Should I invest in a glucose testing kit

[Lbobs]

wow well since unexpected diagnosis at lunch time yesterday I have been through a roller coaster of emotions but woke up feeling much more positive this morning - thanks to this forum

Been having a read of some older posts and looked at some resources provided

I think I am understanding a bit more about t2 now and going to get stuck into healthy eating - for years I have been saying that carbs don’t do me any favours weight / health wise so t2 doing me a favour in that regard

Anyway just wondered if you would recommend I get straight into glucose testing or wait to see my gp again (docs are a nightmare to get appointments at so likely be waiting some time) although I am sensing my gp unlikely to offer kit anyway

Thanks you !!

 

[Eddy Edson]

Go for it, I'd say. Self-testing IMO is the only way to get a handle on what food does what to you - everybody's different & anything you hear about food from other people may or may not apply to you. And it will probably give you confidence that you can get the thing under control.

 

[Ljc]

I agree go for it. You see diabetes is very individual, some people are fine with Some foods ie porridge others have to avoid it like the plague and without self testing you wouldn’t know .
Sadly it’s very unlikely that you will be provided with a glucose meter and test strips. When you ask for one, it’s very likely you’ll be told no, you only need the Hb1ac or even some very strange reasons why they won’t.
If this is the case and you want to test then it’s ongoing cost of the test strips you need to watch, brand that you can buy in chemists cost £15 + for a pot of 20 , the SD Codefree meter test strips are £8 for a pot of 50
You will need to buy more test strips as you test before you eat then two hours after starting to eat, you also need one box of lancets.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Codefree-G...fm-21&linkId=f39210144fdc26c27738e45b6d957003

If you haven’t already read them on here, have a read of
maggie-daveys-letter-to-newly-diagnosed-type-2s
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html

http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html By Alan S

You’ll find the above and more at the top of the newbies forum on the tread called, Useful links for people new to diabetes, just scroll down to the T2 section


How are you feeling now. My diagnosis came as a shock too , it sure comes as a shock doesn’t it.

 

[Lbobs]

I agree go for it. You see diabetes is very individual, some people are fine with Some foods ie porridge others have to avoid it like the plague and without self testing you wouldn’t know .
Sadly it’s very unlikely that you will be provided with a glucose meter and test strips. When you ask for one, it’s very likely you’ll be told no, you only need the Hb1ac or even some very strange reasons why they won’t.
If this is the case and you want to test then it’s ongoing cost of the test strips you need to watch, brand that you can buy in chemists cost £15 + for a pot of 20 , the SD Codefree meter test strips are £8 for a pot of 50
You will need to buy more test strips as you test before you eat then two hours after starting to eat, you also need one box of lancets.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Codefree-G...fm-21&linkId=f39210144fdc26c27738e45b6d957003

If you haven’t already read them on here, have a read of
maggie-daveys-letter-to-newly-diagnosed-type-2s
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html

http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html By Alan S

You’ll find the above and more at the top of the newbies forum on the tread called, Useful links for people new to diabetes, just scroll down to the T2 section


How are you feeling now. My diagnosis came as a shock too , it sure comes as a shock doesn’t it.

Many thanks - I think I will order the kit and extra strips to get started straight away - thanks very much for the links and advice

 

[Andy HB]

Many thanks - I think I will order the kit and extra strips to get started straight away - thanks very much for the links and advice

When I was diagnosed (back in 2009. An age ago!), I was actually given a meter and strips by the dsn). It was an excellent thing to have and was instrumental in helping me understand which meals were good (and more importantly bad) for me.

There are various ways you can test yourself, depending on how well you are able to control your blood glucose levels. Initially, the before and 2hr after meal tests are probably the most informative. But if your levels improve, it is possible to just test once a day at different times to keep tabs on how things are. That latter method really keeps the costs down and worked for me.

I can give more information on that but won't bore you unless you ask!

