Blood sugar question

psv1012
psv1012 Posts: 65 Member
Hi, I am new at being a diabetic. I am on Metformin 1000 mg. 2x a day. Still having fasting bs above 100 but today it was only 108 I was happy. Then I walked for 40 minutes,cleaned house and ate lunch , 2 hours after lunch it is up to 132, I do not understand. The doctor wants it to be around 100 or less. I just started checking BS about 2 weeks ago. is this normal?:ohwell:

Replies

  • joied
    joied Posts: 68 Member
    Exercise can cause your blood sugar levels to increase a little, so long as it goes down a short time after. Measure yourself before exertion (exercise, housework) then measure again afterwards. You might be like some diabetics whose sugars increase slightly owing to exercise. Good luck.
  • JaceyMarieS
    JaceyMarieS Posts: 692 Member
    What did you have for lunch?
  • Perfectdiamonds1
    Perfectdiamonds1 Posts: 347 Member
    do you check it first thing in the morning before you eat anything? That is when I check mine.
  • mluanne33
    mluanne33 Posts: 70 Member
    Whats normal for one person is not always normal for another person. My BS ranges from 90's to 120's depend ing on what I eat and when I test. Could have been what you ate for lunch. Keep testing and see if you fall into a patten. It is an ongoing learning experience. I have found that Fitness Pal has helped me a great deal in tracking my foods and staying within my carb range. I also printed out my reports and brought them when I meet with my nutritionist. She found it very helpful to guide me in the right direction.
  • psv1012
    psv1012 Posts: 65 Member
    I had soup, I thought it was low in sodium, but it still shot the sodium numbers way up, I also had a slice of low fat provelone cheese. The soup was cambells healthy request,chicken won ton..... I was wondering if sodium (retaining water) affects the blood sugar? I appreciate any thoughts, I have only been dealing with diebetis for a little over a month. Thanks for your input.:flowerforyou:
  • psv1012
    psv1012 Posts: 65 Member
    I check it first thing in the morning. It is always above 100, but yesterday I wanted to see how it was after I had gone for a long walk and cleaned house. i was shocked it was higher. I had eaten lunch about 2 hours before,I should probably stick with the one time in the morning. I am new at this so I am learning what is my normal I supose.:flowerforyou:
  • psv1012
    psv1012 Posts: 65 Member
    Thank you ,that is a good sugestion,and I didn't realize exercise can also raise bs. :flowerforyou:
  • Cameo530
    Cameo530 Posts: 155 Member
    Normally you would expect your numbers to be a little higher after you eat. It's called a 2-hour post-prandial reading, and there are different criteria for it than there are for your morning, fasting reading, but those criteria change depending on who you ask. Some people say it should be below 140, some say 160, and I've even read 180. Talk to your Dr. about what sort of PP reading he or she thinks you should have.

    It's higher then because our bodies are still in the process of digesting and using the food we've eaten.
  • Only from experience it can take a while as in a couple of months or more for your BS to settle.....don't panic
    keep doing what you and watch the size of your meals.
    I also found a dietician was a great help with the types of food and how much i should eat and at what tome of the day to eat these foods.. GOOD LUCK
  • JaceyMarieS
    JaceyMarieS Posts: 692 Member
    The chicken wonton soup is 8 carbs per serving. A serving is 1/2 c. Even if you had a cup...or 11/2 c, I wouldn't expect your glucose to rise that much. However, you don't say (or don't know) what your reading was just before lunch. Did you eat breakfast? You don't mention it and often if a meal is skipped, blood sugar will rise. And sometimes .... it's just the diabetes gremlins creating chaos *shrug*

    As others have said, everyone has a different number that makes them happy. Like your doctor, i want my fasting numbers to be below 100. I don't want my post-prandial number to be above 140 and I want the numbers before my next meal to be back below 100. These numbers are based on "normal", becasue that's what i want to be :-)

