SD Codefree BG Monitor

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ColinUK

ColinUK

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Just on my way out and the postman has delivered my first ever BG monitor.

It’s such a tiny box for what seems like such a momentous... erm... moment I guess.

I’ll open it later.
 
Hello Colin
Maybe a small box, but it will hopefully give you some useful information, and help a lot with getting your blood glucose under control.
Don't forget the finger wiping before you do your first test, and join many of us in the daily ritual.
 
Yes it is a momentous occasion, for today is the day you start learning about your particular flavour of diabetes and what it likes and doesn’t like.

Have you read these two blogs by Alan S
test-review-adjust
and
painless-pricks
 
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You might find it helpful to watch some You Tube tutorials on using BG meters as well as reading the instruction leaflet, before you give it a go. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
 
@ColinUK - congratulations - do read/watch the useful links - I hated doing BG at first and often struggled (still don't bleed well) but yes the first time...there is already a post about it in General... so just be excited that you will find out the useful information and get to know which foods work best for you.
As suggested definitely read the blogs and watch the videos first.

test-review-adjust
and
painless-pricks

To be fair I was 5 weeks in before I started BG readings - so I was used to other people taking them at the surgery and am a bit of wuss.
 
Hope it goes well @ColinUK

Try not to worry about the numbers themselves to begin with, and focus more on keeping the before/after differences down around the 3 mark. The levels themselves will come down gently over time. 🙂
 
Did once measure last night but food was weird timings as I was out and grazed - was really just to get the machine set up and do the first one. That was 8.9.

Just done one now (and got through the strips to take it as I underestimate the necessary size of the blood drop needed) and that’s 6.7 fasted.
I’ll do another an hour before the evening meal (which is likely to blow it sky high as it’sa traditional Friday night Shabbat dinner at my folks) and afterwards. Although there’s conflicting advice about whether to make the post reading an hour or two hours afterwards and whether it’s after the commencement or creation of the meal.
 
ColinUK said:
Did once measure last night but food was weird timings as I was out and grazed - was really just to get the machine set up and do the first one. That was 8.9.

Just done one now (and got through the strips to take it as I underestimate the necessary size of the blood drop needed) and that’s 6.7 fasted.
I’ll do another an hour before the evening meal (which is likely to blow it sky high as it’sa traditional Friday night Shabbat dinner at my folks) and afterwards. Although there’s conflicting advice about whether to make the post reading an hour or two hours afterwards and whether it’s after the commencement or creation of the meal.
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Today's waking reading is good. And 8.9 from where you may have been is probably no cause for concern. I can't remember what your reading was on diagnosis - mine was 17 so the DN suggested I be happy with readings between 10-15 - we were very surprised when my in surgery one was 6.9 but I had been on 1500g metaformin, exercise and LC diet for 5 weeks. Enough to shock my sloth, fruit beasting, pasta loving blood sugars into action!

I have done quite a bit of reading (I get the feeling we are similar with this one) and the most useful testing in the first couple of weeks is to identify foods you can tolerate and how bad the spikes are - all my spikes have been manageable numbers so I know that as long as I don't regularly indulge those ingredients I can enjoy them occasionally.
With this in mind I do a fasting reading, then generally either take one before lunch depending on how I feel (due to rapid change in diet I get false hypos - I know they are not real because of the metaformin - but they still make me feel awful). Then I do a pre-evening meal.
Again - especially if I have snacked I might do one before bed. Only 2-4 a day.
I have learnt to time that 2 hours from when you start eating not end of meal.
And that sometimes our readings can spike for reasons beyond our food intake. Stress etc.

Well done for getting bloods and a reading and enjoy Shabbat.
 
ColinUK said:
Did once measure last night but food was weird timings as I was out and grazed - was really just to get the machine set up and do the first one. That was 8.9.

Just done one now (and got through the strips to take it as I underestimate the necessary size of the blood drop needed) and that’s 6.7 fasted.
I’ll do another an hour before the evening meal (which is likely to blow it sky high as it’sa traditional Friday night Shabbat dinner at my folks) and afterwards. Although there’s conflicting advice about whether to make the post reading an hour or two hours afterwards and whether it’s after the commencement or creation of the meal.
Click to expand...
The aim is to repeat the same meal, but test at a different time afterwards - you are looking for when the blood sugar level peaks, and at what level. It can seem a laborious process, but eventually (if you record everything, like meal eaten, amount of carbs, results before and after and when the test was taken) you will build up a good idea of what foods you can confidently eat and what you might need to reduce, replace or avoid in your diet 🙂 You should find that eventually you will know how meals you commonly eat affect you, so won't need to test so often for those 🙂
 
Make sure you wash your hands before testing. I have that tester and dirty hands mess up readings. 🙂
 
I
Northerner said:
The aim is to repeat the same meal, but test at a different time afterwards - you are looking for when the blood sugar level peaks, and at what level. It can seem a laborious process, but eventually (if you record everything, like meal eaten, amount of carbs, results before and after and when the test was taken) you will build up a good idea of what foods you can confidently eat and what you might need to reduce, replace or avoid in your diet 🙂 You should find that eventually you will know how meals you commonly eat affect you, so won't need to test so often for those 🙂
Click to expand...
I like the approach that says focus initially on breakfast for one week, lunch for the next etc as it’s simpler to track the impact of the one meal time consumption. So that it’s testing before as a base line and then an hour or two afterwards but with consistency?
 
Brando77 said:
Make sure you wash your hands before testing. I have that tester and dirty hands mess up readings. 🙂
Click to expand...
As per the instructions I’m washing them with soap and hot water 🙂
 
Where do folks buy their strips and lancets from?
I’m tempted to add to the pollution levels by using Amazon for both - I’m guessing I should ask if the GP is going to prescribe testing strips too - but I’m wondering if Amazon is the best value or if there’s a better place to buy from?
 
Many GP won't prescribe strips for Type2 that are not on Insulin or tablets with hypo potential. Many buy the strips direct from HomeHealth the distributor of the machine as they do bulk strip discount.
 
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I've the Codefree. I got my strips from Amazon, the same time as the meter.
ColinUK said:
Although there’s conflicting advice about whether to make the post reading an hour or two hours afterwards...
Click to expand...
Two hours after is the standard time I see given. However, some foods will affect you quicker than that (and possibly later I've heard). When i tested I did at 1 and 2 hours. My breakfast reached 11.7 at one hour. By 2, it was 8.6 (I think).
ColinUK said:
... whether it’s after the commencement or creation of the meal.
Click to expand...
????
It's always when you eat the food that matters. (For diabetics). When it's cooked matters because you have to wait to get to eat it!
 
You test directly before eating. Then normally two hours after the first bite . later on you might want to find out a bit more, for instance when you reach the highest point , when your back to normal etc.
This is where a one hour and or a three hour test helps.
Personally when I did fingerpicks ( I use a different system now) I didn’t bother with a one hour test.

But imo at the mo directly before eating then 2 hrs later will provide you with plenty of info to be going on with
 
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