Some help on Blood Glucose readings please

(carol mclintock) #1

I’m hoping that someone can help me understand my readings please? I have been on Keto just over a year and really enjoying it and (with a few blips) feel great, am losing weight slowly and am managing a number of health issues well.

My one problem now is that recently I had bloods taken which showed me to be still prediabetic. This was after a particularly loose week of eating slightly higher carbs than normal and so I put it down to that.
I bought myself a monitor and am concerned that my readings seem to be all over the place. Last week, they were around 70-90 and really high ketones (which I was happy with) but this week my morning readings are really high (122-129, 3 hours after waking with no food since 7:00pm the previous evening).Ketone readings have also dropped.

I have been super strict about what I’ve been eating as the blood results shocked me - previously I had reduced from pre-diabetic to normal ranges and it terrified me how quickly it could shoot up. The only change has been the exceptionally hot weather and lack of good sleep - could this be the cause, do you think?

Further information, I am female, 53, unknown stages of perimenopause/menopause. Relatively active (in a gentle way - lots of walking and swimming) and normally get about 6 hours of sleep a night. Eat just meat, fats of the good sort and green veg and a bit of cheese.

Sorry for the long rambling post and tia xxx

(bulkbiker) #2

Are you talking HbA1c results or just a finger prick blood test?

Might be an idea to tell us the levels as well.

(carol mclintock) #3

Sorry Mark, should have included that (although I still get confused by them). Finger blood test is 122 mg/dl or 6.8mmol/L - that was this morning’s reading - 3 hours after waking with no food and a gentle walk to work.

The blood results from the doctor was HbA!c of 43 and I was told that 48 would have diagnosed me as T2D.

Ketone levels are done using a breath monitor and converting from BAC using the formula of BAC*40 (I know not totally accurate but the readings seem to be consistent, as in they drop if I test after exercise or eating)

Many thanks

(bulkbiker) #4

Here in the UK pre-diabetes in usually considered as HbA1c of 42-47 mmol/m so your doctor here would be saying you were pre-diabetic.
The high fasting blood glucose could be down to dawn phenomenon although it’s better to take that reading as soon as you get up (some people do it whilst still in bed) as the walk could have had an impact.
What was your previous HbA1c?

(carol mclintock) #5

Just before I went Keto it was 45, then 6 months later it went down to 38 and then back up.

Just a thought, in between you kindly taking the time to answer, I did a quick google on coffee - I have had 3 cups of black coffee between 5:45 and 9:15 (test time) and apparently, this can spike BG, which quite frankly is a bugger! My colleagues are not going to be happy if I have to give up coffee :laughing:

(bulkbiker) #6

It can have an effect on some (luckily not me!).
Have you thought to maybe add some double cream to the coffee as the fat may reduce the spike (assuming the coffee is the cause) otherwise I’m afraid coffee might be out for you.
As for the HbA1c levels Stress and lack of sleep can certainly have an impact although as the HbA1c is a 2-3 month “average” reading you’d have to have been fairly consistently stressed for it to have a huge impact.
Might also be something to do with menopause but Im afraid I have no knowledge of that at all.

(carol mclintock) #7

:rofl: my poor husband has lots of knowledge, sadly (for him).

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer me - I do suffer from stress, although I find that I am managing it much better lately than last year.

I think that I am going to try going caffeine free (stay away from the Liverpool area for a couple of weeks, the fallout won’t be nice) and go from there. Might be that I just need to cut down a bit to balance it.

Have a great weekend

(Trish) #8

Check out this article. It might explain it, especially if your blood sugars are lower the rest of the day and only high in the morning or when intermittent fasted. https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/fasting-blood-glucose-higher

(carol mclintock) #9

Thanks Trish, that was a really interesting and useful article - takes away some of the panic I have been feeling :hugs:

(Trish) #10

I just took my glucose and it’s reading 5.9 yet on the 15th my labs showed glucose 5.0 and A1c of 4.9. That was also done in the morning at about 8:15 but by then I’d been up for a while, washed, dressed, and driven to town to the lab. Any time I check my sugars when I first get up they seem to be high, i.e. well over 5. I’m sure I’m insulin resistant from a lifetime (mostly) of eating crap, but I’ve never had my doc tell me I’m prediabetic or worse on any labs over all the years (I’m 50). I also know I’m peri- or menopausal as I get hot flashes and stupid odd spells of “I suddenly want to cry”, but am post hysterectomy so have no had evidence (have not had an oophorectomy—i.e. still have ovaries so still cycle monthly, I just can’t tell of course). Menopause can totally mess pretty much everything up, as you know. Stress is even worse I think. I’ve started taking something called Adrenergik. I don’t know if it will help me but it won’t hurt. As for finger sticks, I don’t bother to take them in the morning anymore, as it just stresses me out. If you have dinner at 5 or 6 and go to bed at 10 or 11, maybe take your sugars as you go to bed and see if that makes a difference for you. Good luck. :sunny:
adrenergic info if interested https://atplab.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/adrenergik_AN-2.pdf

(carol mclintock) #11

Thanks again Trish! Menopause sucks - for the last 3 years, I’ve gotten to 9 or 10 months without a sign of a cycle, then boom, it hits for about a month at a time. I think it will go on forever, just teasing me with signs of the end of the tunnel.

I will take a look at that supplement. I have suffered from stress, anxiety and depression most of my adult life, although I must say that since eating this way, it is about 75% better. Still not as good, but I have started practising meditation,positivity and gratitude journalling and amazingly, they seem to be have a really good effect.

(Trish) #12

Nice going re the positive changes you are making. I personally feel that one’s attitude, outlook, disposition, call it what you will, is very much a product of their own choices. I know we can’t always control our moods, etc. I can’t control my serotonin or dopamine levels, but I can choose to be relatively happy, in a good mood, not bitchy lol. I can control how I act and react. My dad taught me a valuable lesson one day and this from the man who I had known as an angry driver. A guy cuts him off badly one day. We have to hit the brake seriously hard. Dad says nothing. No yelling at him, no cursing, no comment at all. I was floored and questioned him and he replies, “Why should I freak out? It will do no good. If I yell at him, he can’t hear me. If I get upset, it won’t change his bad or careless driving. It does nothing to better or change the situation. All it will do is raise my blood pressure and get me upset so that then I’m in a bad mood and possibly take that mood out on the next person I encounter.” I was stunned, but it made such perfect sense. I really try to live my life like that now. So, anyway, I’m glad your possitivity and journaling etc. are working well for you. :smile: I’ve tried meditation, but I can’t seem to shut my mind off even a little.

(carol mclintock) #13

It takes some practice and I can only do a short time, but find it really useful to cut off in work when things are getting on top!

Your dad sounds like a wise man!