Let's talk blood sugar
 

I'm a non diabetic, but I have noticed over the past few months or so that my blood sugar seems drop quite a bit in the afternoons. A family member suggested that I pick up one of those self testing meters and keep a track on my blood sugar when I feel like it's dropping low.

For example I was feeling a bit shaky and anxious earlier and it had dropped to 70. (That's the lowest number I've ever had it read). I drank some 100% fruit juice I keep in the fridge at work, tested it again 15 minutes later, and it was up over 100.

Is this a normal thing that I'm putting too much thought into, or should I speak to my doctor about it? I tend to be on the more anxious side, and I notice even very subtle changes in my body.

For the record I had labs done about a month ago and everything was normal.

Thanks for any and all input.

I found out a year and a half ago I caught the beetus. For me now with it under control I will test it and be in the 80-150 range feeling great there. 65 or below feels too low for me and I’ve got the same symptoms you explained when it gets low. Good that you’re monitoring it and good you’re in tune with recognizing the symptoms and testing right away to confirm. It’s good you’re doing something on your own and don’t have to take meds I applaud you there but it’s also very serious enough that you probably shouldn’t put off talking to the dr and get some tests ran

Those are perfectly natural. They're called breasts.

Yeah it's pretty normal. I go hypo pretty easy too...super shaky, super weak, cold sweats, extreme lethargy. When eating some sugar doesn't fix the symptoms, THEN you have issues. Just keep something to eat handy.

Here's the biggest thing that I have to get over: When you feel like that, DON'T OVEREAT. Going hypo makes me feel like I want to eat everything in the world, and if I don't watch it I'll gorge for 10 or 15 minutes until I feel better. That's totally unnecessary. It only takes a few calories to restore the blood sugar - i.e. 1 glucose tablet only has like 20 calories and that's enough to fix you. Also, remember to eat complex carbs throughout the day and after you come out of one of these hypo episodes. They'll give a kind of time release effect that will keep your sugar stable.
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I appreciate the advice. Thanks man

Sounds like your antifreeze level is slightly low...

I knew this was coming eventually. LMAO

70 isn't that low for a nondiabetic but everyone is different. If you are over weight and prediabetic 70 may feel lower than it should feel. My wife isn't diabetic but her sugar gets low at the same time your's does. Before assuming anything bad try having a little snack between lunch and dinner. Really not enough info though. If your job is physical that can make your sugar go low esp if you skip meals. Try to find a pattern. Are you skipping meals ? Stress actually raises blood sugar but low blood sugar and a little anxiety tossed in can give you that out of it feeling.

Drink more mtn dew

You should not be hanging out around 70. It is a little too low. The general rule to avoid hypoglycemia is the Rule of 15. If you start to notice those symptoms, take in about 15 grams of carbs (3 peppermints or a few ounces of soda will do it), then check your blood sugar in another 15 minutes.

And when you say labs, did the doctors measure your A1C? It's a far more accurate measure of glucose control over the last three months than a one-time blood glucose test.

I was watching Dr Oz once and he tested a healthy thin young woman.She came in at 55. He said it was fine. She had no symptoms and was fine.
Some people would have severe symptoms at 55.
30 years of being a diabetic and only 1 hospital visit because of it. I had a 20.
Yep a blood sugar of 20 wife called 911 paramedics got a mariano rivera like save.

yeah but sugar makes you fat.

well that WOULD fix it temporarily
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At 55, I'm getting incoherent. I was that low once and was struggling to tell my wife what I needed. I get the shakes at 70.

True sugar is the devil protein keeps your blood sugar more stable.

Dr. Oz also spouts pseudoscience or outright quackery in more than 2/3 of his pronouncements :).

However, everyone does hang out in a slightly different area. If you ever check your labs, "normal" is the baseline normal value for 95% of the population. That woman could be part of the five percent who runs low and is ok (my heart is like that), but it's always good to remember the averages and consider your symptoms. In the OP's case, if he's feeling symptomatic and it's happening more often, ingesting about 15g of simple carbs will benefit him.

