getting ready to test...

[LisaLQ]

...when my glucose monitor arrives, I'll be starting to self monitor. I'm diet controlled, and dont need to check all the time, just want to know my diet's on track.

Can someone remind me of the basics? My old monitoring diary from when I was on insulin (gestational - 7 years ago) I tested morning and 1 hour post meals, but obviously that's far too often for now. I had to keep my levels between 4 and 5.5 fasting, and 4 to 7.5 an hour after meals.

So now as a type 2, when should I test, and what levels should I be looking at or aiming for?

Incidentally, I pinched my nephew's new glucose monitor to show him how it works, and tested pre-lunch today and I was 5.8 (5 hours post breakfast). Dont know if that's good or bad but I was chuffed, considering his was 9.8, he'd not eaten (although he'd had lucozade which will explain it) and he's not diabetic! 😛

 

[sofaraway]

Type 2 diabetes (NICE 2008)

* Before meals: 4-7mmol/L
* Two hours after meals: less than 8.5mmols/L

http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to...ng/Blood_glucose/Blood-glucose-target-ranges/

This is what NICE and DUK reccommend, so is a good place to start if you haven't had any targets from your team, which as they say you shouldn't need to test I guess is the case.

Testing at different times of the day will help give you and overall picture of what is happening. You don't need to test at all the times every day.

Whe I first started testing I didn't really test for a purpose I just tested so I had some results to show my consultant. So what I would say is make sure each test has a reason.

 

[Steff]

I test before breakfast and 1 hour after my evening meal i aim for 5-7 both times, allowing at evening a slight rise to no more then 7.5 .This is just my personal regime others may differ, good luck with it all Lisa xx

 

[Old Holborn]

...when my glucose monitor arrives, I'll be starting to self monitor. I'm diet controlled, and dont need to check all the time, just want to know my diet's on track.

Can someone remind me of the basics? My old monitoring diary from when I was on insulin (gestational - 7 years ago) I tested morning and 1 hour post meals, but obviously that's far too often for now. I had to keep my levels between 4 and 5.5 fasting, and 4 to 7.5 an hour after meals.

So now as a type 2, when should I test, and what levels should I be looking at or aiming for?

Incidentally, I pinched my nephew's new glucose monitor to show him how it works, and tested pre-lunch today and I was 5.8 (5 hours post breakfast). Dont know if that's good or bad but I was chuffed, considering his was 9.8, he'd not eaten (although he'd had lucozade which will explain it) and he's not diabetic! 😛

I Baseline test twice a week, usually Wed & Sat. DN would only let me have a box of strips twice a year.

 

[LisaLQ]

Mine wont let me have any at all, but I'm not happy waiting for 6 monthly HbA1c tests, especially not now I've had the letter saying I have the beginnings of retinopathy so soon after diagnosis.

I've still not been back to the docs yet since that though - and am going to give my GP a go, see if he'll prescribe them, but I think it's unlikely he'd go against what the nurse said.

I'm actually a bit peed off - as my nephew was told today he can have all the test strips he needs (and rightly so) - but he's not diabetic. Basically he gets hypo when he's ill (originally diagnosed as ketotic hypoglycaemia but he's not had an official diagnosis yet) which is a big deal if he's ill, obviously he needs the strips and should get them. But then he's unlikely to cost the NHS as much as a diabetic in test strips, as he'll only test if he's ill. Not every day.

Incidentally, is 5.8 so long after a meal good or bad? Or is it a case of not enough info to say (eg. timing was crap)?

I skipped lunch though - not because of that, just not hungry. So either way it'll be back down now.

 

[sofaraway]

5.8 is a good result at any time of the day

 

[Steff]

Agree with sofaraway 5.8 is good in anyones book

 

[Old Holborn]

Incidentally, is 5.8 so long after a meal good or bad? Or is it a case of not enough info to say (eg. timing was crap)?

Nearly every advert for a meter has 5.8 on the screen so I expect it's good.

