Do POTS sufferers have elevated blood glucose levels because of low volume ?

Bansaw

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I'm monitoring my blood glucose with a continuous monitor.
I've been concerned that the readings I've been getting are higher than I expect.

I'm just wondering if POTS sufferers like me sometimes report deceptively high blood glucose, because the blood is more concentrated due to low blood volume?
 

Cipher

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I don't think a low blood volume will affect the accuracy of CGMs, but they aren't always accurate anyways. Have you checked with a regular blood glucose meter to verify the numbers from your CGM?
 

Bansaw

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I don't think a low blood volume will affect the accuracy of CGMs, but they aren't always accurate anyways. Have you checked with a regular blood glucose meter to verify the numbers from your CGM?
I'm getting a finger-stick meter today, to double check what the monitor is telling me
 

sb4

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@Bansaw
That vid shows research that suggests lean POTS patients act like diabetics post meal. I think they conclude that GIP is higher than it should be or something.

The way I think of it is first of all our bodies ANS is messed up leading to more sympathetic activation which causes less glucose tolerance.
Our vascular system struggles to deliver blood (and therefor glucose) to tissues even at rest so it would make sense that when our BG is high post meal we are slower to get rid of it, potentially causing problems.
And also blood pools in our guts when digesting food as it requires higher blood flow and we are bad at moving it around, I could imagine this would mess up insulin signaling.
 

Bansaw

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I took my finger-stick reading, its about 25 mg/dls below the patch reading. Its still very high.
I've immediately cut out snacking (and I eat healthy snacks like nuts etc.) and letting my pancreas rest more. Plus I am planning to hydrate more too. Readings are very high, getting towards 400 mg/dl.
 

Cipher

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I took my finger-stick reading, its about 25 mg/dls below the patch reading. Its still very high.
I've immediately cut out snacking (and I eat healthy snacks like nuts etc.) and letting my pancreas rest more. Plus I am planning to hydrate more too. Readings are very high, getting towards 400 mg/dl.
That's really high. Resting and hydrating won't solve those kind of levels. What's your fasting blood glucose levels? Most likely you have either type 1 or type 2 diabetes (I have type 1 myself).

I would go to a doctor ASAP. It's dangerous in the long term to the cardiovascular system if it's type 2 diabetes, but it could be medical emergency if it's type 1 diabetes.
 
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Bansaw

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I have type 2, and I understand that type 2 can't turn into type 1.
I booked an appt. with my Dr. two weeks ago, but the earliest he can give me is end of October. He did write an Rx for this blood glucose monitor for me tho. He will definitely shift me from Metformin to a stronger combo. I'm am toying with the idea of immediate keto, or one-meal-a-day (intermittant fasting)
 

Mimicry

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I have POTS and most likely hypovolemia as well because salt water helps my symptoms a bit, but my blood glucose is in normal range. A friend gave me her old blood glucose meter a couple months ago and I've been measuring it before and after eating, because I noticed earlier this year I get weird reactions from carbs and started keto diet. Yesterday I wanted to see what happens if I drink sports drink with glucose in it, but it only raised my blood sugar to 7.4 mmol/l an hour after drinking it and in another hour the reading was back to my normal 5.4 (it's usually 5.1-5.4). So I'd say your problems stem from the diabetes and not from POTS. AFAIK keto sometimes helps with type 2 diabetes but I'd still recommend talking to your doctor about it.
 

Bansaw

Senior Member
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521
I have POTS and most likely hypovolemia as well because salt water helps my symptoms a bit, but my blood glucose is in normal range. A friend gave me her old blood glucose meter a couple months ago and I've been measuring it before and after eating, because I noticed earlier this year I get weird reactions from carbs and started keto diet. Yesterday I wanted to see what happens if I drink sports drink with glucose in it, but it only raised my blood sugar to 7.4 mmol/l an hour after drinking it and in another hour the reading was back to my normal 5.4 (it's usually 5.1-5.4). So I'd say your problems stem from the diabetes and not from POTS. AFAIK keto sometimes helps with type 2 diabetes but I'd still recommend talking to your doctor about it.
I am eating Keto style meals now and am watching my glucose positively effected.
My doc put me on Keto 4 yrs ago (for other reasons), and I was on it for a year, and I noticed that my blood glucose was constantly good.
However, after a year on Keto, I sensed that it wasn't good for me overall. I am convinced that it developed insomnia issues for me from which I am still suffering. I'm doing Keto meals now just to get my bg under control, then I'm seeing my dr.
One thing I have done is cut out eating snacks between meals - I actually was eating good snacks like nuts, but I think this was stimulating my insulin. Plus I think I am releasing too much cortisol because I have problems getting into parasympathetic state.
 

wastwater

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I have had a high glucose reading similar to youres and I’m waiting to have it confirmed
I’m wondering if it maybe pancreatic failure and something called type 3c
Is Covid creating more diabetes,maybe that pushed me over from pre diabetes into diabetes
 
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wastwater

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Ended up on Gliclizide and metformin
Has normalised sugars but more mental confusion
Maybe a sugar low
 

kushami

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This article from the CDC mentions dehydration increasing blood sugar readings:
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/living-with/10-things-that-spike-blood-sugar.html

So it’s a possibility.

But the problem is that we don’t know whether everyone with POTS (or indeed everyone with ME/CFS) has low blood volume.

I guess one way to test it would be to (cautiously) increase your blood volume with extra salt and fluids, or a plain electrolyte/rehydration formula, and see whether that improves your blood glucose readings.

Annoyingly, the page doesn’t reference all the items in the list, so you would have to seek out references yourself for further detail.

For example, is it referring only to on-the-spot readings, or also to an A1C or HbA1c test?
 
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@Bansaw
That vid shows research that suggests lean POTS patients act like diabetics post meal. I think they conclude that GIP is higher than it should be or something.
interesting and it feeds into this theory:
Metabolic and genetic research has suggested that insulin signaling, which regulates glucose metabolism and has widespread effects on cellular function, may be playing a part in the pathophysiology of [ME-CFS](5,6).
from: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202409.1467/v1
 
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