Please school me on Blood Glucose Meters'

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Dec 2016 Glucose, Serum 151 High mg/dL range 65 - 99
May 2017 Glucose, Serum 123 High mg/dL range 65 - 99
Sept 2017 Glucose, Serum 120 High mg/dL range 65 - 99
Jan 2018 Glucose, Serum 118 High mg/dL range 65 - 99
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Blood Glucose an on going battle for me.
Back in Dec 2016 my A1c was 6.4 and by Sept 2017 my A1c got down to 5.3

My Blood glucose is always above range. I want to buy a meter to track and possibly identify what I am eating causing these high readings.
As far as I know my only sugar sources are frutose from grapefruit, pears, blue berries.

How can I use one of these meters to help me troubleshoot my blood sugar?
Thanks for any help you can offer.

FeelingLost said:

==========================================
Dec 2016 Glucose, Serum 151 High mg/dL range 65 - 99
May 2017 Glucose, Serum 123 High mg/dL range 65 - 99
Sept 2017 Glucose, Serum 120 High mg/dL range 65 - 99
Jan 2018 Glucose, Serum 118 High mg/dL range 65 - 99
==========================================

Blood Glucose an on going battle for me.
Back in Dec 2016 my A1c was 6.4 and by Sept 2017 my A1c got down to 5.3

My Blood glucose is always above range. I want to buy a meter to track and possibly identify what I am eating causing these high readings.
As far as I know my only sugar sources are frutose from grapefruit, pears, blue berries.

How can I use one of these meters to help me troubleshoot my blood sugar?
Thanks for any help you can offer.

Click to expand...

Are these fasting glucose levels?

dnfuss said:

Are these fasting glucose levels?

Click to expand...

YES I do all my blood test with a 12 hour fast. Always taken between 7:30-8:30 AM.
I also stop many supplements 7 days before I draw blood so as to not skew any readings.

Are you doing low carb primarily? Same thing happens to me when I’m doing low carb/keto. Try looking up the “dawning phenomenon”. When I track my highest readings are first thing in the morning (anywhere between 94-111 and my a1c was 5.1 when last tested) and they go down progressively as the day goes by. I am going to ask my doctor for metformin to try for ninety days. I have been back in the gym the last few weeks lifting heavy and came off keto for a few weeks and want to test keto with my workouts. Just having fun doing the experiment. Why not, right?

do you have an a1c for 2018 yet?

i wanted a meter that tests both glucose and ketone levels so,went with the precision xtra. I started running some tests every 4 hours for glucose to check during the day then started testing prior to my main meal then 1, 2, 3 and 4 hours post to see how meals affected my sugars based on those meals. I was getting down to low 60’s with no hypoglycemic symptoms.

I think one one of the big takeaways with your a1c with a reduction of 1.1 you have made remarkable progress which is telling me your sugars are more controlled and your diet, excercise regimen and trt protocol seem to be doing their job. I would be very interested to see what your results are throughout your day once you choose a meter right for you.

First, I've been a diabetic for 6 years. Recently, I noticed my Accucheck Activia gave me an unusual reading in the morning (140) so I immediately checked again. it was 150. then 156. All in a few seconds. Since then, I've done some research, and several members here also recommended the FreeStyle Lite. The strips are expensive - ebay or amazon less so - but the accuracy has been really good. MySugr helps me track it.

Sugar is in EVERYTHING. Check out table salt - yeah, no kidding.

I'd also start checking your preprandial[FONT=&quot] (pre meal) levels, and maybe for a bit, your postprandial levels. Those will help you narrow down any surprises.

You didn't mention, are you on any medications such as metformin? 6.4 is borderline diabetes.[/FONT]

FeelingLost said:

YES I do all my blood test with a 12 hour fast. Always taken between 7:30-8:30 AM.
I also stop many supplements 7 days before I draw blood so as to not skew any readings.

Click to expand...

