Sugar levels

[Mgatwink]

Hi All I’m a new year, my back ground with Diabetes is, I was diagnosed in 2016 and put on Metformin which was a surprise as I had no symptoms so I carried on as normal. In the last year I have shown all the symptoms and it now affects my life day to day, as it has proved impossible to speak to or see a doctor since COVID I’m having to take things into my own hands which is why I have joined Diabetes UK. My question is I feel I need to know my sugar levels at any time so I can see what effect different foods have and wondered if anyone has experience with testers on arm such as Dexcom or similar. Any information would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[ColinUK]

Many people use finger prick testing throughout the day to determine their BG levels.

Some meters and test strips are comparatively cheap (especially when compared to things like Libre2) and are reliable.

Look at SD Codefree meters for example.

Is there a reason why you’re drawn to the arm sensors as opposed to the the finger prick testing?

On a different note, if you’re not had any diabetes related check ups at your GP since being diagnosed that’s horrendous. You’re supposed to have annual checks for a variety of complications and others potentially more regularly.

I’d advise contacting the diabetes U.K. helpline when it’s open and getting their advice about how to get better care from your GP.

Meanwhile can you tell us more about you? How did you come to be diagnosed; what symptoms are you experiencing now etc?

 

[Leadinglights]

People are often under the misapprehension that metformin will be a magic bullet in reducing blood glucose without making any dietary changes but it will only help the body use the insulin it produces more effectively but cannot fight against too many carbohydrates so reducing those is an important part of the treatment process.
Many find a low carbohydrate approach successful, that being no more then 130g total carbs per day, it does not mean NO carbs.
Getting a blood glucose home testing monitor will allow you to determine what foods and meals you can tolerate and help you make better food choices. Testing before you eat and after 2 hours aiming at no more than a 2-3mmol/l increase or as your levels come down no more than 8-8.5mmol/l. You can adjust your portion size or cut some high carb foods out depending on your results. Things like potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, breakfast cereals, pastry as well as the obvious cakes, biscuits and sugary drinks which are the big hitters.
People can find a CGM useful but you need to be able to interpret the result and at £40 a pop for 2 weeks is fairly expensive. You can get a free 2 week trial from Abbott for a Libre if you have a compatible phone.
It sounds as if you have had little support from your surgery but now things should be back to more normal so you may need to be proactive about a follow up appointment for those checks.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Like others I'd suggest finger prick monitoring rather than CGM or Flash Monitoring - we do have some T2s here who choose to self-fund Libre 2, but the majority who are trying to check results around food use a meter and strips.

As @ColinUK says, there are quite wide differences in price. The most reliable and affordable meters embers here have found are the SD Gluco Navii and the Spirit Tee2 has Tee2 test strips both of which have strips at around £10 for 50, where some brands of meters can be 3x that!

By contrast Flash sensors and CGM are around £50 for 10-14 days, and that cost remains even if you don't look at the data - whereas test strips will remain in date for several months, sometimes years - so you can spread their use if you need to.

If you are still interested in continuous data, Abbott had a free trial running where you could get a single sensor to try it out. I'm not sure if it's still open , but that would give you 14 days to judge whether you felt it was worth £25/week for you?

 

[ColinUK]

The Abbott free trail of one sensor is still running.

 

[Mgatwink]

People are often under the misapprehension that metformin will be a magic bullet in reducing blood glucose without making any dietary changes but it will only help the body use the insulin it produces more effectively but cannot fight against too many carbohydrates so reducing those is an important part of the treatment process.
Many find a low carbohydrate approach successful, that being no more then 130g total carbs per day, it does not mean NO carbs.
Getting a blood glucose home testing monitor will allow you to determine what foods and meals you can tolerate and help you make better food choices. Testing before you eat and after 2 hours aiming at no more than a 2-3mmol/l increase or as your levels come down no more than 8-8.5mmol/l. You can adjust your portion size or cut some high carb foods out depending on your results. Things like potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, breakfast cereals, pastry as well as the obvious cakes, biscuits and sugary drinks which are the big hitters.
People can find a CGM useful but you need to be able to interpret the result and at £40 a pop for 2 weeks is fairly expensive. You can get a free 2 week trial from Abbott for a Libre if you have a compatible phone.
It sounds as if you have had little support from your surgery but now things should be back to more normal so you may need to be proactive about a follow up appointment for those checks.

Thank you you’ve been very helpful, as someone still learning and feeling there way I have a lot to learn