Help Please. BG

[Neens]

Generally testing BG on machine that doesn't do averages etc. But waking BP between 4.8-6.3 usually around 5 or bit higher 5.3 etc.

The highest I ever had was 7.1 before lunch post breakfast (2hr) when I'd had porridge oats. This was less than increase of 2mmol.

This morning my waking BG was 4.1
I ate 20g of porridge and 15g of walnuts. An hour later I was 8.4

I have used the solution on meter which read 7.4 and now my reading over 2 hrs later (no food but 1000g metaformin) is 6.1

These readings are unusually high for me especially after low start. Fasting BG has never been lower than 4.7

I haven't spotted anything on food diary which would have caused these changes and not ill.

Advice/ideas/ help please.

 

[grovesy]

Sometimes your blood sugar can rise before you show sign of illness.

 

[Toucan]

Hi @Neens
Have you started a new pack of strips, and are they still in date?
I do find that my meter can be quite randomly erratic. One morning it measure 9.0, but when I stopped panicking a few minutes later and re-tested I got 6.0, so it can be worth doing a second test.
As @grovesy says though, it can sometimes be signs of a cold or virus starting.- Let's hope not.
I should just keep monitoring for a few days and see how it goes.

 

[silentsquirrel]

How long between the 4.1 reading this morning and starting to eat? Dawn Phenomenon, which can be very variable from day to day, could easily have put you in the 6s before you ate, perhaps your liver being extra "helpful" due to the lower than usual waking reading, in which case the 8.4 after an hour and 6.1 after 2 hours is fine.

Try not to be worried about small differences, remember the readings are all "ish"! Look for trends.

 

[Neens]

Thanks @grovesy - I had forgotten that - would be typical with my work schedule! 😉

@Toucan near the end of a pack that was opened 40 readings ago and is always sealed - so know the strips are fine. Did think to do an immediate retest but decided food was a better option. I was late getting up so the reading was taken after I would normally have had breakfast. (Still before 9AM though - which is early enough on a non-working Saturday)...
@silentsquirrel 5 mins between reading and eating - I weighed out my oats threw them at the microwave, weighed and broke my walnut pieces and ate... and then 1000mg slow release metaformin - all done 15 mins after reading.

The 6.1 reading was taken after I used cleaning solution on test strip. Out of curiosity to see what was going on. I don't think there was anything wrong with the meter/test strips etc. so do believe the readings - but it makes sense that my insides got a different message and whirred into action to save me! This was about 2 hours after the 8.4 reading with no further intake other than water.

I have tested this afternoon (after salad lunch) and back to 5.1.

I know 4.1 is okay and so is 8.4 (just) but for me they are the lowest it has ever been and the highest all in a space of less than 2 hours when all I really wanted was a shower and a hair wash... a little burdensome 1st thing in the morning. At least it meant I was safe enough to drive. Thanks for posting and making me feel better.

This D thing often makes no sense at all?! Right??

 

[silentsquirrel]

Absolutely right!

 

[rebrascora]

Don't worry about the safe to drive thing. That only applies to diabetics who are on insulin inducing medication which can cause them to go too low. Your average non diabetic Joe Public will probably often be driving below 5 and they are perfectly competent to do so and likewise you, as a Type 2 diabetic who is not using insulin inducing medication, are fine to drive under a reading of 5. The only reason we insulin dependants need to be 5, is to ensure a margin of safety, so that we are less likely to go hypo if we start our journey at 5 or above.

Even if you were to drop below 4, you are extremely unlikely to go hypo, in that the insulin in your system is unable to be matched my glucose output from the liver. The worst it could get is that you might feel a bit wobbly, like if you had been hiking all day and your reserves were getting low, but there is no real danger of you passing out or anything, as can happen with injected insulin. I hope that puts your mind at rest a bit..... it is very easy to confuse the rules/guidance regarding test results between normal Type 2 testing and those obtained by people on insulin inducing medication. Maybe this is one of the reasons why HCPs discourage regular Type 2 testing as it can cause unnecessary worry.

