EP.350/ How to test your blood sugar levels at home to help manage endo
Last week we discussed signs and symptoms of dysregulated blood sugar levels. Now, if you were concerned, I recommended speaking to your GP, however, often if you’re not prediabetic or diabetic, they’re not very concerned about your levels, and won’t really spend the time to get them under control.
So, today, I wanted to share how to take your own glucose readings, so you can see what your blood sugar levels are doing over the day, and so you can tweak your meals to better suit your blood sugar needs.
You can use either the traditional finger prick glucose monitor, where you prick finger and place droplet of blood onto a special piece of paper and then your monitor reads that paper, or you use a continuous glucose monitor, which you keep in your arm, and wear for about two weeks at a time.
The traditional glucose monitors are cheaper, but not cheap, but the downside is, if you’re using them how I am going to recommend today, your fingers are going to get pretty damn sore.
If you’re going to use a continuous glucose monitor, they’re much easier to use and aren’t painful like the regular ones, but they’re often expensive. Additionally, the other thing to note, is most of them won’t give you specific readings like I am going to suggest you do below, you’ll just see averages over the day. So, to get the specific readings I’m after, you’ll need to log into your device and tap your device to your phone, or sync them, to get a specific reading at any one time, which you can then manually record.
Also, and I cannot stress this enough, if you’re using a traditional glucose monitor, you must wash your hands before use, because if you don’t, whatever is on your hands can cause a higher reading, and give you some pretty crazy results!
Lastly, if you’re using a CGM, sometimes you might get some odd readings due to the technology, so in the show notes I have listed some warnings around this and what to look for.
Okay, so back to how to test.
In order to achieve the most accurate observations, it’s best to record your levels as follows for seven days, but even a few days will be beneficial.
Test 1: Test in the morning after waking – ensuring you haven’t eaten for eight hours beforehand. Do not eat breakfast before testing, this has to be done when fasting.
Test 2: Test immediately after each meal/snack. You can test just before your meal too, which will give you a baseline reading,
Test 3: After your immediate test post-meal/snack, test again every fifteen minutes for an hour.
Test 4: Test once more two hours after the meal/snack.
So, what are we looking for exactly?
Firstly, before we get to numbers, let’s discuss the difference between optimal and conventional reference ranges. With conventional, you’re only in the red with your levels once you have a problem, so everything below diabetes and close to it, is considered normal. Functional ranges or optional ranges, look at when you’re leaning towards prediabetes or are pre diabetic, and also studies the optimal glucose levels for long-term health. So, for example, new figures are emerging showing that blood sugar swings and certain numbers, even without diabetes, puts us at greater risk of dementia, cardiovascular disease, etc. So, anyway, I’ll link to some updated research articles so you can read more into that, but now you understand the difference, here are the numbers, keep in mind, that I am going to give you two different units of measurements, because you’ll use one or the other, depending on your country:
For fasting levels:
Optimal: between 75- 85 milligrams per decilitre or 4.2-4.7 millimoles per litre
Conventional normal range: below 5.4 mmol/L or 99 mg/dl
For post-meal levels:
Optimal post-meal levels: less than 110 mg/dL or 6.1 mmol/L
Conventional post-meal levels: less than 140 mg/dL or 7.8 mmol/L
Additionally, the rise in blood sugar ideally should be less than 30 milligrams per decilitre from pre-meal levels, which is about 1.7 millimoles per litre. When you’re using millimoles per litre, it can be tricky to determine how much your blood sugar has increased by, so I have linked to a glucose measurement converter, and basically you can put in your numbers, and it’ll convert to milligrams per decilitre and you’ll be able to see if it stayed below 30 or not.
Finally, you blood sugar levels should return to around the same level they were at before your meal. If you’re dropping far below that, you’re experiencing reactive hypoglycaemia, which is when you crash following meals, and the first step to controlling that, is minimising the initial spike of glucose, so that the reaction is much more steady and gentle. Often reactive hypoglycaemia is caused by insulin going into overdrive to bring your blood sugar levels down, which can cause them to plummet. This isn’t the only cause, but it’s typically the main one and the first place to start.
