Am i doing something wrong or not..olease explain like im five if this is "normal""

[Sara Grice]

It's hard to explain but. I know that sensor lag is a thing especially when you have just eaten, but I feel like I'm going crazy because even my GP has told me the senors are accurate and that I should trust them...but what I'm experiencing in contradicting that and as I say.
I feel like ok going crazy and I'm doing something wrong but I don't know what


Basicly woke up this morning, did my normal injection then smoked salmon on toast with milk for my metformin and then layed down for about 20 more minutes in my bed. I then out of curiosity I checked my sensor and. It had been at 9.7 when I Injected and j kinda expected to a higher number after the meal but it was at 9.1. I got up and it did start to go up pretty much immediately and I thought maybe just a coincidence. But I wanted to double check that me lying down wasn't effecting the readings so I did a fingre test and I was up to 12.5, and I thought to myself huh ok give it 15 mins it will probably catch up, but it kinda never resly did it stuck around 11 and when I tested again my fingee about I was up to high 15s and low 16s, my sensor never readed past 13 which was weird to me...

I don't know what happened but the sensor had been accurate untill this morning and as my levels whent down it did seam to catch up with my fingre readings around 10.1

But I just had my snack between meals. And again the same thing sort of happend on a smaller scale. The sensor read 7.7. At the time of the snack after 15 mintues pf the snack i tested my fingres and got 10.3 i then waited and looked at my snesor it got to 8.4 and never actily showed how high I actily got, just like my breakfast stoped about 13.5 when I know 1 whent up to 16....the sensor also hist seamed realy slow in reacting to any rise of levels, as in..It slowly creeps up and never reaches the higher levels I get from my fingre prick....

I just find it hard to belive this is normal...how can i trsut give me reliable readings...I can't shake the feeling I'm doing something wrong why when I eat does it not show my actual highest levels. I was told there is lag but as long as your sensor catches up to your finger readings it's good..but mine isn't doing that anymore I dunno why. The past sensor I had was having a very similar issue where it was reading about 2 mmol/ml lower than my fingre readings..it makes controlls my levels harder because it "looks" from the sensor sensor that I had a good day and spend alot of time in range on the last day of the last sensor but i knew that it was still being pretty high and less in range as it looked cos the readings where so low...I worry thus sensor is gonna get to that aswell and I don't know what I'm doing wrong


I don't want to go without the sensor but like... I'm running out of options as to why this keeps happening and honestly everyone saying less stress without them are starting to sound right even if it still scares me


Oh I use a libre 2+ btw forgot to mention that

 

[Sara Grice]

Tldr: my readings seam to just be reading lower especially after a raise in my bg levels after meals. Never quite reaching what I'm seeing on my fingre sticks and taking over half an hour to even react to any raise...is this normal?

 

[saffron15]

@Sara Grice I don't know what being a type one diabetic feels like. I joined this forum feeling bereft and bewildered after my type 2 diagnosis in August. I found on a practical and emotional level it was of an immense help. The help came from all people with diabetes. I have read posts about type 2 obviously but also type 1 out of interest. However your life was before diagnosis, you appear at times to be overwhelmed by what has happened but your posts often read as if you are trying to persuade yourself not to worry.

Would keeping a note of your feelings plus food and exercise and relying just on fingerpricks for a week lessen your stress? I've seen advice as to what to do at night as I suspect if I was type 1 I might find a monitor comforting. Don't forget there are lots of posters whose diabetic journey predates sensors by decades and they are still here. It might to your surprise reduce your stress and get more confidence in your decisions and how your body reacts. My understanding is

in most cases at the start of type 1 your pesky pancreas waits until you think you are in control then dumps some insulin. Of course over time this changes which is why you have to accept you may have to alter what you do.



I am aware your sensor needs changing after a set time so a finger pricking window would present as the changeover time arrives.



Good luck.

 

[Tom1982]

Are you washing your hands first? Sometimes the finger pricks can be well out if hands are sticky.

 

[Sara Grice]

@Sara Grice I don't know what being a type one diabetic feels like. I joined this forum feeling bereft and bewildered after my type 2 diagnosis in August. I found on a practical and emotional level it was of an immense help. The help came from all people with diabetes. I have read posts about type 2 obviously but also type 1 out of interest. However your life was before diagnosis, you appear at times to be overwhelmed by what has happened but your posts often read as if you are trying to persuade yourself not to worry.

