Confusing blood sugar readings

[dizzy8]

I am confused about my blood sugar readings. . . they don’t seem to correlate with my symptoms. Please see my profile for background, but I have been taking BS readings every couple hours to try to determine what is normal for me. Here are samples:

Wake up 85
1 hr after breakfast 81
2 hr after breakfast 97
Various times 1 to 2 hrs after a meal: 73-88

I had one reading of 168 20 min after eating, but I was testing to see if I was LOW. 45 min later I was 83 and felt low. 30 min later I felt more stable (without eating anything) at 88.

This morning I woke at and ate breakfast at 6:10 and I felt fine with a BS reading of 85 before eating. BS reading at 8:43 was 90 and I felt fine.

At 9:20 I felt low- like I was on the edge of “eat now or start suffering the consequences”. BS at this time was 91. Thought I would test things out, so I didn’t eat.

At 9:50 I started feeling the shakes. BS was 86. I ate some salmon and onions and felt better.

86 is not low, and it is not a big drop from any other time of the day. Can I just predict BEFORE I get low? Is it all in my head????? Is there anything else that causes “low blood sugar” symptoms when it is NOT low blood sugar?

[slipperyelm]

Well, I don't know what your symptoms are that you think represent low blood glucose, other than shakiness. But a surge of adrenaline can be similar. For me, even when my blood pressure goes high it can be similar. There are times when if my meter reveals a good BG level, but I feel low, I will test BP and find it elevated. Of course, that too could be adrenaline related, I think. Also, some people who have a little lower intestinal disturbance might feel a little sickly in a way that could feel similar to low BG, oddly enough.

Interesting to me that you felt the desire to eat when you were feeling this way, though. It could be that your insulin level is actually quite high or some of the other digestion related hormones are out of balance, causing the desire to eat and the feeling of being low. You do know that some people think it is the early disease process of Type 2 diabetes that drives "overeating." I know they call you pre-diabetic, but what does that mean, really? Does it mean that the process has begun, but that you can stave off ever reaching the numbers that will give you the actual diagnosis of T-2 if only you can do all the right things---like deliberately ignoring your body's strong signals to eat when your brain tells you that food should not be necessary right now?

Are you on Metformin, by any chance? Knowing what I do now, I think I would like to have started metformin or perhaps some insulin mimetic much earlier than I did. Not to mention low carbing much earlier. Low carb eating helps not only with my BG levels but seems to make those incidents of overwhelming inappropriate hunger much less frequent.

And no, I don't think you can predict when you will become low, just as you cannot easily discern whether you actually are low.

[dizzy8]

Thanks for the ideas. I never heard of any of that and will have to do some homework. I put a long list in my profile and didn't want to get to lengthy in my post, but my symptoms are that I get shaky hands, get lightheaded, confused, can start to slur words, and will develop a headache and get off balance if it goes on too long. The symptoms go away if I eat junk food.

[Ronin]

Hi Dizzy8!

Aside from your stated overweight condition along with your inactive lifestyle (all from your profile) I'm having trouble with your MD and Endo classifying you as Pre-Diabetic. They might be telling you that you are "at risk" and throwing the Pre-D lable to frighten you into a different lifestyle -- but your numbers do not indiacte a problem with elevated BG or insulin resistance. You description sounds more like a person who is hypoglycemic than a person who is Pre-D.

Of course a weight reduction in conjunction with a more active lifestyle would probably help a lot but that can be said for anyone.

If I were in your position I'd get a second opinion.

[dizzy8]

About the overweight and inactive lifestyle: look at my profile for lots of details, but I haven't always been inactive. I love active things, but I had two occasions where I had been on a 3-4 day a week workout program and then found myself unable to get up the energy to do the workouts. It wasn't motivation- I went to the gym. . . I got on the equipment. . . and just bonked. At the time, I didn't think I had changed my eating habits. It lasted for MONTHS. The first one ended when I started taking vitamins. The second one happened when I was still taking GNC vitamins.

I think you are right that I have a predisposition towards diabetes and better watch what I eat and keep the exercise up. Right now, as long as I eat many small meals, I am feeling fine. I am not yet working out, but I am doing yard work (shoveling, raking, push mowing, etc). I plan on documenting what I eat and what my sugar levels are when I feel good. Then if I bonk again, I can measure my readings again and get the doctor to run labs again. But if my BS readings don't correspond to when I feel low due to not eating, I wonder if I am looking in the wrong area.

[Ronin]

Hi Dizzy8!

Your plan of documentation sounds good. It is pretty clear that sometihing is not right, but what exactly is wrong is not clear.

Be wary of the diagnosis of "Ideopathic Hypoglycemia" as all it means is "we don't have a clue."

Personally, I have found that small meals spaced through the day work very well for me. That puts a much lower load on your endocrine system than the traditional three-meals-a-day pattern. Of course, it is difficult to maintain as it takes a lot of pre-planning.

The real measure for you will be to see how your diet and activity levels correspond to your BG levels. I have a feeling that if you can get your BG to settle down you will regain the energy required to maintain a more active lifestyle.

[dizzy8]

I have been feeling good lately and monitoring my blood sugar. Not much variation: Ranges from 77 to 88 on all my 1 hr and 2 hr after eating readings.

This morning I had carnation instant breakfast drink in a 8oz glass of milk for breakfast at 6:30. At 7:25 I had coffee with about 1T of powdered creamer and 2T of milk. Then I got running errands and forgot to eat until 10:00. At that time, I was irritable, my hands were starting to shake, I was hungry and knew I should eat. But, I took my blood sugar first: 82

So I know I can't go that long without eating or I start to feel bad. Letting it go longer makes my symptoms worse. Eating makes them go away. But the blood sugar readings are not backing me up or giving me any useful information. Someone mentioned maybe it is an adrenaline thing. I don't know how to confirm that, but I sure am confused!

[Ronin]

Hi Dizzy8!

As you work to lower your overall BG levels it is not unusual to feel less than perfect as your BG levels go lower. I had similar things happen. As I kept lowering the overall these sensations got less-and-less frequent.

Clearly you are in a transition period and this is not unusual. It does take more than a bit of time to make sense out of the data from the testing. Somewhere down the line you will see a relationship between activity levels, food eaten, time of day, and perhaps the phase of the moon.

[beneddar]

I have had the same feelings, tested my blood sugar and blood pressure and a few times that i have felt bad they have been normal.

I recently found by a visit to the hospital because i was so sick, I was actually dehydration. Stress and dehydration has cause me to feel sick when my blood sugar levels were normal.

My blood sugar runs from 47 low and nearly fainting to 120 and feeling good. My average range is from 70 - 100.

My blood pressure normally is 110 over 70 but has gone as low as 91 over 51 nearly passing out. When my blood presure is low like 101 over 58 i don't feel well.

Hydration is so important for me If i keep hydrated my feelings of being tired, sick, or shaky are minimized, my blood sugar and blood pressure seems to stay balanced.

Good sleep and exercise is also very help full. If i don't sleep well or exercise i'm a wreck.