New Type 2 diabetic - do I need to buy a blood sugar monitor?

[grovesy]

Sometimes areas change the system for the collection of sharps boxes.

 

[Windy]

Thanks to you all for your feedback.
I just checked my council's website and they don't do collections from domestic properties.

I'll ask the local chemist if they do collections, and call the reception/ the diabetes nurse at my GPs and ask them.

Thanks again to you all for your help.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Well done on your terrific start @Windy

Regarding monitoring, there are a number of strategies, but many members (especially in the early days) find before and after pairs of readings easier to interpret than just ‘after’ readings. This approach allows you to interrogate a particular meal, and see what BG rise it caused. Ideally you’d want the rise to be 2-3mmol/L or less between the ‘before’ and ‘after’. In some senses to begin with the numbers themselves are almost less important than the rise.

You might want to start with experiments around one meal in the day, rather than trying to sort everything sumultaneously?

Once you have a good idea of which foods and meals generally suit your BG best, you can drop back to a more ‘maintenance’ level of checks.

Let us know how you get on. 🙂

 

[Windy]

Thanks @everydayupsanddowns. The monitor hasn't arrived yet, but I'll start slow and maybe do lunch or dinner first, plus a fasting level in the morning, and log it all on a spreadsheet with the food I've eaten, and try and fine tune my meals.
I've found everyone on here really helpful, it's been a positive. Diabetes wasn't a club that I wanted to join, but it's nice to know that it's other members are nice people!

 

[Windy]

I went to see the nurse yesterday so that she could do the first finger prick and BG test with me, as I thought that the lancet might freak me out. It didn't, though I couldn't work out how to get the top off the lancet pen to insert the disposable lancet.
BG lancet is so weeny that I couldn't even tell you which finger's been pricked 10 minutes later.
She said that they could have given me a BS monitor, lancets, clinical waste bin and test strips, and that I needn't have bought my own 😳 . Lesson learnt to ask first.

BG was 6.5 mmol/L two hours after lunch (nurse happy with that!). After messing up the first three goes at home (user error! Watched a youtube video and saw where I was going wrong), got 5.6 two hours after dinner, and 5.7 fasting this morning, so I'm happy it's steady with the lower carb diet I'm following currently, so I'll keep going with that and testing, and reduce testing frequency if it stays steady. Good stuff 🙂. Cheers for everyone's advice and support.

 

[Leadinglights]

I went to see the nurse yesterday so that she could do the first finger prick and BG test with me, as I thought that the lancet might freak me out. It didn't, though I couldn't work out how to get the top off the lancet pen to insert the disposable lancet.
BG lancet is so weeny that I couldn't even tell you which finger's been pricked 10 minutes later.
She said that they could have given me a BS monitor, lancets, clinical waste bin and test strips, and that I needn't have bought my own 😳 . Lesson learnt to ask first.

BG was 6.5 mmol/L two hours after lunch (nurse happy with that!). After messing up the first three goes at home (user error! Watched a youtube video and saw where I was going wrong), got 5.6 two hours after dinner, and 5.7 fasting this morning, so I'm happy it's steady with the lower carb diet I'm following currently, so I'll keep going with that and testing, and reduce testing frequency if it stays steady. Good stuff 🙂. Cheers for everyone's advice and support.

Good that you got the hang of it and you got some good test results. You should be able to build up a repertoire of meals you know you are OK with and will only need to test something new.
Obviously the supply of monitors by G P practices is very variable and those who do, don't prescribe enough strips as they assume people will only test once a day and if you then have to buy more strips for those monitors yourself, they are more expensive, sometimes as much at £20 per pot.