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Sugar level one hour after eating

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Swankypants77

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Suffolk
Hi. I'm very new here and also type 1 diabetes world as well. I was diagnosed last Friday after being admitted to hospital for a few days. I had high sugar level, high ketones together with other simptons such as thirst, weight loss etc.

Anyway I was discharged with a whole load of kits and information.
I'm on basal bolus regime.
I was told to check sugar level before each meal. But me being such a worry bag, I've been checking one hour after meal and two hors after meal, so that I get to know my body better.

My question is, is it bad to have high suger level like 17 one after after eating then go back down to 11 or even 8 two hors after meal?
I injected novorapid 4 units before each meal. Is it because I injected badly or I need more insulin?
My carb for this incident was 27g.

Thank you very much.




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Hi Swanky. Firstly, welcome. OK, your injection hurt this morning, that does occasionally happen unfortunately. It will still get the insulin where needed though. Are you on a 4mm needle ? Your BG levels still seem fairly high but as you are newly diagnosed, this should come down. The pre-meal readings seem to be the ones most favoured by medical team for me as well. Testing 1 hr after a meal will normally give a relatively high reading anyway as the carbs are still being utilized. If anything, 2 hrs after eating is a better test. Your levels, ideally, should drop back to pre-meal levels by then. It may be that you need to adjust diet slightly as well. Certain foods, although not possibly too high in carbs, may cause brief high readings or "spikes". Lastly, you injected 4 units of novorapid. I would not change this yet as you are still adjusting too insulin. Eventually your health care team may adjust your carb/insulin ratio. Alternatively, they may adjust your basal ( slow acting ) insulin, or both. Good luck with everything, I promise it gets easier.
 
Thank you very very much, Mo. I am reassured now.

So having a high reading like 17 isn't too bad as long as it goes back down to normal range two hours after eating, is it?
Does non diabetic person's level goes high like that momentarily too?
I'm just a bit worried that during that one hour's peak time, I might be damaging my body...
Am I being neurotic, perhaps...
Thanks mo. xx

Ps. yes, you're right. My nurse wanted me only to check before each meal. But how can they be so sure that my level is not too high between meals?! Or it doesn't matter?


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17 is still high but I would guess that they will slowly start to come down as your meds kick in and hopefully you begin to reduce your carb intake. When first diagnosed, I was late 20's or 30's !. It took approx 2 weeks to gradually return to "normal" levels. Ideally, pre-meal you ought to aim for somewhere between 4 & 7. If you're still very high after 2 hrs, look at what you ate, it may not suit you. Also, your healthcare team may adjust your meds slowly but this is generally done slowly so you experience no extremes. No, you're not being neurotic, you just care about your body. That's not a bad thing ;-)
 
Thank you very much, Mo.
I've got lots to learn, haven't I!?
I hope I'll get used to it soon.
This is a great place to ask questions and learn lots, isn't it. I'm very pleased to find this website.
Thanks again


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Swankypants77 said:
Thank you very very much, Mo. I am reassured now.

So having a high reading like 17 isn't too bad as long as it goes back down to normal range two hours after eating, is it?
Does non diabetic person's level goes high like that momentarily too?
I'm just a bit worried that during that one hour's peak time, I might be damaging my body...
Am I being neurotic, perhaps...
Thanks mo. xx

Ps. yes, you're right. My nurse wanted me only to check before each meal. But how can they be so sure that my level is not too high between meals?! Or it doesn't matter?


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If you tested a non-diabetic straight after a meal they would be high too, but they drop quickly. Our body is trying to mimic that with the injected insulin.

Unfortunately it's not just the carb content that you should look at. The TYPE of food affects you too. Take something like porridge (proper stuff, not instant) it has a high carb content but releases slowly. So 1 hour post meal you won't be too high. Look up the Glycemic Index, GI, and the different food on it. Something like cola or lucozade or jelly sweeties are high GI and used up fast, so that's why they're used to hypos. Lentils, cherries Eric are low GI, meaning they release the glucose slowly and more steadily over a period of time.

