Help understanding BG reading after drinking flavored drink

(Michelle T Nash) #1

I read the FAQ’s but feeling a little dense so if someone could clarify what my results mean I’d be so grateful.
The FAQ said this: “What you can do is do a glucose curve and see if you are still at baseline at T30 (the sweetener doesn’t produce glucose in your blood), and then your glucose goes below your baseline at T60 then you probably secreted some insulin in response to the sweetener and you will probably have to restrict use of that sweetener.”

My baseline number was 106
My number at 30 mins was 101
My number after another 30 mins (I believe that is the T60?) was back to 106.

So, what’s the prognosis here? (Should I give up my flavored drinks?)

If my BG drops 5 pts isn’t that good? or does that mean I secreted insulin so my body just ate some of the BG and that’s why it dropped a little?

And if it’s back to baseline at 1 hour, isn’t this still good?

I’m so confused.

(Chris W) #2

When using your meter, do not assume a level of accuracy that is not there. Unless you have some sort of lab grade meter, all of those readings are statistically the same. Typical consumer BG meters have about a +/= 10% accuracy, so a reading of 100 is most likely somewhere between 90 and 110. I would say that you had very little, if any BG response to that drink.
I would think the swing would have to be 20+ pts to clearly indicate a response. Other things like activity level add even another dimension to the situation

(Michelle T Nash) #3

That’s encouraging! Thanks for the reminder on the accuracy variance. I do recall now reading about the manufacturers being allowed a 15% variance up or down so that makes sense that a measly 5 point difference doesn’t amount to much significance.
As to activity, I don’t think that was affecting the number any as I sat outside for a while enjoying the weather and barely moved except to pet the dogs - lol. I really like the occasional (well, probably once daily!) flavored drink variety to take a break from plain water. I’m sensitive to caffeine & not fond of coffee & most teas so that doesn’t leave much choice. Thanks for the quick reply :smiley:

(Raj Seth) #4

Most meters are 15-20% Bauer’s contour next is 3-4% accurate. I got mine on amazon for $8, strips run 0.25c each on amazon. I threw away the others
But from your readings, the drink seemed to provide no insulin response, if the readings are to be trusted