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How often do you use blood glucose monitors? And what are your results?

D

diana123

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Carer/Partner
Hello,
My husband has just been diagnosed with diabetes (hbac 100) but he's only been put on 1 tablet of metformin 500 a day.
I bought a blood glucose monitor for him.
For last 2 days the results are sky high 16.5 !
I am phoning his GP tomorrow.
Just wanted to know do many of you get such high results on them monitors?
Thank you.
 
If he’s only just been diagnosed then it will take some time for his diet and exercise changes and any weight loss required to bring down his blood sugars. This can take several weeks or months
 
Metformin doesn't actually actively reduce the amount of glucose in the blood - to get lower after meal levels, the meals need to be lower in carbohydrate, down to what can be tolerated.
My BG was 17.1 at diagnosis, but soon dropped as I excluded high carb foods. The drop should not be too swift though - not from triple figures. Take it in stages so as not to be too big a shock.
 
Hi and welcome.

Sorry to hear about your husband's diagnosis but so pleased you have found the forum and I am sure you will find it helpful being here.

It is normal to start Metformin with a single 500mg tablet and build the dose up over few weeks to the more usual 4x500g a day. This is because it can upset the stomach, so starting with the lowest dose, gives your husband's gut a chance to adapt to it.
The readings you are getting of mid teens are pretty much what you would expect with an HbA1c of 100 and it will take time to come down and Metformin alone will not bring it down into the normal range, so your husband needs to make some lifestyle adjustments including reducing the carbohydrates in his diet and doing a bit more exercise/activity and trying to lose some weight if applicable. Have you been given any dietary advice?
 
diana123 said:
Hello,
My husband has just been diagnosed with diabetes (hbac 100) but he's only been put on 1 tablet of metformin 500 a day.
I bought a blood glucose monitor for him.
For last 2 days the results are sky high 16.5 !
I am phoning his GP tomorrow.
Just wanted to know do many of you get such high results on them monitors?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum.
If his HbA1C is 100mmol/mol then the result from the finger prick test doesn't sound unusual and it will take time for it to start to come down, he is only on the minimal dose of metformin as with that medication it would be normal to increase the dose gradually over a few weeks to allow the body to adjust.
It will be needed to make some dietary changes in reducing carbohydrates in his diet and that is what will start to have an impact.
The result you might expect from the monitor will partly depend on when you test. Before meals or morning readings generally are lower but after eating it will reflect the effect of carbs he has eaten. If people want to find how well meals are tolerated then testing before eating and after 2 hours will give a idea if the meal is tolerated if the increase is no more than 2-3mmol/l, if more than that then the meal is too carb heavy.
This link may give you some ideas about how you can make changes to his diet. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
It is based on a suggested no more than 130g carbs not just sugar per day.
 
I measure every day before food. Once your husband stabilises his level you may find that the value varies by small amounts. This will probably be depending what he has eaten the day before. If it varies widely then seek help to ensure there are no other problems
 
@diana123 welcome to the forum. I saw your newbie post but this one has your husbands hba1c result. That is a blood test that gives an average number for glucose in blood over three months. If he has other symptoms eg blurry vision, peeing a lot they might not do a second test. If they don't do a second test he may wait three months for a second test.

Were you given the monitor by the surgery or did you decide to buy one? You do not need to change the lancet every go. I havent changed mine since I got one in September because I thought it was wasteful. I will probably change it soon. I don't use it every day. Obviously if more than one person is using it they should use a new needle each time.

I'm still learning having been diagnosed in July. My number was 69 and it is now 44 with medication. BG when you wake up is often high as your liver releases glucose for energy for the day. BG varies normally during the day. If you want to test reaction to a meal test before you start eating then two hours after the first test. You hope the higher number is no more than 3 above the first. If you decide to test first thing in the morning that can give an idea of trends. Obviously you hope the trend is downward.

Make sure hands are clean and warm. I hug a mug of tea!

I will look out your earlier post and add some more info.

Good luck to you both.
 
diana123 said:
Hello,
My husband has just been diagnosed with diabetes (hbac 100) but he's only been put on 1 tablet of metformin 500 a day.
I bought a blood glucose monitor for him.
For last 2 days the results are sky high 16.5 !
I am phoning his GP tomorrow.
Just wanted to know do many of you get such high results on them monitors?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
I was diagnosed with an HbA1c a little higher than your husband's and it took me 2 weeks to get my first single-figures result (9.2), but as well as taking Metformin I'd also cut my carbohydrate intake to under 100g per day.
 
Hope your husband’s levels begin to gently reduce over the next few weeks @diana123 as he reduces portion-sizes of carbohydrates, and the metformin begins to increase insulin sensitivity, and release glucose output from his liver.

Don’t panic unduly if the drop into his target range takes a few weeks. When starting from significantly raised BG levels it can be best to make changes to his menu and activity levels gradually - partly because they need to be sustainable long term, but also because very rapid and sudden changes to blood glucose levels are harder on the fine blood vessels, and changing things more gently will give his body time to adjust.
 
Welcome to the forum @diana123
As others have already mentioned, your husband's fingerprick readings in the mid teens are to be expected given his HbA1c.

My first fingerprick checks in the morning were around 20 when my HbA1c was 133 last July. They are now around 10 or 11 and HbA1c is 73. Still higher than they should be but I am still work in progress.
It's good that he has you to support him while he adjusts to living with diabetes. It makes a big difference. <3
 
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