December 2, 2001
Daily Care
Question from Rhode Island, USA:
I have impaired glucose tolerance, and I indulged in a small ice cream dessert after a meal. My blood glucose results afterward were as follows:
one- hour — 160 mg/dl [8.9 mmol/L] (not too bad)
two-hours — 97 mg/dl [5.4 mmol/L] (I guess the meal wasn’t as naughty as I feared.)
three-hours — I was feeling very dizzy so I checked again, and it had jumped to 190 mg/dl [10.6 mmol/L] (What’s up?)
four- hours — 120 mg/dl [6.7 mmol/L] (reasonable)
What are numbers like these trying to tell me?
Answer:
You are seeing a delay in absorption of glucose, likely the breakdown of starch and the retardation of absorption by fat. (It is the basis of the dual wave approach with the insulin pump, where we know there is delay in glucose uptake and give insulin to match.)
JTL
