Anyone using a CGM have very low BGLs?

#1

I finally got a continuous glucose monitor attached and am monitoring (over the past few days).
A few times my blood glucose has dropped to 3, very early in the morning.
I am in Australia and we use a different measure than in the US
Not sure if I should be concerned as I am in ketosis, so have an alternate energy source.

I am type 2 diabetic, diagnosed quite awhile ago but haven’t been taking any meds, it’s diet controlled. But this is technically a hypo I think and I am not sure if I should be doing something different.

It does explain why I have been feeling so cold at night!
Anyone know anything about this?

Have an informed dietician appointment on Monday.

(Jane) #2

I wore one for a week and it read at least 10 points (US units) below my glucose blood meter. It tracked correctly, just read low and I got alarms on my phoen for very low glucose in the mornings.

#3

Thanks Jane.
I think the CGM is supposed to be more accurate then the meters but I don’t know.
Mine is higher in the mornings, very low at about 3 am when I am sleeping. No idea why, hoping to get better informed.

(Bob M) #4

That’s the way mine is too: higher in the morning, highest around 11am or so, lowest at night, maybe 2-3am or so. 3 = 54 in US units (multiply by 18), which is fairly low. If you don’t feel bad, then there’s not a problem.

This pattern is glucose-sparing. For reasons I don’t understand, your body wants higher blood sugar in the morning (I know cortisol is a factor, though why it goes up in the morning I don’t know). So, you get this odd shaped figure:

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I’m curious, though. Have you tried a high protein, low fat meal, such as shrimp, mussels, etc.? If so, what happened? (Glucagon is what raises blood sugar, so when you have a high protein intake, insulin goes up, which forces blood sugar toward cells; when blood sugar goes down, glucagon should go up and cause more blood sugar; some people actually have low blood sugar when eating high protein, and I’m wondering if you do.)

#5

Thanks Bob M
I will check this but I think you’re right re protein/low fat meals for me.
I have my dietician linked in to the data now and I think she will figure it out tomorrow night. I don’t understand at all.

I don’t think I eat “high protein” meals…about palm (of my hand) size for red meat, oysters half a dozen large, a dozen small, size of my hand for fish and chicken, animal fats only these days. Prawns, I just eat them from the shell til I am tired of peeling them! Lamb, tends to be chops, with fat on, two usually.

BGL dropped to 3.2 tonight again, early, not long after I had steak for dinner.
So I ate more to try to get my sugar up…had to have some carbs…pumpkin soup with Parmesan cheese.
The continuous metre is showing lower levels than either of my two blood glucose meters.

.5 ml of CBD oil 3x day.
Naltrexone 1mg 2x day. For pain and inflammation…seems to help!
But the bouncing blood glucose is a bit scary…

#6

Thanks Janie. Did you figure out why the low levels in the a.m.?

#7

No problems.
Have reversed my type 2 diabetes. My HbA1c is now 5.5…I am over the moon!
Need to eat more, 2 meals a day… and earlier in the day and I need to take more electrolytes.
Teaspoon of mct oil in the am on awakening with electrolytes. Same before retiring.
And a few supplements to counter low levels from the diverticular disease interfering with absorption of b12 etc.
AND my kidney function has improved as demonstrated by a test I can’t remember the name of.
Thyroid isn’t working well… but no anti thyroid autoimmune markers…so my body needs iodine, which I will start supplementing tonight, with seaweed supplement.

So for me, carnivore diet has worked to reverse my diabetes and keto for some years didn’t…and the challenges thrown in with the CGM have been enlightening to say the least.

Very grateful to this forum’s members and the information they share.
Thank you all.

Returned to edit. My HbA1c is 5.7 not 5.5!!! But heading ub b the direction of 5.5. If I can keep under 6 I am happy!!! :grinning:

(Jane) #8

No. I should have said I got the low glucose alarms while I was sleeping and saw it when I got up in the mornings.

I have never been diabetic so my morning glucose readings are under 100.

#9

Thanks Janie.
A possible explanation I got was that because I am in Ketosis, my body is dialling down the glucose production when it isn’t needed, at night.
I thought that made sense.Recommendation if I am awake and it happens is to have some protein and MCT oil, a tsp.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #10

Hypoglycaemia is by definition a lack of enough glucose to feed the brain. When someone is in ketosis, the brain uses mostly ketones and doesn’t need nearly as much glucose. So in such a person, a serum glucose level that might be dangerous in a carb burner is, by definition, not hypoglycaemia.

If you are having symptoms, on the other hand, that is a very different matter, one that needs to be dealt with immediately.

(Bob M) #11

MCT oil? This will (should) increase your ketones. Not sure what that would mean for blood sugar, but I’m assuming lower blood sugar, because you have another energy source.

And if you have an issue with glucagon, eating protein could lower your blood sugar.

Let us know if you try this and, if so, what happens.

(Jane) #12

I used to do 3-day fasts when I was working from Ft Worth instead of home and one time my glucose spiked over 100 on day 3, which it never had before while fasting. I hadn’t had anything but water and black coffee and posted a question on this board.