Andy

 

[Lbobs]

Thanks Andy - I have just ordered a kit so will be able to start next weekend - I am cutting out carbs from now anyway

More info would be appreciated ! I don’t want to be overwhelmed by testing and if I could limit to morning and then 2 hours after meals to start that would great

 

[Andy HB]

You asked for it! 😉

My DSN gave me blood glucose ranges to try and keep within:

Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/L
2hrs after: 7 to 9 mmol/L
Avoid <4mmol/L (hypo)
Avoid >10mmol/L (hyper)

If I ever went to high, I went for a brisk 30+min walk and retested. It was rare for me to be too low though. But happened when I was on medication.

Another important thing you should try and do is exercise every day. In the early days following diagnosis, I really got on top of this and the results were hugely incouraging! It doesn't have to be anything more than a regular brisk walk. But, build it up slowly though if you aren't used to it. It took me a while to stop feeling like death warmed up initially, but it was worth it.

I was able to come off all medication after six months and am still off them 9 years later (but have to report my control is not as good as it used to be at the moment because I am not exercising regularly and have put a bit of weight back on. But, that is being dealt with again now, bit by bit).

Hope that helps! But bear in mind it isn't the only way! Do what works for you. 🙂

Andy

P.s. I forgot to mention that I only tested once per day ( with the occasional before and after test for particular meals). I varied the time of day each day to try and get an overall picture. Combined with the HBA1c result this was enough for me.

 

[Lbobs]

Fab thanks - really helpful - will let you know how I get on !! I do a bit of exercise already but not every day - getting a dog soon so that will help me on the walking front ! Weight a struggle - I find I have to be ‘on it’ all the time to keep it off so finding out I have t2 is the kick I need - although I appreciate keeping to healthy eating is always the challenge

 

[trophywench]

To begin with though - you do need to test each different carb you happen to eat, to see how your body tolerates it. Once you know that, you know it - so it isn't so crucial to establish how much of this or that you can eat.

 

[Ljc]

Many thanks - I think I will order the kit and extra strips to get started straight away - thanks very much for the links and advice

Don’t forget one box of lancets.

 

[Ralph-YK]

More info would be appreciated ! I don’t want to be overwhelmed by testing and if I could limit to morning and then 2 hours after meals to start that would great

A big reason for testing 2 hours after eating is to see what effect the food has had on your BG. This is, how much it has gone up, down, or not changed at all. To know what the change is you need to know the starting point, so you need to test before eating too.
To limit testing, you could do one meal at a time. For example, for might do just breakfast for a while. Once you think you've got a handle on thing, go on to lunch.

Example:
BG 10 after eating.
Is that a rise or 1. (That's good)
Is that a rise or 5 (Not very good)
Or a drop of 2.

My advice is keep a food diary along with a record of your levels. After two weeks, hopefully you'll see a pattern.

Testing will also show what affect of any changes you make have as well.

 

[CathyB]

Testing is essentially how we work out what food works for us as we are all different 🙂

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Anyway just wondered if you would recommend I get straight into glucose testing or wait to see my gp again (docs are a nightmare to get appointments at so likely be waiting some time) although I am sensing my gp unlikely to offer kit anyway

I think that's true, yes. Though by the looks of Cochrane, https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD005060.pub3/full it looks like there is some support for you doing glucose monitoring early on. I'm guessing that that's because of what others have said, that the tests allow you to see how different foods affect you, and generally get a feel for how other things (like exercise) can change things. (If the effect were strong enough, in a more ideal world that ought to justify the NHS lending CGM kit for a while so you can really see what's happening.)

I'd have thought that kind of idea (that you want to be able to see what various foods and so on do) would fly with a reasonable DSN or GP, and that kind of testing ought to be uncontroversial? (So 50 test strips a month or something.) Even though they probably don't generally want you testing.

(More generally, while the evidence might show that testing doesn't typically help with Type 2, I'd have thought that would change for the subset that ask whether they ought to invest in equipment for testing. Those sorts of people would presumably be a bit happier to be supported in doing it.)

