Gluco testing machine results

[Treecha]

please can someone help me I was diagnosed type 2 in December and I have been coming to terms with the diagnosis eve since. I tested at 57 first test then 52 a fortnight later after fasting. I know the readings are low but I don’t want to find myself creeping up. I am not overweight well probably could lose between 5-7lb. Anyway I have bought a GlucoNavii testing machine, used it for the first time before my evening meal and it was 4.8mmol/L 2 hours after FINISHING my meal I tested again and the reading was 6.2. This morning at 8.30 before breakfast it was 8.5 and after 9.3. I am very surprised at the discrepancy in the readings. I have read all the instructions that came with the machine but nowwhere does it say a acceptable range and I’ve looked online with no luck,
Can someone explain to me what is a acceptable reading please, otherwise the machine is useless To me. i am sure there is someone on the forum that can help. Thank you.

 

[Leadinglights]

Why do you think that is a discrepancy?
The two results which gave you your diagnosis are the HbA1C results which are a 3 month average from a blood sample taken from your arm and sent to the lab, the result is in mmol/mol
The results from your monitor are in mmol/l and show the level at that moment in time.
So before your meal it was 4.8mmol/l and after 6.2mmoll so a very good reading as less than the 2-3mmol/l increase you hopefully don't want to exceed. So shows the effect of that meal and it looks as if it was a good choise.
The reading before breakfast does look quite high if it was sometime after getting up the body tries to be helpful and the liver releases glucose to give you the energy to function. Your after breakfast shows an increase within what you might want for food but still seems high because your before breakfast was high. The level to aim at for 2 hours post meal is no more than 8.5mmol/l
It is said that morning levels can be the last to come down.
You could try testing before you get out of bed to see how much you are getting what is termed Foot on the Floor Phenomenon.

 

[Treecha]

thank you leading lights for your reply
i usually get up between 7.15 and 7.30 to feed our cat and let him out, but it’s too early for me to eat although I have a couple of cups of tea before my breakfast usually Between 8.30 and 9.00 am. I will try taking it before I get out of bed as you suggest, but I’m usually still half a sleep. The monitor is still very new to me.

 

[Treecha]

Just to clarify I thought you had to take the reading just before you ate anything.

 

[Leadinglights]

Just to clarify I thought you had to take the reading just before you ate anything.

You do normally but if you experience that rise from pottering about the before breakfast is going to be high to start the day off. Tricky when you are trying to see what a good breakfast is.

 

[Docb]

Hi @Treecha and welcome to the world of finger bodging! The blood glucose results you get from your machine are a way of getting feedback on what is going on with your blood glucose levels and allow you to adjust your diet to bring them down. The thing you need to understand is that you do not get instantaneous answers! Your blood glucose will wander about for all sorts of reasons leaving you with the problem of sorting out things you can control from things over which you have no control.

My suggestion is that you get a notebook and start to record all your readings, noting down the date, the time of day the reading. Aim to do your tests first thing in the morning and around meals. Test before a meal and a couple of hours after. No need to do every meal, do one meal one day, another meal another day. Include coffee and cake (if you indulge in that sort of thing) as a meal. Write every thing down.

After a week or so, start looking for patterns. Is your waking reading reasonably consistent? What sort of rises do you get after a meal? Do some meals consistently give you bigger rises than others?

If you are getting regular readings into double figures then you need to put your thinking cap on and the clues on how best to eliminate them will lie in your notebook. If your results generally sit in the range 4 to 10, then you are not doing too badly, especially if most of them are below 8. What you must not do is to go into panic mode on the basis of one result!

Usual caveat... my thoughts only apply to T2's looking to control blood glucose by dietary means. T1 is a whole different ball game.

 

[Treecha]

Sorry I’m late in replying Docb. You have explained very clearly to me and as my readings are below 10 ( between 6 and 9) I shall just keep monitoring them. Also I have been taking my blood glucose 4 times a day I will follow your advice of only doing it once. Thank you for your help it is very much appreciated and has set my mind at ease. I am following a low carbohydrate diet.

 

[trophywench]

Hi @Treecha - Docb didn't say 'once a day' - he said 3 times a day - once asap when you wake up and before/after one meal, ie different meals on different days - and look to see if there's any pattern after about a week. So you review a week's readings and see what's what, and decide what you need to do from then. So eg is the carb at brekkie seem a bit too high; or lunch or dinner - or what? If you can't decide what needs attacking - discuss openly on here for suggestions.

 

[Docb]

Yes @Treecha, @trophywench is quite right. The idea I was trying to get over was that you do not have to be obsessive when it comes to testing but it is essential to have an organised schedule.

Just about the only thing you have any control over when it comes to how your blood glucose changes during the day is what you eat. More importantly the change you get through eating is probably going to be much bigger than what you might get from exercise or non insulin medication.

So if each day you pick a meal, test just before you start eating and test again after a couple of hours you can get an idea of how well your system has coped with what you have eaten. After a week or so you might find some things beginning to stand out. When I started out I found that anything containing wheat flour was a problem. Did not seem to matter where it came from - pasta, pizza dough, ordinary bread (white or brown) or anywhere - I was still a couple or more units above my pre-meal level after eating it. I used to eat muesli for breakfast but a bit of experimentation showed me that I could cope with the oats but the dried fruit was a big problem. Might be the same for you but might not. You can only test and find out.

Like you I go for low carb and aim for a max of 130g/day spread reasonably evenly over three meals and a light supper. I found I could do this mostly by a mix of eliminating a couple of things and then adjusting portions in what I ate. My overall diet actually did not change much. My muesli became a no fruit granola, my toast made from a low carb bread, my roast dinner has half the spud but more veg and a jus or wine/cream sauce rather than a cornflour thickened gravy, and my favourite, a ragout with a bit of spaghetti rather than spaghetti with a bit of ragout. Simply got rid of snacks, most of which are carb heavy. Fortunately I don't have a taste for sweet things, so ditching cakes and biscuits was not a problem.

Final thought... if you are keeping your BG in single figures on waking and then after meals then you are not doing a lot wrong. Once you get into the swing of it there is a good chance you can use your results to get your blood glucose to the sort of levels expected in somebody without diabetes. Your long term plan should be to stay there!

 

[Treecha]

Thank you