Fat content also plays a part. Take a plate of macaroni (about 30g carb). If you eat that on its own it could spike your BG, so I inject my Novorapid about 10 minutes before eating to give it a head start. But say you have macaroni cheese, the carb content stays roughly the same (I have an app that tells me) BUT the cheese is high in fat. This slows your digestion and so I would inject my insulin either directly before or immediately after eating (depending on my pre meal BG). Both of these meals will spike BG but at different times

Personally I choose to not test after meals unless in going to drive or was unsure of the carb content.

Everything I've inarticulately tried to explain is in a book called Think Like A Pancreas. It's a great way to get your head around things!
 
Swankypants77 said:
Thank you very much, Mo.
I've got lots to learn, haven't I!?
I hope I'll get used to it soon.
This is a great place to ask questions and learn lots, isn't it. I'm very pleased to find this website.
Thanks again


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Click to expand...

Please ask all the questions you have! I was diagnosed at the end of February so am still learning and ask questions all the time! We've all been in your position at one point
 
As hale said, the key to this is eating low GI food - basically the brown versions of bread, rice and pasta. When I ate carbs I noticed the 1 hour peak, then the return to pre-meal levels 2 hours after eating. I got rid of it by switching everything to low GI. I knocked 0.5% off my HbA1c by doing this alone.
 
Thank you, Hale and Sam.
It all makes sense!! I only had carb for breakfast and one hour was so high but came back down in two hors time from 17 to 7.9. Whereas yesterday for tea, I had same amount of carb but with some fish. Then it was just so perfect. 5.5.

Do you think it's better to inject about 10 minutes before food rather than straight away, if its mainly carb meal? I noticed my level was so high like 17 one hour after, then 7.9 two hours , then another half an hour, had a low episode, under4... Does that suggest I should get insulin to work earlier?

Thanks


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That's exactly what I was about to say. If you eat something that is fairly high in GI, then you can inject 10-30 mins before eating so that you match the food spike with the insulin spike. In general, I found that it's always best to inject before eating regardless of where on the GI index your carbs are.
 
9 times out of 10 I inject before I eat, how far in advance is dependant on my BG at the time. Usually about 10 minutes.

When I go out for dinner though I do not inject until my plate is in front of me as I don't know how long the wait will be. If I'm having more than one course I will inject after the starter but before the main. This works for me, but others may disagree!
 
Swankypants77 said:
Do you think it's better to inject about 10 minutes before food rather than straight away, if its mainly carb meal?
Click to expand...


Most certainly yes, mentioned this a few times on the forum of late to prevent postprandial bg spikes. On basal/bolus the advice is to inject just before or after eating, unless the meal has a low glycemic load then it will always result in a bg spike, by injecting 10-20 minutes before you are in effect given the insulin a head start otherwise the food will digest long before the insulin takes its course.

As ever it's always best to exercise some caution and if in doubt ask your diabetes team for advice.
 
I see. I have to pay more attention to GI number, haven't I.
Does time of day affect the speed of insulin being absorbed and start to work? Just wondered...today's morning sugar level numbers lead me to guess that perhaps it takes longer for insulin to be absorbed and be effective in the morning than the rest of the day...?!

Well, anyway I'll try injecting about 15 before eating from next time. And see how it goes.

By the way, I've ordered the book" think like a pancreas" on amazon. Thank you for your advice, Sam and Hale.


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I haven't noticed any absorption delay based on the time of day. What you are describing may be something known as the Dawn Pheonomenon. It's detailed in Think Like A Pancreas. It is where your liver will produce glucose around the time you wake up. I experience it and need to give myself 2 units extra of Novorapid. I don't think it affects how soon insulin is absorbed though.
 
Along with Sam & Hale I highly recommend Think Like a Pancreas :thumbup:
 
SamJB said:
I haven't noticed any absorption delay based on the time of day. What you are describing may be something known as the Dawn Pheonomenon. It's detailed in Think Like A Pancreas. It is where your liver will produce glucose around the time you wake up. I experience it and need to give myself 2 units extra of Novorapid. I don't think it affects how soon insulin is absorbed though.
Click to expand...

I don't notice an absorption delay, but I'm less sensitive to insulin in the morning. My DSN says this is quite common. Activity levels during the day mean lunch and dinner use a different ratio to breakfast
 
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