Would keeping a note of your feelings plus food and exercise and relying just on fingerpricks for a week lessen your stress? I've seen advice as to what to do at night as I suspect if I was type 1 I might find a monitor comforting. Don't forget there are lots of posters whose diabetic journey predates sensors by decades and they are still here. It might to your surprise reduce your stress and get more confidence in your decisions and how your body reacts. My understanding is

in most cases at the start of type 1 your pesky pancreas waits until you think you are in control then dumps some insulin. Of course over time this changes which is why you have to accept you may have to alter what you do.



I am aware your sensor needs changing after a set time so a finger pricking window would present as the changeover time arrives.



Good luck.

I get it...no sensor means less stress over the sensor working or being accurate, I but I feel like my stress over my blood suger (aka hypo anxiety) would still be there..and even get worse because there's the element of just not knowing (I know "trust your body" is the advice..but whe you haven't had a hypo and are scared to let yourself have one ..add anxiety on top of that which can play tricks on your mind and invent symptoms you don't ealy have...trusting my body isn't as easy and people make it sound) and I struggle with self controll over finger testing if I'm even Slightly doubting my sensor

Without the sensor...I know therenare people here from before the sensors where a thing..but it's not like that's a accurate way to gauge its safety...I can't exactly take into account all the people who sadly aren't still with us because of hypoglycemia or DK. So yeah...I'm scared

I finaly got therapy tomorrow though so maybe they can offer me advice

 

[Sara Grice]

Are you washing your hands first? Sometimes the finger pricks can be well out if hands are sticky.

Yeah I say I wash my hands about 90% of the time, the other 10 I reason that I've just washed my hands so recently it realy wouldn't make a difference (like having gone to the toilet) and especially make sure to do it if I have touched food with my hands before hand

 

[Sara Grice]

It's still happening, had lunch half an hour ago.....and it's only moved up 0.1 mmol/ml...I don't understand I'm sure if I tested my fingre it will be at like 14 or something
.urgh

Edit: it said 11.6....I doubt if I wait 15 20 mins the sensor will get that high (edit again, it hadn't its only at 9.4) ..it has moved to 8.2...but it isn't realt showing anything close to an accurate depiction of the raise in my levels....I feel like I am going crazy that this is considered normal if I haven't done anything wrong, I do want to know highs as much as I want to know lows

You can see my spike at breakfast, but yeah I got up to 16 and this never reached anywhere near that.

I still can't help but side-eye the patch I use...I used not just a patch, but not the air version...I did get some air versions but I seam to have lost them..looked everywhere so I had to use the same kind I always to..with the paper they stops the sensor from sticking to the adhesive. I did find some with a whole it in..but they are not very good and are hard to get around the sensor without it sticking to the sides and risking pulling the whole sensor out if I tried to remove it....so currently stuck with these ones that...well the material should be breathable right? I just worry about the paper covering the sensor hole..


Stil no ideas what I'm doing wrong here??

 

[Inka]

I get it...no sensor means less stress over the sensor working or being accurate, I but I feel like my stress over my blood suger (aka hypo anxiety) would still be there..and even get worse because there's the element of just not knowing (I know "trust your body" is the advice..but whe you haven't had a hypo and are scared to let yourself have one ..add anxiety on top of that which can play tricks on your mind and invent symptoms you don't ealy have...trusting my body isn't as easy and people make it sound) and I struggle with self controll over finger testing if I'm even Slightly doubting my sensor

Without the sensor...I know therenare people here from before the sensors where a thing..but it's not like that's a accurate way to gauge its safety...I can't exactly take into account all the people who sadly aren't still with us because of hypoglycemia or DK. So yeah...I'm scared

I finaly got therapy tomorrow though so maybe they can offer me advice

You could still keep the Libre but mainly as an alarm @Sara Grice That way you’ll know if you drop too low. You can then limit the amount of times you look at it, if at all, and fingerprick before meals.

Two comments - if you solely rely on the sensor to guide you as to whether you’re on the way to a hypo, you might dull your own body’s responses; secondly, although people did and do die of hypoglycaemia on rare occasions, the biggest damage Type 1 does is through persistently high blood sugar (obviously no-one can avoid all highs - it’s constant, prolonged highs year after year that can do damage).

