getting use to it

[Anji53]

sucks doesnt it im 49 and feel like the worlds about to cave in .doesnt help with so much contradictory advice and just tried my first blood monotir test and couldnt draw enough blood.holes all over me ha

Yes it does! The contradictory advice makes my head spin. I read something and think yes! I understand but the next thing I read says the opposite.
when my BG dropped to 34 my diabetic nurse told me to go away and have a sandwich! I just don’t trust the advice I’m given Can’t get an answer as to what my readings should be

 

[Dragonheart]

thanks martin do u put the blood on the top of the strip or the bottom is their a correct way to put the stip in ie certain way up .very tough when i cant see shise lol

I think of it as a scoop. Slide the end of the strip with a central groove into the blood drop from the side and it should suck up towards the meter.

 

[Dragonheart]

Can’t get an answer as to what my readings should be

Checking your blood sugar levels

Knowing your blood sugar levels helps you manage your diabetes and reduces your risk of having serious complications – now and in the future. What are blood sugar levels? Your blood sugar levels, also known as blood glucose levels, are a measurement that show how much glucose you have in your...

www.diabetes.org.uk

In the morning and before eating between 4 and 7mmol would be a normal non diabetic level. Ideally less than 2mmol higher 2hrs after a meal than you were before that meal. A non diabetic would usually return to their baseline in that time so this is a rough attempt to mimic a normal response. Adjust the meal, carb wise, to head towards this goal. It might take a while. You didn’t become diabetic overnight and won’t get back to normal overnight. It’s a marathon not a sprint.

A reading of 7.8 consistently (impossible to be totally stable in practice but in theory…..) would equate to the 48mmol diagnostic level. They choose that level as that is the point complications resulting from high blood glucose rise in frequency. So ideally you want to spend the bulk of your day below that level even if you briefly rise about it just after meals. It is normal to rise after meals even for non diabetics. The difference lies in how much higher and for how long.

 

[Anji53]

Checking your blood sugar levels

Knowing your blood sugar levels helps you manage your diabetes and reduces your risk of having serious complications – now and in the future. What are blood sugar levels? Your blood sugar levels, also known as blood glucose levels, are a measurement that show how much glucose you have in your...

www.diabetes.org.uk

In the morning and before eating between 4 and 7mmol would be a normal non diabetic level. Ideally less than 2mmol higher 2hrs after a meal than you were before that meal. A non diabetic would usually return to their baseline in that time so this is a rough attempt to mimic a normal response. Adjust the meal, carb wise, to head towards this goal. It might take a while. You didn’t become diabetic overnight and won’t get back to normal overnight. It’s a marathon not a sprint.

A reading of 7.8 consistently (impossible to be totally stable in practice but in theory…..) would equate to the 48mmol diagnostic level. They choose that level as that is the point complications resulting from high blood glucose rise in frequency. So ideally you want to spend the bulk of your day below that level even if you briefly rise about it just after meals. It is normal to rise after meals even for non diabetics. The difference lies in how much higher and for how long.

Thank you that is so clear and easy to understand

 

[Anji53]

Well took the plunge and tested this morning 5.3. Had breakfast and will test again two hours later

 

[dan74uk]

yes thats a hell of a hike.im bitter because had i known i was in prediabetes i wud have been down that gym .weve checked keytones and they are ok .it may have something to do with my nlood test been in an afternoon no fasting after 3 bottles of fanta to quosh thirst .i ate so many lollies and drinks that week im not surprised.but if no one tells you your at risk even when they have readings and living with anxiety about other things no wonder its high .i dont feel unwell far from it apart from the blindness

Can I just check you went from 47 in February to 113 in September? That’s a huge jump in a short space of time for a type 2 unless there’s an obvious reason (serious carb heavy diet, illnesses or medications). Please have the discussion with you dr about this and ask if they have tested to check for type 1 and if not why not (and ask for the discussions to be documented in your notes).

It’s easy to assume type 2 but many adult type 1 are initially misdiagnosed. I’m not trying to scare you but if you feel unwell please don’t ignore it. Call 111 and tell them you are a newly diagnosed diabetic with very high hba1c and seek advice regarding DKA. It’s worth getting some ketone wee sticks from the chemist and if you see blood glucose rising or staying stubbornly high to check ketones and seek help if they are more than very mini

 

[dan74uk]

My Gluco RX Q meter test strips are black one side, white the other. They go in black side facing up. I always push them into the droplet of blood at a 45 degree angle.

martin does the blood go in right at the end of the strip theres like a little black line?

 

[Dragonheart]

yes thats a hell of a hike.im bitter because had i known i was in prediabetes i wud have been down that gym .weve checked keytones and they are ok .it may have something to do with my nlood test been in an afternoon no fasting after 3 bottles of fanta to quosh thirst .i ate so many lollies and drinks that week im not surprised.but if no one tells you your at risk even when they have readings and living with anxiety about other things no wonder its high .i dont feel unwell far from it apart from the blindness

Hba1c will not be effected by whatever you drank immediately before the test (blood glucose sure will though) or even massively by the food in the few days before. It’s measuring how much the red blood cells have been exposed to glucose in their lifetimes (which averages 12 weeks) it is weighted somewhat to the more recent weeks than the more distant ones but not enough for one weeks eating to causing that rise.

A lack of ketones does NOT rule out type 1. It rules out DKA, a complication that can occur with a lack of insulin and simultaneously high blood glucose levels. There are antibody tests, insulin and cpeptide tests that can and should be done. It also isn’t only diagnosed in kids as some still seem to believe. And it doesn’t always happen as fast in adults as it does in kids. Sometimes it goes by the label LADA or type 1.5, which basically is type 1 but slower onset.

