Are these numbers worrying?

[oxcat1]

I have another thread here where I mentioned having problems with low blood sugars.

I saw my GP, who has given me a glucose metre to check my blood sugars for a while. I'm now a little worried by the results:

17 Dec 2011 Before Bed 9.9 mmol/L
18 Dec 2011 Out Of Bed 5.2
After Breakfast 10.3
Before Lunch 7.7
After Lunch 10.1
Before Dinner 6.6
After Dinner 7.5
Before Bed 9.6
19 Dec 2011 Out Of Bed 4.0

Do these look alright? I'm worried that they seem a little high? I have contacted my GP but the one that I see regularly is away for a few weeks and clearly this isn't an emergency.

I guess I just need to change my diet a bit to prevent the high sugars? I'm not overweight (BMI 19) and generally eat pretty healthily.

Not qualified, but I have type 1 diabetes, so my opinion....

Some are on high side yes, but you're not about to keel over or anything!

Your fasting ones (1st thing in AM) are fine but the post meal ones are higher than they should be, but when you say "after meal" how long after meal is that? Might be worth checking 1hr post meal and 2hr post meal to see what is happening.

It looks to me that you may have some sort of mismatch between insulin requirement and release, you are producing enough(or nearly enough) insulin but a little late maybe? Which would also explain the low blood sugars.

Diet changes might help, as might losing weight if you were overweight. Or there are various medications the doctor might suggest you try which may help. I certainly don't think any doctor would put you insulin injections for those sorts of numbers.

It will be helpful to the doctor if you can get busy testing as often as you can stand as this will help you and he build up a picture of what's going on, record what you've eaten as well so you start learning what the worse triggers are.

If you want immediate advice but want to see your normal doctor you could ask if your GP practice has a diabetes nurse. Many do and she could advise you of dietary changes in the meantime. You're right, it isn't an emergency, but if you are going to spend Christmas worrying it might be best to see someone!

And finally, if you are pregnant, or it's possible you are, then it is an emergency and you should get qualified advice quickly. Good luck!

Thanks Dilbert!

Those figures are roughly 2 hours after meals. I had 15.1 after lunch today (about 1.5 hours), and now 13.4 (2.5 hours) so it does come down again.

I'm not overweight - BMI of 19 - and certainly not pregnant!

I'll carry on testing and try not to worry too much. I only feel unwell when they're low, and the rest of the time just pretty shattered, so can certainly leave it a few weeks without any problems.

Hmm, whilst figures around 10 aren't too hideous, if you are regularly getting well into teens, or if figures are getting worse, you probably should see a GP with a bit more urgency even if it's not your normal one.

If your body is used to being higher, you could well feel "low" even with a low normal blood sugar. What did you eat before getting the 15.1? Was it especially high carb? Whilst the figure did come down it's not coming down very quickly, and if you are often getting figures like this then you are spending a lot of time outside the 4 - 7 normal range, and this is not a good thing. You mention another condition in your other thread - has your medication changed for this by any chance? If so maybe this has affected your blood sugars? If the other condition is an auto-immune one then that would be another reason to chase up with doctor sooner rather than later, as those of us blessed with one auto-immune condition have the added bonus of being more likely than others to develop another one.

Not too many Christmas chocs for you I'm afraid! (or me unfortunately!)

What are you eating? my bmi is 18 but my sugar spikes if I have refined sugars. My dh is diabetic so I test every so often if his is high to prove mines better.

Try a low glyceamic diet and see if that brings it down.

Thanks again. I had made an appointment with the practice nurse for today but got a phone call from my consultant at the hospital who had already been informed about the spikes by a mutual friend who is also a doctor (hmmmmm!). He's bringing my clinic appointment forward to the next week or so, and going to arrange a few tests to see what's going on. He's given me guidance about treating the lows, do that's something.

Thanks again.

Glad you're getting sorted out, it's nice that they obviously care about you enough to ignore a minor issue like patient confidentiality! Good luck with it all, and test test test....! Wishing you a happy Christmas.