 

[LisaLQ]

Oh good, so that chinese last night had no effect on me 😛😎

Edited to add - it would be interesting to see what my blood levels are now. Maybe I'm not diabetic after all, with my diagnosis level being so low and hba1c, maybe it was just my diet was so bad that my levels were up and now I am eating better?

 

[Peter C]

Oh good, so that chinese last night had no effect on me 😛😎

Edited to add - it would be interesting to see what my blood levels are now. Maybe I'm not diabetic after all, with my diagnosis level being so low and hba1c, maybe it was just my diet was so bad that my levels were up and now I am eating better?

the 7.8 fbg you scored at diagnosis wasn't "low" it was just diabetic. the diagniostic tests for T2 diabetes are designed to be all-or-nothing. The 7.8 doesn't tell you that you are "just" diabetic or caught early , it just tells you you are diabetic.
Remember the Fbg for an undiagnosed T2 is going to be the best figure of the day - at 7.8 your postprandials must have been well into the teens.
The 7.8 just showed that you couldn't even cope when you had had nowt to eat for 12 hours.
Your fbg will probably be fluctuating every morning depending on how many carbs you had the evening before and the strength of your Dawn phenomenon.
The really amusing thing is that you were told you were "borderline diabetic" two years ago - that's like telling a woman she is "borderline pregnant". Did nobody think to test it out then with a OGTT ?
If in doubt about your diagnosius do a self testing OGTT when you get your meter. Drink 100 ml of lucoizade ( i think that's the amount required) and test at 1 hour and 2 hours. Between 7 and 11 at two hours is IGT ( Impaired Glucose Tolerance) and 11.1 or over at 2 hours is Type 2 diabets.

 

[SilentAssassin1642]

the 7.8 fbg you scored at diagnosis wasn't "low" it was just diabetic. the diagniostic tests for T2 diabetes are designed to be all-or-nothing. The 7.8 doesn't tell you that you are "just" diabetic or caught early , it just tells you you are diabetic.
Remember the Fbg for an undiagnosed T2 is going to be the best figure of the day - at 7.8 your postprandials must have been well into the teens.
The 7.8 just showed that you couldn't even cope when you had had nowt to eat for 12 hours.
Your fbg will probably be fluctuating every morning depending on how many carbs you had the evening before and the strength of your Dawn phenomenon.
The really amusing thing is that you were told you were "borderline diabetic" two years ago - that's like telling a woman she is "borderline pregnant". Did nobody think to test it out then with a OGTT ?
If in doubt about your diagnosius do a self testing OGTT when you get your meter. Drink 100 ml of lucoizade ( i think that's the amount required) and test at 1 hour and 2 hours. Between 7 and 11 at two hours is IGT ( Impaired Glucose Tolerance) and 11.1 or over at 2 hours is Type 2 diabets.

i wouldn't suggest doing this without medical supervision...

 

[LisaLQ]

Sorry I came across as a complete idiot - just wishful thinking I suppose.

My bloods a few years ago (it was actually longer than 2 years, I forgot how quickly time flies when you have triplets!) were around 6-point-something. I believe prediabetic is the correct term, borderline would be mine, I'm not medically trained so forgive me for getting it wrong. 😉

That would be completely my fault, although I'm sure you'd like to pin it on the docs, Peter, that was my "whoops" 😛

 

[Peter C]

i wouldn't suggest doing this without medical supervision...

Hi there SP,
even when a supected T2 has a kosher OGTT it isn't done under medical supervision. A Doc or nurse doesn't perform it, just a technician who mixes the drink, and tests at 1 hour and 2 hours.

Plenty of T2s self administer the lucozade test, after all for a T2 not on medication, it's hardly more dangerous than eating a bowl of cereal.

 

[SilentAssassin1642]

Hi there SP,
even when a supected T2 has a kosher OGTT it isn't done under medical supervision. A Doc or nurse doesn't perform it, just a technician who mixes the drink, and tests at 1 hour and 2 hours.

