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Time for a biscuit or two to impact BG

C

cott97

Well-Known Member
Messages
329
Type of diabetes
Type 2
So I am monitoring Via new freestyle libre - type 2 and normally low carb. So salad at lunch had little impact (5g carb from protein) so I decided to experiment and had a couple of biscuits (20g carbs) - I expected BG to rise quite quickly but it dipped and then remained pretty stable for 3 hours. Now it's climbing so am I safe to assume that for those biscuits they take 3 hours to impact BG - which seems a long time to me? Would it be the fat from the cheese on the salad slowing the rise?
 
Hi,

Well....? All I know is the general rule of thumb when treating a hypo is fast acting carb (sugar.) for an immediate rise.
Then a biscuit to stop any potential recurrence.... (Digestive.)

What sort of buiscuit was used in your experiment..? :)
 
Also bear in mind that the libre is not testing blood sugar, it's testin interstitial fluid, which runs 20-30minutes behind your blood sugar.
 
catapillar said:
Also bear in mind that the libre is not testing blood sugar, it's testin interstitial fluid, which runs 20-30minutes behind your blood sugar.
Click to expand...

Wow I didn't realise that.. so that explains why people report sometimes getting quite different readings from their meter...
 
bulkbiker said:
Wow I didn't realise that.. so that explains why people report sometimes getting quite different readings from their meter...
Click to expand...

& panicking over-treating hypos when they see a further dip before a rise... ;)
 
I have recommended a plain biscuit such as rich tea to slowly raise bloods to offset a hypo! For us RH ers.
Surely digestive biscuits are too sweet? (Yuk!)
 
Lamont D said:
I have recommended a plain biscuit such as rich tea to slowly raise bloods to offset a hypo! For us RH ers.
Surely digestive biscuits are too sweet? (Yuk!)
Click to expand...

It works differently for RHers, @Lamont D
I think it is fine for T1s and T2s to overshoot their hypo treatments a bit, whereas for RHers it could cause more problems.
 
Lamont D said:
I have recommended a plain biscuit such as rich tea to slowly raise bloods to offset a hypo! For us RH ers.
Surely digestive biscuits are too sweet? (Yuk!)
Click to expand...

So I guess you're not a fan of chocolate digestives then?
 
Brunneria said:
It works differently for RHers, @Lamont D
I think it is fine for T1s and T2s to overshoot their hypo treatments a bit, whereas for RHers it could cause more problems.
Click to expand...

I just think digestive biscuits are yuk and there are better options that don't have the amount of sugar in them!

Meant nothing about about how to treat the hypos!
 
cott97 said:
So I am monitoring Via new freestyle libre - type 2 and normally low carb. So salad at lunch had little impact (5g carb from protein) so I decided to experiment and had a couple of biscuits (20g carbs) - I expected BG to rise quite quickly but it dipped and then remained pretty stable for 3 hours. Now it's climbing so am I safe to assume that for those biscuits they take 3 hours to impact BG - which seems a long time to me? Would it be the fat from the cheese on the salad slowing the rise?
Click to expand...

I find it varies depending on what I've been doing, and when I eat them.
If it's before a meal, it has more impact than after.
My insulin has already started to response from the meal, so the biscuits are mopped up quite quickly.
If they're the first thing I eat, my insulin has to get started, so I see an effect initially then.
If I'm working, or been working, the effect isn't noticeable, but if I'm sitting around doing nothing, I can see a small rise.
 
bulkbiker said:
Wow I didn't realise that.. so that explains why people report sometimes getting quite different readings from their meter...
Click to expand...

There's a good paper at the link below about the shocking complexities of measuring glucose. It's a good overview of cgm. Most of it is way beyond me, but the gist is that you're not measuring glucose in the same way that you'd weigh a physical object. You're measuring the current from electrons coming off of the breakdown of glucose caused by glucose oxidase on the strip or sensor. The scope for error in that is huge, so anyone who says, ooh, it's not the same as my meter fails to understand that there's a fair chance their meter might not be right anyway, and doesn't adjust for the fact that two separate but related things are being measured. There is nothing certain about measuring glucose, but libre sure as hell gives me more clues than strips do.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2903977/
 
bulkbiker said:
Hmm maybe I'll just stick to my meter.. sounds more reliable..
Click to expand...

Lol, even a meter can have up to 20 minutes of lag due to blood flow. (In short.) hence the same "hypo panic"?
 
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