I don't consume any sugar at all. No pop , no candy, no fruit. No Beer (for now). down 17 pounds now in 14 days. Keto rocks. Eating one nice meal a day and no hunger cravings. It was 7pm before I decided to eat last night and I started to just say **** it and skip the day. Blood pressure is now normal. In fact I just checked it after my workout and it was a little low. 107/79. Not taking anymore meds after that last episode almost killed me. **** pharmacies!

My older brother is fat and diabetic. 2 years ago he mentioned some of his symptoms, including frequent urinating and I said I did that, thirsty all the time, so he let me use his blood sugar monitor to test my blood sugar after eating some pancakes. I was over 300 blood sugar. Went to doctor and she put me on metformin, my A1C was 10.5.

Over the next two years, I let my diet and medications lapse. I was drinking soda and having too many desserts, I have a big sweet tooth. About a month ago, I started feeling foot pain and numbness. I read about diabetic neuropathy and it scared the crap out of me, so I decided to make big changes. I started a keto diet along with intermittent fasting. I checked my readings of blood sugars before, and I was 200-250, and within a few days it dropped between 100-140, and today I had two readings in the 90's.

Basically now I eat close to zero carbs from anything except vegetables. Avoid all grain and sugar and fast carbs. It's not the worst, there are tons of home recipes that use great tasting fats like butter and creme cheese and meat and spices, which I can have a lot of. For take out I get rotisserie chicken from Walmart, subway salad, cheeseburgers minus the bun, 5 guys has a lettuce wrap for instance.

For fasting I skip breakfast and don't eat lunch until 2 or 3, then I have dinner around 6 or 7 so I have a 4-5 hour feeding window. I've done a 4 day fast and plan on doing a 5-7 day fast on my vacation coming up Labor Day week.

I agree I think he's a jerk. I was yelling at the tv that she is going to bottom out while she drives home.
On a some what related note people should be careful who smoke marijuana.
Marijuana makes the symptoms of high blood sugar not feel as bad which is dangerous. Had blood sugars of 300 and I felt normal. On days I didn't do any 300 would feel the way it is supposed to tired insatiable thirst and hunger.

On a lighter note if the dr wants you to visit with the diabetic educator lady don’t fall for her pranks. She is helpful in lots of diet tips and things you need to pay attention to but if she says ok let’s assume all of your fingertips are sore and you need to quickly check your levels and she says ok sport whip it out and we’re gonna prick the tip of your pecker don’t fall for it like I did dude

what is this i dont even
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If you do catch the beetus they make you learn how to prick your finger but the lady who taught me tricked me into pricking my prick

Hypo can be dangerous for Type II diabetics. Be careful. FWIW, in most cases if your A1C is over 9 they'll start you on insulin, because Metformin can't lower your A1C enough.

Trying to pull up my labs now to see if A1C was measured. I don't think I'm hanging around 70 regularly. This was a pretty extreme case where I could tell it was very low. Usually I'm somewhere between 78-94 between meals.

Drink more Ovaltine.

I don't actually see A1C listed anywhere on my latest lab results. Unless it is named something else on there?

I don't skip meals. This dip actually came about 2 hours after I had eaten lunch.

My job is an office job. Our office was extremely warm today and I went out to smoke shortly before this happened.

Was actually feeling some stress due to some reports I was working on before it hit.

I'm 29, and very slightly overweight. Blood pressure runs good. No health problems overall except high triglicerides (which my doctor thinks is a genetic thing)

I also don't drink anything with sugar in it throughout the day. Usually I'll have a couple diet soda's in the AM followed up by lots of water

Soybean or soy milk induced.

It might be called HbA1c, glycated hemoglobin test, or glycohemoglobin.

Might be listed as Hemoglobin A1C or HA1C %.

Test + no AI induced

Holy shit!! I'm diabetic and I thought my low of 43 was low!!! I notice it whenever my sugar gets below 100.

