Testing Routines

[mum2westiesGill]

I know this can sometimes be an individual thing & i know about testing when we are ill or after / before excersise etc but do you have a testing routine ie
1. certain days / times when you test before meals
2. certain days / times when you test after meals
3. certain days / times inbetween meals, also do you test 1 hour or 2 hours inbetween meals?

 

[NathanMedford]

Sounds like I am on a similar routine to you with the Humalog and Lantus. I used to test before I ate but recently I was told by my doctor to test 2 hours after eating. This then lets me know if the amount of humalog I gave myself is too high or too low as Humalog peaks after 2 hours.

 

[novorapidboi26]

As you say , everyone has different needs...........

But for me personally, every day I test before before my main meals.

I also test twice between lunch and dinner Monday to Friday, purely to see how my dose has done, for no other reason that that.

I also test after exercise and occasionally before driving....😱

Before bed is a good one, as this can help tell you what your background dose is doing overnight.......

 

[Northerner]

I always test before meals so I know how much novorapid to inject. Testing after to see if you gave yourself too much or too little strikes me as very strange because you could find yourself very high after 2 hours and not know if it was because you were high before your meal, and got the dose right for the meal, or if you miscalculated for the meal. Also, testing before allows you to add a correction amount in which would them hopefully prevent you from being high for the two hours until you tested.

 

[AlisonM]

My absolute minimum is 4 times. on waking, before lunch and before bed. I also test after I get back from my daily walk, usually about tea time.

That's if everything is sailing along happily, which of course never happens with me, so I can end up testing up to eight times a day. More if I have a bad hypo. I would love to be stable enough to have a routine, but that day may be far off yet.

 

[D_G]

I test before meals so i know how much insulin i need

Mid morning whilst at work to see if i need a quick snack before lunch (which is usually yes)

I will always test before i go to bed to make sure im on a reasonable level so as not to go to low whilst i am asleep

I will sometimes test 2 hours after some foods like pasta or if i am eating out and have to guess the carbs in my meal, just to make sure i dont need a correction

I will test if i am feeling high/low

And before and after excercise

But thats just me 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Before each meal (every day) and before bed.

Plus...

1 or 2 hours after one or more meals to check dose accuracy/food absorption/corrections etc...

And/or
Before driving
Checking for hypos/confirming hypo treatment

And on... and on... and on...

Usually 6-10 times a day, hardly ever fewer than 4 these days.

 

[imtrying]

Hi. I'm on a carb-counting course at the moment so I am testing only before meals (to adjust if necessary) and I also drive every day so test before I drive to and from work. Also test before I go to bed, and when I wake up....maybe I am a little obsessed!!?

 

[Northerner]

Hi. I'm on a carb-counting course at the moment so I am testing only before meals (to adjust if necessary) and I also drive every day so test before I drive to and from work. Also test before I go to bed, and when I wake up....maybe I am a little obsessed!!?

Certainly not! All valid reasons for testing to keep good control and stay safe 🙂

 

[imtrying]

Certainly not! All valid reasons for testing to keep good control and stay safe 🙂

They asked how much I was testing and I said I was trying to almost start again so I was testing every 2 hours - they looked at me like I'd just told them I'd shot the queen! then told me not to do that, and that my doctor won't want me using all those test strips! Felt like being at school! I'd spent so long not testing, I thought I was finally being good, and I Still got told off 😱

 

[Robster65]

Same as everyday, Northerner and imtrying et al.🙂

Bare minimum of 4 times but up to 9 or 10. Average about 7.

It's a means of predicting what I'm going to do next, rather than a way of checking what I've already done. Better to inject the right amount than to correct it afterwards.

And life is, sadly, never predictable nor routine, so a fixed regime doesn't really fit in. I left the rigid timetable of injecting and eating behind years ago and don't intend to go back to it.🙂

Rob

 

[heasandford]

I support the 'before meals' testing almost without exception now, for the same reason Alan said, otherwise how do you know the effect of the insulin if you didn't know what level you were at before?

When I did a lot of adjustments between meals I started getting too many lows then highs, so I've stppoed that for a while, assuming that if the before meal levels are within range, it's more or less OK. I have to say that I am now trying to force myself to be more focussed, and try to find what affects my BG, by testing at 1hr then 2 hr after eating. I am not good at this!

Any test that genuinely tells you something you will use is good!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

...I have to say that I am now trying to force myself to be more focussed, and try to find what affects my BG, by testing at 1hr then 2 hr after eating. I am not good at this!...

For encouragement heasandford I suspect the improvement in my last A1c was almost entirely down to trying to address some errant post-meal levels. I'd not really had enough data for several years before for post-meal results to have seemed anything other than random and bewildering. As soon as I had more to look at... the patterns started to emerge.