The answer is to strike a balance. You’ve latched on to the Libre like a talisman and then if it’s out at all that’s causing you understandably upset. But the Libre is just another tool in our Type 1 kitbox. Don’t let it become your total focus.

Good luck with your therapy x

 

[Sara Grice]

It's still happening, had lunch half an hour ago.....and it's only moved up 0.1 mmol/ml...I don't understand I'm sure if I tested my fingre it will be at like 14 or something
.urgh

Edit: it said 11.6....I doubt if I wait 15 20 mins the sensor will get that high (edit again, it hadn't its only at 9.4) ..it has moved to 8.2...but it isn't realt showing anything close to an accurate depiction of the raise in my levels....I feel like I am going crazy that this is considered normal if I haven't done anything wrong, I do want to know highs as much as I want to know lows

You can see my spike at breakfast, but yeah I got up to 16 and this never reached anywhere near that.

I still can't help but side-eye the patch I use...I used not just a patch, but not the air version...I did get some air versions but I seam to have lost them..looked everywhere so I had to use the same kind I always to..with the paper they stops the sensor from sticking to the adhesive. I did find some with a whole it in..but they are not very good and are hard to get around the sensor without it sticking to the sides and risking pulling the whole sensor out if I tried to remove it....so currently stuck with these ones that...well the material should be breathable right? I just worry about the paper covering the sensor hole..

You could still keep the Libre but mainly as an alarm @Sara Grice That way you’ll know if you drop too low. You can then limit the amount of times you look at it, if at all, and fingerprick before meals.

Two comments - if you solely rely on the sensor to guide you as to whether you’re on the way to a hypo, you might dull your own body’s responses; secondly, although people did and do die of hypoglycaemia on rare occasions, the biggest damage Type 1 does is through persistently high blood sugar (obviously no-one can avoid all highs - it’s constant, prolonged highs year after year that can do damage).

The answer is to strike a balance. You’ve latched on to the Libre like a talisman and then if it’s out at all that’s causing you understandably upset. But the Libre is just another tool in our Type 1 kitbox. Don’t let it become your total focus.

Good luck with your therapy x

Thank you I know what you say is pretty much right. I guess I just felt a but gaslit from my GP just telling me over and over that they are accurate and work perfectly fine (even when I pointed out nothing is perfect).

It's just hard to know where else to put all my trust you know, years of health based anxiety have trained me to ignore it when my body tells me something wrong, cos it never is, I'm well aware how your body can play tricks on you when your anxious and hyper focus on what symptoms you may or may not be feeling. Ballance is the goal as you say its just so hard

 

[Sara Grice]

My blood gloucuse monitor decided to give me a heart attack with a reading of 7.2 (I tend to want to stick around 8) when my sensor was saying 8.7....God help me if this sensor stops being accurate the other way aswell....I need it to tell me if I'm going low.. I think it was just a random outlyer though cos the others I did were higher....

Even if I just go on the finger prick readings it can still do weird stuff.... how do people have this disease and not go crazy with all of this....
Sunday to Wednesday everything seamed to be going so well...I thought great...15 days of little to no concern...but then this happend this morning and now...I'm back right where I started having trust issues

 

[silentsquirrel]

My blood gloucuse monitor decided to give me a heart attack with a reading of 7.2 (I tend to want to stick around 8) when my sensor was saying 8.7....God help me if this sensor stops being accurate the other way aswell....I need it to tell me if I'm going low.. I think it was just a random outlyer though cos the others I did were higher....

Even if I just go on the finger prick readings it can still do weird stuff.... how do people have this disease and not go crazy with all of this....
Sunday to Wednesday everything seamed to be going so well...I thought great...15 days of little to no concern...but then this happend this morning and now...I'm back right where I started having trust issues

7.2 is about 8. 7.2 and 8.7 are not that different. 7.2 is not low.

BG readings do not stay the same. Your graph in post 7 looks wonderful, just all a bit high. An expected rise and fall after breakfast, not really a "spike" at all.

 

[Sara Grice]

7.2 is about 8. 7.2 and 8.7 are not that different. 7.2 is not low.

