First morning blood sugar

[Jan_tr]

Hi all,

I am prediabetic.

I have been a good girl for my first two days dieting. Low carb yesterday and I didn't eat anything in the evening.

I bought myself a blood sugar monitor, a cheap one and checked my blood sugar this morning and got a reading of 6. Isn't that too high for someone who hasn't eaten for more than 15 hours?

My first reading two hours after a meal was 5.8.

I wonder if the meter is wrong, or if there is something wrong with me 🙂

 

[Drummer]

Its nothing to worry about. Our livers release glucose to get us going in the mornings.
I find that my numbers would continue to rise if I don't eat breakfast, so I have a low carb meal and then I am fine until the evening.

 

[Annette&Bert]

I am low carb all the time but my bg is very high on wakening which I don’t understand.

 

[Jan_tr]

Its nothing to worry about. Our livers release glucose to get us going in the mornings.
I find that my numbers would continue to rise if I don't eat breakfast, so I have a low carb meal and then I am fine until the evening.

Thank you. I was too quick to blame the meter . I guess things aren't as clear cut as I thought. I'm thinking it can only be a good thing, to be releasing and hopefully using that energy.

 

[Jan_tr]

I am low carb all the time but my bg is very high on wakening which I don’t understand.

Maybe something happens at night? Or out glucose runs low and so more is released. May not be a bad thing?

 

[Annette&Bert]

Maybe something happens at night? Or out glucose runs low and so more is released. May not be a bad thing?

This morning it was 13 a couple of mornings ago even before getting out of bed it was 11. I told my DB nurse yesterday and she was amazed, I am just mystified?

 

[Jan_tr]

This morning it was 13 a couple of mornings ago even before getting out of bed it was 11. I told my DB nurse yesterday and she was amazed, I am just mystified?

I think there is still a lot more that is unknown about diabetes. You are first made to think that if you cut carbs your blood glucose wiĺl automatically go down, but it's looking like that's not necessarily true.

 

[Annette&Bert]

I think there is still a lot more that is unknown about diabetes. You are first made to think that if you cut carbs your blood glucose wiĺl automatically go down, but it's looking like that's not necessarily true.

yes it goes down 2 hours after food, so is ok during the day if you’re careful. I only get these levels before breakfast.

 

[Leadinglights]

I think the reading you are getting looks fine, my HbA1C is 36 but I never get a morning reading below 6.3 but before meals it can be below 6.
Make good use of your monitor to test your meals and you should keep good control.

 

[pm133]

Hi all,

I am prediabetic.

I have been a good girl for my first two days dieting. Low carb yesterday and I didn't eat anything in the evening.

I bought myself a blood sugar monitor, a cheap one and checked my blood sugar this morning and got a reading of 6. Isn't that too high for someone who hasn't eaten for more than 15 hours?

My first reading two hours after a meal was 5.8.

I wonder if the meter is wrong, or if there is something wrong with me 🙂

6 is not too high at any time.
Your meter will also have some tolerance associated with it.
These devices should not be used as reliable indicators of individual readings.
They should be used to establish trends of blood glucose readings over a period of time.

 

[pm133]

This morning it was 13 a couple of mornings ago even before getting out of bed it was 11. I told my DB nurse yesterday and she was amazed, I am just mystified?

Waking up to 11 to 13 on the other hand is another matter.
That is really high. Are you on medication?

 

[Jan_tr]

I think the reading you are getting looks fine, my HbA1C is 36 but I never get a morning reading below 6.3 but before meals it can be below 6.
Make good use of your monitor to test your meals and

I think the reading you are getting looks fine, my HbA1C is 36 but I never get a morning reading below 6.3 but before meals it can be below 6.
Make good use of your monitor to test your meals and you should keep good control.

Thank you, that's good to know

 

[Jan_tr]

6 is not too high at any time.
Your meter will also have some tolerance associated with it.
These devices should not be used as reliable indicators of individual readings.
They should be used to establish trends of blood glucose readings over a period of time.

Thank you, I'm still learning

 

[Jan_tr]

5.8 - 2 hrs after breakfast, so gone down a bit now. I think I'm going to learn a lot from this.

 

[pm133]

5.8 - 2 hrs after breakfast, so gone down a bit now. I think I'm going to learn a lot from this.

Readings of 6 and 5.8 are essentially the same. Your meter tolerance is anywhere in the range 5-15% (I'd need to check the manual) so you can't distinguish between those numbers.
Presumably you are finger-pricking? If so, try another finger or another hand and you'll get a different reading again.

It all takes a bit of getting used to.

 

[Jan_tr]

Readings of 6 and 5.8 are essentially the same. Your meter tolerance is anywhere in the range 5-15% (I'd need to check the manual) so you can't distinguish between those numbers.
Presumably you are finger-pricking? If so, try another finger or another hand and you'll get a different reading again.

It all takes a bit of getting used to.

I really want to compare with my husband and kids, but no ones letting me near their fingers . I can't see my meter being too accurate, but I'll take these reading at face value for now.

 

[pm133]

I really want to compare with my husband and kids, but no ones letting me near their fingers . I can't see my meter being too accurate, but I'll take these reading at face value for now.

LOL I'm not surprised they won't let you near them.
I thought about doing this when I was diagnosed too and couldn't get my family to agree either.

The problem is that the machine isn't going to tell you anything useful if you do test them with a single reading.
Readings from even non-diabetics will range from just under 4 to about 11 depending on a whole host of factors including what they ate and when. The human body is designed to have fluctuating blood glucose depending on what it thinks we need and everyone is different. It's average blood glucose which counts and that requires multiple readings over a period of time or an HBA1c test to be able to see. Someone posted a daily blood glucose chart for a non-diabetic and it looked not much different to a well controlled diabetic with peaks and troughs everwhere. Quite an eye opener.

Your machine can't be used to either diagnose diabetes or rule it out I'm afraid. Only an HBA1C test can do that.

 

[Drummer]

I think there is still a lot more that is unknown about diabetes. You are first made to think that if you cut carbs your blood glucose wiĺl automatically go down, but it's looking like that's not necessarily true.

Well - they will go down as long as they are not constantly topped up from our diet, but glucose is released as well as stored, prompted by various processes.
I know if I have a nightmare I can expect higher levels of blood glucose as adrenalin causes glucose to be released. Exercise will cause a release too, but usually after a while my levels will drop lower than they were. A few weeks low carbing will cause levels to reduce, with any luck, so the same things are happening but at a lower concentration of glucose over all.

 

[EllsBells]

HI @Jan_tr - even if your readings are good during the day, your fasting readings are often the last to come tumbling down. Give it time. The best thing right now is to identify patterns in food intake and impact on BG readings. IF you see a rise of 3mmol or more, then rethink that meal and work out if it was carb overload, or a particular item you are sensitive to. I'm almost 6 months in and still learning. Sorting out large spikes as you go on will help your numbers come down though must say they are already looking pretty decent.

 

[Jan_tr]

HI @Jan_tr - even if your readings are good during the day, your fasting readings are often the last to come tumbling down. Give it time. The best thing right now is to identify patterns in food intake and impact on BG readings. IF you see a rise of 3mmol or more, then rethink that meal and work out if it was carb overload, or a particular item you are sensitive to. I'm almost 6 months in and still learning. Sorting out large spikes as you go on will help your numbers come down though must say they are already looking pretty decent.

Thank you. That's interesting. The meter is like my new toy now. Tbh I needed a good reason to kick start my weight loss, so the pre diabetes was a good push in the right direction!