Glucose and showers.....
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| Mon, 08-20-2007 - 1:38pm |
Ok, odd question.... I have found over the years that my glucose is higher after taking a shower. I have some thoughts on this but find it frustrating anyway. Wonder if anyone else has noticed this. Example. I took my glucose when I got up. At first it was 79. Thought that couldn't be right so did it again and got 77. I ate breakfast and later I took it and it was 91. So far, so good. I ate 4 grapes and took a shower and it was 125! (looking for the confused icon here... lol) To be honest, I have always found that anytime when I took my bg BEFORE showering it was lower. Even when I had not ate! I have to wonder if the body wash is messing with me! Or is it the temperature?
Well, any way, has anyone else ever noticed this incosistencey?


Remember.... you are NOT alone!!!!!


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I may be wrong, but I would blame it on the 4 grapes, rather than the shower!
2sweet02
Are you using one of those "flavored" body washes. I admit I have sorta wondered with the names on some of them like I think its "vanilla and brown sugar"
I saw that one and smelled it and it smelled good, but I just thought.........so I didn't try it.
auntydoxzz
Yep!
Cheryl,
I don't know for sure the reason but I think it probably has something to do with vasodilatation from the hot water. The vasodilatation from the hot water would bring more blood to the surface and also cause a sympathetic reaction and probably raise the blood sugar.
We had a terrible fire behind my house on Friday that burned to the base of my hill side. My house is on top of the hill. It burned over 50 acres. My husband heard about it on the radio and rushed home to make sure everything and Abby was okay. He sprayed our fence with water and the plantings near our fence. He didn't work hard but he was very surprised that his blood sugar plummeted. I ams sure it was the stress that caused him to secrete more cortisol and caused his blood sugar to drop.
I also think that the hot water causes a release of the stress hormones. I wonder if you would have the same response if you took at tub bath and soaked for a while. In any case your blood sugar should drop back to normal pretty quickly.
I don't remember this happening when I had the continuous meter on, but I may not have been aware of it. I am potentially going to do another study with the meter. If I get to I will watch and see if this happens to me also.
What an interesting question!
I do sometimes wonder those with those scented things and even some of the strange conncoctions(like the sugar/something paste(wrong word I know) that you rub on your body to smooth your skin. If some of it stays on the skin and isnt totally scrubbed off before testing it would raise the test level but not really your real BG numbers.
I also have seen a warning someplace that if you use alcohol pads to clean fingers before testing, they are not always able to really remove sugars, so the test may read higher than you really are. Usually not a problem but if you are treating for high numbers(insulin, etc) OR the opposite NOT treating for a low you don't know you have, those inaccurate numbers could be big problem!)
I bet your husband's numbers were also lower because I bet he was really working harder than he thought. In times of emergency we often do not realize how much energy we use until later. Or as chicken me found once when our senior scout troop, had a Milwaukee inner city scout troop up for a campout. We were making Lemmee sticks for a game. Suddenly we had 3 different emergencies at once. I do not remember the first one, the 2nd was one girl accidently whacked too hard with her knife and cut her leg. Well our leader and asst were busy with those 2 a 3rd girl cut across the palm of her hand with her knife! So I was trying to stop the bleeding on hers. The rest of our troop was trying to calm down the other Milwaukee scouts!! I was fine, cool calm and collected getting my scout patched up.(she didnt need stitches, but the other 2 emergencies i think ended up going to town to the hospital. After everyone was back and we were making supper, I was trying to start the camp fire, but couldnt get my hands to stop shaking enough so I could safely light the fire. By the way at that point I could not stand the sight of blood, was was known to get dizzy when I saw it!
LOL!!
I am normally cool and calm in emergencies. I just go into nurse gear and I can handle anything!! Just years of training. Well after I had to walk from the main street to my house in the heat, through the smoke and with my asthma, when I got to my house I could see Abby running around franickly and I couldn't get my key to work. My next door neighbor had a copy of the regular key to my house and he went and got it and let me in. I must admit I was chuckling at myself. Totally out of character for me!! Of course I was very unhappy when they wouldn't let me drive my car to my house. I actually wasn't relishing having to carry Abby back to the main street. But the fire never really threatened my house.
Hi Cheryl,
I have never checked my blood sugar before and after a bath so I don't know if it would be the temperature or not. Have you tried using regular body wash to see if it affects you the same way?? That would give you an idea whether is is the temp or the body wash.
It is an interesting idea..if it is the body wash that is getting into your system, it is getting in quickly.
Rita
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