The answer I got was my body needed glucose so it made some. Our bodies do what they need to do to keep the systems running (most of the time - sometimes they hiccup).

(Bob M) #13

I would’ve guessed it was a mistake caused by meters with too high of an error for us (plus or minus 15%, and mine has drops that are used for calibration, and they are plus/minus 20%).

But it could be truly higher glucose though. Every time I exercise, my glucose goes up. I haven’t figured out why yet, just that it does.

#14

Hi Bob,
The MCT oil is to provide ketones so my body doesn’t need to produce glucose. Not aware of a problem with glucagon, I have a problem with extreme insulin production, which bounces around my blood glucose levels. Have been trying to sort it for about 27 years, which was pre keto information being available.

I wonder if your higher glucose readings when you exercise could be because you sometimes have low ketones and so your muscles need glucose when you exercise, if there aren’t enough ketones?

My freestyle glucose meter shows 15% higher blood glucose than the CGM does.

(Bob M) #15

Theoretically, glucagon is the “anti-insulin”. Insulin causes blood sugar to go down (by pushing it into cells). By contrast, glucagon causes blood sugar to go up. Like this:

So, your “too much” insulin might instead be “too little” glucagon. It’d be quite interesting to have you do an OGTT (oral glucose tolerance test) with insulin and glucagon, in addition to blood sugar.

As for muscles and ketones, I don’t know enough about that. I was thinking the body wants more muscle glycogen from blood sugar. I do know that exogenous ketones have benefits if you take them after exercising. I just don’t know whether that’s as a fuel source or for some other reason.

#16

Thanks Bob.
I did oral glucose tests with insulin levels some years ago, not sure what year but have been at it since the 90s…that is how I know i have extreme insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes recently reversed wth carnivore diet. I control it with diet, I am not taking any medications…and my HbA1c is 5.7, which is out of the diabetes range, so I have effectively reversed my type 2 diabetes. I don’t want to have any further glucose tolerance tests. I haven’t heard of tests with glucagon.

My understanding is that it is insulin in my case that needs to be dropped and it is less simple the longer you have been diabetic…

I have a very good keto informed doctor and a dietitian who really does know what she is doing with keto and I am following through with them.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Have you had the test you mention, an oral glucose tolerance test with insulin levels and glucagon? I haven’t heard of it before. I accept that my metabolic problem is caused by an underlying insulin disorder of about thirty years standing.

My last two lots of blood tests (twenty pages of them) were ordered by a doctor who is at the top of his game with keto and a few years ago I had knee replacement surgery with an orthopod who is part fi the is charbroiled community too…

I like Ben Bikman, will have a look at this clip thanks for posting it.

Yes, the ketones are taken as a fuel source. This saves/prevents the production of excess glucose.

#17

I am seriously considering trying a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) for a couple of months, and since we have a fairly recent thread about CGM I’ll post here instead of starting a new one. I’ve been on keto for almost two years now. It has been wildly successful for me, so I’m probably an idiot to consider modifying my way of eating, but I’d love to introduce a little more variety just for the pure human pleasure of it. It may be time for me to think about what I believe the Atkins people call maintenance phase. But I want to be more cautious about it than just waiting to see if my weight goes up. I’m a diagnosed type-2 diabetic, now 100 percent under control with diet and exercise, so I don’t want to take chances. I don’t want to ever spike my glucose, and it would be tedious and painful to experiment with more carbs (only the good ones, of course) using finger sticks. Over the last two years my fasting insulin levels have been going down, which makes me believe that I’m not just coping with diabetes, but rather that I am actually less insulin resistant than I used to be. I was heartened by listening to an interview with the late Dr. Sarah Hallberg in which she said that she had many patients who, after a couple of years of keto and exercise, could tolerate more carbohydrates without backsliding. There’s a chill in the air today, and I would love to make a nice pot of lentil soup! Does anyone have experience using CGM temporarily in this way? I think my least expensive option is the FreeStyle Libre 3. I wish I could take advantage of a free trial, but apparently it is illegal to provide a free trial to anyone enrolled in Medicare Part B.

#18

What country are you in PST?

#19

United States. A most curious country when it comes to paying for drugs and devices. My doctor recently prescribed ezetimibe to reduce LDL-C. The price for a 90-day supply using my Part D Medicare policy and its preferred mail-order pharmacy is $199. The price from Amazon Pharmacy, without insurance, is $23, and I can even get it for slightly less at some local brick-and-mortar pharmacies using a Good Rx card. You need an MBA here to minimize medical expenses.

#20

I am in Australia where we need a doctors referral to get a cgm…that is to buy it and pay for it. Type 2 diabetics aren’t the target market ad there is no cover for us.

I think it is very helpful and you can get a lot of info from it. I intend to continue to wear one for another few weeks and then intermittently.

I think you may get more answers from a new thread…this one may not attract answers cause the topic is low blood glucose and cgm…