Confusion over BG readings

[Victoria]

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could shed some light on my confusion. I was diagnosed with T2 3 weeks ago and my doc has given me diet/excercise only until a review after Christmas - they said I was showing the right kind of motivation to make serious lifestyle changes, which is nice!

I was given a BG testing kit and have been taking my fasting BG for the past week and a bit. It started at 17.7 at diagnosis and then jumped down to 10.6 and has been slowl dropping ever since and is now somewhere in the high 8s.

After a few days of feeling really ill, exhausted all the time and really headachy, I decided to monitor them throughout the day to see if I could get a better understanding of what was going on.

My query is this - how comes my fasting BG is so high when an hour after I have eaten it is down in the 6s and 7s. 2 hours after eating a lunch of pita bread with feta, salad, fruit and a yoghurt which is quite a substantial lunch, my reading at 3pm this afternoon was 4.2. I have never had a reading that low, and felt awful, really shaky and out of it and couldn't speak properly. Why on earth are my fasting BGs so high, yet in the day going so low - surely they should be at my lowest when I haven't eaten for 2 hours?! Or am I getting this all wrong?

Yours in utter confusion,
Victoria

 

[annemarie08]

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could shed some light on my confusion. I was diagnosed with T2 3 weeks ago and my doc has given me diet/excercise only until a review after Christmas - they said I was showing the right kind of motivation to make serious lifestyle changes, which is nice!

I was given a BG testing kit and have been taking my fasting BG for the past week and a bit. It started at 17.7 at diagnosis and then jumped down to 10.6 and has been slowl dropping ever since and is now somewhere in the high 8s.

After a few days of feeling really ill, exhausted all the time and really headachy, I decided to monitor them throughout the day to see if I could get a better understanding of what was going on.

My query is this - how comes my fasting BG is so high when an hour after I have eaten it is down in the 6s and 7s. 2 hours after eating a lunch of pita bread with feta, salad, fruit and a yoghurt which is quite a substantial lunch, my reading at 3pm this afternoon was 4.2. I have never had a reading that low, and felt awful, really shaky and out of it and couldn't speak properly. Why on earth are my fasting BGs so high, yet in the day going so low - surely they should be at my lowest when I haven't eaten for 2 hours?! Or am I getting this all wrong?

Yours in utter confusion,
Victoria

i know what you mean, half the time it doesnt make sense does it.. the symptoms you described sound like a hypo to me, you sure your type 2? when i was first diagnosed i used to hypo when my sugars got to 6,because my body was so used to being in the 20s, now that ive got more control i hypo at 4 and below. just to be on the safe side make sure you carry some glucose with you.

 

[Vanessa]

Hello Victoria

Firstly congratulations on doing so well in bringing your levels down with diet and exercise - what an achievement in a short period of time! You should be very pleased with yourself

Secondly, as I understand it, it is not uncommon for people to have a raised fasting level - often referred to as the "dawn effect". Others may be able to comment more clearly than I can but I think it relates to how the body releases glucose overnight to keep your levels up. It may settle down as you adapt to lower norms

I now get exhausted, lethargic and generally grotty if my fasting levels creep above 7 - something I wouldn't have though possible a year ago. Dread to think what I would be like if my levels went up to the 15-18s I had at the point of diagnosis. Our bodies do seem to have a "re-set button" and my GP thinks I have become very sensitive to higher levels than my norm

4.2 is till within the normal range for blood glucose but I got hypoglycaemic symptoms at 5.0 for quite a while as my blood glucoses had been so high for so long. You don't say how active you had been but over time you may find that fruit and yoghurt together give you a rapid rise and fall. I find my worst time is in the morning and now have a more substantial snack my mid morning or even a second breakfast as we are early risers and I exercise first thing too

Finally it certainly doesn't sound like you are getting it all wrong to me - you've gone through major changes in your body chemistry already and done yourself proud.

Good luck and welcome to the club!

 

[sofaraway]

It's not uncommon at all for type 2's to have their highest reading in the morning.

4.2 is within normal limits but as you have been running high for a while it will take your body time to adjust to the normal levels. A way to treat this is to have a small amount of long acting carbohydrate to get your levels slowly up so you can feel better. But over time you should get used to normal levels.

sounds like you are doing really well, keep it up

 

[GDP]

You will find as your fasting blood sugars settle down at lower levels, that in general your hypoglycemic sensations will kick in at a lower BG level. I had exactly the same thing when I was first diagnosed. The sensation of comparatively low sugars (compared with pre-diagnosed levels) are not pleasant, I always say its like a bad hangover without the headache. I am now insulin maintained, but my worst hypos were in the early days when I was on Metformin and Sulphinurias. BG control can be confusing. Fasting sugars will generally reflect what you are eating day to day, whereas current BG reflect what you are about to eat/have just eaten etc....It is not generally known, but a sudden intake of high carb (high sugar) food like a mars bar will actually reduce BG count initially, as the liver's reaction is to cut off supply of glycogen to the blood. However, clearly you have eaten sugar (carbs) which will be released back in to the blood as the liver opens up supply of glycogen again. So fasting sugars would rise over time, but current BG might actually fall initially. Incedently, I find Pitta bread and baguettes particularly bad for my BG. Alcohol is another carbohydrate that reduces blood sugars initially because it is a duretic, but as the alcohol is motabolised, blood sugars rise.