BG readings do not stay the same. Your graph in post 7 looks wonderful, just all a bit high. An expected rise and fall after breakfast, not really a "spike" at all.

I'm guessing you didn't read my frist post (I dont blame you I was rambly) so basiicly take the stuff you see from the graph and ad another 1.mmol/ml to everything then you get the more accurate bg readings. Also as I said it didn't show the higher parts of the spike, I went up to 16 according to my blood readings from my finger. And as I said...I don't like to go near 6 if I can help it (I did mention my hypo anxiety right?) So yeah...it was starting for me. Maybe it wouldn't have been for you but hopefuly you can understand why it was for me

 

[Wendal]

Hi Sarah,
Can I just check exactly what medication you are on as you mention Metaformin and Injection and you are Type 1.
Just so I can better understand your situation.
TIA

 

[Sara Grice]

Hi Sarah,
Can I just check exactly what medication you are on as you mention Metaformin and Injection and you are Type 1.
Just so I can better understand your situation.
TIA

Hi, that's fine, i wasn't diagnosed the way most people seam to be (in the hospital with DK). I was told years ago once by my doctor that I was at risk of diabeties so they added thay stuff to my routine check ups, one that i had not long efore aurgust showed I had a high a1c and showed that I had diabeties of some kind, so they brought me in for an appointment and I told them that I have a family history of type 2 (my grandad and my dad) so booked an antibody test to find out which type but we where both fairly sure it would show I was type 2, so he prescribed be metformin and I came back a few days later for the antibody test.

It took over a month for the results to come back due to some issue down the line, but in October I got the results and it showed type 1. So then I whent in to the diabeties team at the hospital the next day to get some basic education and my libre, I asked then should I keep taking the metformin the doctor prescribed be and they says yeah its fine, it's one of the few medications both type 1 and type 2 can take, I asked again a few months ago if I should still be on it and they again said yeah its fine.

The type 1 thing kinda made sense to me when I learnt that people with one other autoimmune disease are at risk of developing type 1, and I have been diagnosed with celiac disease and have thyroid issues sinss I was about 17

Hope that clears things up

 

[Leadinglights]

It's hard to explain but. I know that sensor lag is a thing especially when you have just eaten, but I feel like I'm going crazy because even my GP has told me the senors are accurate and that I should trust them...but what I'm experiencing in contradicting that and as I say.
I feel like ok going crazy and I'm doing something wrong but I don't know what


Basicly woke up this morning, did my normal injection then smoked salmon on toast with milk for my metformin and then layed down for about 20 more minutes in my bed. I then out of curiosity I checked my sensor and. It had been at 9.7 when I Injected and j kinda expected to a higher number after the meal but it was at 9.1. I got up and it did start to go up pretty much immediately and I thought maybe just a coincidence. But I wanted to double check that me lying down wasn't effecting the readings so I did a fingre test and I was up to 12.5, and I thought to myself huh ok give it 15 mins it will probably catch up, but it kinda never resly did it stuck around 11 and when I tested again my fingee about I was up to high 15s and low 16s, my sensor never readed past 13 which was weird to me...

I don't know what happened but the sensor had been accurate untill this morning and as my levels whent down it did seam to catch up with my fingre readings around 10.1

But I just had my snack between meals. And again the same thing sort of happend on a smaller scale. The sensor read 7.7. At the time of the snack after 15 mintues pf the snack i tested my fingres and got 10.3 i then waited and looked at my snesor it got to 8.4 and never actily showed how high I actily got, just like my breakfast stoped about 13.5 when I know 1 whent up to 16....the sensor also hist seamed realy slow in reacting to any rise of levels, as in..It slowly creeps up and never reaches the higher levels I get from my fingre prick....

