Blood Glucose and A1C show improvement, blood meter showing rise in blood sugar lately?

Lately my blood sugar meter has been showing higher and higher readings and I'm at a loss as to why when my blood labs for my A1C and blood glucose continue to show improvement every time I go in for blood work, yet my blood meter is showing a rise in blood sugar. When I first started my journey in May going on TRT I have seen a steady improvement in my A1C and lately I have seen an increase in blood sugar in the mornings. For months I've consistently scored 130-140 blood sugar in the morning and after I started increasing the frequency of injections and dosages my blood meter is showing a rise, it's now measuring 180-190 and I don't understand why.

I've calibrated it dozens of time using the blue solution and is still reading consistently higher. On october 19th I went in for nose surgery and my results are below and am starting to wonder if the dosing/frequency changes could account for the fluctuation or is my blood meter to blame, my levels are still in flux do to me switching to EOD 2 weeks ago, 2 months before that I switch to twice weekly. Every time I increase the frequency of injections I feel better and shouldn't I feel worse if my blood sugar keeps rising? Does blood glucose also fluctuate during these protocol changes as with T and E2? I'm not do for more blood work for another month.

Much appreciated!

Food is the number one reason for fluctuations in blood sugar. There's are certain meds that can affect your blood sugar. What meds are you on for your diabetes.

Proponents of seasonal cycling of foods would suggest a shift to less carbs and more meat and fat in winter is best in keeping with your body's natural physiology.

Vince said:

Food is the number one reason for fluctuations in blood sugar. There's are certain meds that can affect your blood sugar. What meds are you on for your diabetes.

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I cooked a filet mignon steak last night which I ate before sun down, I've been eating a lot more protein lately. My doctor is happy with my A1C and doesn't see any reason to take medications, I've never taken any meds to control my diabetes. I tried Metformin and had terrible side effects, insane coughing that began immediately and persisted until I stop it several months ago. The only factor that has change is more steak and eggs. Three eggs per morning 3-4 days a week, steak 3 days a week. Do blood meters measure actual or average blood glucose? It's been consistently high, so I'm not sure if it's the meter. My labs are also showing consistently lower values!?

Sounds like you eat a super low-carb diet, I surprised at your labs.

What happens to the carbs?

https://www.excelmale.com/forum/showthread.php?4276-What-happens-to-the-carbs

Vince said:

Sounds like you eat a super low-carb diet, I surprised at your labs.

What happens to the carbs?

https://www.excelmale.com/forum/showthread.php?4276-What-happens-to-the-carbs

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When my meter was showing 130-140 I was eating out every single night at Jack in the Box and Mcdonald's, stopped eating out and started eating high protein, fresh sandwiches, eggs and Mini Wheats cereal. I basically cut out all take out. I'm starting to suspect my blood meter, back a few months ago I sometimes would get a bogus reading, I'd calibrate it and it would be fine. I typically have lower readings at night. I just checked my blood a few hours after my meal and it's 10 points lower than minutes after waking up, after waking 180, now 169 few hours after Frosted Mini Wheats.

I've never used a glucose meter, but I do a follow a low-carb diet. I know not everyone can.

Your case is very interesting to me as I have seen an increase in fasting BG readings from 100 to about 120 after 2 months of TRT. My HbA1C increased from 4.9% in July 2017 to 5.8% recently.

I discussed this with my clinical nutritionist who is a bodybuilder and fitness athlete. She was not surprised that my blood sugar is elevated given my high dose of Test-E (100 mg 2x/week). I am still waiting on my 3-month consultation with the anti-aging/TRT doctor. The nutritionist predicted that the Dr will lower my T dose and BG will go back down.

So yes, according to her TRT can cause blood sugar levels to increase. I did some research and did not find any mention of Arimidex or HCG causing elevated blood glucose.

