Newbie

[Leadinglights]

Today I had my hospital appointment, all seemed to go well, HbA1c has dropped from 74 in March, to 69 last month and now 58 today, so very pleased with the positive movement.

Hospital have run further blood tests to eliminate T1, or any other form, which I should know the results of in about 5 weeks.

They have said however not to worry about finger prick tests, just keep taking the 2 metformin (1 with breakfast, other with evening meal) which is clearly working and try to reduce my blood pressure, which was higher than they would like, with the main focus being to reduce my BMI, which is 27.78 and they want under 25. I've never been a fan of BMI tests, for me there are differing factors which can influence weight, muscle mass etc for example, but if that is all I have to worry about I know I should be pleased.

I just wanted to ask, does everyone agree with not carrying out my own finger prick tests? I do not want to become too focused on something if is in not really an issue, but likewise do feel a little blinded by the right and wrong food choices. I know the obvious avoid salt, red meat, potatoes etc. but I've had different views given to me on fruit which I've always thought to be ok as natural sugars (in moderation), and overnight oats as another example. My breakfast most mornings when at work is overnight oaks soaked in oat milk or coconut milk with blueberries.

They also mentioned putting me on statins, but my cholesterol was low at 3.2 so they left me to decide on this and I felt best not to start taking more tablets yet when were not saying to me it is entirely necessary, in the short term anyway.

Any advise greatly appreciated, and thank you in anticipation.

That sounds like a positive appointment with things going in the right direction. As far as a blood glucose monitor is concerned it is something that many find is a valuable addition to the tools they have and gives them control over managing the condition. In particular it helps making good food choices and allows to find foods which you may otherwise reject and need to reject those which other people say are fine, one example being oats which many find too high in carbs for them to tolerate. Having a strategic testing regime to give useful information rather than just random testing is more useful. Testing before you eat and after 2 hours when if the increase is no more than 2-3mmol/l or no more than 8-8.5mmol/l then the meal is OK. you would be aiming at 4-7mmol/l before meals and fasting /morning readings.
Initially you may test quite a bit but you will soon find what meals are 'safe' so can reduce the testing and only test new meals. Also a good plan to test if you feel unwell.
As far a what food makes good choices then this link should give you some ideas. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
All meats, cheese, eggs, dairy, nuts together with veg, salads, and fruit like berries usually suit people but everybody is individual in their tolerance of carbs which is why testing is useful and many ignore being told not to test.

 

[BL11]

thanks @Martin.A and @Leadinglights, really appreciate you response and insight.

 

[JimG]

Before I embark on my answer, I should say that my answer is different to Martin A's but all we can do is say what we do. The decision on testing is down to you and where you are on your journey.

I do not test regularly.

When I was diagnosed at first, in 2009, I tested three times a day so that I could see what worked and what did not. I was prescribed a meter and testing strips. I was taking metformin then. The GP said that, after the initial period I need not carry out the finger prick tests but I continued for a while after until I felt comfortable. Once I reached a place where I felt I knew what was happening, I stopped regular testing. A couple of years ago I was prescribed sitagliptin to accompany the metformin and still do not regularly test. There is no point testing unless you are going to do something with the results. I only test if I am feeling unwell or there is another reason. A few months ago I had a couple of high tests at the hospital. I had had nothing to eat for a few hours as I was undergoing a cataract operation each time. As a result of those two high tests, I started to finger prick test so that I could see whether I really had a problem. I was preparing for my annual review, which was coming up soon. I posted a question to this forum and received some useful advice. When I had the annual review, I took in my record of a month and a half of test results on a spreadsheet and bar chart. The bar chart and HbA1C showed normal levels and so the nurse and I decided that the high blood readings were due to the stress prior to an operation.

I hope that you find the regime that is right for you but, if you continue to test, it is best to do it at the same time every day so that you can compare the trend. It is the trend and not the individual test that is important.

 

[Proud to be erratic]

I hope that you find the regime that is right for you but, if you continue to test, it is best to do it at the same time every day so that you can compare the trend. It is the trend and not the individual test that is important.

Hello @BL11. This thread has got plenty of good things within, but much assumes you might be T2 and particularly views on whether to finger prick and get some insight into what is going on.

Like @JimG I also hope you find the regime that is right for you. I certainly agree that it is the trend that is important. However, I would caveat the aspect of testing at the same time every day. It depends what you want to get from each daily test - thus the same time needs to be in the same context, not necessarily to a specific quarter of one hour in a 24 hr day. Our bodies are complex and getting some useful trend from testing at any particular (same) moment in time would be extremely unlikely to be successful.

If you wanted to get a sense of how your BG is trending and thus whether your HBA1C is taking you in the right direction you'd need to set an alarm for very early and hope that your chosen alarm time was before the Dawn Phenomena (DP) was potentially playing. The problem about this is that DP is not consistent, sometimes affecting someone and sometimes not. You might be lucky and be able to exclude results from DP mornings or non DP mornings.

It might be possible to fp every night, last thing and providing your last meal has fully digested you might get some usable trend data from such repeat late readings.

But - so what? Why not wait 3 months for a repeat HBA1C. Since such daily fp results aren't being used to actually adjust your daily lifestyle, you would be learning little from the repeat daily testing.

The best use of fps is in assessing whether changes to meals is helping you determine if a meal is well managed by your body - or not. If not change that meal: reduce the carb content, reduce the portion size, or just duck that meal choice. All of this presupposes that you are T2. If you are T1 then your time and energy could be better spent on learning to carb count in readiness for an insulin dependent future.

Good luck.