I just find it hard to belive this is normal...how can i trsut give me reliable readings...I can't shake the feeling I'm doing something wrong why when I eat does it not show my actual highest levels. I was told there is lag but as long as your sensor catches up to your finger readings it's good..but mine isn't doing that anymore I dunno why. The past sensor I had was having a very similar issue where it was reading about 2 mmol/ml lower than my fingre readings..it makes controlls my levels harder because it "looks" from the sensor sensor that I had a good day and spend alot of time in range on the last day of the last sensor but i knew that it was still being pretty high and less in range as it looked cos the readings where so low...I worry thus sensor is gonna get to that aswell and I don't know what I'm doing wrong


I don't want to go without the sensor but like... I'm running out of options as to why this keeps happening and honestly everyone saying less stress without them are starting to sound right even if it still scares me


Oh I use a libre 2+ btw forgot to mention that

I wonder if your expectation that your insulin will bring down your level in the time scale you are checking and testing is unrealistic, you are not giving it enough time to do it's job. If your level is high to start with then it may well take longer to work.
Are you then injecting for your snack? Are you having a snack because you are hungry and what do you have. Your aim surely is to be gradually reducing your overall level as well as increases from meals.
Things to consider are both timing of injecting and how much insulin for the carbs you are having and what your level is at the time. Does your level go back to your before meal level within the period of activity of your particular insulin.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear you are finding the Libre a bit ‘laggy’. It’s not unusual for sensors (any brand really) to show different glucose values to fingersticks. Partly because of lag, but also because they are measuring different things in different fluids.The fluid between your cells (which your sensor uses) may not ever reach quite the same concentration as your capillary plasma values (fingersticks are plasma calibrated rather than whole blood).

But any dfferences do not invalidate either measure. They are both a valuable guide. They are a flow of information to help steer your decision-making.

And fingerstick values are not without their foibles too. One of our mods (and former scientist) @Docb often suggests to newcomers that rounding of fingerstick values is more likely to reflect their reproducibility in terms of results. The b decimal point values are a bit of an illusion really.

This table from the useful links thread shows the permitted degree of variability in the values that fingerstick check give you. You can see that at higher levels the permitted results (within ISO standards) really open out.

BG meter accuracy​

It can be quite disconcerting for members new to self monitoring of blood glucose to get different results from BG readings taken close together, even when carefully following manufacturers guidance (washing hands etc). All meters for sale in the UK should comply with the following ISO standards 95% of the time, which allows a degree of variation (and 5% of results can read anything at all). If in any doubt, or if a reading doesn’t match how you are feeling, you should check again with a fresh strip.​

​

Of course we want our results to be as accurate as possible, but it can save a bit of heartache and stress to understand that there’s quite a bit of ‘ish’ involved in the numbers our monitors and sensors provide.

 

[helli]

I trust my body to recognise highs and lows so only check my BG if I think my BG is not right or if I am going to do something (e.g. eat or exercise) that means I need to adjust my insulin.
I see little point in looking at my CGM if I still have active insulin on board unless I am hypo - I do not know the speed at which my food is being digested and I still have insulin on board to handle my BG being a bit high.
I see little point in checking my BG 30 minutes after eating and taking my bolus because I am not going to do anything with the result.
Four hours after eating, my BG should be flattish which is when my CGM is more accurate and not affected by any lag or prediction due to the lag. This is when it is worthwhile looking and making adjustments, not before.*

Yes, I know I am writing about myself but this is an illustration about when to look at your BG and when to trust your body and not worry about inaccuracies in your CGM.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as an accurate BG reading and a 100% reliable CGM so we need to learn to trust our body.
A few years ago, when I was on holiday in deepest darkest Wales, I got drenched in a rainstorm while hiking and my finger prick meter never worked again. In that part of Wales, there was nowhere to get a replacement meter so I had no choice but to rely on a combination of my body and CGM.

Can you train yourself to avoid looking at your CGM within a certain time of eating so the lag, etc. is not relevant?

*It is useful to look at trends at certain times which may indicate a need to pre-bolus earlier or later but looking at it on a one-off is not enough information to make any decisions about how to change my insulin regime.
And sometimes, I may respond to my CGM between 2 and 4 hours after bolusing because after 20 years I have some idea what I would expect at that time and know whether I need a bit of a top up or not.

 

[Sara Grice]

I wonder if your expectation that your insulin will bring down your level in the time scale you are checking and testing is unrealistic, you are not giving it enough time to do it's job. If your level is high to start with then it may well take longer to work.
Are you then injecting for your snack? Are you having a snack because you are hungry and what do you have. Your aim surely is to be gradually reducing your overall level as well as increases from meals.
Things to consider are both timing of injecting and how much insulin for the carbs you are having and what your level is at the time. Does your level go back to your before meal level within the period of activity of your particular insulin.

