Here is what drives me crazy..........
I have taken multiple samples and gotten different readings one after another.
First I did two and thought the third would be the telling one but no, it was different too.
What do you think about that?

I think if the batch of strips you're using hasn't been recalled, it probably should be. Two out of three has always worked for me. I did have a batch of strips that consistently gave my blood glucose as 20 or 30 points higher than it should have been once, but it went back to normal with the next batch I bought.

I agree with Teaser that it's a bad batch too.

I have what i think is a bad batch of Omni right now (which i decided to try because the have cheap keto strips as well). The first couple of batches were goood, the last 2 less reliable. When they are gone i will either try Jeff's kind or go back to Accu-chek compact (pricey) and check less often.

Teaser, since you're on this thread now have you ever experienced PIR? If so, did you find a way to overcome it?

I'm not sure I've tested myself enough to be sure. My fasting blood glucose on a ketogenic low carbohydrate diet--carbs under 20 grams, protein around 80 grams or lower--is generally somewhere in the 70's. With carbs under 20 grams, protein to appetite--probably around 120 grams a day--blood sugar was in the 80's or low 90's.

The highest blood sugar reading I've every had was 169, that was after eating seven bananas. That was sometime in 2013, I was messing around with carb refeeds using bananas. I've tried to do that with other foods like potato or oatmeal, but I seem to find starchy foods unappealing now. So I did the bananas for a while until I made the mistake of checking my blood sugar, and that put an end to that. I never really felt like I got anything extra in my workouts from the bananas, anyways. But very often they did trigger a whoosh, and my weight would be down the next day. Sounds backwards, especially since I went in glycogen-depleted, but that's what happened. If I was just watching the scale, I probably would have stayed with the bananas a bit longer.

But that's a lot of bananas. Maybe 175 grams of sugar?

I used to get reading during workouts as high as the mid-120's, once I went ketogenic, it's usually more in the 90's, that's probably due to physiological insulin resistance. I think things are messy, though. I'm using the term physiological insulin resistance here--but the increase in glucose could be due to lower insulin levels. Low insulin plus high cortisol/adrenaline plus high glycogen stores could equal a higher stress-response glucose output, where the same level of insulin and stress hormones paired with lower liver glycogen stores of a more ketogenic diet could make for higher free fatty acid release/ketone production. So maybe glucose intolerance would be a better phrase, since that's the only thing I can actually measure.

I have been lurking and keeping up with this convo. I had a BG meter but the strips were expensive so I bought a new meter and the strips are.18 a strip. I have been testing today and have been staying in the low to mid 80's so far. I went back into ketosis last evening. I'm tired but guessing its carb flue, when I get weak and shakey I test and still mid 80's.

I hurt my back so laying around on the heating pads most of the day, I have plenty of time to test things.

I don't eat anything in the mornings, just take my meds and water. I was surprised that my morning fasting was the same as my pre-lunch fasting 85. One hour after my LC lunch 82 GB, I guess LC really does work.

Question, what kind of higher BG reading is acceptable? If I were to eat something with onions in it what kind of reading should I be ok with? If I ate 4 md strawberries what kind of reading is acceptable? I want to be able to figure out what I can and cannot eat.

Jacki, according to Jenny Ruhl at www.bloodsugar101.com, truly normal people seldom see readings >120, if ever. Tissue damage is said to start at 140. Normal people squirt out just enough insulin to cover the carbs, and no more, without having to think about how many carbs.

I read the report, thanks. So as long as my BG stays under 120 I can eat the onions and berries? Or do I want to keep it even lower?

Yes, as far as tissue damage from high blood sugars goes it should be fine. What they do for weight gain and/or cravings and/or hunger is a whole other thing and is so individual. You will know better than anyone else.

With my hystery, that is scarey. Wishthey had a direction manual for us but apparently our parents forgot to make that.

Liz, it got wonky on me. Weird, my ketones have been in the 80's all day till after supper. Summer was my egg drop soup but I descided I wanted something else and got out the pork rinds and sour cream. 30 min later I felt my heart beating faster and something wasn't quite right. I checked my BG and it was 82 so all was good on that front. I did some things and 20 min later took my BG again 104, yep, know something was up. Checked it again 30 min later and 107. So, what caused my BG to raise? I can't emagine the pork rinds doing it so guessing it was the sour cream, I'm guessing I ate 3-4 tbsp of it. . . . I did stick 2 pc of SF gum in after supper but can't emagine that causing the issues.

It bothers me that my BG has raised over this bit of. . sour cream?

Edit~ I just put my meals into myPlan and supper ended up containing 40 grams of protien! I'm a bit shocked but the pork rinds do add protien into the mix. Could that have raised my BG?

Not sure what is going on with you either, but 1) does your gum have sugar alcohols? Some people react to them the same as if it was sugar. And 2) the test strips just aren't all that accurate. Maybe the 82 reading was somewhat low and the 104 was somewhat high? Hard to know. Sour cream is a dairy product and dairy products are notorious for a strongly insulinogenic effect.

The bottom line, though, is that it is hard to draw conclusions from one event.

Where's teaser? He might have a good explanation.

I will have to do it again but one at a time with my egg drop soup. I know its not the problem How does one eat 4 tbsp of sour cream to test a theory without something to take it on? Same way with the pork rinds, how do I eat the dry things wihtout sour cream? LOL At least the gum is the easy part. Yes, my gum has sugar alcohols, I believe its 1 per piece and I chew 2 pc at a time.

One thing I can think of that Liz didn't mention is the form the protein came in. If you eat cheese, the protein in it will be more slowly digested than if you had some powdered caseine. Like the difference between eating flour and uncooked wheat, insulin will peak sooner and higher, the more rapidly the food is digested. Pork rinds sort of seems like it would be a fast protein to me, lots of surface are for digestive enzymes to work on. Maybe that did drive insulin up, forcing the release of adrenaline, cortisol to prevent hypoglycemia, the adrenaline causing the increase in heart rate before the blood glucose went up.

Glucose sipping over a long period decreases the amount of insulin needed to handle a given load vs. gulping it. Bodybuilders use both casein and whey protein, because they have different rates of digestion--whey spikes insulin more than casein, because it's a more quickly digested protein. So they use whey when they (I think wrongly) think they need to spike insulin, and caseine at night because they're neurotic about ever going into a negative protein balance, even while sleeping, it lasts longer and spares body protein.

Were they homemade pork rinds or store bought as many store bought have wheat rusk or additional starch.

40g of protein may well be enough to cause a modest bg rise like that anyway.

The pork rinds are store bought, ingrediants are pork skins and salt.

My BG is still up just a bit this morning, I tested it 3 times and its still in the 93-95 range. Not bad but not the low to mid 80's of yesterday. I got woozy before breakfast and it was still 95, obviousely woozy does not always mean low blood sugar.

I find it facinating that I knew something was wrong before my blood sugar raised last night. I would have figured that it would have raised then I would have felt the effects. I'm intrested to see how long it takes to get my BG back into the mid 80"s, I had figured it would have been normal come this morning. I had 3 strips of floppy bacon and 1 fried egg for breakfast and my drink with a bouilin cube and Nusalt for breakfast. Will test my BG in a bit. Kinda weird but also kinda fun in a way. Please don't judge me