Blood sugar question

id get one of the monitors that you wear to see what its doing thru the day.after a couple of months you should have the data you need to see whats going on then. anything else is a guess.

Any family history of diabetes?

I was about to say the same thing. Dawn effect or dawn phenomenon. But your hgba1c is elevated as well, and it could just be due to genetics. As the saying goes, "there's no outrunning genetics".

Have you ever done a glucose tolerance test? Ask your doctor about that.

You could shift your macro intake to be more protein heavy (keep overall calories the same if you want to, but I wouldn't be afraid to gain 5-10lbs either, but that's up to you) and try to add some more lean tissue to your frame with resistance training.

IMO, you should be getting at least 165g of protein. I would also guess that you are getting more than 100g of carbs if you aren't trackiing. It's wild how I underestimated how many calories and carbs I was getting prior to tracking.

quote:

---

I was about to say the same thing. Dawn effect or dawn phenomenon. But your hgba1c is elevated as well, and it could just be due to genetics. As the saying goes, "there's no outrunning genetics". Have you ever done a glucose tolerance test? Ask your doctor about that. You could shift your macro intake to be more protein heavy (keep overall calories the same if you want to, but I wouldn't be afraid to gain 5-10lbs either, but that's up to you) and try to add some more lean tissue to your frame with resistance training.

---

I do a ton of resistance training and heavy 4-5 days a week. I’m pretty heavily muscled for my frame.

Like this isn’t meant to sound like a brag but people regularly comment about how good of shape Im in for my age. That’s why this is a weird thing to me.

I’ve done my own GTT. I’ll spike to 150-160 eating a banana and some other carbs in combination but it responds pretty well and back to just over 100 within 2 hours.

quote:

---

. I would also guess that you are getting more than 100g of carbs if you aren't trackiing. It's wild how I underestimated how many calories and carbs I was getting prior to tracking.

---

I do track a decent amount. It obviously varies with schedule and kids schedule but a lot of days it’s sub 50 or even sub 30, some days it’s 120-150 on weekend.

Type 1 here for the last 43 years. A1Cs run in the 4.5 - 4.7 range for the last 20 years or so. There is some good information on here. The morning effect is a real thing. The minute my eyes open in the morning, my blood sugar starts to rise. I’ll give a shot of basal and bolus fast acting just to keep it from rising too much.

An A1C of 6 is the equivalent blood sugar of 140, which is way too high for someone without diabetes. I’d argue it’s way too high for a diabetic as evidence shows damage occurring at blood sugars above 100. Take that with some perspective, mind you. We’re all dying a little bit at a time. I try and keep my blood sugars under 90. It’s not easy.

I eat high protein/ fat and very low carb. I also lift heavy five nights a week. I weigh in at 190 and I’m 6’1. I’m very lean and very muscular.

Not sure the morning effect will cause an A1C that high, but I could be wrong. I guess if it rose and stayed elevated for a prolonged period of time it could explain it, but I’m doubtful that’s your case.

I’d suggest buying a glucometer and checking 30 minutes after a meals to get a gauge on what your meals are doing to you. Two hours after a meal which is the typical recommendation is too much time and allows for the spike to occur and the inevitable drop back into the normal range before you’re any the wiser.

If you’re spiking after meals it will have a noticeable impact to A1C. Also be aware that the A1C test is very heavily weighted to the previous two weeks. It’s not a perfect test but it’s what we have.

I subscribe to the Bernstein school of thought and methodology for calculating blood sugar equivalent. You may find a different result than the one that I gave you.

quote:

---

Hmm, I can't think of anything else. Do you have any indication of kidney dysfunction? Liver?

---

Nope everything else looks good. I have high lipoprotein a (genetic) but all other lipids are solid and in range including really low triglycerides. I do have lower testosterone 360-400 total) low normal free. I tried hcg for a few months at a modest dose which shot it to like 700 and they said it’s more pituitary/secondary due to such a robust response to a leutenizing hormone analog. So I got off of it due to how expensive it is and just kept pushing forward with diet and exercise.

quote:

---

I also wonder if it's not something stress or sleep related.

---

This is what they attributed the hormone stuff to because again doesn’t really make sense.

I’ve had a stressful few years. After Covid I started getting hundreds to thousands of PVCs daily and some PACs out of the blue. I’ve had a lot of work ups (all check out great) and even an ablation to try and fix it because they’re very symptomatic and it greatly impacted my quality of life(really active with 3 young kids) especially the runs of bigeminy that really take your breath away after awhile. It sucks because it’s not like it’s an arrhythmia that you get really tachycardic with but will just start skipping when I’m resting and after eating. But I know it’s not going to kill me so I keep working out and just trying to live right.

I do wake several times a night/ no snoring.

The responses in this thread have been great so far and very much appreciated.

Couple of things to remember: fat will not raise blood sugar. Too much protein most definitely will. I find if I eat a big steak, say 12 oz or greater, I have no immediate blood sugar impact. Give it three to four hours later, some of my biggest blood sugar spikes have occurred after a heavy protein and low carb meal. If you eat till you’re absolutely stuffed, you will spike your blood sugar even if you ate no carbs. Bernstein explains this in his book, “Diabetes Solution.”