Anyway, in your case TRT appears to have helped you make steady improvement in your HbA1C, along with some dietary modifications. If you are still eating Frosted Mini Wheats it seems that maybe you still have some room to clean up your diet. These are recommendations from my nutritionist regarding controlling blood glucose via diet and exercise:

-limit sugar in any one food to 5 grams or less (goodbye cereal lol)
-eat 5-6 small meals per day, with 20-30g protein from clean sources, and 20-30g of low GI carbohydrates per meal/snack
-make up the rest of your caloric needs via healthy fats (nuts, seeds, coconut oil, nut butters)
-minimize fruit, gluten, and dairy consumption

If you lift, exercise often, or are over 50 design your diet toward eating more protein and calories than recommended for average people (at least 1g of protein per lb of body weight). For example I am 59, lift 4x/week, weigh 152 lb, and need to eat 2400 kcal/day just to not lose weight. If you are overweight the only modification is that you need a slight caloric deficit. Do not go more than 5 hours during the day without eating.

Regarding testing blood sugar the meters read a single snapshot of glucose level. If you get a suspicious test then repeat it and take the average. The trends in the readings are more meaningful than single values due to meter inaccuracy.

Many people find that post-meal BG readings at 1-hr and 2-hrs after first bite are the most important indicators of their sensitivity to carbohydrates. The morning fasting readings can be problematic due to dawn phenomena, sleep quality, and variations in time since last meal.

Recently I read something from Dr Crilser stated that if you go above your natural T limit lipids will suffer and blood glucose will go out of wack. This is just confirmation.

Thanks for the update.

I'm not a diabetic, but could it be the 'dawn phenomenon'?

The dawn phenomenon, sometimes called the dawn effect, is an early-morning (usually between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m.) increase in blood sugar (glucose) relevant to people with diabetes. It is different from chronic Somogyi rebound in that dawn phenomenon is not associated with nocturnal hypoglycemia.

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Also, the bread in the sandwiches and the mini-wheats might be doing you in.

You are probably also drinking sodas with your Jack in the Box meals -- even the artificial sweetness of diet sodas can spike blood sugar.

This is a Seattle GP who is getting great results with his diabetic patients by having them slash carbs and go high protein:

I just measured my blood glucose a week after lowering my dose and lowest ever reading of 118 mg/dL, knocking 20mg off my EOD protocol (100mg to 80mg weekly) seems to have brought my blood glucose from the 180's in mornings to back down to 130's, it's always lower at night time. I also spoke with my father and he stated he had his T levels checked years ago and it ended up being quite low, he wasn't bothered by it because he was too busy (zero symptoms) running marathons at 80 years old. My father, brother and I are built exactly the same and I wonder if when I was natural was I also lower in the range than on average and if this is why my blood glucose was doing so bad in the 800 ranges...

Systemlord said:

Lately my blood sugar meter has been showing higher and higher readings and I'm at a loss as to why when my blood labs for my A1C and blood glucose continue to show improvement every time I go in for blood work, yet my blood meter is showing a rise in blood sugar. When I first started my journey in May going on TRT I have seen a steady improvement in my A1C and lately I have seen an increase in blood sugar in the mornings. For months I've consistently scored 130-140 blood sugar in the morning and after I started increasing the frequency of injections and dosages my blood meter is showing a rise, it's now measuring 180-190 and I don't understand why.

I've calibrated it dozens of time using the blue solution and is still reading consistently higher. On october 19th I went in for nose surgery and my results are below and am starting to wonder if the dosing/frequency changes could account for the fluctuation or is my blood meter to blame, my levels are still in flux do to me switching to EOD 2 weeks ago, 2 months before that I switch to twice weekly. Every time I increase the frequency of injections I feel better and shouldn't I feel worse if my blood sugar keeps rising? Does blood glucose also fluctuate during these protocol changes as with T and E2? I'm not do for more blood work for another month.

Much appreciated!

STANDARD RANGEmg/dL<=6.9 %

[TH="class: name fixed, align: left"]NAME	[/TH] [TH="class: scroll, align: left"]4/4/17[/TH] [TH="class: scroll, align: left"]5/11/17[/TH] [TH="class: scroll, align: left"]8/9/17[/TH] [TH="class: scroll, align: left"]10/19/17[/TH] [TH="class: buffer scroll, align: left"][/TH]
[TD="class: name fixed, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]ESTIMATED AVERAGE GLUCOSE	[/TD] [TD="class: scroll, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"][/TD] [TD="class: scroll, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]149[/TD] [TD="class: scroll, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]143[/TD] [TD="class: scroll, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]125[/TD] [TD="class: buffer scroll, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"][/TD]
[TD="class: name fixed"]HGBA1C%	[/TD] [TD="class: scroll"]7.6[/TD] [TD="class: scroll"]6.8[/TD] [TD="class: scroll"]6.6[/TD] [TD="class: scroll"]6.0[/TD]

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Systemlord, if you think your meter is inaccurate, try re-testing with a Freedom Lite or Freedom Freestyle Lite meter. But fasting blood sugar readings over 125 mg/dl and an HgbA1C of over 6% are consistent with a diagnosis of diabetes. See, e.g., What is a Normal Blood Sugar?

