Low blood sugar question

(Jennibc) #1

First I don’t have diabetes nor was I ever prediabetic. But I read Dr. Ede’s article about testing blood sugar even if you are healthy so I ordered some glucose strips for my keto mojo. I started testing on Friday and mostly my fasting blood sugar is in the high 80s to low 90s and and hour after meals I have been around the same. I did have some fruit one night so the 60 minute post measurement got as high as 97. Still really good.

So today I forgot to eat until about 4:30 PM (other than my morning coffee with about 4 tablespoons of hwc in total). I just got really busy and didn’t feel hungry so didn’t have my normal noon to 1 PM meal. So at around 4 I took my reading because I was curious. I wasn’t light headed, I wasn’t shaky, but my blood glucose was 68. I looked that up and it says that’s hypoglycemic level. But really it’s just a couple of points below ‘normal’. Is this something I should be concerned about?

#2

Nah. Totally normal if you feel fine :slightly_smiling_face:

(Jennibc) #3

Thanks! On those medical sites they say that you can be hypoglycemic without having symptoms but it seemed like those articles were aimed at diabetics.

#4

Probably talking about diabetic hypo unawareness - deffo a thing but unlikely a problem for a non-diabetic.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

In the very well fat-adapted, serum glucose can actually be lowered to levels that would cause coma or death in a sugar-burner, and they will be fine. There is a belief that the brain alone needs 130 g of glucose a day, but this has recently been called into question. Prof. Benjamin Bikman, in fact, a nutritional researcher specializing in insulin research, has actually issued a call for anyone who can to provide him with a reference to a study that backs up this belief. He has apparently begun to suspect that the brain needs no glucose at all.

(There is a famous experiment, done decades ago, where the blood glucose of some fat-adapted experimental subjects was forced down to insanely low levels, and the guys being studied were fine. It wasn’t till after they’d done it that the researchers realized what a risk they’d run. These days, no institutional review board would ever permit such an experiment, and the tenure of any researcher who tried it anyway would almost certainly be revoked.)

(William B Fenton) #6

This is anecdotal from my perspective and not medical advice in any way shape or form since that would be unethical.

I am a diabetic (Type 1) and when I am in deep ketosis my blood glucose goes low… very very low (45-55) but the thing is I am fine! I run, I lift heavy pieces of Iron off the ground and then put them back down… Good Clarity of Thought.

MY COMPLETELY SUBJECTIVE THOUGHTS!!!

I think from hacking my own biology that as the brain gets fat/ketone adapted my own need for glucose diminishes, again this is based on myself never going above 57 on my glucometer for nearly 6 months (and usually hovering between 43-47) and yet feeling GREAT and Filled with energy…

Not medical advice, I am merely someone who knows enough to cause himself a lot of trouble, while simultaneously being lucky enough to not have as of yet

(Full Metal KETO AF) #7

I envy your BG levels, that’s what brought me to keto. Started with a fasting BG over 200. Last month down to 140 although the previous month was 130. It’s slow going for me but I’m losing weight and feeling better than I have in 20 years. So I’m just being patient and feel my body chemistry will sort itself out in time. KCKO :sunglasses::avocado::poultry_leg::bacon:

(Jennibc) #8

My highest fasting over the years even when I was weighing in at 269 was 93. But my triglycerides were getting up there. Not quite where the ! shows up on the lab test - but only 2 points away. My dad developed diabetes in his 60s but was never heavy, although he was a carb addict. Drank coffee all day with creamora and sugar - ate toast for breakfast and heaps of pasta or potatoes for dinner and always had dessert. He was a heavy smoker so died from lung cancer in his early 70s but had open heart surgery twice for heart problems. My mother who is about 100 pounds overweight doesn’t have it and neither did my obese grandmother (mom’s mom) but she did die of breast cancer at 85 and she developed alzheimers disease for about 10 years before her death. We keep hearing about Alzheimers as ‘type 3 diabetes’ and I am willing to bet that would have been in store for me if I didn’t make the changes. I didn’t cut grain until I was 43 and the sugar was cut out at 51 so who knows, the damage may already be done, only time will tell. I hope not, and I am reading higher fat lower carb diets are helping people who already have it - slowing the progression.

Hang in there, looks like you are making progress!

(Full Metal KETO AF) #9

A new keto term about carb eaters, I don’t mean to joke about your father passing though.

And I hope that the damage is NOT done in your case as well as mine. I didn’t start keto until I was 59.

(Jennibc) #10

LOL, LUNG Cancer. Not sure how I missed that as I proofread.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #11

My phone and tablet have been known to change words long after I typed them. And I have a hard enough time getting the spelling right even without the “help” of autocorrect, argh!