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Blood sugars ,

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Elizabethe

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1.5 LADA
Help, my blood sugars have been fairly good for almost three months. Today in the space of 10 minutes they were 25; 28; 19 then 8. Why would that happen . My day was the same with porridge for break and yogurt and fruit for lunch what I have every day. I feel really worried
 
How close together were the readings?
Did you wash your hands in between.
if you are used to fairly good blood sugars, you would probably feel something in the 20s so it is unlikely to be correct.
Sometimes we have something on our hand which affect the reading (when I was diagnosed a few years ago now, I was advised to wash my hands because newspaper print can affect readings) or out of date test strips or our meters having a funny turn.
 
A tiny bit of fruit juice on your fingers could easily compromise your readings if you had fruit at lunchtime and this was afterwards. I always make a point of wiping away the first spot of blood and then squeezing out some more to test it, especially if I am not able to wash my hands before testing. I have very dry skin so I prefer this technique to washing my hands so many extra times a a day and it works well for me.
 
How close together were the readings?
Did you wash your hands in between.
if you are used to fairly good blood sugars, you would probably feel something in the 20s so it is unlikely to be correct.
Sometimes we have something on our hand which affect the reading (when I was diagnosed a few years ago now, I was advised to wash my hands because newspaper print can affect readings) or out of date test strips or our meters having a funny turn.
I washed my hands, but had been cleaning, and wearing rubber gloves. but after my shower the level was 8. hopefully Just that. Phew
 
Did you wash your hands before or after the cleaning? It’s important to wash hands just before testing blood sugar to get an accurate reading.
 
That's such a big gap I'd be inclined to keep an eye on things in the next couple of days. It seems like a glitch but monitoring will put your mind at ease.

Hopefully it was due to residue on your hands from your cleaning products.
 
I am always amazed at how much difference washing hands can make. I admit that I don’t always do that, but if I have a weird one, especially if it doesn’t match how I feel, I will always check again after washing my hands. The one you had after the shower sounds like it is more normal for you, and it is surprising what residues contain glucose. Some newspaper print!!

Keep a watch and if the meter is having unexplained blips contact the manufacturer.
 
Thank you all for your helpful comments. My blood sugars last night were 6.3, and this morning 6.5, which has been the norm for the past eight weeks. I note my blood sugars four times per day. Back in February my diabetes went haywire and I lost a lot of weight within two weeks. It took about four weeks to manage the blood sugars as well as increased medication. That is why I was shocked yesterday at the extremely high reading. But now feel more relaxed and shall ensure after using cleaning products I wash my hands thoroughly.
thank you
 
Glad you are a bit more relaxed @Elizabethe. It is all to easy to read too much into single finger prick blood glucose readings and is a good message for those who are new to it.
 
Some hand creams and body lotions or sun cream, aftersun etc can postively wreck the BG readings too. If any doubt whatever - wash!
 
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