Confused readings

F

Freemo

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi all. I’ve been type 2 for about 12 months now and take Metformin. I’ve recently purchased a blood sugar fingerprick kit.
I started using it yesterday with an initial reading of 5.3 in the morning. I ate a total of 12g carbs and 2 hours later I was registering 16.5. This morning I registered ,12 hours after any food, 16.6. I’ve had just 4g of carbs today and just tested at 17.3.
I feel absolutely fine and wonder if I’m doing the testing wrong, I just don’t get it. Any advice would be very welcome
 
Hi Freemo and welcome.
I wonder if your hands are at room temperature when you take the readings. I think cold hands will affect reading. I would say its very hard to consume just 4g carbs in a day, you may be consuming hidden carbs perhaps? Which monitor did you get? If these figures persist you may want to mention it to your clinic and get a HbA1c test done.
 
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I'm very new to this. Are you on just metaformin? I'm on an additional medication an SGLT2 which means I need to keep carbs at a reasonable level. What ive noticed is appropriate exercise after a meal can help BG to go down eg a short walk gardening stair climbing.
Also I got one higher reading a bit out of kilter and realised I had just rinsed my hands before testing. I had washed hands before the meal but just rinsed hands before later test. I then washed my hands with soap and water and reading was much lower.
I'm still wearing L plates. No doubt you will get further good advice. I know some carbs work well for some but not others eg porridge and similarly delaying eating in the morning can mean liver says the body needs glucose and gives you some!
 
Jodee said:
Hi Freemo and welcome.
I wonder if you hands are at room temperature when you take the readings. I think cold hands will affect reading. I would say its very hard to consume just 4g carbs in a day, you may be consuming hidden carbs perhaps? Which monitor did you get? If these figures persist you may want to mention it to your clinic and get a HbA1c test done.
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Hi Jodie. Many thanks for your reply. I ate 3 eggs, fried in butter with 200g of ham. Between the two readings I had 3 slices of Jarlsberg cheese, that’s all. How much can cold fingers affect the reading.? I specifically warmed my fingers for the second test of 17.3 thought. It’s very confusing
 
saffron15 said:
I'm very new to this. Are you on just metaformin? I'm on an additional medication an SGLT2 which means I need to keep carbs at a reasonable level. What ive noticed is appropriate exercise after a meal can help BG to go down eg a short walk gardening stair climbing.
Also I got one higher reading a bit out of kilter and realised I had just rinsed my hands before testing. I had washed hands before the meal but just rinsed hands before later test. I then washed my hands with soap and water and reading was much lower.
I'm still wearing L plates. No doubt you will get further good advice. I know some carbs work well for some but not others eg porridge and similarly delaying eating in the morning can mean liver says the body needs glucose and gives you some!
Click to expand...
Thank you Saffron. I’ll retest in about an hour with freshly washed and warm hands. Hopefully it’ll come down.
 
It sounds more like the low reading at first was an anomaly. Do you know what your HBA1C is? It's a blood test result from the gp
 
Hi @Freemo and welcome to the forum.

Getting to grips with the numbers and making sense of them takes a bit of time. First question is, have you had a recent HbA1c test and do you know the result? Second question is are you sure about the carb intakes you have given? They seem incredibly low and I wonder if you are including everything.

When it comes to testing my thought is that when starting, you work out a testing regime and test for a week or two whilst at the same time recording everything you eat and drink. Perhaps test when you wake up in the morning and then test before and 2 hours after several meals.You might get through a few pots of strips but at least then you can start to look for patterns. Trying to interpret single results can be very difficult and frustrating (as you have found).

PS... I used to be an experimental scientist and it can rather show in some of my posts!
 
@Freemo don't you do veg or fruit? You could make a frittata with the eggs and add mushrooms and some other veg. You do have to be discerning with fruit. Do you take milk in drinks? ( obviously not significant carbs unless you add sugar or syrups) Are you happy with your diet? Are you trying to go low carb or count calories or are you an appropriate weight? I haven't sorted things out properly though eat a lot of fish and veg which is generally low carb. I still eat bread but mainly if I am out. I was served pumpernickel bread today with fish. I like rye bread but I'm pleased to say I wasn't tempted to finish the portion I had!
Keep asking there are lots of genuinely helpful and knowledgeable people here.
 
