Newly diagnosed

[Leadinglights]

How do the test work, what am I looking for? I will pop to boots tomorrow.

You will probably find the monitors from the pharmacy are one that take more expensive test strips which are the disposable bit. Those on line tend to be the ones which use cheaper strips, GlucoNavii, TEE2 and Contour Blue are ones people use.
You prick your finger with a lancet to obtain a drop of blood which is sucked into the end of the test strip which has been inserted in the slot in the monitor (not the end with the blood). It uses an enzyme reaction to produce a glucose reading in mmol/l.
There are some YouTube videos to show you.
Those monitors are about £15 with strips at about £10 for 50 but check out the prices before you buy. There may be black Friday offers but don't be tempted at a bargain price monitor if the strips are more expensive.

 

[rebrascora]

How do the test work, what am I looking for? I will pop to boots tomorrow.

It will be cheaper to buy one online than to get one from Boots.
The 3 BG meters which are well tried and tested by members here on the forum and found to be reliable and economical to self fund are the Contour Plus Blue, the Spirit Tee2 and the Gluco Navii. Whichever you buy, you will need extra pots of test strips as the kits usually just come with 10 test strips and 10 lancets. Both are supposed to be single use, but many of us reuse the lancets and in fact there is s bit of a standing joke on the forum about St Swithin's day (15th July) being annual lancet changing day.... and indeed I am a fully committed St Swithin's Day club member... ie, my lancet gets changed only once a year..... PROVIDED it is only used on me. Family and friends wanting to be tested or acting as guinea pigs of course get a new lancet to prevent blood contamination, but you can't really contaminate yourself with your own blood! Of course if you are a very scrupulous sort of person, then by all means buy yourself a box of extra lancets too. The test strips are not reusable and that is where the majority of the cost of testing is run up, which is mostly why those 3 meters are recommended. There are some slightly cheaper meters on the market but some peeople have found them unreliable so those above are the we would be happy to recommend.

 

[Anita63]

It will be cheaper to buy one online than to get one from Boots.
The 3 BG meters which are well tried and tested by members here on the forum and found to be reliable and economical to self fund are the Contour Plus Blue, the Spirit Tee2 and the Gluco Navii. Whichever you buy, you will need extra pots of test strips as the kits usually just come with 10 test strips and 10 lancets. Both are supposed to be single use, but many of us reuse the lancets and in fact there is s bit of a standing joke on the forum about St Swithin's day (15th July) being annual lancet changing day.... and indeed I am a fully committed St Swithin's Day club member... ie, my lancet gets changed only once a year..... PROVIDED it is only used on me. Family and friends wanting to be tested or acting as guinea pigs of course get a new lancet to prevent blood contamination, but you can't really contaminate yourself with your own blood! Of course if you are a very scrupulous sort of person, then by all means buy yourself a box of extra lancets too. The test strips are not reusable and that is where the majority of the cost of testing is run up, which is mostly why those 3 meters are recommended. There are some slightly cheaper meters on the market but some peeople have found them unreliable so those above are the we would be happy to recommend.

Thank you - I don’t think any of my family will want to be guinea pigs 🙂

 

[Anita63]

It will be cheaper to buy one online than to get one from Boots.
The 3 BG meters which are well tried and tested by members here on the forum and found to be reliable and economical to self fund are the Contour Plus Blue, the Spirit Tee2 and the Gluco Navii. Whichever you buy, you will need extra pots of test strips as the kits usually just come with 10 test strips and 10 lancets. Both are supposed to be single use, but many of us reuse the lancets and in fact there is s bit of a standing joke on the forum about St Swithin's day (15th July) being annual lancet changing day.... and indeed I am a fully committed St Swithin's Day club member... ie, my lancet gets changed only once a year..... PROVIDED it is only used on me. Family and friends wanting to be tested or acting as guinea pigs of course get a new lancet to prevent blood contamination, but you can't really contaminate yourself with your own blood! Of course if you are a very scrupulous sort of person, then by all means buy yourself a box of extra lancets too. The test strips are not reusable and that is where the majority of the cost of testing is run up, which is mostly why those 3 meters are recommended. There are some slightly cheaper meters on the market but some peeople have found them unreliable so those above are the we would be happy to recommend.

Thank you for this info - I will have a look now and thanks for the tip re the lancets!

 

[rebrascora]

Thank you - I don’t think any of my family will want to be guinea pigs 🙂

You might be surprised! Sometimes curiosity just gets the better of them.

 

[Anita63]

You will probably find the monitors from the pharmacy are one that take more expensive test strips which are the disposable bit. Those on line tend to be the ones which use cheaper strips, GlucoNavii, TEE2 and Contour Blue are ones people use.
You prick your finger with a lancet to obtain a drop of blood which is sucked into the end of the test strip which has been inserted in the slot in the monitor (not the end with the blood). It uses an enzyme reaction to produce a glucose reading in mmol/l.
There are some YouTube videos to show you.
Those monitors are about £15 with strips at about £10 for 50 but check out the prices before you buy. There may be black Friday offers but don't be tempted at a bargain price monitor if the strips are more expensive.