Are you on a low-carb diet? Are you on any drugs to control blood sugar? What are your post-meal blood sugar levels? Have you ever taken an oral glucose tolerance test? Do you regularly, or somewhat regularly, donate blood or undergo phlebotomy?

dnfuss said:

Are you on a low-carb diet? Are you on any drugs to control blood sugar? What are your post-meal blood sugar levels? Have you ever taken an oral glucose tolerance test? Do you regularly, or somewhat regularly, donate blood or undergo phlebotomy?

Click to expand...

Dnfuss, can you educate me on how the effect of donating blood ?

Matt Leiser said:

Are you doing low carb primarily? Same thing happens to me when I'm doing low carb/keto. Try looking up the “dawning phenomenon”. When I track my highest readings are first thing in the morning (anywhere between 94-111 and my a1c was 5.1 when last tested) and they go down progressively as the day goes by. I am going to ask my doctor for metformin to try for ninety days. I have been back in the gym the last few weeks lifting heavy and came off keto for a few weeks and want to test keto with my workouts. Just having fun doing the experiment. Why not, right?

do you have an a1c for 2018 yet?

i wanted a meter that tests both glucose and ketone levels so,went with the precision xtra. I started running some tests every 4 hours for glucose to check during the day then started testing prior to my main meal then 1, 2, 3 and 4 hours post to see how meals affected my sugars based on those meals. I was getting down to low 60's with no hypoglycemic symptoms.

I think one one of the big takeaways with your a1c with a reduction of 1.1 you have made remarkable progress which is telling me your sugars are more controlled and your diet, excercise regimen and trt protocol seem to be doing their job. I would be very interested to see what your results are throughout your day once you choose a meter right for you.

Click to expand...

Hi Matt thank you for taking the time to help.
I am not doing keto. I don't know why my A1c was not measured at my last blood test I must have over looked it. My next bloods are 5 months away.

When I started the battle with my A1c back in 2016 I changed my diet completely from fast foods and highly processed foods to simple foods and started back at the gym EOD. Workouts are about 2 hours long. Nothing too intense(heavy) I am old(64) but I workout for a good pump.

For protein I eat steak 4-8 oz, 12oz chicken breast, 3 egg whites 1 yoke daily. All my carbs come from daily salads mostly spinash, tomato, carrots, celery, cucumber. Dressing is olive oil and apple cyder vinegar. I eat one piece of whole wheat bread which I put my 4g of omega 3 fish oil on. Fats are almonds hand full, avacado 1/2 to 1, pistachios hand full and olive oil(everything is cooked in oilive oil. Sugars, I eat one pink grapefruit breakfast and a hand full of blueberries, one pear at lunch.

Your tips on when and how often to check my glucose is exactly what I was looking for.

looyvillelarry said:

First, I've been a diabetic for 6 years. Recently, I noticed my Accucheck Activia gave me an unusual reading in the morning (140) so I immediately checked again. it was 150. then 156. All in a few seconds. Since then, I've done some research, and several members here also recommended the FreeStyle Lite. The strips are expensive - ebay or amazon less so - but the accuracy has been really good. MySugr helps me track it.

Sugar is in EVERYTHING. Check out table salt - yeah, no kidding.

I'd also start checking your preprandial (pre meal) levels, and maybe for a bit, your postprandial levels. Those will help you narrow down any surprises.

You didn't mention, are you on any medications such as metformin? 6.4 is borderline diabetes.

Click to expand...

Hi Larry thank you for offering to help.
I am not on any prescription meds other than T/HCG/AI
I do take CoQ10 120mg and 4g Omega 3 fish oil daily.

The free style freedom lite is the meter I ordered. Lots of reviews from different places stating it was pretty accurate.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002G3EJ1K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I don't mind the cost of the strips for this experiment. I am hoping to find the source of my excess sugar rather quickly then just do some maintance monitoring after that.
I will definitely check my preprandial (pre meal) levels. The postprandial levels should be how I find the sugar source culprit. Is that right?

dnfuss said:

Are you on a low-carb diet? Are you on any drugs to control blood sugar? What are your post-meal blood sugar levels? Have you ever taken an oral glucose tolerance test? Do you regularly, or somewhat regularly, donate blood or undergo phlebotomy?

