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Stress and Blood Glucose Levels - Thoughts?

NoCrbs4Me

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,700
Location
The Rocky Mountain Foothills, Canada
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Vegetables


I thought this was interesting. This past Tuesday I had a very stressful event occur while I had a Freestyle Libre sensor running. I'm a recovering type 2 and I like to see how things are going occasionally by using a Freestyle Libre sensor.

A little background: The stressful event was a mediated meeting with a person with apparent mental health issues. We are both in the same volunteer organization and the person made hateful and delusional posts to and about me on the organization's closed Facebook page. Essentially, they thought I was a negative influence on the organization and wanted me out and thought that could be achieved by posting outlandish attacks on me online. The person was immediately suspended and the organization's leadership thought the best way to resolve this was mediation between the two of us.

So, the meeting was this past Tuesday at 7:30 pm. I got there a bit early at 7:20 pm and I felt stressed as soon as I got there. The meeting started at 7:35 pm. It lasted about 10 minutes. The graph above shows my blood glucose levels before, during, and after the meeting. I did not have any carbs before the meeting, or even that day. It's quite impressive how high my BG went up.

There was a satisfactory ending: about 30 seconds after the person began to speak (after I had a chance to speak about the situation for about 5 minutes first), the meeting was shut down and the person immediately ejected from the oganization due to the crazy things they started saying. It took quite a bit of self-restraint for me to not leap over the table and throttle the person. It was probably the most stressful moment in many years for me.

I suspect that chronic stress is also not good for BG levels, so I think it's important to focus on more than just food when it comes to controlling blood glucose levels. I suspect that the reason taking a half hour walk 5 days a week works to lower blood glucose levels is that it acts to lower stress. Reduction of chronic stress is definitely something I need to work on.

Does anyone else have any thoughts or personal experiences with respect to acute and/or chronic stress and blood glucose levels?
 


well that is worrying....
 
@NoCrbs4Me
that is a brilliant and helpful graph to show exactly what people go through almost any day in a stressful work situation.
add food and/ or insulin and there is a proper potential for massive spikes !!

thanks for the great post !!

needless to say -- I hope you recovered quickly and are back "in your zone"
 
That is very interesting, and shows us graphically what happens in very stressful conditions. We all know you don't eat carbs, so other than liver dumps and stress hormones there ain't much else to cause a rise like that. Also the Libre runs 15 or so minutes behind, so peaks about the right time on the graph and then falls as you relax.

Thank goodness for the Libre. Wonderful bit of equipment.

Brilliant piece of information, clearly shown. Thanks for posting this. I hope you are well and truly over that unpleasantness.
 
I'm very fortunate not to have much stress in my life, however a couple of years ago I spent several months undergoing diagnostic tests, with a potentially scary outcome, followed by surgery.

Almost exactly mapped to that period, my HbA1c rose from 31-33, the back again once my healing was properly established.

Of course that's not a material rise in HbA1c, but it was interesting enough to observe, and a valid rereminder to me to keep my stressors at arms length, where possible..
 
Well I have experience of unrelenting stress over teens of years, * this together with seldom having an uninterrupted night's sleep, again, for years, is what my GP thinks caused my type 2 diabetes. Even now that situation has changed I find that stressful situations radically affects my BG levels, sending them soaring, it also has an effect on other bodily workings. I agree with your point about regular walking relieving ongoing stress, I would also add that where one walks is as important as the exercise. My preference is for woodland, country parks, hills etc, I try to be in the moment while walking noticing the beauty and stillness of my surroundings. It works for me
I hope that you are feeling happier and calmer now @NoCrbs4Me that was a rotten experience for you but it's behind you now. Strength and Peace my friend

* (Looking after our profoundly Autistic son )
 
hi bluetit, hope you don't mind me tagging in but I noticed you mentioned the Libre and I wondered what peoples thoughts are on it for type 2 people not on insulin, but only metformin and LC regime. I'm having all sorts of problems with my BG, stick to about 60-100 gms carbs a day but keep having hypo symptoms and high glucose dumping readings, especially early am and mid afternoon. I wondered if a Libre would help me anticipate my drops easier but they're so expensive to use, I need to be sure its a good idea - value any advice please?
 
I'm glad that you have had a satisfactory ending to this @No2D people can cause others a great deal of stress with thoughtless actions. Good luck.
 
Hi @mandy_horsley
would you like me to create a new thread for you -- it may help you to get specific answers to your query ??
 

I don't want to derail this thread, but very briefly, the Libre is worth every penny it costs. There are loads of threads about it on the forums, and just as many T2s not on insulin as T1s use them. I am diet only and find them a godsend. I can't justify the cost full time but use them periodically, and find them especially useful when on holiday. Hope this helps.
 

This is absolutely fascinating. Thank you for sharing this. I can't offer personal experience, sadly but really hope to find out more about stress v BG
 
I've been using the Libre for a couple of months. When I have a stressful or nerve-wracking thing to do in the morning, my Dawn phenomenon rise higher and stays up longer.
 
I am so pleased that you have posted this, because I have found likewise but thought perhaps it was just me!
I have quite stressful situations with both caring for my 93 year old mother in her own home, plus my Socially Anxious daughter, who cannot even go into college without me being there ... meaning there are times when I need to be in two places at once! I had noticed a significant rise in my blood glucose levels on several occasions when I KNEW beyond doubt that other days of consuming the meals I'd just had, resulted in far better readings, and began to think my tester or strips were inaccurate. It all makes sense now!
 
Maybe this explains my mothers neuropathy even though she is not diabetic , eternal stress and night shifts as a nurse .....
 
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Thanks. I'm about to head off for a two week vacation to Las Vegas, Arizona and Utah, so my stress levels will be very low for a while.
 
Thanks. For me there is very little lag time between the Libre readings and finger prick readings.
 

I thought you never ate carbs at all ever?

It would probably have risen more if you did attempt to throttle them, I find it's better not to start a fight, the moral high ground is in finishing it.
But adrenaline does raise BG, I'd hate to think what my BG used to be in a bar fight, even before I was diabetic.
 
So sorry to read about your stressful day - my levels had been coming down nicely but at the start of this week I had a nasty interview with my area manager ( I'm currently signed off work ) after this for the following 2 days my fasting levels were over 10 . They hadn't been that for weeks. Today I'm 6.9 which is the lowest since my diagnosis in March .
There is definitely a link with stress and high levels .
Enjoy your holiday!
 
Interesting to see how sharply a stressful situation can raise levels on a graph. I was told and have read a few times that stress raises blood glucose but the opposite seems to happen to me in my experience. A couple of times I've been quite stressed out about something I've noticed a sharp drop personally - I don't have a Libre to back up what was happening continuously but on one occasion a couple of months ago went from 7.5 to 3.8 within 30 minutes and was quite stressed out at the time.
 
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