Question about testing

[PortDan]

Hi all.
I know that the advice is to test before a meal and around two hours after to see what the effect is, but I have a libre attached at the moment and I'm a bit nervous about some of the spikes after meals and wondering how worried I should be.
If I hadn't got the sensor on I wouldn't know about them I guess, but how concerned should I be?
If I started at 6.8 and 2hrs later I was back around the same number I'm assuming that it means that what I've eaten is "ok", but if on the graph it shows the spike went up over 10, even though it obviously came down again...is that an issue or not?
I'm trying to be as low carb as possible but often feel too worried to try stuff because I can see these spikes. The sensor was given to me for a few weeks to help me learn what is good and what's bad for me, but it probably defeats the object if I'm not willing to try.
For example, a couple or mornings ago I had a single slice of a seeded bloomer which was around 10g carbs, with e eggs for breakfast. Although after 2 hrs I was roughly back where I was, maybe 0.2 higher, in the meantime there was a jump from 7 up to nearly 10.5 and it's making me think I should be avoiding having it again?
Dan
New T2 A1c 96 on 26th Nov. Trying to control with diet first! The sensor btw after three weeks is now predicting a1c of 45.

 

[trophywench]

Well - if you eat ANY carbs you will always have an increase in BG, even normal non diabetics get an increase, not just us lot with diabetes - my old DSN at the hospital clinic demonstrated this to me one day I happened to see her at her first appt after lunch. Libre not invented and she hadn't tested before lunch which was c 40g carb and it was now approx 1.5 hrs later - the meter said 8.0 - it still takes time for a normal pancreas in a normal non-D body, to get the BG back to normal!

The ONLY difference is - you and I notice this and no non-D person ever does !

So please - don't worry about it. If you decide to cut out an occasional slice of bread that's entirely up to you. I just wouldn't let the occasional slice become your usual choice though, if i were you.

 

[grovesy]

Hi all.
I know that the advice is to test before a meal and around two hours after to see what the effect is, but I have a libre attached at the moment and I'm a bit nervous about some of the spikes after meals and wondering how worried I should be.
If I hadn't got the sensor on I wouldn't know about them I guess, but how concerned should I be?
If I started at 6.8 and 2hrs later I was back around the same number I'm assuming that it means that what I've eaten is "ok", but if on the graph it shows the spike went up over 10, even though it obviously came down again...is that an issue or not?
I'm trying to be as low carb as possible but often feel too worried to try stuff because I can see these spikes. The sensor was given to me for a few weeks to help me learn what is good and what's bad for me, but it probably defeats the object if I'm not willing to try.
For example, a couple or mornings ago I had a single slice of a seeded bloomer which was around 10g carbs, with e eggs for breakfast. Although after 2 hrs I was roughly back where I was, maybe 0.2 higher, in the meantime there was a jump from 7 up to nearly 10.5 and it's making me think I should be avoiding having it again?
Dan
New T2 A1c 96 on 26th Nov. Trying to control with diet first! The sensor btw after three weeks is now predicting a1c of 45.

Note of caution on the predication of HBA1C on the Libre or even an app that you input BG results into, some find them near but some they are not near the actual laboratory HBA1C. I have been using the Libre for about 18 months and in the time I have had at least 3 laboratory HBA1C's and they have all been out.

 

[Paulbreen]

Hi all.
I know that the advice is to test before a meal and around two hours after to see what the effect is, but I have a libre attached at the moment and I'm a bit nervous about some of the spikes after meals and wondering how worried I should be.
If I hadn't got the sensor on I wouldn't know about them I guess, but how concerned should I be?
If I started at 6.8 and 2hrs later I was back around the same number I'm assuming that it means that what I've eaten is "ok", but if on the graph it shows the spike went up over 10, even though it obviously came down again...is that an issue or not?
I'm trying to be as low carb as possible but often feel too worried to try stuff because I can see these spikes. The sensor was given to me for a few weeks to help me learn what is good and what's bad for me, but it probably defeats the object if I'm not willing to try.
For example, a couple or mornings ago I had a single slice of a seeded bloomer which was around 10g carbs, with e eggs for breakfast. Although after 2 hrs I was roughly back where I was, maybe 0.2 higher, in the meantime there was a jump from 7 up to nearly 10.5 and it's making me think I should be avoiding having it again?
Dan
New T2 A1c 96 on 26th Nov. Trying to control with diet first! The sensor btw after three weeks is now predicting a1c of 45.

Hey Dan it’s quiet normal to spike after eating some carbs, the good thing I see is your 2 hour checks are back to where you started before eating, my DSN wouldn’t even worry if I went as high as 13-14 as long as it came back down to the 5-7 range in good time.
the Libre is fantastic to give you a graphic idea what your body is actually doing, I wouldn’t rely too much on the prediction for a1c I always found it a little optimistic but that said it’s a great motivator. Anyhow you look like your in good control
Happy Christmas!

 

[Northerner]

The Libre will show you the spikes, but when looking at them you also need to take account of where you are starting from. For example, if you start at 7.0 and it rises to 10.5 then that's only a 3.5 mmol/l rise, which is fine. As things improve for you now you have been diagnosed and monitoring your levels, it's more than possibly that you'll be starting from 5.0 instead of 7.0, and maybe rising to 8.5 whish is perfectly fine 🙂

On the other hand, if you eat something that almost immediately pushes your levels up into the teens then that shows it is something that your body doesn't tolerate well and should probably be put on the 'avoid' list. Your tolerance for different things is a very individual thing - it is not the same for everyone, so you are conducting your own personal science experiment to find out what affects you, and how 🙂 It's brilliant that you have been given a Libre to help you with this - something I've long advocated as it is ideal, giving you much more information than finger pricks could 🙂

Try not to become too concerned about these fluctuations, which sound relatively small in your case. In the shorter term, even if they appear quite extreme, they will not cause damage and you will gain in confidence as you see things improve - which I am sure you will, since you have joined here and are asking questions so you can draw on all out collective knowledge 🙂 There are no silly questions - if in doubt, ask! 🙂

 

[Northerner]

I should add - are you able to upload your Libre data to the Librelink website? If so, there's a great page called the AGP (Ambulatory Glucose Profile) that shows things like time spent in various ranges, with suggested targets, and also the variation in levels. Here's an example of mine:



As you can see it shows the percentage time spent in various ranges and down towards the bottom left is 'Glucose variability' which it recommends is below 36% 🙂