Plenty of T2s self administer the lucozade test, after all for a T2 not on medication, it's hardly more dangerous than eating a bowl of cereal.

pffft


still, don't attempt it without medical ADVICE. dangerous or not y'know. None of us on here are qualified doctors or whatever, so its not really our place to say 'do this' or 'do that' now is it?
not being horrible. just saying

p.s. SP sounds cool

 

[Peter C]

Sorry I came across as a complete idiot - just wishful thinking I suppose.

You didn't come across as an idiot , just as a newbie T2 setting off on a long educational journey.

On your 5.8 five hours after a meal, are you sure you didn't have a milky drink, tea, coffee or a nibble in that period that could have contributed to that number ?

 

[Carina1962]

I am like you LisaLQ, same FBG and same HbA1c and my DN and GP won't let me have test strips - i buy them cheaper on ebay. Although diabetes is rife in my family history, I was still shocked to discover i was diabetic as 12 months before i had a FBG of 6 and my GP told me i was fine so it was alwayas at the back of my mind to change my lifestyle to avoid diabetes i never quite managed it in time, if i had i would probably have avoided diabetes for maybe 10 years or so, who knows. Anyway, i have lost nearly 2 stones in weight and have changed my diet (carb counting and going partly vegetarian) and my blood sugars are improving, definately my FBG have, they used to be in the high 7's to low 8's but have now got them down to low to mid 6's.

 

[LisaLQ]

You didn't come across as an idiot , just as a newbie T2 setting off on a long educational journey.

On your 5.8 five hours after a meal, are you sure you didn't have a milky drink, tea, coffee or a nibble in that period that could have contributed to that number ?

No, I'm recovering from yesterdays travel and last nights pain relief, so I got up at 7am with the kids, had brekkie (special k), went back to bed when the kids went to school, and didnt wake up til lunchtime. That's the downside to being on heavy duty pain relief alongside this diabetes, if it wasn't for my alarm I could sleep through til the next day.

Maybe it's that lack of doing anything today that contributed. Although yesterday I did haul a suitcase and two bags across Leeds town centre without crutches or pain relief, in the rain, after a 3.5 hour coach trip! 😛

 

[LisaLQ]

I am like you LisaLQ, same FBG and same HbA1c and my DN and GP won't let me have test strips - i buy them cheaper on ebay. Although diabetes is rife in my family history, I was still shocked to discover i was diabetic as 12 months before i had a FBG of 6 and my GP told me i was fine so it was alwayas at the back of my mind to change my lifestyle to avoid diabetes i never quite managed it in time, if i had i would probably have avoided diabetes for maybe 10 years or so, who knows. Anyway, i have lost nearly 2 stones in weight and have changed my diet (carb counting and going partly vegetarian) and my blood sugars are improving, definately my FBG have, they used to be in the high 7's to low 8's but have now got them down to low to mid 6's.

It's uncanny Carina, we both had the same blood results, and now the same weight loss (2 stones)!

It was always at the back of my mind too - but I just assumed it wouldn't happen so soon. I didn't know that I was pretty much guaranteed T2 with having the gestational too - knew the risks were increased, but that I'd be told before it got near. But then if you dont go for your blood tests because you were scared, you cant complain, I guess (which is what I did)! 😱

 

[am64]

You didn't come across as an idiot , just as a newbie T2 setting off on a long educational journey.

On your 5.8 five hours after a meal, are you sure you didn't have a milky drink, tea, coffee or a nibble in that period that could have contributed to that number ?

hold on ....5.8 after 5hrs is good bs well done lisa!

 

[LisaLQ]

Just a quick update to this - my free bg monitor arrived today (PINK!) and as well as the usual 10 freebie strips they sent out a tub of 50, so I just have to pick up some extra lancets and I'm ready to go.

Not been too well this week so dont know how that'll affect the results, but I'm starting in the morning.

Just out of interest, is there somewhere I can print off a chart/diary to fill in or can someone show me an example of theirs so I can knock one up in Word?