My daily readings can fluctuate between 2.8 and 15 so 4.1 to 8.4 would be a very good day for me and a cause for celebration so try not to get too hung up on individual fluctuations between pre and post prandial readings especially morning ones which can be the most erratic due to DP and insulin resistance etc. You are looking for trends rather than individual readings some of which can be spurious for a variety of reasons.

This morning I woke with a reading of 3.9 which is a bit low but not what I would call a hypo (DAFNE considers a hypo 3.5 or less) and there is no huge panic to eat something. In fact I injected my bolus insulin first and then made myself a coffee and prepared breakfast and ate it maybe 15-20 mins later without any ill effects. That said, I would normally inject my breakfast insulin and wait an hour before eating it but when I am a bit low to start with, the injected insulin always seems to get going a bit less slowly (I was going to say a bit quicker but then thought better of it!) than usual.

 

[Neens]

Thanks @rebrascora there is so much information to take on board - I felt okay most of the day, I have felt worse with false hypos and better readings. Obviously I was just panicked - or 'unnecessarily alarmist' as Mr G. often remarks! 😉

Thanks for clearing up the driving. I should remember I had T2D before I knew I did and nothing bad happened.
Then again if I had climbed a broken ladder and someone pointed out it was broken I would almost be sure to fall on my way down! 😛

I rushed to breakfast from my reading because;
1) I was meant to be out within the hour
2) I was panicked by the lowest ever reading and thought I had not to bother boiling an egg and go straight to the bowl! I think I thought it would continue to drop rapidly unless I put something in.

I have read technically metaformin means we can only experience false hypos and not real ones and as you say I am IR my body may well be producing it. I am (I am afraid to say) very ignorant of T1, only from the little I have gleaned here and the overall awareness from knowing a few people with it. I think it is hard to learn with so much contradictory material.

 

[grovesy]

There are drugs such as Gliclazide that can stimulate the pancreas to release more Insulin and Type 2 on this should check they are not below 5 on this to drive.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hope your BGs settle down, and you aren’t coming down with an illness @Neens

 

[Snowwy]

Its very interesting and sometimes alarming to read the different challenges that others experience with readings and counteracting methods.
As a newbie I realise we walk a wonky line of cause and effect and that we have an amazing body (if sometimes faulty) and that we should handle with care.
Just back from a 5 k run/walk along Worthing seafront. Easy one way with the wind... Coming back

 

[Neens]

Wow @Snowwy I admire that run, doubly so on a Sunday morning. MrG & I are going for a short walk (I only stopped using a stick at Christmas).

Welcome to the forum, I may have missed you there have been lots of new people join and I haven't kept up.

Thanks @grovesy - I am working through Gretchen Becker so have just read about the various different drugs. I did read the driving thing in the DUK info DN gave me at first appointment and pretty sure it didn't specify drugs. I leant it to my family to read so can't check. But it is also good to know I'm good to go!

@everydayupsanddowns thanks for your empathy. I have decided to take a break from finger pricking. My dietary input doesn't include any new-to-be-tested foods & as @rebrascora reminded me this tail chasing is the whole reason T2D do not automatically get given a monitor.

I wanted to do a few days full monitoring as I just read up on it and had never done it and have HbA1c coming up and thought the DN may need a few tracked days.

I realise I've been blowing my nose for weeks, but the cold was 3 weeks ago when my ears were blocked and my face was full of winter. So still feel fine!

 

[zoombapup]

Neens: For what it's worth, I'm averaging about 5.4 (I keep a spreadsheet) and I get the occasional low down to 4.4 and high up to around 7ish. I reckon your higher reading was just a chemical reaction to your food intake. The low is likely just some side effect of having two systems go low at the same time, if you think of bloody glucose control as a signal and how signals can sum together or cancel each other out.

From my own testing since diagnosis, there's considerable variability on any one particular reading, depending on far too many factors to be able to identify a single thing. So I think the best way to view it is more as a trend-line. As long as the trend isn't considerably up, then you're likely still OK. Even the trending seems to have noise in too, but it's far more stable overall.

I'm also seeing the same thing with blood pressure. Considerable variability within a day and between days, even when controlling for food intake etc. Bodies are basically just too complex to try and isolate one variable as a cause of higher readings I think.