Confusion over glucose readings

#1

Hi everyone,

From what I’ve researched, glucose levels should be < 120 1-2 hours after a meal and < 100 2 hours after a meal.

Today, my glucose readings were confusing and I was wondering if someone could help interpret what it all means:

I threw in the ketones just in case it may help with interpreting anything (i.e. the mmol/L numbers)

04:15 AM 84 mg/dL/1.8 mmol/L (last meal of the day, 3:30 PM the prior afternoon)
09:00 AM 83 mg/dL/2.4 mmol/L (reading taken before meal 1)
10:00 AM 85 mg/dL/1.2 mmol/L (reading taken 1 hour after meal 1)
11:00 AM 92 mg/dL/1.2 mmol/L (reading taken 2 hours after meal 1)

Is this normal? According to what I researched, this is “normal” but it seems low and I am worried that my pancreas is worn out. Am I over thinking this?

Thanks :confused:

#2

Are you diabetic? It doesn’t appear that you are from the numbers you posted. Looks normal to me.

(Joey) #3

I’m not following your conversions from mg/dL to mmol/L … you might want to check your math. E.g., you’ve got 9am and 10am at half vs twice the mmol/L, but the mg/dL are almost identical.

As for pancreas concerns, what exactly makes you believe you may have a problem? Relatively stable (and low) serum glucose isn’t a bad thing, right? It would suggest that your body is both producing and responding to insulin - that’s a good thing.

But do check your figures to make better sense of what your glucose levels are actually doing.

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #4

Your glucose looks good. However, 8 have found that mine doesn’t follow the standard pattern of typical Standard American Diet followers.

I tend to have 3 peaks after eating, and it can spam 2-4 hours.

I’ll provide a chart in a bit.

#5

No, I am not a diabetic; although I was pre-diabetic before I started keto. I was also able to get off my high blood pressure meds also. So far, this has been a miracle for me, and I am NEVER hungry which I love.

#6

Those are not conversions, sorry; they are glucose/ketones readings; I did not know and thought they might be significant, I should have specified.

I was concerned about my pancreas because the 10:00 reading looks like it barely moved from 4:15 AM, like my pancreas barely knew the food was even there and that concerned me.

#7

I often see people posting about their BG, but they don’t report being diabetic. What motivates you to test? Are you having symptoms of low or high BG? Just wondering because I’m sure if I wasn’t diabetic, I would never test.

#8

Trying to make some sense out of my fatigue, although there is a lot going on with me right now. If I were insulin resistant, my BG would be high and perhaps account for the fatigue because I am not eating carbs or sugar. On the other hand, if I were still insulin resistant and my pancreas was worn out, my BG would be low (I assume) and I would be fatigued because I am not getting enough glucose being that I would still be running on sugar as opposed to fat. Dunno. New to this.

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #9

In my case I’m trying to keep my BG low (ideally under 90-100 at all times). I have cancer, and so I’m trying to make sure to not give my body extra sugar for the cancer to feed off of. I also do 48-hour and 72-hour fasts, and I want to make sure that I don’t go too low on glucose and ketones at the same time. Ideally, when my glucose is low (under 50) my ketones should be high to compensate (above 4).

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #10

That’s about a 6 hour span where you don’t have any data, so you can’t make any assumptions. If you really are concerned then ask for a prescription for the FreeStyle Libre. It’s a flash glucose monitor (basically, you wear a sensor that has a small needle in your arm and it takes readings from the fluid around your cells). You can easily get lots data from that. I’ve got one, since its covered as a prescription (as opposed to DME - durable medical equipment, which isn’t covered since I’m not diabetic).

#11

Very sorry to hear that :frowning:

How is all this working out for you being on keto, has it helped?

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #12

I think it has. I certainly don’t have the common side effects from chemo and medication. Hair loss still happened, but I didn’t really have any fatigue or nausea :smiley:

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #13

Here’s my chart for the first week of October.
You can see when I slept, woke, and ate…and all the nice details of what my BG did.
There is a lot more data on my fasting days because I track closely at those times. Otherwise, I just test right before eating. Although I’m wondering how necessary that is…

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(Joey) #14

Ah, thanks for the clarification that 2nd figure is ketones (BHB). Well then, my comment earlier remains the same…

You’ve got ketone levels that suggest you’re well into a ketogenic range. And your glucose is well controlled (well under 100mg/dL pre- and post-prandial measures).

Is it “normal”? Nope, it’s better than normal, given what a lot of people on this forum start out with in terms of deranged metabolic conditions. Looks like you’re in good shape as far as glucose control and ketones are concerned.

I’d give your pancreas a “good patient” sticker :slight_smile:

As for feeling tired, again that’s another matter. You’re probably not fat-adapted and so your muscles/brain are still looking for glucose to burn and are still transitioning to utilize ketones as an alternative energy source.

Again, hang in there and stay the course!

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #15

You could also test at 3 and 4 hours after your meal to get further insight. There are going to be fluctuations, so its hard to tell, unless you are testing every 15 minutes (and even then there are fluctuations).

I know my glucose, while very good, doesn’t follow the standard time frames for peak and return to normal. It also really depends on what I eat.

Mine stayed fairly high last night, but I’m fairly sure its due tothe large amount of heavy cream I consumed. It probably would have gone better if I didn’t have the heavy whipped cream w/ a few rasperries for dessert (homemade dessert). But I was in a good mood and wanted to make something nice for the family (we all eat keto at home).

#16

Will remember to pray for you :broken_heart:

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #17

Thanks.
I’ve got a thread that details a lot of my journey, and a blog that really talks about it…if you are interested. You can find the link in my profile.

#18

SO good to know, thank you for the clarification!

#19

Yes, please!

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #20

For easy reference: www.KetoCancerMom.com