 

[Deleted member 21371]

Thanks Andy - I have just ordered a kit so will be able to start next weekend - I am cutting out carbs from now anyway

More info would be appreciated ! I don’t want to be overwhelmed by testing and if I could limit to morning and then 2 hours after meals to start that would great

Forget the morning.

Focus on the effect a meal has on you.
Depending on budget, test before a meal, then two hours after.
You'll find meals that raise you more than others, and meals that don't

Don't get hung up on numbers though.
You are looking for information on trends at this stage.

When you have the information, then you can come up with a strategy.

(Why are you cutting out carbs? Is that all carbs?
That is possible I believe, but is mostly a meat only diet)

 

[Lbobs]

I think that's true, yes. Though by the looks of Cochrane, https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD005060.pub3/full it looks like there is some support for you doing glucose monitoring early on. I'm guessing that that's because of what others have said, that the tests allow you to see how different foods affect you, and generally get a feel for how other things (like exercise) can change things. (If the effect were strong enough, in a more ideal world that ought to justify the NHS lending CGM kit for a while so you can really see what's happening.)

I'd have thought that kind of idea (that you want to be able to see what various foods and so on do) would fly with a reasonable DSN or GP, and that kind of testing ought to be uncontroversial? (So 50 test strips a month or something.) Even though they probably don't generally want you testing.

(More generally, while the evidence might show that testing doesn't typically help with Type 2, I'd have thought that would change for the subset that ask whether they ought to invest in equipment for testing. Those sorts of people would presumably be a bit happier to be supported in doing it.)

Interesting article ! Thank you!

 

[Lbobs]

T

Forget the morning.

Focus on the effect a meal has on you.
Depending on budget, test before a meal, then two hours after.
You'll find meals that raise you more than others, and meals that don't

Don't get hung up on numbers though.
You are looking for information on trends at this stage.

When you have the information, then you can come up with a strategy.

(Why are you cutting out carbs? Is that all carbs?
That is possible I believe, but is mostly a meat only diet)

thanks - still waiting for test kit to arrive. I am cutting carbs because having done Lchf eating previously I know it helps with weight loss and generally makes me feel better - by cutting carbs I meant bread , rice pasta, potatoes - I appreciate there are carbs in lots of other food too and I am trying to reduce those as well - but early days ! although removing bread etc is a good start!

 

[Drummer]

Thanks Andy - I have just ordered a kit so will be able to start next weekend - I am cutting out carbs from now anyway

More info would be appreciated ! I don’t want to be overwhelmed by testing and if I could limit to morning and then 2 hours after meals to start that would great

If you start off testing before and after meals you will get a lot more information about what you can or can't eat.
I aimed to get no more than 2 whole numbers increase and stay below 8 after eating.
By reducing and eliminating foods I got to the under 8 fairly fast, I got such consistent readings that I did not test in the mornings at all, then just checked after dinner once in a while. Soon I did not need to check at all unless I ate something not checked before.
A long period of under testing gives you nothing to work on, testing to a plan and getting the information you need to lower your levels is going to show you the way to go.

 

[Ralph-YK]

As diabetic we've to manage carbs. It's not food that raises BG. It's carb in particular raises it. We can still eat some. How much and which is the issue. This is where the self testing comes in.

 

[HOBIE]

wow well since unexpected diagnosis at lunch time yesterday I have been through a roller coaster of emotions but woke up feeling much more positive this morning - thanks to this forum

Been having a read of some older posts and looked at some resources provided

I think I am understanding a bit more about t2 now and going to get stuck into healthy eating - for years I have been saying that carbs don’t do me any favours weight / health wise so t2 doing me a favour in that regard

Anyway just wondered if you would recommend I get straight into glucose testing or wait to see my gp again (docs are a nightmare to get appointments at so likely be waiting some time) although I am sensing my gp unlikely to offer kit anyway

Thanks you !!

YES ! And good luck 😎