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SD Codefree arrived

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It’s convenient for me, because that’s when I take my meds it means I test at exactly the same time every day. I am never late withvmy meds, my lungs throw a hissy fit without their uniphyllin etc
 
Robin said:
I’m neither good nor bad if I read low. The reading is just a number. But I don’t always rise by the same amount after I get up. Some days I hardly rise at all. So the reading I take when I’ve just woken up is the most consistently accurate one for basing my action plan for the next night.
What I'm trying to say, is that consistency is the most important thing for me ( and for a lot of other people, I would imagine). It’s not me trying to get a false impression of how low I’ve got my waking number. If that’s what I wanted, I’d set an alarm for 3am when I know it’ll be at its lowest.
(Of course, when I’m using a Libre sensor I don’t need to time the testing, except to make sure it’s less than 8hours since the bedtime one, because I get a continuous trace, but that’s not something I can fund very often, and I know some people won’t be able to afford it at all.)
(Another point I ought to make, is that when I first started testing, it was when I was on Metformin and Gliclazide, as I was misdiagnosed as Type2.)
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Me, I can wake up, and eventually slide down the banister to breakfast.
That's still a valid reading
 
@travellor It could be me being dim. I don't understand half your comments. What exactly is your issue with the advice to test as soon as you wake? Or any other advice here?
 
Fine traveller - your first test of the day is therefore a 'pre breakfast' test, because what the medical profession mean by a 'fasting' BG test is precisely what's been stated here. It's done so a person (and their medical team) can see what happens between their last test at bedtime and the first one of the day. On insulin one sometimes needs to change the pre bed dose depending on whether one takes some 'exercise' after the bedtime test, just as one for instance. What's happening to your BG when or if, you do that? Does your body need less help to keep your BG stable overnight at those times or more help at others?

It's quite illuminating usually when we test at odd times that we normally don't.

You might well not want to find out what your body does practically every hour of the day and night - on insulin we HAVE to find that out to educate ourselves to explain why this that or the other has happened to understand our body properly. If anyone else wants to find that out about theirs, if they don't know, we need to tell them - and explain why of course.
 
Shouldn’t bother responding Jenny. Travellor knows sod all about living with T1, yet feels qualified to comment on our testing regimes, and thinks BG levels are false Gods. I think he must have got out of bed on the wrong side, as my great gran would say, always before a clip round the ear.:confused:

Meanwhile, I’ll still carry on testing my BG when I wake up, cos it’s bloody hard work getting out of bed and upright, and my liver interprets this as time to do a glucose dump to help me along. “Insane” it might be, but I need to know I’m doing things right, because that glucose dump, as Robin says, is a distinctly movable feast. As is being chained by immobility, just as Madeline is.

We’re all different, none of us fit into the same mould. What fun would that be anyway?🙂
 
And all this type 1 chipping into a response to a type 2 who was most likely tested after not only getting up, but going to the doctors for a fasting test in the first place?
What does a low fasting number show if you're type 2, taking it at the best time, knowing it's just about to rise?
I'll test when I can, if we rise it's not a normal response, as we'll be producing insulin to cover it not injecting for most of us.

Link to advise on testing here
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/managing-your-diabetes/testing
 
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Ralph-YK said:
@travellor It could be me being dim. I don't understand half your comments. What exactly is your issue with the advice to test as soon as you wake? Or any other advice here?
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Why is a reading after getting up less valid for a type 2.
In fact it's the one I prefer.
I like to use the normal glucose when I wake.
If I continue to rise, so know I'm insulin resistant still.
I either need to move more, or some other strategy
 
Like I said, it means I test at exactly the same time every day. Plus Doug is newly diagnosed, like me. We are still getting used to medication levels etc, so for us it’s learning about how our bodies are responding. It’s not being a slave to numbers, it’s being sensible and responsible for our condition. Nobody wants to lose feet here. I really can’t see what your objection is to getting into good habits early on.
 
Good morning @DougC

Glad to hear that your meter has arrived and that you are now using it to help you make decisions.
As others have said, you need to make decisions about what you are using it to find out.

The tests before and 2 hours after your meals, alongside a record of what carbs you have eaten will help you
make decisions about any changes that you can make to reduce the post meal rises. The records that I kept at the start were very detailed and helped me to learn the carb count on many foods quite quickly.