Get a new meter. I have had great success with a cheapo walmart brand.

I ate a low carb diet for the better part of 4 years. It barely moved my FBG and my A1C. I am talking ketogenic for months on end. With the kind of diet I ate I should have been in the low 5s for A1C and FBG well below 100.

I don't believe that diet is the 100% driving force behind blood glucose - I am proof of that unfortunately.

CSI007 said:

Get a new meter. I have had great success with a cheapo walmart brand.

I ate a low carb diet for the better part of 4 years. It barely moved my FBG and my A1C. I am talking ketogenic for months on end. With the kind of diet I ate I should have been in the low 5s for A1C and FBG well below 100.

I don't believe that diet is the 100% driving force behind blood glucose - I am proof of that unfortunately.

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In a certain percentage of those with marginally impaired glucose tolerance (i.e., pre-diabetes), it is possible for a very low carb diet and exercise to bring fasting and post-prandial serum glucose within normal levels. If that does not work, it is essential to lower blood sugars with medication. The likelihood of severe diabetic complications (blindness, amputations, heart disease, kidney disease) is too serious to ignore.

I am in that boat. My blood glucose is just over the normal limits. I range from around 100 to 120 on any given day with FBG and my A1C is between 5.7 and 6.0.

With diet I managed to get the FBG from the mid 120s down to the those values. My A1C went from 6.0 to a staggering drop of 5.9. LOL The 5.7 above was taken just a few short weeks ago during my carb binge I have been on for the past few months but also aabout 7 weeks after I donated a pint of blood so I suspect it may be skewed because of that.

My blood insulin is not terrible either last time it was checked a year ago it was at 11 I think.

CSI007 said:

I am in that boat. My blood glucose is just over the normal limits. I range from around 100 to 120 on any given day with FBG and my A1C is between 5.7 and 6.0.

With diet I managed to get the FBG from the mid 120s down to the those values. My A1C went from 6.0 to a staggering drop of 5.9. LOL The 5.7 above was taken just a few short weeks ago during my carb binge I have been on for the past few months but also aabout 7 weeks after I donated a pint of blood so I suspect it may be skewed because of that.

My blood insulin is not terrible either last time it was checked a year ago it was at 11 I think.

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How old are you? Are you on any medications for your blood sugar? Have your numbers been getting progressively worse over time? What are your numbers one hour after a meal? Two hours?

Pretty much the status quo for the past 5 years now. Except for the very slight decrease in FBG when I started low carb diet. After meal values vary depending on what I eat. I can have a high carb meal and be in the 150s 1 hour post meal and 2 hours its down to around 100. I experienced 205 once after a terrible buffet meal within 45 minutes. But I am not sure if it was because I had some residual sugar on my fingers - I do wash with soap and water before testing each time. The next time I checked which was 2 hours later it was something like 95. Most of the day my BG hangs around 100. I can measure 30 minutes after a meal and it's at 130. I can go for a 2 mile walk and it's in the low 80s when I return and recheck.

I forgot to add. No I am not taking any medication for diabetes. I did try a supplement a few months back and it did make some difference however, when all of my liver values doubled I quickly ditched it. I have a thread around here somewhere about my experience with it.

Just turned 47.

Found it:

https://www.excelmale.com/forum/showthread.php?9579-Blood-Sugar-Metformin-and-Berberine/page2

Did a quick test for you this morning to demonstrate the oddity that is my body. LOL

Woke up and tested a FBG of 114. Cooked breakfast and ate approx an hour later. Consisted of a home made Belgium waffle (the whole thing) with 4 tabs of butter and approx a 1/4 cup of standard table syrup and 2 sausage patties. One and half hours later my post meal BG was 114. :-/