@Freemo don't you do veg or fruit? You could make a frittata with the eggs and add mushrooms and some other veg. You do have to be discerning with fruit. Do you take milk in drinks? ( obviously not significant carbs unless you add sugar or syrups) Are you happy with your diet? Are you trying to go low carb or count calories or are you an appropriate weight? I haven't sorted things out properly though eat a lot of fish and veg which is generally low carb. I still eat bread but mainly if I am out. I was served pumpernickel bread today with fish. I like rye bread but I'm pleased to say I wasn't tempted to finish the portion I had!
Keep asking there are lots of genuinely helpful and knowledgeable people here.
 
saffron15 said:
@Freemo don't you do veg or fruit? You could make a frittata with the eggs and add mushrooms and some other veg. You do have to be discerning with fruit. Do you take milk in drinks? ( obviously not significant carbs unless you add sugar or syrups) Are you happy with your diet? Are you trying to go low carb or count calories or are you an appropriate weight? I haven't sorted things out properly though eat a lot of fish and veg which is generally low carb. I still eat bread but mainly if I am out. I was served pumpernickel bread today with fish. I like rye bread but I'm pleased to say I wasn't tempted to finish the portion I had!
Keep asking there are lots of genuinely helpful and knowledgeable people here.
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Hi Saffron. I’ve had no fruit or veg for the whole 2 days. I’ve deliberately started off with v low carbs. I’ve been scrupulously checking the carbs of what I eat. The only thing I’ve not included is green tea, 2 cups per day.
 
@Freemo I've just seen your last response. If you haven't changed your diet recently the readings you have got are strange. Do you have a particular purpose in testing? With your last excellent reading there doesn't seem much point in extensive testing.
 
Docb said:
Hi @Freemo and welcome to the forum.

Getting to grips with the numbers and making sense of them takes a bit of time. First question is, have you had a recent HbA1c test and do you know the result? Second question is are you sure about the carb intakes you have given? They seem incredibly low and I wonder if you are including everything.

When it comes to testing my thought is that when starting, you work out a testing regime and test for a week or two whilst at the same time recording everything you eat and drink. Perhaps test when you wake up in the morning and then test before and 2 hours after several meals.You might get through a few pots of strips but at least then you can start to look for patterns. Trying to interpret single results can be very difficult and frustrating (as you have found).

PS... I used to be an experimental scientist and it can rather show in some of my posts!
Click to expand...
Hi Doc b. I’m sure about the carbs numbers. My last A1C was 46 about 6months ago. I need to do a few more days to get a pattern. Thanks for your help
 
saffron15 said:
@Freemo I've just seen your last response. If you haven't changed your diet recently the readings you have got are strange. Do you have a particular purpose in testing? With your last excellent reading there doesn't seem much point in extensive testing.
Click to expand...
lol hence my confusion. I feel great and the high readings don’t reflect that. I’ll do a few more days and if constantly high I’ll see GP. I’m testing because I’m on metformin and I’ve been told I’m T2. I want to reverse it through diet and exercise.
 
If your HbA1C is 46 mmol/mol then you are in the prediabetes zone and you have perhaps reduced your carb intake rather too much unnecessarily so.
A better approach would be to have a regime that is nutritious, filling and enjoyable so it will be sustainable long term.
Those readings do seem out of step with what might be expected given your HbA1C.
I assume your strips are in date and are the correct ones for your monitor and you are applying the blood correctly to the strip and you washed your hands prior to testing.
I suppose if your HbA1C was 6 moths ago and you made no dietary changes then it could be it is higher now.
Check everything out re your monitor and you are still getting high readings then do go back to your GP for an up to date HbA1C.
Meanwhile have a look at this link for an approach which may be more sustainable https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
 
Freemo said:
Hi Doc b. I’m sure about the carbs numbers. My last A1C was 46 about 6months ago. I need to do a few more days to get a pattern. Thanks for your help
Click to expand...
Let us know how you get on. There is something not quite right about the numbers you are quoting .... reasonable Hba1c, low carb intake but spot readings in the high teens.... and it would be sensible to understand why in order to move forward.
 
Have you tried using a fresh pot of blood testing strips? Those numbers seem very wrong...and if you are really consistantly getting those high numbers then a visit to the gp may be in order..they could also check your readings and your technique.
 
Freemo said:
Hi Jodie. Many thanks for your reply. I ate 3 eggs, fried in butter with 200g of ham. Between the two readings I had 3 slices of Jarlsberg cheese, that’s all. How much can cold fingers affect the reading.? I specifically warmed my fingers for the second test of 17.3 thought. It’s very confusing
Click to expand...
Hi Freemo, I think you may need to add more variety into your diet and include vegetables a a little grain in order to stay healthy, you need more nutrients that your current diet can provide. Ask your GP if you can access a diabetes management training course. you will get to know best way to manage.
 
Well, we are all as confused as you are I think!

The high readings you initially mentioned are perfectly possible.

The below-diagnosis threshold HbA1c with a low carb menu is perfectly possible.

But frequent readings in the teens and an HbA1c at 46mmol/mol plus a low carb meal plan just don't seem to fit together.

Which makes me wonder which brand of meter you are using, and whether it is giving you reliable readings?
 
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