43 is low man. Just dumbass luck. Ambulance was close by when wife called 911 if I was in the sticks prob would have bought it.They were there in less than 5 minutes.

Luckily, I had some glucose tablets in my desk and was able to get my sugar up to normal quickly. I've not gone that low since. I'd not been a diagnosed all that long at that point and I was still learning how to manage diet and meds, etc. I've not had a severe low like that since.

30 years and I never ****ed up that bad could always guzzle some oj to fend it off. The best piece of advice I got from my now retired dr was "you will have bad days just don't wallow in self pity and let a bad day turn into a bad week into a bad month..."

Since I was only 28 she thought I could change my lifestyle and lower it with just metformin. As far as hypo, I've never had a reading below 88 and I fasted for 4 days, but I am a mailman and having a low blood sugar in the heat could be fatal, so I keep some protein bars at work just in case.

Also, I think taking insulin is a major setback, I never want to. Taking insulin increase insulin resistance. Taking more insulin to treat type 2 diabetes, a disease of too much insulin resistance, is treating the symptom and not the cause.

To this day, I have no idea how, or why I went that low. It was a freak occurrence. Now, I take Jentadueto instead of metformin, try to eat right, and have been doing pretty well.

Unfortunately, people with T2DM experience gradual failure of their pancreatic beta cells. Eventually, most will need insulin because of that failure.

Stupid question, cannot all diabetes be controlled by diet alone ?

Hanging out in an Aids fire will top those antifreeze levels right up.

I should probably get mine checked. can you buy something to do it yourself?

You can buy a cheap test meter at any Wal-Mart/pharmacy. You'll have to get the test strips separate. Likely lancets too. Cost me about $30 total

Needles?

A blood draw in lab for a1c. If your doc sees that its above 6 approaching 7 he might order a glucose tolerance test to see if your pre diabetes

You can buy a glucose monitor and test strips along with a lance and lancets. Those monitor blood glucose in real time.

You'll have to get those from rabblerouser

It can, IF a person looses a lot of weight, keeps it off, eats right, exercises, etc. I'd have to get my a1c below 6 and keep it there for awhile before my doc would consider that. An example of a diabetic that has gotten himself off of meds is Drew Carey, who did, and does the things I mentioned.

There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2.

Type 1 is an autoimmune disorder where your body destroys the beta cells of the pancreas, the cells that produce insulin. As a result, you end up with extremely high blood sugars but will often be quite skinny (because insulin leads to you storing sugar in your cells, which is then converted, but that's another discussion).

Type 2 is a disorder caused by the body becoming fatigued from persistently high blood sugars. Type 2 diabetics are typically overweight and have other metabolic illnesses (high blood pressure, high cholesterol/triglycerides).

Treatment for Type 1 diabetes requires insulin for your entire life. There are a variety of treatments for Type 2 diabetes, and numerous classes of medications meant to increase your insulin secretion, stimulate or restriction numerous body processes, or even pee out the excess sugar. As Type 2 diabetes progresses, patients generally need to go on insulin because their beta cells fail.

You can control Type 2 with diet and exercise, but the truth is that most people eventually need more and more meds, ultimately leading to insulin replacement.

To add: with Type 1 diabetes, your body is not making insulin at all, or makes very little. A great number of Type 1 diabetics use an insulin pump to help regulate their blood sugar.

I went from 290 to 220 lifted weights every other day and walked 3-4 miles at least a day . I went to baseball practice and played in games couple times a week. Not you Hog because you are good people but people who think that can go ****ing die in an aids fire.

PS
You can get better if you are type II. Not healed but improve. I take less than half the amount of insulin I used to take. I ****ing hate the stigma of diabetes I am stronger and in better shape than most people my age.

They also show these fat soft cucks in diabetes commercials on tv and it drives me ****ing crazy. ****ing show someone is isn't fat slow and soft. All diabetics aren't like that.

6.1 A1C this week. Feelin' good.

I got diagnosed 18 months ago....no sodas... no sugar since.

