What does "spiking blood glucose" ACTUALLY mean?

I'd say that a spike was a sharp increase out of normal range, so anything above 8 mmol/l would constitute a spike. But that's my view on it.

There is also a plain old "high" which is where the bg level doesn't suddenly shoot up in response to a food but steadily increases outside of the normal level.

Alisonjane10 said:

Hi folks,

Can anyone tell me what is actually meant by a blood glucose spike? Is it a certain mmol number from a starting level & how long is the duration of a spike before its classed as so? I don't want to sound dense, but I need some guidance. For example...my usual blood glucose level is on average 5.2 before food. At 2 hours post food I tend to be around 5.8-6.0 & back to, or below, pre-food level within 4 hours. I'm gradually introducing foods back into my diet to give me more variety. In particular funsize pieces of fruit, I've avoided fruit since diagnosis, apart from berries, but have missed having it in my diet. I can eat apples, pears, oranges & apricots with a very small increase in my blood glucose & for a couple of hours at most.

Tonight for dinner, my hubby made me Chille & mixed vegetable savoury rice. I usually avoid rice, but decided to eat it to test out its effect upon my blood glucose. Which is why I need more information about what constitutes a bg spike? Also, if infrequent spikes do occur due to testing out foods, how bad is it? Can it cause me long term harm if the spike is for a short period only? All advice from members gratefully received.

Alison. X

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Hi,
A spike is what happens when a particular food gives you a high blood reading that has reached its peak.
Think of a graph you did years ago (sorry!) In maths. When the line goes up and goes to its highest point, then starts to drop down again. That's your spike! The high point, the zenith!
A normal non diabetic, will not necessarily 'spike' but will curve on the high range because insulin production is in alignment with what you eat.
Hope that explains it as easily as I could!

However, it gets more complicated, because you have two spikes really. The first is initially quite high, then drops a little, then 'spikes' to your higher reading.
This can happen depending on who's graph you are looking at. Because everybody digests differently, there are fast digester, slow digester and those in between.
If you want to find your spike, the usual way to do it is to test every 15 minutes after first bite. Then you can see the way your blood glucose levels rise then fall back to your average fasting level, unless you eat again!

Then there's me, weird little me!
I don't double spike, I just fly right up, without stopping, really high depends on how much carbs I digest.
Then I slowly tumble and fall and straight past my fasting levels into hypo!

Hope this explains the spike.

Hi again!

Alisonjane10 said:

Hi @tim2000s, @nosher8355

Thank you both for explaining that to me. It is clearer now. Nosher...you have a horrible time with carbs. From spike to hypo is plain yuk! May I ask, do you know if infrequent bg spikes, that don't last more than a couple of hours, cause damage/problems? After my Chille & rice dinner, my BG is at 5.8 three hours after first bite. It peaked at 6.8. I didn't test every 15 minutes & actually never have done that. I've always tested hourly when trying out new foods. My fingers get bruised & sore otherwise. But I do get the theory behind the testing now. Thank you both.

Alison. X

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What I would call uncontrolled blood glucose levels, is what causes problems later on.
The constant high bloods is probably the worst, that puts a lot of stress on your organs because of the excess insulin, glucose and glycogen in your blood. This adds visceral fat around your endocrine system.
The one I struggle with, if I didn't low carb is the constant hypos. Spiking then going into hypo like yoyoing up and down. This led to some terrible symptoms.

Control is the key to unlock your health.

I've learnt that lesson the hard way.

Hi @Alisonjane10,

Hope you OK, I take the spike as two fold.

It's recommended, where from I know not, but it is said, that the aim is not to have an increase of more than 2mmol/L between the starting figure just before your first bite and 1hr after. Some people would definately refer to that as a spike, if it was higher that the 2mol/L increase.

I then think some people refer to the spiking when it is above the recommended nice guidelines, (talking as a type2) 8.5mmol/L, but most would refer to a spike above non diabetic ranges at 7.8mmol/L, I certainly would.

A spike could last for any length of time I suppose that would be referred to as being spiked.

For a type1, nice recommend 9mmol/L as max, so not sure I would want to be above that figure for too long.

Your figures look super, I hope the reintroduction of your favourite foods goes well. I'm often above 6.8mmol/L

Neil