T2s how often and when do you test?

Status
Not open for further replies.
R

RJN123

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Another newbie question:
I am now done with my Libre trial, which was super useful to get me started. But now back to finger pricks, and I am wondering what a good routine is? How many times a day should I test, and when are the best times. So far, I have done two a day, one before a meal and one after a different meal. It doesn’t feel adequate, but I am really hating the pricks. My GP seems to think monitoring isn’t all the critical, but the DNS encourages it so ‍♀️. Your views/experience would be helpful, Thank you!
 
Currently just doing an early morning reading when I wake up. Over the months since diagnosis I've refined my menu, whereas apart from an early test I'd test before a meal and then two hours later and make refinements to the meal if I over did the carbs. I still test after if i go out and have a meal if I think I've made a poor choice...
 
RJN123 said:
Another newbie question:
I am now done with my Libre trial, which was super useful to get me started. But now back to finger pricks, and I am wondering what a good routine is? How many times a day should I test, and when are the best times. So far, I have done two a day, one before a meal and one after a different meal. It doesn’t feel adequate, but I am really hating the pricks. My GP seems to think monitoring isn’t all the critical, but the DNS encourages it so ‍♀️. Your views/experience would be helpful, Thank you!
Click to expand...
It will partly depend on how much useful information you gained from wearing the Libre. If you were able to establish a repertoire of meals that you are able to tolerate and be within that no more than 2-3mmol/l increase or no more than 8-8.5mmol/l after 2 hours then there is no need to test those meals. Once their blood glucose levels are more stable then they may only test in the morning on waking to monitor progress day to day, week to week etc but would also test before and after new meals or if they feel unwell.
 
I usually test when I wake and before I got to bed. Before and 2 hours after trying a new meal or food. And if I feel rough.
 
I used to test before and after all meals at first, but soon I could see that I was getting a consistent response to all the things I ate for breakfast, so I stopped testing that, and then I gradually phased out lunch as I kept forgetting to eat, then I stopped testing before my evening meal, and once I was seeing my results were under eight after eating, and gradually drifting downwards I stopped all regular testing. I did a few checks if I ate differently to usual, but these days I check just out of curiosity.
To see how meals affected me I got a basic increase by testing before and after. Testing after eating when you don't know where you started from - and have no history of checking that meal seems a bit problematic as if the after meal reading is good or bad - how would you know?
 
Whenever I like as I get the strips free. I'm probably testing too much but if you test every day you'll get a good average that you can compare to the A1c.
 
Doesn’t the answer to “how often?” depend on “why?”?
If you are testing to keep an eye on your general health/progress, once a day at the same time may be enough.
If you are testing to be able to adjust your diabetes management, then you may need to test more often. For example, i& you want to know if exercise helps, you need to test before and after different types of exercise. If you are testing to find out if you can tolerate certain foods, you need to test before and afterwards.
Once you have this knowledge (you may have gained it from the Libre trial), people tend to cut back testing unless they try something new.
Testing random times or just to write it down, seems pretty pointless .
 
Thank you for the responses. This has been helpful for me. As some of you noted the Libre trial gave me quite a good baseline to understand what foods trigger spikes for me. Unfortunately (in this context) I rarely stick to the same type of food as I love experimenting, so still have loads of meals which I am not sure about, so just gotta keep testing. And good point about exercise. I am still recovering from major surgery, so very limited at the moment, but planning on getting back in the groove soon.
 
Good luck with your ongoing experiments @RJN123

You may find that your before/after meal checks fairly swiftly show you your metabolism’s tolerance for portion sizes of the common sources of carbohydrates (potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, pastry etc), and that once you have that nailed with a little extra experimentation around things like pulses, root veg, and thickeners for sauces, you may be able to predict most meals reasonably confidently as the other ingredients won’t be adding all that much to the total?
 
I used to test quite a lot, I also got a free Libre 2 and like you, that gave me a great insight. I purchased 2 more and used them over about 3 months. I'm currently trying a Dexcom G7, I'll start another thread about my experiences with these CGMs when the Dexcom runs out in a week.

Now when not wearing a CGM, I tend to test about for a day once a week to get a 'snapshot'. I do a finger prick test about 20-30 mins after I get up, 2 hours after breakfast, then just before and 2 hours after meals and note them down in a spreadsheet. Though a piece of paper would also do the job.

I'd say in the earlier stages of making food adjustments, other lifestyle changes and if you are on any medication, the more tests the merrier. But as others have said, once you get a handle on it, you will probably be able to predict the results. So you can probably just test before and 2 hours after any new foods you try.

I generally baseline at around 5-6 mmol/L, then it goes up to around 8-10 depending on what I eat. Today was a little worse, but I have been working and it was quite stressful.
 
jules748 said:
I used to test quite a lot, I also got a free Libre 2 and like you, that gave me a great insight. I purchased 2 more and used them over about 3 months. I'm currently trying a Dexcom G7, I'll start another thread about my experiences with these CGMs when the Dexcom runs out in a week.

Now when not wearing a CGM, I tend to test about for a day once a week to get a 'snapshot'. I do a finger prick test about 20-30 mins after I get up, 2 hours after breakfast, then just before and 2 hours after meals and note them down in a spreadsheet. Though a piece of paper would also do the job.

I'd say in the earlier stages of making food adjustments, other lifestyle changes and if you are on any medication, the more tests the merrier. But as others have said, once you get a handle on it, you will probably be able to predict the results. So you can probably just test before and 2 hours after any new foods you try.

I generally baseline at around 5-6 mmol/L, then it goes up to around 8-10 depending on what I eat. Today was a little worse, but I have been working and it was quite stressful.
Click to expand...
You seem to have achieved a good HbA1C result but if your base line is 5-6mmol/l then if you are going as high as 10mmol/l at your 2 hour post meal test then that would suggest your meals are rather carb heavy. The suggested increase is to aim at no more than a 2-3mmol/l increase or no more than 8-8.5 mmol/l for 2hr post meal reading.
 
I routinely take Before breakfast and Before evening meal readings ..adjusting my insulin doses in conjunction with my ✻titration plan✻
 
I can never get any blood out so I only try first thing before getting up. Also the strips cost a fortune. 🙄
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top