Time for a biscuit or two to impact BG

cott97

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329
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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?
 

Jaylee

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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..? :)
 

catapillar

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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.
 
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bulkbiker

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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.

Wow I didn't realise that.. so that explains why people report sometimes getting quite different readings from their meter...
 

Jaylee

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Wow I didn't realise that.. so that explains why people report sometimes getting quite different readings from their meter...

& panicking over-treating hypos when they see a further dip before a rise... ;)
 

Lorraine1973

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I was told when I trialed the libre that their was about 5 min lag time x
 

Lamont D

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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!)
 

Brunneria

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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!)

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.
 

douglas99

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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!)

So I guess you're not a fan of chocolate digestives then?
 

Lamont D

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Reactive hypoglycemia
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I do not have diabetes
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.

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!
 

douglas99

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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?

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.
 

Scott-C

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Wow I didn't realise that.. so that explains why people report sometimes getting quite different readings from their meter...

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/
 

Jaylee

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Hmm maybe I'll just stick to my meter.. sounds more reliable..

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

cott97

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329
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Thanks all. It was a gluten free chocolate digestive. And my metre read the same