Click to expand...

lowcarb diet NO, No drugs, I have no idea what my post meal blood sugar is that is the purpose of this thread. I need to get smart on this subject.
Never heard of an oral glucose tolerance test.
I donate blood often. In fact I have crash my ferittin(15 range 30-400) from it and now supplement with iron and have added liver to my diet.

looyvillelarry said:

Dnfuss, can you educate me on how the effect of donating blood ?

Click to expand...

Simply put, HgbA1c is a measure of glycation end-products bonded to your red blood cells. Doctors like this lab because they believe it gives them a window on your average blood glucose level over the last three months. All things being equal, it may. But while the correlation is pretty consistent over populations, it may not be accurate for a particular individual for a number of reasons. Some people are just outliers and the average blood glucose rate suggested by their HgbA1c simply isn't accurate in that person. They know this because they test their blood sugar very frequently and know what their actual average readings are. The most common reason for poor correlation between HgbA1c and average blood glucose levels is the patient's rate of red blood cell turnover. One thing that is known to raise the rate of red cell turnover is phlebotomy, either through voluntary blood donation or through medical phlebotomy by prescription. With a higher turnover rate, fewer glycation end-products will be attached to the red blood cells than if there had been a lower rate of turnover. If you've donated blood or undergone prescribed phlebotomy during the three months prior to testing HgbA1c, your HgbA1c percentage will tend to indicate a lower average glucose level than is actually the case, sometimes much lower.

While HgbA1c is a lab worth running (I have it done every time I have blood work), its value is more for comparative purposes than as an absolute indicator of your average blood glucose. The levels with the most clinical value are post-prandial blood glucose and, to a lesser extent, fasting blood glucose.

FeelingLost said:

lowcarb diet NO, No drugs, I have no idea what my post meal blood sugar is that is the purpose of this thread. I need to get smart on this subject.
Never heard of an oral glucose tolerance test.
I donate blood often. In fact I have crash my ferittin(15 range 30-400) from it and now supplement with iron and have added liver to my diet.

Click to expand...

What is an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test?

You may wish to first perform an approximation of the test at home.

See this page for a good discussion of what are normal blood sugars.

And here is discussion of the process that many (including myself) have followed in their effort to achieve normal blood sugars.

FeelingLost said:

Hi Larry thank you for offering to help.
I am not on any prescription meds other than T/HCG/AI
I do take CoQ10 120mg and 4g Omega 3 fish oil daily.

The free style freedom lite is the meter I ordered. Lots of reviews from different places stating it was pretty accurate.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002G3EJ1K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I don't mind the cost of the strips for this experiment. I am hoping to find the source of my excess sugar rather quickly then just do some maintance monitoring after that.
I will definitely check my preprandial (pre meal) levels. The postprandial levels should be how I find the sugar source culprit. Is that right?

Click to expand...

That is correct. You might easily have a 140 post, so don't freak the first time. Really, with diabetes, "In Control" means more of a stable blood sugar. I know, we'd all like to have sub 6.0 A1C, but I bet if you polled endos, they would tell you that if you're sampling 3x a day and they are within a 5-10pt deviation over time, they'd prefer that. When you get into trouble is when you are going from 80 to 200 to 90 , the back and forth is devastating on your entire system. Liver, Kidneys, and of course, Pancreas.

I have had my A1C go from 8.9 ( initial diagnosis) to 6.9 in 90 days, but that was brutal (complete 45 day juice fast). I was in a panic! Currently, I'm moving between a 6.8 and 8.0 (last one was a shock). I've lost 20# this year, and hitting the gym consistently to get it down.

We have similar eating, however I use a protein shake with 12oz of almond milk, and 66g of banana flour, some cherries, and a probiotic for breakfast. The resistant starch can help some as well.

looyvillelarry said:

That is correct. You might easily have a 140 post, so don't freak the first time. Really, with diabetes, "In Control" means more of a stable blood sugar. I know, we'd all like to have sub 6.0 A1C, but I bet if you polled endos, they would tell you that if you're sampling 3x a day and they are within a 5-10pt deviation over time, they'd prefer that. When you get into trouble is when you are going from 80 to 200 to 90 , the back and forth is devastating on your entire system. Liver, Kidneys, and of course, Pancreas.

