Blood Glucose Monitoring

[nh0408]

Hi Guys,
I was diagnosed with T2 in October 17 and mostly its been going well. I was originally on Metformin x 4 which worked ok until I started having issues. Meds have recently been tweaked again so now I'm on Metformin x1, Sitagliptin x 1, Gliclazide x 1. Doc has also advised Blood Testing twice a day but hasnt said when. I feel like I've not got much GP support sadly. Can you guys help and advise when I should be doing this testing. I've downloaded a chart to tell me what the numbers mean. Many thanks

 

[DaveB]

In general you should test 2 hours after a meal and if you have enough strips just before the meal as well so you can see the before and after effect.

 

[Sally71]

I think first thing in the morning is a good one because it shows your levels when you haven’t eaten for a few hours. There’s not much point testing 2 hours after food unless you also test before you eat so that you can see the difference. You are aiming for a rise of not more than 3 mmol/l after food.

 

[Kaylz]

Seen as your on Gliclazide and it can cause hypo's, if you drive then I'd test before driving too xx

 

[helli]

In general you should test 2 hours after a meal and if you have enough strips just before the meal as well so you can see the before and after effect.

My understanding is that this is great when starting out to decide what foods/meals suit someone with type 2. But once they have determined (and removed from their diet) the food has greatest impact on blood sugars, testing this many times per day may be over the top.
Some people still like to continue with this but when your GP advises twice a day, it is unlikely you will be prescribed enough strips for this.

(As an aside, for someone with Type 1 diabetes, it is different as most "fast acting" insulins take at least 4 hours so the retesting after 2 hours is a moot point.)