Spike in blood glucose meter reading

(Rjrnj1 ) #1

I’m fat adapted. I am off all my meds, except 1 allergy med. What is driving me crazy is why my bg spikes very high after I exercise. It doesn’t lower that quickly, either. I’m afraid that if I continue to exercise, these spikes will alter my A1c. Anyone with info,? Any tapes/youtube videos to watch to learn more?

(Bob M) #2

Mine always spikes after exercising. It’s not a big deal.

Will it affect your A1c? Unclear. Unless you’re exercising a ton, probably not. My A1c has been relatively constant, 4.9-5.1 lately (but note that A1c has other factors affecting it too).

Now, if it does affect your A1c, would that be a bad thing? It’s unclear.

In your case, if you’re down to no meds, isn’t that good?

#3
(Rjrnj1 ) #4

Thank you for your response Bob M! Being off meds is wonderful and I’m not complaining. I just have a desire to fully understand the mechanism/science behind how/why my body reacts like this. I’m doing tons of research but haven’t been able to find anything, yet, to explain this. That’s what I’m looking for.

(Rjrnj1 ) #5

What a great place to start Consistency MIA. Thanks!

(bulkbiker) #6

What kind of “spikes” are you talking about and what kind of exercise?

(Rjrnj1 ) #7

Hi Mark (sorry). Long answer to short question.

My bg is usually 100 +/- 10 points. It will lower more over time, I hope, with more weight loss.

Last night I helped my friends break down a grad party: moved tables, cleaned, packed away tons of stuff, sweating, etc. Moving everything to cars, heavy lifting, up and down stairs, steady for 45 minutes (3 of us). I’m 62 and generally walk and bike. When I got home 20 minutes later, my test result was 197! I hadn’t eaten anything for 4 hours prior to helping clean up. (Incidentally, my ketone reading was 1.1)

I’m worry these spikes will impact my A1c, and I don’t want any more nueropathy in my feet.

(bulkbiker) #8

Strenuous exercise can indeed cause some spikes (which is why I try to avoid it!).
Looks like that’s what happened to you.
The HbA1c is a kind of 3 month “average” reading of your levels so I’d hazard a guess that the odd high excursion won’t have a lot of impact.

#9

BG is always going to rise after a workout. What are you calling a spike?

(Rjrnj1 ) #10

Ifod14, I call 197 a spike. I’m never that high nowadays.

#11

197 is noticeable, but whether it’s really a spike or not depends on what it was prior to exercise. That’s your determining factor. Have you done readings immediately pre/post exercise?

(Rjrnj1 ) #12

Ifod14, I didn’t but based on months of readings, I know I run lower, 100 +/- 10 points before and after I eat. I hadn’t started before and after with exercise because I don’t usually do more strenuous exercise outside if walking or biking. I’m 62 and began keto in earnest mid April.

#13

OK, so if you take a guess lets say you were 110-197, for me… I’d ignore that jump post workout. The better the workout, the more the stress response, the more you’ll see it. Even if you spend a couple hours a day higher that’s a drop in the bucket vs the rest of the 24hrs, A1C probably won’t even budge. Remember it’s an average, and a couple hours doesn’t really make a dent in much. Plus the longer you go you’ll most likely become more insulin sensitive and you’ll start coming down a little quicker.

(Bob M) #14

For me, 197 is very high, regardless of exercise. I can’t get that high if I eat ice cream or any other carb (though I got over that when taking 75 gm of glucose for a Kraft test).

Did you do another test on a different finger? Sound spurious to me, though I could be wrong.

Mine is say 20–40 points over what I normally am. Hard to tell sometimes, as I typically exercise in the morning and have higher blood sugar then anyway.

(Rjrnj1 ) #15

Thanks Bob M. If you’re “normal,” and non diabetic, you can eat anything and your blood glucose won’t be affected, almost, at all. None of my friends ever have a blood spike.

I’m not sure if you’ve heard of the “dawn effect”? It could be why your bg test is higher in the morning.

(Ron) #16

How are you checking your blood level, finger prick?

(Rjrnj1 ) #17

I use Keto Mojo, mtncntrykid.

(Ron) #18

I am wondering if some how the sweat and other contaminants are affecting the reading. I make sure I was my hands before I test just for that reason as I have seen elevated readings from things on skin.

(Rjrnj1 ) #19

Yes. I agree. I always wash my hands prior to testing. I use a sterile alcohol wipe, too. I also wipe away the first drop and use the second drop. I also make sure my skin is dry from the alcohol.

(Bob M) #20

Not sure how to answer this, other than to be perturbed. I’ve been low carb since 1/1/14. I have thousands of blood sugar and ketone tests. Thousands. I have at least 6 meters (2 KetoMojos, 2 Precision Xtras, two Contour Next Ezs, ketonix, two FreeStyle Libres, one from Sweden, one from the US, more that I’ve forgotten). I paid for a year’s worth of a CGM to get data like this:

image
image.jpg1200×617 114 KB

As for being “normal”, I don’t know whether I’m “normal” or not. I did not start testing until I was 1.5 years into low carb. At that time, I also started fasting and have done many 3-5.5 day fasts. My HbA1c was “normal” after 6 months of low carb, but I have no idea what it was before low carb, and that tends to come down very quickly.

So, before you post, you might take pause to see to whom you’re making suggestions.