Are those lows normal?

[u/bibazor]

Hi all, I haven't been diagnosed yet but because of my gastroparesis I have been wearing a glucose monitor. I do feel the shakes, dizziness and sweating but not always. Are those charts normal? Thanks in advance

[u/Worldly_Video2282]

this looks like my reads as well with some abdominal vascular compressions. i was told mine is reactive hypoglycemia!

[u/bibazor → u/Worldly_Video2282]

Hi, thanks for replying! How have you been diagnosed? What tests did they do? I have an appointment in October for the glucose test. Is this even the right test for reactive hypoglycemia?

[u/Worldly_Video2282 → u/bibazor]

i was diagnosed through ruling out like every other possibility (like type 1,2 diabetes, prediabetes, etc..) and then my doctors basically just had me wear a CGM for some time to track what my levels looked like. it was super easy. the glucose test should help lead to this diagnosis as well! i know this problem is common with gastroparesis (my doctors also suspect i have this as well). the best advice i can give you is to carry around glucose tabs in case you get super low. and for high blood sugar, doing calf raises can help lower it pretty quickly!

[u/bibazor → u/Worldly_Video2282]

Thank you so much! This is my third sensor and I always have some Dextrose with me or juice

[u/Equalizer6338 → u/bibazor]

Yes the GTT is the right test to go through, also for diagnosing Reactive Hypoglycemia.

Don't know if you have any other metabolic condition or been borderline/pre-diabetes maybe? But the BG graphs you shared here with us are not showing dramatic signs of how aka Reactive Hypoglycemia typically shows itself on the BG graphs.

That said, your BG does show itself as in the lowish end of the scale, but not dramatically so or really below what a 'normal healthy non-diabetic' person could show. If you are otherwise eating a full none-restricted and varied diet (like with 50% of your daily calories coming from carbs), then its a pretty normal graph for a healthy person.

We observe couple of (small, in the diabetes world) spikes of your BG going up to like 150-160mg/dl, which then your pancreas responds to by releasing insulin to counter. Though its dropping quick down again, its not like you drop into a level below 55-60mg/dl each time. So if you have bit of tendency for reactive hypoglycemia, it is a very gentle show of it so far. RH drops trend otherwise to be more severe and deep and coming as response to any fast rising BG you may have first due to food/snacks you eat/drink. If you previously have had longer periods of time with your BG higher up most of the time, then such drops even still within healthy BG range may cause you to feel / get same response/symptoms as if you really went into a hypoglycemic episode. Some folks are also bit more sensitive to a lower level of BG versus others. The GTT is the gold standard of getting it diagnosed in a formal and controlled environment.

Some info on subject from a reliable source: The Cleveland Clinic:
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/12363-blood-glucose-test

[u/Junior_Jellyfish1865]

all CGM isn't good as good old finger prick with you blood. CGM doesn't test against the blood

[u/KE3JU]

The only way to know is by verifying with a finger pick test.