Many people don’t feel unwell (or recognise gradual symptoms) which is why they go undiagnosed for too long. And sadly many of us were not told about rising results when we should have been. I found blood glucose results that should have been checked with hba1c going back several years and ignored by several different drs without telling me.

 

[Dragonheart]

Drinking a lot (all those fantas!) and thirst is a classic symptom of high blood glucose btw.

 

[dan74uk]

Drinking a lot (all those fantas!) and thirst is a classic symptom of high blood glucose btw.

yeh i know now ha .i was like a man possessed with strawberry lollies and fanta for weeks .if only id known i was feeding it .thought it was covid lol

 

[dan74uk]

Hba1c will not be effected by whatever you drank immediately before the test (blood glucose sure will though) or even massively by the food in the few days before. It’s measuring how much the red blood cells have been exposed to glucose in their lifetimes (which averages 12 weeks) it is weighted somewhat to the more recent weeks than the more distant ones but not enough for one weeks eating to causing that rise.

A lack of ketones does NOT rule out type 1. It rules out DKA, a complication that can occur with a lack of insulin and simultaneously high blood glucose levels. There are antibody tests, insulin and cpeptide tests that can and should be done. It also isn’t only diagnosed in kids as some still seem to believe. And it doesn’t always happen as fast in adults as it does in kids. Sometimes it goes by the label LADA or type 1.5, which basically is type 1 but slower onset.

Many people don’t feel unwell (or recognise gradual symptoms) which is why they go undiagnosed for too long. And sadly many of us were not told about rising results when we should have been. I found blood glucose results that should have been checked with hba1c going back several years and ignored by several different drs without telling me.

thank you most kind .i appreciate it as so much contradictory advice

 

[Dragonheart]

thank you most kind .i appreciate it as so much contradictory advice

There is, particularly around diet choices, and to a lesser degree medications and their pros and cons.

However I think I’m safe saying the above regarding how the tests work and what they are for is pretty much undisputed.

Please have the conversation with your dr at least, most especially if you don’t see blood glucose levels significantly dropping or if they begin to rise inexplicably.

It can take anything between days or up to a few years for adult type 1 to become a crisis situation. Much better to know and have the appropriate treatment before that happens. And even then it’s sometimes written off as worsening type 2 rather than being recognised for what it is.

 

[dan74uk]

thanks all for your kind help .i cant get my head round my doctors though and given my ten years of living with anxiety its troubling ,e .he seems so blaze yet didnt check my blood pressure ,i had to ask if he wanted a urine test i had no glucose test and the only bloods hes done are the random test withotu fasting .did u all have multiple tests including fasting and glucose before being diagnosed .i know ive prob got it due to my eyes but cant help thinking hes missing something that would reduce my anxiety

 

[Dragonheart]

thanks all for your kind help .i cant get my head round my doctors though and given my ten years of living with anxiety its troubling ,e .he seems so blaze yet didnt check my blood pressure ,i had to ask if he wanted a urine test i had no glucose test and the only bloods hes done are the random test withotu fasting .did u all have multiple tests including fasting and glucose before being diagnosed .i know ive prob got it due to my eyes but cant help thinking hes missing something that would reduce my anxiety

Im assuming you are in England. Are you being referred to a diabetes nurse? It might be that those wider tests are to be done at that appointment. I’ve never seen a gp for my diabetes, once the blood test came back diagnostic it was taken over by the nurse entirely. It should also include a foot check and a referral for specialist eye tests and an offer of an education course/dietician.

He did do more than a glucose test, he did the hba1c as you gave the results in your first post. That’s the test almost always used to diagnose and yours was conclusive at 113. If you’d had no symptoms (you did) or it was borderline then a second test would have been done. Blood glucose is a measure of glucose right then and there and moves all day depending on a lot of factors but good, activity, stress, sleep and illness are the bigger ones. Hba1c is a measure of whats been happening over the last few months and doesn’t need to be fasted.

Sadly the blasé is because they see it all the time whereas for us it’s the first time we’ve heard this news and a big shock often and takes some time to adjust to. Shame the drs don’t always remember this fact. Many of us were in denial, thinking it was a mistake and quite stressed initially. I certainly was. Educating myself a lot, monitoring my levels and seeing positive results happening all helped me. Yes certain events that I tried to blame for an incorrect diagnosis probably did effect or hasten it but they were real still as was the diagnosis.

 

[dan74uk]

Im assuming you are in England. Are you being referred to a diabetes nurse? It might be that those wider tests are to be done at that appointment. I’ve never seen a gp for my diabetes, once the blood test came back diagnostic it was taken over by the nurse entirely. It should also include a foot check and a referral for specialist eye tests and an offer of an education course/dietician.

He did do more than a glucose test, he did the hba1c as you gave the results in your first post. That’s the test almost always used to diagnose and yours was conclusive at 113. If you’d had no symptoms (you did) or it was borderline then a second test would have been done. Blood glucose is a measure of glucose right then and there and moves all day depending on a lot of factors but good, activity, stress, sleep and illness are the bigger ones. Hba1c is a measure of whats been happening over the last few months and doesn’t need to be fasted.

Sadly the blasé is because they see it all the time whereas for us it’s the first time we’ve heard this news and a big shock often and takes some time to adjust to. Shame the drs don’t always remember this fact. Many of us were in denial, thinking it was a mistake and quite stressed initially. I certainly was. Educating myself a lot, monitoring my levels and seeing positive results happening all helped me. Yes certain events that I tried to blame for an incorrect diagnosis probably did effect or hasten it but they were real still as was the diagnosis.

great response.unfortunately i have prior history with this local nhs trust so i find their whole lack of duty of care woeful.front line nurses are great it those above .i guess its a common reaction when they just dont seem to deem it important.i appreciate your responses its very kind .ill work it out somehow ,made easier by good folks like you