Help...not diagnosed but tested self this morning, came back 120

[JanND]

Originally Posted by HarryWarden

Background: I've been checking my own blood sugar since July 2016. I had it checked at my physical in April 2017 and it came back at 99. Of course, I've been checking it myself all along. I checked it on Sunday and it came back as 99 again. I checked it later that day after drinking a Pepsi (something I rarely if ever drink anymore but was at a friend's watching football and had one) and it came back at 103.

Then I checked it this morning (twice) after not having ate/drank anything since 6 PM last night and it came back at 120. The only thing I did was brush my teeth this morning. I then tried to think of what was different. Well, this morning I checked it after having walked a mile whereas I hadn't raised my heartrate by doing anything of note prior to the 99 test on Sunday. Am I suddenly diabetic only 3 days later? What happened that could explain the rather large change? What should I do? Of course, I'm super worried at this point, wondering.

You should go to your physician, there are too many variables that you are not aware of that affect blood sugars......and they may or may not reflect on a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

Ask your Dr. to do an A1C and that will give you a better idea.The A1C is a blood test that shows a more accurate blood sugar level by averaging your blood sugar over the previous 3 months.

Don't worry yourself sick randomly testing yourself.

[sholomar]

It's possible a bad dream during the night could have caused your body to manufacture glucose and drove up your reading. Exercise can also temporarily drive up blood sugar levels a hair. It usually takes 2 solid miles of jogging for me to burn enough glucose off for it to show on the meter, and by mile 4 my readings will be a nice, low 80, where I'd like them to be all the time. Finally after years of kind of ignoring it and going back and forth between eating healthy and binging on junk, I have a healthy diet habit in place. Diet is more important than exercise though exercise shouldn't be neglected.

[tickyul]

Testing is good, self-diagnosis based on the self-testing is not advised.

120 is high for anyone if they have not had any food in 8+ hours.

[Haksel257]

Don't pay so much attention to morning numbers. Pay more attention to how quickly it goes down from a meal. High morning blood glucose can be caused by the "dawn phenomenon" or a counter-response to low nightly blood sugar, called the Somogyi rebound. The dawn phenomenon is much more common, and arguably a natural process of waking up.