Hi Laker and welcome to the Diabetes Forum! You hit the nail on the head when you said there are different opinions on blood sugar levels depending on whom you're talking to. Different doctors, different medical associations, your neighbor on one side vs. your neighbor on the other side and your mom.
Most doctors are looking for fasting to be under 100, yet non-diabetics' fasting will almost always be in the 80's. Look through the website whose link is in my signature and you'll find lots of information about
blood sugar and there is also a search box so you can look for different things.
A blood sugar reading of 120 is elevated and not critical. In fact, doctors and ER personnel often see readings in the 200s, 300s, 400s and higher so to them 120 is almost normal but it is elevated as I said. A non-diabetic's blood sugar might get to 120 after a high-carb meal but then it would quickly go back to what normal really is: in the 80s. However, doctors have higher goals for their patients and accept higher blood sugar readings within limits compared to what a non-diabetic's reading would be.
In the stickies at the top of our forum you can read what affects blood sugar: illness, some medication, anxiety, carbs in food and drink, eating too much food at one time even if the food is not carb-laden, not eating breakfast and testing later in the morning (I'll explain this later.), being too heavy, being too sedentary, heredity, pregnancy. Lots of things as you can see.
Food that raises blood sugar: anything with sugar, honey, maple syrup, anything with grains including corn, potatoes, rice, carrots and other root veggies, fruit in any form, legumes (beans) but unsweetened peanut butter seems to work better for us.
about
fasting for longer than 8 or 12 hours: There is a point which differs in each person at which blood sugar starts to rise by itself if he or she doesn't eat. This is actually a good mechanism which helps us take on the day until we can get some food. If our blood sugar gets TOO low, we can faint or feel dizzy and that's obviously bad. Normally, if we don't eat for about
10 hours because we've eaten dinner and we go to sleep, our blood sugar gets to a 'normal' low point which averages in the 80s in non-diabetics. But at some point later than 10 or 12 hours in probably everyone, their blood sugar will start to rise so they don't faint. This will last only so long and then that person really does need to eat. This is why a fasting test could be skewed if you fast 10 hours or longer.
Another way to mess up your fasting test is to exercise before or run to your fasting appointment. This activity will cause a temporary rise in blood sugar as your body tries to give itself some energy.
Here are some random thoughts: I don't know how Lyme Disease affects blood sugar so I can't comment on that. Carbs in any food or drink will raise blood sugar, as I wrote. Pure alcohol like wine, vodka, gin will actually lower blood sugar but a mixed drink with sugar will raise it. Fortified wine like Porto, sherry, vermouth will raise it. Check out the carbs in beer. Breading on food or pie crusts will raise it because of the carbs in the flour/breading. (Bye bye KFC and not because of the fat. It's the breading.) Protein does not raise it so meats, poultry and fish are great to eat. Fruit raises blood sugar. (You can find all the nutrients in fruits in colorful vegetables.)
So, that 120 is elevated. Was it fasting? Or, was it random?
I think your GP is right about
fasting longer than 8 to 12 hours, according to what I've read.