Started Keto diet

KennyA

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Staff Member
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2,958
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
That's a good summary in that article. My morning readings are still generally the highest I'll see all day, even if they're not particularly high. It's my liver - it makes glucose and puts it in my blood. Nothing to do with what I eat, as far as I can see. For me, this is partly linked to a BG crash I get sometimes in the early hours. My BG falls sharply: my liver dumps a lot of glucose as a result, and I get heavy sweats, nightmares, and wake up very quickly. My liver will happily go on making glucose, my BG continues rising (slowly) - until I eat something, that seems to reassure it.

As the years have gone by my liver has gradually accepted that maybe I don't need so much glucose after all, and the fasting levels slowly fell - I'd still expect to see low-mid fives. It only takes a cold, some stress, or a bit of an off day for my liver to bump up its glucose manufacturing again. I've been a bit off (mild bug) this last couple of days and have had FBGs in the sixes, which is unusual for me.

In other words, my liver likes making glucose, and thinks it's chicken soup. Whatever happens, I'll get chicken soup.
 

Catkysydney

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Messages
59
Yes it's fairly common and quite normal, this article explains the reasons for it
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/fasting-blood-glucose-higher

Thank you very much for your kind reply and link!!
It shows how to calculate HOMA-IR, so I calculated mine , it was 1…. So I am insulin sensitive.
Great to know that .. but my diagnosis was type 2 diabetes.. I am still confused .. I have RH as well …

But Keto diet is helpful for any kind of diabetes, I will keep doing it .

I noticed I don’t have diarrhea after I started Keto . I have been suffering chronic severe diarrhea after I had Stevens-Johnson Syndrome 12 years ago. Almost everyday I had to take Imodium or Lomotil.

Thank you very much ! Very valuable information …
 

Catkysydney

Well-Known Member
Messages
59
That's a good summary in that article. My morning readings are still generally the highest I'll see all day, even if they're not particularly high. It's my liver - it makes glucose and puts it in my blood. Nothing to do with what I eat, as far as I can see. For me, this is partly linked to a BG crash I get sometimes in the early hours. My BG falls sharply: my liver dumps a lot of glucose as a result, and I get heavy sweats, nightmares, and wake up very quickly. My liver will happily go on making glucose, my BG continues rising (slowly) - until I eat something, that seems to reassure it.

As the years have gone by my liver has gradually accepted that maybe I don't need so much glucose after all, and the fasting levels slowly fell - I'd still expect to see low-mid fives. It only takes a cold, some stress, or a bit of an off day for my liver to bump up its glucose manufacturing again. I've been a bit off (mild bug) this last couple of days and have had FBGs in the sixes, which is unusual for me.

In other words, my liver likes making glucose, and thinks it's chicken soup. Whatever happens, I'll get chicken soup.

Thank you very much for your kind reply, Kenny !!
So your fasting blood sugar is highest…. Hmmm..
So I am OK .. but I was shocked yesterday’s fasting blood sugar, it was 8.9 ! I was frightened.
But today was 7.3. Our liver is making glucose.
This will go lower slowly, right ? Yes, I expect to see mid-low 5, that is a normal range and I feel better.

Our body is so complicated, managing blood sugar is so important.

My cousin gets dementia due to her diabetes and my partner’s younger(!) sister placed a heart pacemaker in and her gallbladder was removed, she has diabetes, she seems relaxed actually she eats anything. Makes me concerned, but of course I cannot do anything.

I would like to do the best for my body and my quality of life ..

Thank you again for your input ! Very appreciated.
 

KennyA

Moderator
Staff Member
Messages
2,958
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Thank you very much for your kind reply, Kenny !!
So your fasting blood sugar is highest…. Hmmm..
So I am OK .. but I was shocked yesterday’s fasting blood sugar, it was 8.9 ! I was frightened.
But today was 7.3. Our liver is making glucose.
This will go lower slowly, right ? Yes, I expect to see mid-low 5, that is a normal range and I feel better.

Our body is so complicated, managing blood sugar is so important.

My cousin gets dementia due to her diabetes and my partner’s younger(!) sister placed a heart pacemaker in and her gallbladder was removed, she has diabetes, she seems relaxed actually she eats anything. Makes me concerned, but of course I cannot do anything.

I would like to do the best for my body and my quality of life ..

