Testing

[Steve75]

So I’ve decided to purchase a tester to give a in-site of what’s not good for me to eat.my problem is I think when I’ve a high bg reading at night im up every hour for a wee.so normally I avoid potatoes as much as I can but last night I had a jacket potato and was ok.ive just changed my breakfast to Greek yogurt and strawberries plus a couple of boiled eggs from a cereal and in doing so cut my carb intake from 50 to 8 and most of that is just the milk in my coffee .I'm hoping if I’m having a bad night I could test and confirm it’s down to high bg level and work my way back to what caused it so I can avoid it.im also off on Monday to empower to help manage type 2 so i hope I will learn something from that to help along the way.its a very steep learning curve at the moment but I’m sure it will get easier as time goes by

 

[Northerner]

Good decision Steve - no better way to learn how your different food choices affect you so you can tailor your diet to maintain flexibility whilst managing your levels well 🙂 We're all different, so the same food can affect us in different ways - my philosophy is that there's no point in giving up things you enjoy if they don't have an adverse impact on your levels, as this helps you to sustain your diet. However, some people do find that going very low carb is fine for them, so it's a personal choice.

If you've not already seen it, I would have a read of blog entries Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S , Testing on a budget and Painless Pricks, by Alan S . The cheapest meter/strips we have come across is the SD Gluco Navii which has test strips at around £8 for 50.

Let us know if you have any questions! 🙂

 

[Ljc]

It does get easier in time and imo and many others on here, testing to see how the various carbs affect us so we can make informed choices is the best way to go .
This meter is one of the cheapest meters to self fund the ongoing cost of the test strips £8 foe a pot if 50, it replaces the old SD Codefree meter

GlucoNavii Blood Sugar Meter (mmol/L) Glucose Monitor Starter Kit - VAT Free: Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

GlucoNavii Blood Sugar Meter (mmol/L) Glucose Monitor Starter Kit - VAT Free: Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

www.amazon.co.uk

I am rather concerned that you seem to be getting some symptoms of hypers with such a low carbohydrate intake .

 

[Felinia]

I think Steve meant his breakfast carb intake was 8, not his whole day. I too have fruit and yogurt, and for 80 gm fruit and a dessertspoon of Greek yogurt, my app tells me the carb value is 7.6. Add a dash of milk for my cuppa and that's around 8. By the time I add in all the various small amounts of carbs in my salad, soup and cooked veggies plus the remainder of my 170ml of milk, I usually come in around 75gm carbs for the day.

 

[Toucan]

Hello @Steve75.
Yes as others say a tester can be a huge help in working out what you can and can't eat.
If you have a look at the recent string

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/food-nemeses-and-happy-discoveries.85296/

you will see the large range of variations between us of what does and doesn't effect our blood sugar readings.

The way we react to foods is different for everyone. The amount of tolerance varies, and even the same foods eaten at different times of the day, or in different combinations, can have varying effects. Sometimes reducing the quantity of something you are sensitive to, helps.

So it takes a bit of detective work to find out what is right for you, and a tester is a big help with doing this.
Hope it works well for you.

 

[Steve75]

Yes sorry to confuse people
With my whole day I try to keep it below 150 at the moment as I read a normal person should be about 260 carbs a day so rather than cut it out altogether I’ll start about 150.
The reason I went to the doctors firstly was because I kept getting up a lot at night so i presume it’s a normal sign of diabetes as since I’ve cut down I don’t get up much at all unless I’ve eaten something that must raise my levels so I need to find what that is.
A few people seem to recommend the gluco navi so i went for that and it hopefully comes tomorrow and when I go on the course on Monday I can have a chat about the results
At the moment the reduced carbs is helping me loose weight which is good as I have set myself a target of loosing 2 1/2 stone by April when I have to go back to see the nurse and hopefully keep off the tablets.i seem to be on target and it’s giving me a focus while I’m learning more .

 

[grovesy]

Have you had your prostate checked as that can also have a symptom of getting up in the night too?

 

[Drummer]

I was definitely unable to eat carbs in the mornings, so my breakfast was - and often still is, under 10 gm of carbs for everything.
when I did not see a reduction in hba1c I reduced down to a total of 40 gm of carbs a day, down from 50 - which had no great effect on anything much. If there is such a thing as a 'glucostat' mine seems to be stuck - but I feel well and happy, which is more than half the battle won.

 

[trophywench]

That's true @grovesy - and by the way Steve, initially you should be offered a blood test, to check the level of your PSA (prostate specific antigen) nothing invasive! If the test result raises questions - well - then they will want to examine you to see if there's any swelling - and if there is swelling then it does not, by any means, automatically mean it's cancer.

All blokes ought to get their PSA tested and keep their eye on it after that, cos it still kills a bloke every 45 minutes! Was at an event yesterday where we )Prostate Cancer charity my husband and I are both trustees of) tested well over 100 blokes - some of em had been before and having it done again cos it was their anniversary but for the majority this was the first time.

 

[grovesy]

That's true @grovesy - and by the way Steve, initially you should be offered a blood test, to check the level of your PSA (prostate specific antigen) nothing invasive! If the test result raises questions - well - then they will want to examine you to see if there's any swelling - and if there is swelling then it does not, by any means, automatically mean it's cancer.

All blokes ought to get their PSA tested and keep their eye on it after that, cos it still kills a bloke every 45 minutes! Was at an event yesterday where we )Prostate Cancer charity my husband and I are both trustees of) tested well over 100 blokes - some of em had been before and having it done again cos it was their anniversary but for the majority this was the first time.

I know of someone whose husband was having problems, had a PSA and as that was normal did examine him to see if it was a simple enlarged prostate. I found this was strange, not to have done this.

 

[Steve75]

Hi all
I have had my prostrate checked which was fine thankfully which was the first thing they did.after about three more blood tests they decided I had type two of hb1c of 51 so maybe I was hovering just under for a bit because when I knew I had a test due I stopped eating rubbish for a while.ive not been testing much as I tend to eat similar stuff and know the readings but I’ve found out I’m normally around 6.0 -6.5 in the mornings before eating and got used to being higher than I would like but it never seems to go much over 7.0 after two hours of eating so I’m pleased with that.im just being careful and trying to limit food to under 10 g per 100g of carbs o and avoiding potatoes and pasta as much as possible and as the warmer weather is approaching it’s getting easier.ive learned so much from everyone on this site as to what to expect from diabetes and what is possible to eat to some degree as everyone is different but I’ve found reducing carbs to 150 max a day seems to work for me

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hope you find your BG monitoring helps you tweak your diet and give you more in-range BG outcomes @Steve75

Its a tried and tested technique on the forum, and many folks here have seen huge improvements when they are able to adjust their menu based on what happens to them as an individual in response to different amounts and types of carbs, rather than general dietary advice.