Let us know how you get on.
 
Madeline said:
Like I said, it means I test at exactly the same time every day. Plus Doug is newly diagnosed, like me. We are still getting used to medication levels etc, so for us it’s learning about how our bodies are responding. It’s not being a slave to numbers, it’s being sensible and responsible for our condition. Nobody wants to lose feet here. I really can’t see what your objection is to getting into good habits early on.
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What does a fasting level tell you?
 
travellor said:
What does a fasting level tell you?
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I was in the habit of testing just after getting up & then again after faffing around with shower etc etc before breakfast. I thought it was interesting to see what kind of DP was happening & I suppose how my insulin sensitivity was doing.
 
Eddy Edson said:
I was in the habit of testing just after getting up & then again after faffing around with shower etc etc before breakfast. I thought it was interesting to see what kind of DP was happening & I suppose how my insulin sensitivity was doing.
Click to expand...

Yes, used like that it is useful.
The same as before and after meals.
 
grovesy said:
I would think I a baseline for the day, whether you go up or down.
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For a type 2, it tells you how well you've reacted in your sleep, and what several hours of insulin release has done to your body.

You then will see a rise as you get up, eat , exercise, and that's where testing is more useful.
(Unless you had a nightmare, or even just slept badly, as your liver dumps in your sleep)

I actually tested for high numbers, after I knew how my body reacted.
So I tended to test after 1 hour aster eating, looking for primary insulin response, even though I knew I would be higher than after two.
I tested with hot and cold hands. (a hand tested after being under your duvet can be a couple of points different to one that has just been washed in cold water)
Running up and down stairs a couple of times can reduce your BG reading by more than 2.
Lots of factors come into play.

I used to test to control my BG, I was fortunate, I was prescribed 100 strips a month for testing, but if you are funding them yourself, it's quite expensive to test, so I would suggest fasting test tells you nothing by itself initially, and testing after meals is far more useful.
 
travellor said:
For a type 2, it tells you how well you've reacted in your sleep, and what several hours of insulin release has done to your body.

You then will see a rise as you get up, eat , exercise, and that's where testing is more useful.
(Unless you had a nightmare, or even just slept badly, as your liver dumps in your sleep)

I actually tested for high numbers, after I knew how my body reacted.
So I tended to test after 1 hour aster eating, looking for primary insulin response, even though I knew I would be higher than after two.
I tested with hot and cold hands. (a hand tested after being under your duvet can be a couple of points different to one that has just been washed in cold water)
Running up and down stairs a couple of times can reduce your BG reading by more than 2.
Lots of factors come into play.

I used to test to control my BG, I was fortunate, I was prescribed 100 strips a month for testing, but if you are funding them yourself, it's quite expensive to test, so I would suggest fasting test tells you nothing by itself initially, and testing after meals is far more useful.
Click to expand...
Well in my case post breakfast I also most always have fallen.
I do not find my results are the same always the same eating the same things. Also going up and down stairs a couple of times would not cause mine to fall either.
 
grovesy said:
Well in my case post breakfast I also most always have fallen.
I do not find my results are the same always the same eating the same things. Also going up and down stairs a couple of times would not cause mine to fall either.
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Post breakfast many tend to fall, after they have risen for the DP.
But if you test at 6 in bed, rise to 7 or 8, do you expect to fall to 5, or would 6 still be good, or from an 8 to a 7?

The stairs are very predictable for many people.
The same as any exercise lowers BG for some.
 
I can fall between 1-3 points. Again it is not always the same. Like others some exercise type seems to go up before coming down some hours later.
We are not all the same.
 
grovesy said:
I can fall between 1-3 points. Again it is not always the same. Like others some exercise type seems to go up before coming down some hours later.
We are not all the same.
Click to expand...

I can fall from measuring after seeing my DP kick in, but not usually if I test before I catch it. Probably the extra food stimulates higher insulin release, coupled with less insulin resistance now I'm moving.
And as you say, dependent on duration normally, BG can rise then fall during exercise, or just fall.
 
Fascinating, I’m sure, but this thread seems to have grown into a huge discussion inappropriate for Newbies.
 
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