    You might consider testing more often for a while. Right after diagnosis, I tested a LOT because I wanted to see the affects of food and exercise. Test strips are expensive and insurance is loath to pay for truckloads of them, so I bought a cheap meter and strips from Walmart (ReliOn) and followed the guidelines here http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html until I had an idea of what and how much I could eat. Now that I've established what affects my glucose levels, I'm back to testing just 2x per day, unless I try a new food or am playing around with exercise intensity.
  • travisseger
    travisseger Posts: 271 Member
    Many people expect their levels to go down immediately after exercising, but for some of us, the opposite happens. My BG tends to rise a bit during the course of exercise about 90% of the time. It still remains in the normal range, but it is higher than when I started. It will usually drop back down within an hour of finishing. I don't necessarily like it, but it is what it is. The trade-off is that my fasting number is always lower if I have exercised the day before. So it could be something you ate, or it could be that your body reacts to exercise in a fashion similar to mine. I'd recommend further testing and experimentation to figure it out.
  • clarafitnesspal
    clarafitnesspal Posts: 24 Member
    if you are new at this.. know that everyone is diffent. My doc wants my blood sugar under 130 for am fasting, and under 180 when i check it 2 hours after a big meal. stick with it and keep checking your levels you may learn what triggers you have. My nutritionist did tell me as a experiment to take my level before a nice relaxing walk and then after and it should be down.. for me that did not work, mine were up.. I do know for me stress does effect by levels.
  • Cyngen
    Cyngen Posts: 557 Member
    My BG will bounce up most times after a good workout, however, there are a few times when it dropped a bit too. As was said, everyone is different and everyone reacts differently.

    In some folks, stress raises BG, in others it lowers it. For me, mine goes down a bit.

    I test 2x a day normally, usually once upon waking up and then randomly during the day, sometimes before a meal, sometimes two hours after.

    You'll find your balance and don't hesitate to speak with your doctor to get more clarification. I actually fired two of my doctors as I felt they just didn't want to work with me. I know have two great doctors and am under great control.

    Best luck.
  • Bevkus
    Bevkus Posts: 274 Member
    When you are just new to measuring BG, the variations in your readings can be extremely troublesome and cause you a lot of undue stress. I know I freaked at every reading when it was higher than i expected, like after excercising and after a "good" meal.

    it will take your body some time to adjust to your new lifestyle. Keep excercising, keep carbs low, and calorie value of each meal low. log what you eat..how many carbs and cals. After a while you will learn your limits...for me its about 45-50g carbs per meal or 600cals. If I go over either one I expect an unacceptable BG reading 2hrs afterward

    as for excercise, many people experience a post workout increase in BG. All this means is you were working hard enough for your body to demand some glucose to be released by your liver to fuel your workout. Its overall a good thing and temporary. The benefit fromexcercise far exceeds the downside of a tempoary spike.

    Overall, keep doing what you are doing. Focus on the big picutre. Log all of you BG readings on piece of paper. Dont comapre to yesterday...but compare this week to two weeks ago. re your numbers, on average, higher or lower? Make adjustments and move forward!!

    You can do this!,

    Good luck
  • Sharonks
    Sharonks Posts: 884 Member
    Welcome to the board. You have gotten a lot of great info. I find that testing a lot is how I figure out what my body is doing. It will also change as time goes by. If I increase the intensity of my exercise it will initially increase my BG but as my body adjusts to that level of exercise it lowers my BG right away.
  • pennell12
    pennell12 Posts: 190 Member
    Sometimes it is a puzzle to figure out why readings go high. For me, it depends on the intensity of the exercise. I just did 20 moderate minutes on my home treadmill and my BS dropped from 170's to 154. I am not ready for heavy workouts at the gym. But I have noticed that if I don't do 30 minutes per day, the numbers go up.

    Also, it is important to test the post prandials Keep a log and show it to your doc along with what you are eating and your exercise.
  • losecandy
    losecandy Posts: 22 Member
    I have used metformin for years. Then I started to go to a kidney dr. That specializes in dialysis. He told me metformin. Can damageor hurt your kidneys. Now I have problems- kidney disease stage 1.

    I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just being honest. I'm not a dr.I'm just a patient.
  • jessiekanga
    jessiekanga Posts: 564 Member
    Remember that blood sugars peek two hours after you eat something, so that would be your high, before and after it would be a little lower. Most Dr's want to see your sugars jump less than 50 points between a "pre meal" reading and a meal + 2 hours. So, the 132 may not be high at all. Do a couple more 2 hours after meals and see if the range is normal for you. So, breathe, seems like you're doing well! Good luck!
  • jaygreen55
    jaygreen55 Posts: 315 Member
    A blood sugar of 100 is you fasting or premeal target. A level of 132 2 hours after a meal is perfectly acceptable and is a normal reading for a nondiabetic. Anything up to 150 2 hours after you eat is fine