Hi, new here!

@guybrush welcome to the forum. I'm still new to this.
Why are you testing and what is happening between the tests? You need to have clean hands and preferably warm hands- holding a warm cup or kettle works.
Readings first thing are often higher than just before breakfast as body provides glucose for the day.
Most people test before a meal then two hours after you started it even if you are still eating.
I assume you are a newly diagnosed type 2.
Are you on any medication?
My blood glucose has been going up through the day even without food but that was the effect of oral steroids finished yesterday. Illness, exercise, food, mood and medicine all affect readings
 
guybrush said:
HBA1c of 89.

I've pricking my finger is test and get varied results! 7, 8.9 and 11. Why are they so varied?
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They will vary depending on when you test. You are better to be testing for a purpose rather than just randomly.
People find a good routine is to test first thing in the morning which gives a fasting reading and your aim is for that to be between 4-7mmol/l. Other times to test are before eating and then after 2 hours to see the effect that your meal has on your blood glucose. So initially you are aiming at no more than a 2-3mmol/l increase from before to 2 hours post meal but as levels come down then no more than 8-8.5mmol/l is where you want to be at.
I would assume you are taking some medication and what dietary approach may be suitable will depend on that.
 
Leadinglights said:
That does sound a bit odd but there can be reasons, something on your fingers, a dodgy test strip are the most likely.
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It would seem odd if it was the same finger each time but not so odd if it was four different fingers?

If you test all six fingers one after the other my money would be on getting 6 different results most of the time.
 
Martin.A said:
It would seem odd if it was the same finger each time but not so odd if it was four different fingers?

If you test all six fingers one after the other my money would be on getting 6 different results most of the time.
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Ah ok yeah different fingers. That's a worry though, why would they be different and how do you know which is accurate?
 
guybrush said:
Ah ok yeah different fingers. That's a worry though, why would they be different and how do you know which is accurate?
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That's just the way it is sometimes. I just shrug and take the average.
 
In my opinion all fp test results should be rounded up or down to the nearest whole number.

Just because a manufacturer displays a number on a screen, that doesn't mean it is accurate to that 1st decimal place. These devices are made to be affordable for most people who need them and with accepted tolerances and specified quite modest accuracies.

Further they are just a snapshot at a moment in time and so many other factors can momentarily change that snapshot. The brilliant benefit of fp test results is not seeing a number to one decimal point but for confirming your BG is about right, eg 6 not 12 mmol/L. Plus helping identify a trend of falling or rising BG levels and confirming that one's metabolism is managing a particular meal reasonably well.

Don't get hung up, @guybrush, about what appears to be distinct variations of something that is complicated enough. Before clocks had "second" hands, the displayed time was more than good enough for any practical purposes; even when clocks only had a single hour hand we very quickly used fractions such as quarter or half past the hour and could estimate to even closer accuracy - but didn't bother because such accuracy truly wasn't needed or appropriate.
 
Proud to be erratic said:
In my opinion all fp test results should be rounded up or down to the nearest whole number.

Just because a manufacturer displays a number on a screen, that doesn't mean it is accurate to that 1st decimal place. These devices are made to be affordable for most people who need them and with accepted tolerances and specified quite modest accuracies.

Further they are just a snapshot at a moment in time and so many other factors can momentarily change that snapshot. The brilliant benefit of fp test results is not seeing a number to one decimal point but for confirming your BG is about right, eg 6 not 12 mmol/L. Plus helping identify a trend of falling or rising BG levels and confirming that one's metabolism is managing a particular meal reasonably well.

Don't get hung up, @guybrush, about what appears to be distinct variations of something that is complicated enough. Before clocks had "second" hands, the displayed time was more than good enough for any practical purposes; even when clocks only had a single hour hand we very quickly used fractions such as quarter or half past the hour and could estimate to even closer accuracy - but didn't bother because such accuracy truly wasn't needed or appropriate.
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We've come a long way from sundials!
 
silentsquirrel said:
We've come a long way from sundials!
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A blessing for rhe most part, yet ....

There was a time when mail could be exchanged between correspondents multiple times a day; the Royal Mail has lost sight of that target. The tech for storing and retrieving our data is currently going backwards; bogged down in data protection, money laundering prevention, accountability, fear of non PC vocabulary, multiple data storage points not synchronised and so on. Plus human contact costs money, whereas wasting people's time with Captchas, unworkable web sites and general frustration is acceptable, apparently

Speaking to a human by phone is now a constant challenge and the NHS is so automated that emails sent, get deleted from their servers a short time after being sent and no-one can tell you when it was sent, what the content was nor precisely who the sender was. So a referral in Dec 23, triaged and programmed in January 24 for a date in late Nov 24 no longer has any trace of its existence other than a record of it being sent on a specific date. Not received by me, nor seen by my GP.

Sundials merely needed sunshine and daylight to work. Life was simpler and simplicity is often ideal.

Oh well, now on a train home, not listed on the 3 apps that could have told me this train existed, but apparently it is standard practice to not list certain trains. What a brilliant idea! At least the departure time managed our expectations, alas which platform for departure less so!
 
guybrush said:
Why are they so varied?
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You might find this table from the ‘useful inks’ thread helpful @guybrush

It outlines the permitted ranges of BG meter results at different levels according to the ISO standards they have to meet. And 5% of results are permitted to fall outside of that range

BG meter accuracy
It can be quite disconcerting for members new to self monitoring of blood glucose to get different results from BG readings taken close together, even when carefully following manufacturers guidance (washing hands etc). All meters for sale in the UK should comply with the following ISO standards 95% of the time, which allows a degree of variation (and 5% of results can read anything at all). If in any doubt, or if a reading doesn’t match how you are feeling, you should check again with a fresh strip.

Permitted blood glucose meter variation, upper and lower bounds, from range of BG results
 
guybrush said:
HBA1c of 89.

I've pricking my finger is test and get varied results! 7, 8.9 and 11. Why are they so varied?
Click to expand...
They are quite varied!

Are the test strips in date? Are they the test strips that came with the meter?
I have a meter and strips on prescription, but bought a second meter (the same model) via amazon. It came with a small pot of strips. They gave bonkers readings.
The normal, prescribed strips were fine.
 
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