First Time Testing @ Home

[I_Hate_This]

So 1-2 hours after eating I just tested for the first time (have had a home testing kit since I got diagnosed in November but too scared to use it) and I’m at ‘10.3’
I had 2 slices of seeded small loaf bread, butter and coffee (if that’s relevant?)
I don’t know if this is concerning or not, I also don’t know how relevant this is as I know the Hba1c is an average of 3 months whereas this is an instant reading of right now and I am not on medication.
Can anyone enlighten me without scaring me

 

[bulkbiker]

For me that would demonstrate that eating 2 slices of bread is not a good idea.

I would also have tested before eating to see what my level was, then I could see how much the bread had spiked my blood glucose.

Might also be an idea to be more regimented with testing times. Most people test before eating and then at 2 hours to see what the meal had done to their glucose levels. If you are still more than 2 mmol/l above your pre meal level then something in that meal is best avoided (usually the carbs).

 

[I_Hate_This]

For me that would demonstrate that eating 2 slices of bread is not a good idea.

I would also have tested before eating to see what my level was, then I could see how much the bread had spiked my blood glucose.

Might also be an idea to be more regimented with testing times. Most people test before eating and then at 2 hours to see what the meal had done to their glucose levels. If you are still more than 2 mmol/l above your pre meal level then something in that meal is best avoided (usually the carbs).

Thank you for this. In hindsight probably not useful as I didn’t test before the meal as you said!
I just wanted an idea of what it was and what to expect in my Hba1c results but I guess at home testing wouldn’t really give you an idea.. or would it?!

 

[Docb]

How are you with graphs? The graph above is a summary of my data which I am more than happy to share. What it shows is my average blood blood glucose as it varied through the day over the last 90 days. I usually have an early lunch at about 11:00 am and you can see that for the next couple of hours my blood glucose goes up to 10 or thereabouts. It comes down and is at its lowest when I have tea at about 4:00pm. From this profile I would quite confidently expect a HbA1c of 48 or so if one were taken today.

So for me a 10 after lunch - home made cauliflower, carrot and celery soup and a plate of bits and pieces of which the only significant carbs were four small crackers and an orange - would be what I would expect and would be quite happy with.

As I say, that is me, how, when and what I eat, my particular circumstances and attitudes to things and should not be treated as a some sort of target but as reflecting one person's perspective.

 

[bulkbiker]

what to expect in my Hba1c results but I guess at home testing wouldn’t really give you an idea.. or would it?!

It could give you a rough idea but you'd need to test a lot.
I use home testing to keep an eye on my levels and check that what I am eating is doing me good rather than harm.

But that's just me..

 

[I_Hate_This]

This is really helpful. Thank you so much for sharing. Would I be correct in thinking then, that the only way testing at home would give an accurate description of what your Hba1c would maybe be, is if you test daily and before/after meals to get your average?
I guess testing after toast for the first time wasn’t the best idea?!

 

[bulkbiker]

This is really helpful. Thank you so much for sharing. Would I be correct in thinking then, that the only way testing at home would give an accurate description of what your Hba1c would maybe be, is if you test daily and before/after meals to get your average?
I guess testing after toast for the first time wasn’t the best idea?!

Testing with finger pricks will never really give you an "accurate" reflection of HbA1c as you won't get any data from when you are asleep for example. There are apps that you can input the data into but they often aren't all that accurate.

 

[Docb]

Testing with finger pricks will never really give you an "accurate" reflection of HbA1c as you won't get any data from when you are asleep for example. There are apps that you can input the data into but they often aren't all that accurate.

I am inclined not to fully support that. I have quite good correlations between HbA1c and both BG and waking BG when averaged over the 90 days prior to the HbA1c. Hence my confidence in my predicting my current HbA1c from the profile in the graph.

As I have said before, I would love to get data from others to see how they fit with my data but none (as yet) have been forthcoming.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

This is really helpful. Thank you so much for sharing. Would I be correct in thinking then, that the only way testing at home would give an accurate description of what your Hba1c would maybe be, is if you test daily and before/after meals to get your average?
I guess testing after toast for the first time wasn’t the best idea?!

It depends on what you test for.
I just used to chase highs.
(Ignoring them, obviously)
Everyone goes up and down.

 

[Dave_Z1a]

Home testing is most useful determining what gives you unacceptable spikes, what you can tolerate to eat, how to mix different food and drink groups to flatten the curve so to speak, for me its a useful tool and companion. Naturally the more readings you take the greater the accuracy of the daily graph the machine creates. My unit will show me averages over the past week, 14 days and so on up to 90 days. The phone software uses this information along with other data it collects, i.e. mealtimes, physical characteristics and no doubt a hoast of other factors to translate this into a predicted HBA1C result which is surprisingly accurate but not exact. It generally reports it will be a couple of m/mols per mol less than the lab result. This is not a problem as its consistent, so by just adding two points to its prediction I know whats coming!
What I do find annoying is that I can modify rogue results in the softaware, i.e. forgeting to wash hands and testing after I have just scavenged sticky plates and dishes from my daughters bedroom, but can't in the machine. After ringing to complain they tell me they disabled the feature so people couldn't cheat!
So don't be scared, the meter is your friend, it helped me a lot when learning, now I don't use it so much as I know the carb content of pretty much anything off by heart, took me about a year. What I do know for sure as almost ANY bread is a carb disaster, well its not the breads fault, its the flour - bad news, even commercial low carb breads can only manage about 7 carbs a slice, and hence that applies to anything with flour in it. I use a low carb seeded brown bread, 1.5 carbs a slice.
May I suggest you try the carb and calorie counter paperback book, its was really useful to me in the early days as a pictorial reference, some of the listings will surprise you!