Thank you I have ordered one and spare strips - what reading am I looking for? What does it show?

 

[Leadinglights]

Thank you I have ordered one and spare strips - what reading am I looking for? What does it show?

You need to establish a strategy of testing as random tests tell you nothing as everybody's blood glucose goes up and down throughout the day and night but will change depending on what you have eaten, how much exercise you do.
People will often test first thing in the morning to give a fasting reading which can keep a check on progress day to day, week to week etc and you hope that will be reducing as time goes on with the changes to make.
Then to see if you tolerate the amount of carbohydrates in a meal then testing before eating and after 2 hours will tell you the meal was OK if the increase is no more than 2-3mmol/l and as your levels come down you want that 2 hours after meal to be less than 8.5mmol/l.
So the aim is 4-7mmol/l fasting and before meals and no more than 8.5mmol/l after 2 hours.
You should also test if you feel unwell as that could be because of high or low blood glucose.
There is an expression that people use when determining what carbs they can tolerate and that is they eat to their monitor. So if those suggested limits are exceeded then the message is to reduce the carbs in the meal.
Once you have checked out some meals as 'safe' you don't need to test that meal again. So will soon get a feel of what works for you. but it does mean quite a bit of testing initially but it pays off in the long run.

 

[Anita63]

You need to establish a strategy of testing as random tests tell you nothing as everybody's blood glucose goes up and down throughout the day and night but will change depending on what you have eaten, how much exercise you do.
People will often test first thing in the morning to give a fasting reading which can keep a check on progress day to day, week to week etc and you hope that will be reducing as time goes on with the changes to make.
Then to see if you tolerate the amount of carbohydrates in a meal then testing before eating and after 2 hours will tell you the meal was OK if the increase is no more than 2-3mmol/l and as your levels come down you want that 2 hours after meal to be less than 8.5mmol/l.
So the aim is 4-7mmol/l fasting and before meals and no more than 8.5mmol/l after 2 hours.
You should also test if you feel unwell as that could be because of high or low blood glucose.
There is an expression that people use when determining what carbs they can tolerate and that is they eat to their monitor. So if those suggested limits are exceeded then the message is to reduce the carbs in the meal.
Once you have checked out some meals as 'safe' you don't need to test that meal again. So will soon get a feel of what works for you. but it does mean quite a bit of testing initially but it pays off in the long run.

Thank you it sounds complicated, I’m sure I will work it out once I start using it.

 

[Drummer]

Thank you I have ordered one and spare strips - what reading am I looking for? What does it show?

The 'ordinary' type 2 can usually see a pretty clear connection between what was eaten in the last meal and the blood glucose level shortly after, so when starting out people test just before starting to eat, then two hours later.
When starting out a rise of 3 whole numbers is the advised guide, just to see how good or bad things are.
It seems pretty clear that being under 8mmol/l at the 2 hour mark is a Really Good Thing - when I saw that I stuck to the meals I had sorted out to do that, and then saw my numbers reducing down to under 7 after meals and I then found that my HbA1c was 41 so I was distinctly chuffed at that, if not rather smug as well.
It seems that the easiest route is to target the high carb foods - grain, potato and high starch veges, high sugar fruit - and processed food with both sugar and starches. Reducing or replacing those can be all that is required for even the ones starting out with a really high HbA1c.
People do digest foods differently - I discovered that peas and beans eaten without the pods seem to have almost twice the carbs listed.
Resistant starch - which has been frozen - waves the white flag and capitulates as soon as I swallow it, maybe even before.

 

[Leadinglights]

Thank you it sounds complicated, I’m sure I will work it out once I start using it.

Not really, it is useful to keep a food diary alongside your readings to start with with an estimate of the carbs in your meal, packets, internet, shop web sites, the book or app Carbs and Cals will give you that info together with some scales to weigh the carby foods so you know what your portion size is.
You then know if you had 3 small potatoes and your meal increase was 4mmol/l then next time have 2 and see if that works. Some foods you may just find are not good at all and you will need to give them a miss.

 

[Anita63]

Not really, it is useful to keep a food diary alongside your readings to start with with an estimate of the carbs in your meal, packets, internet, shop web sites, the book or app Carbs and Cals will give you that info together with some scales to weigh the carby foods so you know what your portion size is.
You then know if you had 3 small potatoes and your meal increase was 4mmol/l then next time have 2 and see if that works. Some foods you may just find are not good at all and you will need to give them a miss.

Thank you for all your help

 

[Taighnamona]

Potatoes send my levels soaring at any time but I find I can tolerate some other carbs in the evening so a stir fry or chilli with a spoonful of rice works for me.
Foods, any foods will raise your glucose levels but it’s important for you to know which ones raise it too high and keep it raised for long periods as that’s when most damage is done. Sadly for most of us that’s the carbs that we tend to love. The target is to keep within 4-7 as much as possible which means restricting your carb intake. I try for 50-75gms per day, others work on 130 gms while some restrict theirs to 20-30.
A lot depends on other factors such as weight, medications etc.