Now, the increase is indicating how much your blood sugar is varying. If you’re continuously fluctuating up and down, and are going up more than 30 milligrams per decilitre regularly, even if you’re staying under within the reference ranges, you’re going to be experiencing highs and lows in blood sugar, and it’s these spikes, that can create a lot of the symptoms and the longer term problems, so the more you can try to minimise those spikes using the strategies we discuss on this podcast, the more stable you’ll feel hormonally, and the less pain you’ll experience over time.
Now, if you’re not within these reference ranges, especially if you’re frequently above these, you do need to see your doctor, because you may be pre-diabetic or diabetic. However, it’s worth noting that if you’re eating a lot of sugary foods or simple starches, or meals that aren’t very balanced, you’ll likely see your levels exceeding even conventional post-meal ranges, and this can happen even without you having diabetes, but it’s a big warning sign that you need to get those meals more in balance and bring those levels down, because it’s fluctuations like that which can do damage to the body and over time, lead to diabetes. If of course, it’s a one off because you had a piece of birthday cake, don’t freak out - it’s expected that foods like that are going to really spike levels, but if you can, take some steps to reduce those spikes, like having the cake after a meal, or going for a walk after the cake, and so on.
And lastly, if you find yourself spiking despite eating really balanced meals, this could be due to stress or microbiome issues, so consider working on your nervous system and supporting your gut health overall.
Once you see your scores, it can be easy to fall into panic - but please know that getting blood sugar under control is absolutely possible and I do it all the time with clients. It can take a few months, but over time, you should see levels improve. Again, just like last week, I’ll link to my go-to strategies for managing blood sugar in the show notes.
Okay, that’s it for this week, see you next week!
Show notes
Reference ranges info and tools
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-sugar-converter.html#google_vignette
https://www.levels.com/blog/what-should-my-glucose-levels-be-ultimate-guide
https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/medical/tests/blood-sugar
Helpful resources
https://endometriosis.net/living/diet-sugar
https://endometriosis.net/living/how-to-balance-your-blood-sugar-levels-to-reduce-endo-symptoms
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/endo-blood-sugar-gargi-parikh
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/glycemic-index-load-endo
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/endo-and-pms-the-key-to-reducing-mood-swings-anxiety-and-low-moods-in-your-luteal-phase
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/non-food-blood-sugar-management
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/reduce-fatigue-endometriosis-symptoms-and-oestrogen-dominance
https://www.theendobellycoach.com/podcast/endo-carbs-blood-sugar
Endo and blood sugar research
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10967113/
https://eurjmedres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40001-023-01280-7
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8609862/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35236-y
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378512223004115
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37673102/
If using a CGM
A few things to be aware of –
Your blood sugar may see erratic or very high within the first 24 hours of wearing a CGM, this is normally an adjustment period so don’t worry about that.
Blood sugar levels tend to spike with exercise, stress and hot showers/baths. Don’t worry about exercise or showers, your body will regulate itself, but you may want to work on your stress if it’s influencing your blood sugar levels a lot!
Your blood sugar will likely be more erratic in your luteal phase, so you may need to put some extra support in place.
Your blood sugar levels are likely to be higher after a bad night’s sleep, so you’ll need to put more support in.
Sleeping on the arm with yoru CGM can create inaccurate results, so if anything seems unsual in the night, try sleeping on another side. However, be aware we can have dips and peaks at night too.
Need more help or want to learn how to work with me?
Free resources:
This podcast!
Ways to work with me:
This EndoLife, It Starts with Breakfast digital cookbook
Masterclasses in endo nutrition, surgery prep and recovery and pain relief
Live and Thrive with Endo: The Foundations DIY course
One to one coaching info and application
This episode is sponsored by BeYou Cramp Relief Patches. Soothe period cramps the natural way with these 100% natural and discreet menthol and eucalyptus oil stick on patches. Click here to find out more and to shop: https://beyouonline.co.uk/pages/how-it-works
Produced by Chris Robson