Understanding spikes and testing

[Lucylemonpip]

Hi

I’ve been testing my bg before meals and two hours afterwards. However, I’ve read that some folk:
a.) test after one hour of eating
b.) test after two hours of eating
c.) test after one hour of eating and then again after two hours

So, my questions are:

1.) If spikes are going to occur, and in order to catch them, which regime is best?

2.) If the above answer is c.) is this because some foods can spike in the second hour after
eating, or are people testing after 2 hours just to make sure there has been a decrease
in bg?

You can tell I’ve been pondering on the above.....🙄 Lol.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Interestingly @Laconic started a thread on a very similar topic recently. Great minds think alike 🙂

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/testing-after-eating.84950/

 

[Drummer]

I found that the two hours after starting to eat option was most revealing of how I was dealing with a meal, plus any alterations I had made, so it was doubly informative.

 

[Lucylemonpip]

Thank you Mike and Drummer.

I don’t know about my great mind Mike! Sometimes I wonder if it’s even there!

 

[Lucylemonpip]

We know that high bg does damage to nerves etc, but I presume that high spikes now and again intermittently are okay?
If so, then I presume that continuous and prolonged spikes over a period of time (? how long) are what cause the “complications”?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

We know that high bg does damage to nerves etc, but I presume that high spikes now and again intermittently are okay?
If so, then I presume that continuous and prolonged spikes over a period of time (? how long) are what cause the “complications”?

Im not sure anyone can answer that for certain Lucy. Though I have seen some presentations that demonstrate significant differences in risk at the same HbA1c, where lower risk is associated with less spikiness, and higher risk is associated with more volatile zig-zaggy BGs

 

[Lucylemonpip]

Thank you Mike. I think that aside from being diagnosed T2 and coming to terms with all that that entails, the biggest surprise, for me, has been the amount of carbs in food and how much. Being diabetic does focus the mind on healthy eating / living, which in itself, is no bad thing. 🙂