I have had my A1C go from 8.9 ( initial diagnosis) to 6.9 in 90 days, but that was brutal (complete 45 day juice fast). I was in a panic! Currently, I'm moving between a 6.8 and 8.0 (last one was a shock). I've lost 20# this year, and hitting the gym consistently to get it down.

We have similar eating, however I use a protein shake with 12oz of almond milk, and 66g of banana flour, some cherries, and a probiotic for breakfast. The resistant starch can help some as well.

Click to expand...

Thanks you Larry, I hope once I get my meter in and can do a few measurements I will post my reading and get some advice from you folks.

So my meter came in. This mornings measurement was 87 and 1 hour after breakfast it was 131. I was at the gym and forgot to do the two hour check.
Tomorrows a bike day so I should be able to do the 3 tests before going for my ride.

The time and date were not set right on this first measurement.

FeelingLost said:

So my meter came in. This mornings measurement was 87 and 1 hour after breakfast it was 131. I was at the gym and forgot to do the two hour check.
Tomorrows a bike day so I should be able to do the 3 tests before going for my ride.

The time and date were not set right on this first measurement.

Click to expand...

what was your breakfast?

I've been diabetic 15 years. I also have dawn phenomenon.
In got my a1c from a 13 to a 6.6 after I fired my endo, came off all insulin and adjusted diet and exercise.

My morning reading is consistently 140 - 150.

I am currently investigating the correlation of cortisol and high morning readings. It seems when you have elevated nighttime cortisol the more glucogenesis takes place over night. Check it out.

FeelingLost said:

I eat one piece of whole wheat bread. .... Sugars, I eat one pink grapefruit breakfast and a hand full of blueberries, one pear at lunch.

Click to expand...

Things will improve if you lay off the bread and fruit.

Matt Leiser said:

what was your breakfast?

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3 egg whites 1 egg yoke fried in olive oil topped with turmeric cayenne pepper small clump shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/2 avacado with pink salt, 1 piece whole wheat bread toasted with 4000 Omega3 fishoil and cinnamon, 1 medium pink grapefruit, 1/2 hand full of blueberries,
2 cups of coffee, Vinces NO stack, C, E, D3, zinc CoQ10

I've only been messing around with this meter for two day and my numbers are never near these. Is the LabCorp test something different than what I am measuring? or are these meters uncalibrated by that much?
==========================================
Dec 2016 Glucose, Serum 151 High mg/dL range 65 - 99
May 2017 Glucose, Serum 123 High mg/dL range 65 - 99
Sept 2017 Glucose, Serum 120 High mg/dL range 65 - 99
Jan 2018 Glucose, Serum 118 High mg/dL range 65 - 99
==========================================

"1 piece whole wheat bread toasted with 4000 Omega3 fishoil and cinnamon"
Is is this a bread with fish oil ? or do you just top the bread with that ?

I agree with @SoCal. I haven't had 2 slices of bread in the last year. And fruit, I limit to an apple, maybe some berries when they come ripe.

The 2 hour check is really where its at for you. While we all differ, if I had an 87, then 131 1 hour after, I wouldn't be shocked at all. Who am I kidding, if I had a 87 to start with, I'd be tickled.

My morning breakfast is 2c coffee, Vinces NO stack, 1 scoop of protein powder (ON Gold Standard), 2 c of unsweetened almond milk, 1c of High Fat yogurt (this is new).

My rising sugar is VERY dependent on what I had for dinner. Last week, it was my fathers birthday, and I had very small piece of cake. My BG was 161 4 hours later, and then 126 in the morning. Usually, my morning is 97-112 ish. Same happened when I had some bourbon. That broke my heart a little

As for the test, BG is only a point in time. Your A1C is a better judgement. There is software that "forecasts" your A1C (mySugar) after a week of 3x+ a day testing. I should know how this looks sometime next week (always end up forgetting one!).

https://www.labcorp.com/help/patient-test-info/glucose-tests
If you go to the tests, and look at the GCS, <140mg/dL @ 1hr after 50g glucose drink is normal. Maybe calculate up the sugars in that pink grapefruit and berries, see how that compares.