Been monitoring my type 2 with a continuous monitor. Today after dinner it shot up from 6.5 to 13.3 then had a protein bar sugar free and started dropping. Now 2 hours later is showing 3.4. Not sure what’s going on.
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Sugar level spike then low
- Thread starter Dee191972
- Start Date
Hi @Dee191972 and welcome to the forum. It would help us work out what happened if you tell us what you ate for your dinner.
Chris24Main
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 1,024
- Type of diabetes
- I reversed my Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
In a very general sense, we think about glucose and sugar, when the issue is that our hormone that controls it, insulin, is out of balance.
Out of balance is a horribly vague term, but to keep it simple, if you imagine driving straight down the road, being out of balance is like only being able to make wild movements with the steering wheel - you veer off to one side, then correct and veer off to the other.
How to change that depends on the answer to @Rachox - what you were eating, and what your general state is (again being vague, but almost everything affects this - not just diet, but general wellness, stress, sleep etc) - what is "normal" for you.
It is difficult - because you are seeing the end response (blood glucose level) of an incredibly complex machine - your entire metabolic and nervous system) and trying to figure out what is causing it.
Having said that - I totally believe that CGMs are amazing and the only way of giving you real insight into your own body.
What confuses some is the low after the high - but this is quite normal - it's the crash after the rush. Normal, but of course not what you want, and can make you feel really rough. The smoother you can make things - the better, and the CGM can give you clues as to how to do that for you...
Out of balance is a horribly vague term, but to keep it simple, if you imagine driving straight down the road, being out of balance is like only being able to make wild movements with the steering wheel - you veer off to one side, then correct and veer off to the other.
How to change that depends on the answer to @Rachox - what you were eating, and what your general state is (again being vague, but almost everything affects this - not just diet, but general wellness, stress, sleep etc) - what is "normal" for you.
It is difficult - because you are seeing the end response (blood glucose level) of an incredibly complex machine - your entire metabolic and nervous system) and trying to figure out what is causing it.
Having said that - I totally believe that CGMs are amazing and the only way of giving you real insight into your own body.
What confuses some is the low after the high - but this is quite normal - it's the crash after the rush. Normal, but of course not what you want, and can make you feel really rough. The smoother you can make things - the better, and the CGM can give you clues as to how to do that for you...
When you have something carby that sends your blood sugars up, your pancreas releases bolus insulin. Sometimes the pancreas secretes a little too much of this insulin and it over shoots the need for it. The result is your blood sugars start to fall, but falls a little too much and you go low. Because the pancreas works with your liver, like a tag team, your liver senses the falling blood sugars and starts to release glucose so correct the low blood sugars. The pancreas would have stopped secreting insulin at this point. The mild low you had is called a reactive low. Your protein bar may have had artificial sweeteners in it which may have contributed to the insulin overshoot, or not. In any event your liver did what it was supposed to do and corrected the falling blood sugars. It is quite common.
Generally It is not a problem for T2’s on say, Metformin, as this drug is very safe and not known for low sugar events, but if you are on insulin or one of the blood sugar lowering drugs that warn you about Hypos then one should be careful and carry something sweet like juice.
Apart from the possibilities above, it can also simply be that your sensor read too low. Mine generally do, and it's worse on the first day of a sensor.
As a T1 on insulin, I do get hypos, but I always confirm a sensor hypo with a fingerprick test before I believe it.
As a T1 on insulin, I do get hypos, but I always confirm a sensor hypo with a fingerprick test before I believe it.
