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Variance in blood sugar readings
- Thread starter Vander
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Sally71
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- Parent of person with diabetes
They look pretty good to me, they are all within the normal range so I wouldn’t worry about it.
Please remember that the test meters aren’t deadly accurate, the 6.4 could actually be anywhere between 7.3 and 5.4, so those readings are pretty much all the same (the meters are allowed to be out by up to 15%)
Please remember that the test meters aren’t deadly accurate, the 6.4 could actually be anywhere between 7.3 and 5.4, so those readings are pretty much all the same (the meters are allowed to be out by up to 15%)
Welcome @Vander
It is common for our Blood sugars to fluctuate. There are many things that can affect them including exercise, stress, illness, time of day as well as what we eat and drink.
It is not unusual for our fasting blood sugars to be higher. This is the way our bodies work - in order to give us energy to start the day, our liver dumps glucose into our blood. A healthy body will react by umping insulin to convert that glucose. Those of us "pancreatically challenged" cannot release the insulin fast enough (if at all) so we see the raise in the morning.
And that's without taking into consideration meter inaccuracies as Sally mentioned.
It is common for our Blood sugars to fluctuate. There are many things that can affect them including exercise, stress, illness, time of day as well as what we eat and drink.
It is not unusual for our fasting blood sugars to be higher. This is the way our bodies work - in order to give us energy to start the day, our liver dumps glucose into our blood. A healthy body will react by umping insulin to convert that glucose. Those of us "pancreatically challenged" cannot release the insulin fast enough (if at all) so we see the raise in the morning.
And that's without taking into consideration meter inaccuracies as Sally mentioned.
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Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
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- Type 2
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For people with a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis the levels to aim at are 4-7 mmol/l fasting/morning and before meals and no more than 8-8.5mmol/l 2 hours post meal.
Being within those parameters for most of the time would generally give a HbA1C that would be normal below 42mmol/mol.
But as said morning readings can be higher that premeal readings later in the day.
Being within those parameters for most of the time would generally give a HbA1C that would be normal below 42mmol/mol.
But as said morning readings can be higher that premeal readings later in the day.
As people have said, numbers vary and are most useful when looked as a trend across several days.
The pre and post meal readings are useful when they're 'paired'. You mention your pre-lunch and your post-dinner readings. They would tell you more if they were related to the same meal: so just before you ate lunch, then 2 hours from the first bite of your lunch. By doing it that way, you get to see your body's rea turn to the food you've just eaten. What you learn very quickly from experience (and from the generous sharing of knowledge here) is that diabetic reactions vary amongst diabetics. Some can eat oats and they're post meal sugar is fine. Others will find a steep rise. Same for chickpeas, potatoes, wheat ...
What you want is for your post meal number to be less than 2 mmols higher than your pre-meal.
Like you, I sometimes find that my 2hr post meal is actually lower than pre-meal. Trial and error but it tends to happen when I notice more than average hunger before I eat and, if the meal I eat is lower carb but has a higher proportion of fat.
So, yes, interpreting the numbers isn't as simple as looking at a single blood sugar and saying 'oh yes, that's normal', it is very much about context and trends.
Thanks for all your responses. I've been pre-diabetic for a number of years but with an HbA1c of around 5.5% have never been diagnosed with diabetes. I do suffer from nerve pain/injuries from time to time and have decided to track my blood sugar levels prior to another medical exam. So far, so good, so maybe diabetes could be eliminated as a source of nerve pain.
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