My A1C measured last month was 5.2.....my Blood Sugar averages 95 to 100 with some days slightly higher and some lower.

My lowest was 62....and I could tell it right away. I keep Glucose tablets at home and in my work satchel.

As for the testing....I get my meter, strips, lancets and my needles for my insulin shot free of charge. I only pay for my insulin...the company health insurance is great.

Am I the only one that uses low blood sugar as a way to get something I don't normally get, like a little bit of ice cream or something?

And for those who skip meals....that puzzles me because it seems all the things I read on the Mayo Clinic website say that is not healthy for diabetics.

I actually eat less at each meal but eat healthy more times during the day.

OP is overweight.

Slightly, yes.

In an acute care setting, clinicians worry more about lows than highs, unless you are in DKA. You're right.

Too much Dr Pepper

And that is the biggest mistake I have made in my life. When I was diagnosed
I drove alot for work and my biggest fear was bottoming out while on the thruway during a blizzard. Very irrational thinking but I ran high because of my illogical paranoia and payed for it.

Should be low. Friday brain melt. Lows are well more concerning inpatient.

Had a large dinner at like 10pm last night. Had some pop tarts and a granola bar for breakfast. Sugar rose to like 165 about an hour after eating -highest I've ever seen it.

Ate a small 250 calorie TV dinner, a pretzle, and a granola bar this afternoon. I've been running around 100 - 110 all day. Feels a lot more comfortable than that 70 shit yesterday.

Probably won't eat again until 8 or 8:30. Hoping to see it around 80-90 at that time.

Biggest change for me was eating more often like this instead of eating twice a day like I was used to. Now when I need to fast for 12 hrs for a complete blood test it’s lots harder than it used to be

This is not a healthy breakfast.

Yeah....you pretty much have to not eat after 7 or 8 PM and plan your visit to Quest Diagnostics at 8 AM in the morning....once they draw blood head to Panera's or Cracker Barrel to eat breakfast.

Had my A1c tested, it was in the normal range.

However earlier this evening I had an episode of low blood sugar. We attended a pancake dinner for our church, and ate around 6:30pm. By 9:00pm or so, my blood sugar had hit 52 (at least according to my meter) Had the cold sweats, shaking, nausea. Drank some fruit juice and then had a peanut butter sandwich - felt better in about 15 minutes.

Still scares me when it drops like that.

What is your med regimen?

How many times has this happened lately? Do you keep a tube of Glucose tablets handy in case you have one of these episodes?

My Dr recommended glucose tablets for when I have low blood sugar. He said they work better than drinking OJ or eating something sweet to raise blood sugar.

Mrs. Tmax was diagnosed last November. The official cutoff for her provider was a 6.5 A1c and she hit it dead on the money. 3 months on a keto-like lo-carb diet (max 30 grams carb per meal or snack) and she's back down to 5.7. Cutting out the carbs let her lose 10 pounds also. She's relaxed a little on her diet, nothing big but allowing a rare splurge of a few bites on a few things she completely misses, and we'll see how she maintains. Provider said eventually she may have to go on meds but it should be years as long as she "behaves".

It rarely happens. The last time I had an experience where it really dropped low was probably 6 months ago

5 years ago I was diagnosed with Diabetes. Wasn't really surprising as both my Mother and my Grandfather (Mother's side) had it also. According to my Doc - it was fairly "inevitable".

I'm 6'1" and "usually" top out at around 220. I am on Victoza and 1,000 MG of Metformin ER twice daily - and everything seems to be in control. My testing (2X daily) has me at around 105-115 on a routine basis and my A1C hits at about 5.9-6.0

Here's the thing..about a year ago I began losing weight. No diet, no exercise, nothing. Just would wake up every day and had lost more weight. Doctors ran every test imaginable - I was perfectly fine. Went from 230 to 189 over a 4 month period.

To this day, no one knows why. No cancer, no thyroid problems - perfectly healthy (well, for a 72 year old man ;) )

I have began to slowly gain the weight back...right now at 206 and counting. Weird stuff....