Thank you again for your input ! Very appreciated.
As far as going lower slowly, that's what happened for me. It took months. I had an A1c of 36 and was still getting fasted readings in the mid sixes. So I stopped worrying about it, and these days I rarely check the morning level. I found the before and +2hrs after readings much more useful. You can do something about those.

If you have a look through Google you will find a lot of non-diabetic CGM daily graphs that show large variations in glucose levels through the day, and yes, high levels first thing. So it's not solely a "diabetic" issue.
 

Paul_

Well-Known Member
Messages
452
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
As a general rule, my morning BG levels are higher, similar to Kenny's. When my hba1c test came back as 32 in November last year, down from 83 on the previous test, my morning readings were still in the 6.x range. Even now, like Kenny said, my first thing in the morning readings are still the highest of the day.

As other's have said, my advice would be not to worry about it. It's the result over which we have little/no ability to influence. Overnight our stomachs completely empty, resulting in a sense of hunger or needing to eat. Our primitive monkey brains translate this as needing to go out and hunt, which needs energy, so the liver dumps glucose into our systems to provide that energy boost - having no appreciation for the fact you're not going to be fighting lions and running around hunting, you only in fact need to traverse a flight of stairs and the short walk to the kitchen! It's a physiological response to an instinctual situation, and it's called "dawn phenomenon". People experience this to varying extents, but as T2 diabetics then our insulin resistance means we're less efficient at processing the liver's glucose dump. In turn though, the liver is oblivious to insulin resistance, it knows nothing of it, so it receives the instructions to dump glucose and dutifully performs that action. The good news though is that a) keto making your liver dump it's reserves of glucose isn't a bad thing in the mid-long term, and b) if you notice your BG readings continue to climb in the morning then this can generally be resolved by eating a small low/zero carb "breakfast", such as a boiled egg for example.
 

Catkysydney

Well-Known Member
Messages
59
As far as going lower slowly, that's what happened for me. It took months. I had an A1c of 36 and was still getting fasted readings in the mid sixes. So I stopped worrying about it, and these days I rarely check the morning level. I found the before and +2hrs after readings much more useful. You can do something about those.

If you have a look through Google you will find a lot of non-diabetic CGM daily graphs that show large variations in glucose levels through the day, and yes, high levels first thing. So it's not solely a "diabetic" issue.

Thank you very much for this information, Kenny !
I feel better now .. I stop worrying. I will just keep doing Keto .. I am checking 2 hours after meal . Usually around 5.8mmol/L. So I am relieved.
Thank you very much !!
 
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Catkysydney

Well-Known Member
Messages
59
As a general rule, my morning BG levels are higher, similar to Kenny's. When my hba1c test came back as 32 in November last year, down from 83 on the previous test, my morning readings were still in the 6.x range. Even now, like Kenny said, my first thing in the morning readings are still the highest of the day.

As other's have said, my advice would be not to worry about it. It's the result over which we have little/no ability to influence. Overnight our stomachs completely empty, resulting in a sense of hunger or needing to eat. Our primitive monkey brains translate this as needing to go out and hunt, which needs energy, so the liver dumps glucose into our systems to provide that energy boost - having no appreciation for the fact you're not going to be fighting lions and running around hunting, you only in fact need to traverse a flight of stairs and the short walk to the kitchen! It's a physiological response to an instinctual situation, and it's called "dawn phenomenon". People experience this to varying extents, but as T2 diabetics then our insulin resistance means we're less efficient at processing the liver's glucose dump. In turn though, the liver is oblivious to insulin resistance, it knows nothing of it, so it receives the instructions to dump glucose and dutifully performs that action. The good news though is that a) keto making your liver dump it's reserves of glucose isn't a bad thing in the mid-long term, and b) if you notice your BG readings continue to climb in the morning then this can generally be resolved by eating a small low/zero carb "breakfast", such as a boiled egg for example.

Thank you very much , Paul !
I feel better now , I don’t need to worry about high Blood sugar in fasting ..
Your explanation is so easy to understand for me and made me smile.. running around and hunting.. yeah, our ancestors were doing it .
You mentioned about insulin resistance. My fasting insulin level was 4 and blood sugar was 5.2.. insulin sensitive.. I am still confused .
My GP told me my blood sugar 3.2mmol/L is normal. And he told me that I don’t have diabetes nor hypo ( I had severe symptoms) and I am too thin so eat more sugar…
I am totally confused….
 
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