[ConnieB525]

What causes bg levels to go up? Of course, I know that consuming sugar raises your levels and I read in another thread that pain can raise them. My mom told me being upset can raise them, like when I tested after the visitation of a friend who passed away. I'm guessing that stress would affect them as well. My skin tends to get pretty dry and I love lotions. I don't use it as oftne as I should. Will lotions raise my bg levels if I wash my hands well or use alcohol swabs prior to testing? I know I have plenty of other questions, I just can't think of them right now. Thanks for being so patient with all us newbies!

 

[Shalynne]

What causes bg levels to go up? Of course, I know that consuming sugar raises your levels and I read in another thread that pain can raise them. My mom told me being upset can raise them, like when I tested after the visitation of a friend who passed away. I'm guessing that stress would affect them as well. My skin tends to get pretty dry and I love lotions. I don't use it as oftne as I should. Will lotions raise my bg levels if I wash my hands well or use alcohol swabs prior to testing? I know I have plenty of other questions, I just can't think of them right now. Thanks for being so patient with all us newbies!

Welcome!

This is a great site!

I'm a relative newbie myself, but getting reeeeal familiar with the Wonderful World of Sugar Spikes. Others have even more to share.

I've spiked due to:

-- Eating Carbs. Too many carbs are just as bad as sugar. Personal needs vary wildly, but many of us simply cannot eat bread/pasta/rice/potatoes without spiking up. Carbs and sugar can hide where we least expect them.

-- Pain & Stress. Yes.

-- Forgetting to Eat. Makes your liver dump glucose into your system. It doesn't know when to stop. Oversleeping can do it to ya too, because most of us can't eat and sleep at the same time.

I wash before testing (when possible) so the sample isn't contaminated by anything I might have touched. Sterility, however, is not at all necessary.

 

[Raindance]

I have heard that using alcohol before testing can cause the skin to thicken over time and make it harder to draw blood. Like Shalynne said, washing the hands is sufficient.

I also had dry skin, but since I have been eating more (and the right) fats as people recommend on this forum, my skin is getting less and less dry.

 

[jwags]

Most diabetics are super sensitive to all carbs and sometimes our own stress hormones. Since many of us are deficient in insulin or have a slower insulin response when our stress hormones are produced our lower insulin production cannot respond quick enough, so we spike. I always spike with exericise, pain and definitely stressful situations. By eating as low carb as possible sometimes you can limit these spikes, but they are going to happen.

 

[Richard157]

In addition to the causes already mentioned, I want to add that exercising when there are no carbs present to provide the energy needed for the activity, can cause high blood sugar. I have experienced this several times myself. I normally exercise after I have eaten a meal or snack. The carbs I have eaten provide the energy I need. If I exercise without carbs then my liver dumps glucose into my system to compensate. It usually provides much more glucose than I need, so my blood sugar is raised quite high. The same thing can happen during the night, while sleeping. The body goes without eating carbs for many hours during the night. Again, the liver provides glucose and that can cause the blood sugar to be high in the morning. That is called Dawn Phenomenon, or DP. To prevent DP some people eat a bedtime snack containing a lot of protein. The protein digests slowly and lasts long enough to keep the liver from providing additional glucose. I used to take a small injection of insulin at 4 AM to prevent DP. Now I use a pump which allows me to set varying basal rates throughout the night, with increasing rates as dawn approaches. This also prevents DP.

 

[Guest]

a couple of other things I will add to the list that I've noticed can spike our BGLs:
a) unwell - any illness really can trigger higher BGLs.
b) dehydrated - not getting enough water can raise your BGLs
c) lack of sleep - not getting enough shut eye can raise your BGLs I guess because your body is under stress to keep you awake.
d) high blood pressure - sometimes equates to spike in BGLs too, but probably a stress response.