Thanks for your reply, I do kinda see your point I am aware the insulin hits its peak effectiveness around the 2 hour mark. So realistically I don't need ro check untill then, but often hard to think rational when I'm anxious and I have had it where my insulin just decides to kick in at random times...which I know it part of disease (trying to do a job of a whole pancreas isn't easy) but it has a layer of unpredictability that i struggle to deal with

My point of the post wasn't about the snack, I have it both cos I can get hungry and also because as I mentioned I am more comfortable keeping myself around the low 8 higher 7's area so it helps to just stop me from dropping to low (I am on set insulin, and my diabeties team has not let me find out my carb to Insulin ratio, they have told me that it would be to much stress for me, they did say that incould keep track of the carbs in my meals but without the ratio I can't realy do much with that info) I often don't have much difficulty getting myself down to my premeal level when I have a sensor that is relatively accurate.


The main point was how the rising afrer my breakfast and the snack i had wasn't being accurately shown, but I guess that's another unrealistic expectation cos I was under the impression that the fluid readings the sensor and the blood levels done actult have to match up completely. I'll try to keep that in mind

The snack was some cheese btw.

 

[Sara Grice]

I trust my body to recognise highs and lows so only check my BG if I think my BG is not right or if I am going to do something (e.g. eat or exercise) that means I need to adjust my insulin.
I see little point in looking at my CGM if I still have active insulin on board unless I am hypo - I do not know the speed at which my food is being digested and I still have insulin on board to handle my BG being a bit high.
I see little point in checking my BG 30 minutes after eating and taking my bolus because I am not going to do anything with the result.
Four hours after eating, my BG should be flattish which is when my CGM is more accurate and not affected by any lag or prediction due to the lag. This is when it is worthwhile looking and making adjustments, not before.*

Yes, I know I am writing about myself but this is an illustration about when to look at your BG and when to trust your body and not worry about inaccuracies in your CGM.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as an accurate BG reading and a 100% reliable CGM so we need to learn to trust our body.
A few years ago, when I was on holiday in deepest darkest Wales, I got drenched in a rainstorm while hiking and my finger prick meter never worked again. In that part of Wales, there was nowhere to get a replacement meter so I had no choice but to rely on a combination of my body and CGM.

Can you train yourself to avoid looking at your CGM within a certain time of eating so the lag, etc. is not relevant?

*It is useful to look at trends at certain times which may indicate a need to pre-bolus earlier or later but looking at it on a one-off is not enough information to make any decisions about how to change my insulin regime.
And sometimes, I may respond to my CGM between 2 and 4 hours after bolusing because after 20 years I have some idea what I would expect at that time and know whether I need a bit of a top up or not.

I wish I had tour confidence in both my body and the Insulin acting so predictable. Obviously it will take 20 years and I'm not even I to 1 year, my diabties team say they want me back down to my pre meal level in 2 hours, which despite me trying to tell.them it feels like to much, I think they just see how high I can spike and want to bring me down quicker (again the spike I showed dosent look bad but my blood readings said I got up to 16) so by the 2 hours if I was at 9 something before I eat I tend to need to have a small snack make myeelf feel a bit safe going below 7 (I know that's not low..just what I'm comfortable with) I told my diabeties team about this they seamed fine with it.

It's to the point where I feel I can't even like.. take a nap during the day unless it's in the 2 hour period after I've eaten. It's hard for me to feel comfortable in the 2-3 hour range after my insulin and then ad onto the fact there's a peak for my long acting insulin around 12.45-13.45 (I take one single dose of 10 units of toujeo at 22.45) the hours between breakfast and lunch are especially hard

 

[mashedupmatt]

Please try and not get too hung up on the numbers @Sara Grice (I did for a while and it was very stressful) - if you are in the "Normal" Range before your next meal than all is good is the way I approach it now - and as many have mentioned before don't worry too much about the differences in Libre and Finger Pricks - they really are an indication - on the Libre look at the trend arrows rather than the number (that's what I do) - we all "get it" as it is all very overwhelming at first but it definitely gets easier (and cheese is a great snack as it contains zero carbs (shame I don't like it myself!!)) - you're doing great 🙂