recommend you stick to the NHS NICE targets that your GP uses and avoid going over 8.5 after eating.

I'm not sure about spikes causing damage/complications rather than what levels you are at most the time.

However if you are insulin resistant then spikes can lead to too much insulin which can lead to weight gain which may affect where you levels are most of the time. I think I have just confused my self

Can anyone point me to research on spikes?

Ah now I see why you are a bit confused @wiseowl_123 . The article you were reading was about hyperglycemia and I think you picked up the wrong end of the branch!

BTW those last readings of yours ARE EXCELLENT

What is hyperglycemia?
Hyperglycemia, the term for expressing high blood sugar, has been defined by the World Health Organisation as:

• Blood glucose levels greater than 7.0 mmol/L (126 mg/dl) when fasting
• Blood glucose levels greater than 11.0 mmol/L (200 mg/dl) 2 hours after meals

Your fasting, pre-meal, and 2 hour post meal levels are fine. However, you may be "spiking" before the 2 hour mark, and by 2 hours be well on your way down. Personally, an 8.5 is far too high for me at any time. A 7 I can cope with around an hour or 90 minutes, but too high at 2 hours. My personal target range is 4 to 7.

Have you considered getting a Libre sensor? They are expensive, but well worth the outlay. The sensor sits on your arm and measures your glucose every 15 minutes for 24 hours a day for 2 weeks. You also get a reader with which you can scan the sensor at any time to get an instant reading. You can also download the stored logs to a computer and see all the 15 minute readings. One of these will show you whether you ever go above your own target levels and how long you are up there.

wiseowl_123 said:

Good afternoon @GrantGam and @MaxRebo001 many thanks my friends

• 
  
• Blood glucose levels greater than 7.0 mmol/L (126 mg/dl) when fasting
• Blood glucose levels greater than 11.0 mmol/L (200 mg/dl) 2 hours after meals

Am I understanding this right
So if 2 hours after a meal my reading is less than 11.o mmol/L that would be alright and perfectly acceptable for me to eat that meal again

Click to expand...

NO !!!!

I personally think from what I have read that 11 mmol is a far too high set level of spiking , if one has got ones numbers Down to a normal level of under 5.3-6.0 mmol before eating , a spike of more than 2 mmols would be far too high.. so then I would say that a spike uptill 7(8) mmoll as the max number would be acceptable...

here are some informations that are interesting if one does want to take controll of ones diabetes and try to avoid adding conditions/diseases :
(PLEASE READ ALL OF THE PAGE) :
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045678.php

wiseowl_123 said:

Good afternoon I know I have been a member for just coming up to 4 months but I am struggling with understanding the meaning of spikes,what exactly are they,why are they important,and what is an acceptable spike level,surely we spike with whatever we eat to a certain extentot, are we not allowed to spike at all,my apologies to all of you for asking this question,but one of my grandchildren asked me and I didn't have much of an answer for her,I am not usually this dim but and I have tried to understand all about spikes,Thank you

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You're not a dummy, you're asking a very sensible question. *hug*

I'm not diabetic and I spike after carby meals. The difference is, my spike drops very quickly so doesn't affect my body. My pancreas produces the insulin required.