Fasted glucose 90s consistently but A1C 4.8?

[Josefein421]

I am consistently reading in the 90s fasted glucose in the morning. Hasn't changed based on GH dose or timing, using metformin, reta or berberine. Yet my A1C is 4.8. I am not sure why. I do not have peaks and troughs energy wise with meals. I am going to check it more through out the day the next few days. I mean I am glad the A1C is good but am surprised. No symptoms of hyperglycemia ever. Never go hypo.

Any ideas why or how to investigate more? Or not worry since A1C is good?

 

[ChisledFat]

Fasting glucose in the morning can be higher due to the dawn effect. In essence, cortisol levels naturally increase to help wake up, which increases blood glucose a bit. If you wake in the middle of the night, test your blood glucose as you might find it to be lower at this time. A 4.8 a1c is nothing to worry about as 5.7 is when prediabetes become a concern.

 

[luki7788]

If your A1c, fasting insulin, and C-peptide are all in range there’s nothing to worry about.
Fasting glucose at 90 is totally fine. It doesn’t mean anything bad. It could just be the Dawn Effect, like someone mentioned earlier. It could also be a poorly balanced late meal, bad sleep, sleep apnea, or even shift work messing with your rhythm.
There are many possible reasons but if the key markers I mentioned above are okay, then don’t stress about it.

 

[neutrino]

I have the same thing going. Looked into it. A potential cause to dawn effect is going slightly hypo overnight, causing the liver to dump glycogen into bloodstream leading to what you see in the morning. I am inclined to believe this because within 1-2 hours after waking and remaining fasted, my BG drops down into 80s/70s

 

[massephase]

I have the same thing going. Looked into it. A potential cause to dawn effect is going slightly hypo overnight, causing the liver to dump glycogen into bloodstream leading to what you see in the morning. I am inclined to believe this because within 1-2 hours after waking and remaining fasted, my BG drops down into 80s/70s

yup same here .. it is still interesting because you can watch trends. But I would rather use postprandial for judging how I process carbs

 

[neutrino]

yup same here .. it is still interesting because you can watch trends. But I would rather use postprandial for judging how I process carbs

Yup, this is exactly what I was told a little while back after growing frustrated thinking that I'm insulin resistant and seeking help on the boards. Post meal BG recovery was just fine so I had no idea why I was seeing what I was seeing. Had no idea about the dawn effect, nor did I know that HBA1C is a far more reliable metric than morning BG reading

Im def a sucker for tracking metrics, drawing parallels, and extracting trends. That being said, sometimes shit just doesnt add up lol

 

[Josefein421]

Great info. You guys are great. And I should have thought of that. I have read of the Dawn Effect. Thank you!!

 

[whacked]

Sort of related so didn’t want to start a new thread to annoy everyone …

Re: C-Peptide is 2.16 (0.80-3.85)
So it’s a smidgeon lower than the middle of the range (2.33).

While that’s “ok” … is this one of those tests where it’s based on fat ass American averages - and we want it significantly lower …..?

Can’t seem to find a great answer for OPTIMAL health/range per Google

 

[RandomLifter]

My AM fasted is like 105 but I wear a CGM about every 6 months and have phenomenal blood glucose and BG mgmt.

Mine will go from 75 to 170 throughout the day. Very quick back to baseline.

AM’s are just higher for me.

 

[luki7788]

Sort of related so didn’t want to start a new thread to annoy everyone …

Re: C-Peptide is 2.16 (0.80-3.85)
So it’s a smidgeon lower than the middle of the range (2.33).

While that’s “ok” … is this one of those tests where it’s based on fat ass American averages - and we want it significantly lower …..?

Can’t seem to find a great answer for OPTIMAL health/range per Google

with all due respect man - your result is right in the middle of the reference range. How can you even ask if it’s good when it’s literally in the middle of the norm? Come on, that’s just basic logic

 

[whacked]

with all due respect man - your result is right in the middle of the reference range. How can you even ask if it’s good when it’s literally in the middle of the norm? Come on, that’s just basic logic

I hear ya !!

I should have added that my A1C is creeping up too so I’m a little concerned.

I was at 4.9-5.1 for YEARS

Last 2 readings were 5.7 (6 months ago) and 5.5 (a few days ago).

Fasted BG is 96-101 lately.

Diabetes in the family and lots of work stress lately so I’m extra paranoid. Lol

Thanks Luki

 

[luki7788]

I hear ya !!

I should have added that my A1C is creeping up too so I’m a little concerned.

I was at 4.9-5.1 for YEARS

Last 2 readings were 5.7 (6 months ago) and 5.5 (a few days ago).

Fasted BG is 96-101 lately.

Diabetes in the family and lots of work stress lately so I’m extra paranoid. Lol

Thanks Luki

So it's time to adopt a more healthy lifestyle – more steps/cardio (at least 10k+ 20-30 min cardio 5-6 days a week or 3-4 interval sessions), a clean diet with a slight deficit/maintaining low fat without saturated fat, plus 4-6g of EPA and DHA – this is the first thing that will improve your insulin sensitivity and health parameters.

This is the most important thing and the absolute foundation of everything.

 

[whacked]

So it's time to adopt a more healthy lifestyle – more steps/cardio (at least 10k+ 20-30 min cardio 5-6 days a week or 3-4 interval sessions), a clean diet with a slight deficit/maintaining low fat without saturated fat, plus 4-6g of EPA and DHA – this is the first thing that will improve your insulin sensitivity and health parameters.

This is the most important thing and the absolute foundation of everything.

Agreed.

Need to get my cardio in order asap. It’s non existent.

Thanks man

 

[EFShadow]

Get a CGM if you can and the next time you have a blood draw, ask for fasting insulin as well.
You may be dipping in the middle of the night as well, enhancing the dawn effect.

 

[j2048b]

Get a CGM if you can and the next time you have a blood draw, ask for fasting insulin as well.
You may be dipping in the middle of the night as well, enhancing the dawn effect.

Yup with my cgm i found out i go super low at night enough that my cgm alarms me and i now finger prick to double check it and grab a glucose tablet… never even knew mine would drop in sleep until i got this handy cgm…

 

[j2048b]

Even with a glucose tolerance test i failed and came up low… w theee f…

How to fix this?

 

[OuchThatHurts]

Agreed.

Need to get my cardio in order asap. It’s non existent.

Thanks man

Good idea. I was almost where you are at 92mg fasted and HbA1C creeping up to over 5. You can reverse all those numbers. I'm doing intervals 4 days a week now with 3gms krill and fish oil and just started berberine again. Actually dihydroberberine but you get the idea. I really let myself go and I'm 20lbs over my goal. I've done this before but that was 20 years ago.