Great insight there from Pat

And it will apply to me as well as I get older

The "game" is to try and kick the "complications can" further down the road and if we can kick it far enough then it will never become an issue

While the Heart is damaged by high blood sugar it is a pretty touch character on it's own and can take some abuse

It can take 15 or 20 years of sustained higher blood sugars to make it a "deadly problem"

If I live to be 80 then maybe I'm not going to worry about what this Pizza is going to do to my blood sugar because if I have been otherwise somewhat well controlled and have no signs of heart disease or kidney disease or dementia "YET" I likely won't live long enough for it to develop

So I can "relax" my sugar control somewhat

And that is in fact the guidance in the medical community

Diagnosed in your 50's or younger you should really shoot for Sub-6 A1C's as long as you can. By the time you get to your 70's then an A1C of 7.5, 8.0 or even 8.5 in some patients is "totally fine" because the Beast will never get you unless you live beyond 100 years

As Pat notes anytime you exceed "your range" it's a spike

Clinically a spike would be any reading above 7.8 mmols/140 which is the upper edge of "normal"

With the caveat, everyone including non-diabetics "spike" after eating X number of carbs but the difference is the "sugar eaters" system kicks in and knocks the spike back down in an hour or so

That is why Diabetics test 1.5 or 2 hours after (the first bite) to see if we have knocked down the "spike" sufficiently (with or without meds) into the normal range again

So "spiking" is OK for about an hour, but if you haven't "peaked out" and fallen back into your normal range within 1 1/2 to 2 hours you have a problem that needs to be addressed

Reduce the portion size "next time" if it was a single meal, but if it's a common thing then meds should be added or adjusted

Staying above range for more than 3 or 4 hours a day total causes damage to our vascular systems and the damage is cumulative - so keeping sustained spikes to a minimum will keep you alive longer with better function

I am currently panicking as my average bs is 8.5.whereas three months ago it was 6.0.I put it down to the fortisip food supplement prescribed when i wasn 't eating( continued for two months after discharge).The prescription runs out shortly and i know i can decrease my average then.

The answer varies cos your bs is variable.the higher your bs before eating the less rise can cause a spike..For me at advanced age,my acceptable range is 4-10/72-180 although i try hard to stay below 8.5/149 which is diabetes UK advised - not such tight control as Henry or Graham.

Any number that takes you above the maximum in your acceptable range