Tylenol and blood glucose readings

[BabyTee]

About 5 or 6 weeks post-transplant I noticed that my blood draw would indicate my blood sugar was 92, but when I got home it was 138. Those were about 20 min apart (only drinking water in between). I decided to consult Dr Google about this inconsistency.

I found an article that said with the blood sugar meters you and I use, as well as the continuous glucose meters will give readings of blood sugars higher than they actually are when we take Tylenol. The article said that the small sample sizes used, as well as the less expensive test materials are more easily affected by medications, whereas the lab draws use a larger sample size and more expensive equipment make the results from the lab more reliable. Tylenol also affects all of the continuous glucose meters currently available in the US (Freestyle Libre, Dexcom, and Medtronic).

At this point I was using 500 to 1000mg/day only when I walked, which was right before I had my blood drawn. I was off Tylenol at 7 weeks, except when I overdo it by doing something I forget that I should not be doing.

I have found that since I stopped the Tylenol, I am within 15 points of the lab value, usually higher. Which is within the tolerance allowed by the FDA. Before it was 30-50 mg/dL higher. (I took my glucose meter with me to the lab to verify).

I have not researched this a lot, but if you find some funny glucose readings, I thought I'd send you down this road to do your own research.... or do your own test, like I did.

[Sammi_n_Munk]

Wow!!!! This is very interesting! I have also found in the past, when I take Tylenol, that my glucose would go up when I checked it, but it really shouldn’t have, as there was no reason for it. I thought it was just something wrong with me. If you still have the link to that article, would you please post it here? I’d love to read up on that. Even if you remember what the article is titled, please do post it here and I can Google it. Thanks so much for this info! God bless. 😊👍🙏

[BabyTee in reply to Sammi_n_Munk]

uptodate.com/contents/blood...

I can't find the article I originally read. This is a different article instead. It is an easier read, though.

I also did a little more research, and it seems the latest Dexcom allows you to take 500mg every 6 hours for an accurate reading. (I was wrong)

From Accu-Chek's website:

accu-chek.com/tools-tech/bl....

"if you are anemic or dehydrated, your results may not be as accurate as someone with normal blood cell level counts."

"Drugs like acetaminophen, dopamine, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), and mannitol can significantly affect the accuracy of some glucose meters. "

[Sammi_n_Munk in reply to BabyTee]

Thank you for these. I didn’t know that vitamin C and acetaminophen could do that. Gee. I appreciate this very much BabyTee! 😊👍

[BabyTee in reply to Sammi_n_Munk]

I also didn't know that anemia could affect blood sugar. I am almost back to normal hemacrit and ferritin, 9 weeks after transplant. That might have been my problem, and not the Tylenol, like I originally thought.