Testing

[Clairebear7919]

hi there. I’m type 2 diabetic on metformin 3 times a day. The doctor said I didn’t need to test my levels due to only being on medication. Just before the coronavirus started I tested myself on my aunties machine to see how I had been doing (newly diagnosed) and was over the moon to see my level was 7.1 from the 18 recorded at the doctors. I managed to get in a good routine staying around this mark and was well on my way looking forward to my first 3 monthly check in May however, coronavirus happened and panic buying meant for weeks we were not able to get the things I had been eating I.e. fresh meat and fish brown bread tuna makrel eggs or much fresh veg at all. For weeks Iv been substituting and still now we get to the shop and struggle to get a food shop in not to mention there are never any food deliveries and of course money has gone down due to partner off work resulting in not good choices at all. Anyway my question is I think Iv back tracked here and my bloods are now high Iv been having painful legs again but I now can’t use my aunties test.i have a test kit from last time which is the contour next monitor but I’m struggling to get the test strips for it. Iv been considering buying a new test kit but have no idea where to start. Doctors say testing will make me more anxious and won’t supply one. Does anyone else test themselves anyway and find it helps to put their mind at ease

 

[mikeydt1]

there are loads on here who test their own BG for very good reasons.

the advice from your doctors is very poor to say the least, because you are on medications doesn't mean you can't test your own BG levels. who is to say that the medication isn't working properly and at the same you are also at risk of either too high BG levels or worse too low which can be dangerous.

get yourself a test kit and start to check your levels 2 to 3 times a day is ample, test kits can be bought cheaply along with test strips just have a good look around before buying one. for me i am using kinetic and get myself stuff from the manufacturers web site.

on here we have had a few who have been given very poor advice from their doctors or nurses with regards to testing.

 

[Clairebear7919]

Thank you for your reply. I thought that too. My auntie also has type 2 and was diagnosed last year but she was given a test kit and she only takes 1 metformin a day so not too sure how they work it out. Personally I would feel a lot better testing mine especially when food and things are off.

 

[brisr949]

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[rebrascora]

Hi
Most experienced members here find a BG meter invaluable in managing their diabetes.
The meter that you currently have uses middle of the range test strips cost wise. I would say that you would be better buying a meter that uses cheaper test strips. The SD Gluco Navii BG meter or the Spirit Health Tee2 both have test strips which cost £8 per pot and the meter costs about £15 to buy, so a couple of pots of test strips and you will start saving money..... considering that diabetes is a life long condition, even if you get it into remission, you are likely to go through more than a couple of pots of test strips, so it makes sense to buy a new meter with cheaper test strips in the longer term. After a couple of months of regular testing and recording readings with the meals they related to ie keeping a food diary, you will be able to reduce the number of tests you need to do to maintain good control but in the early days testing before and 2 hours after each meal will give you a lot of very valuable information, but will also consume quite a lot of test strips, so worth the initial investment in a new meter which uses cheaper strips in my opinion.

 

[DaveB]

Hi. Just like the Corona virus, you can't manage what you don't measure. The NHS advice about T2 testing is absurd and based on cost saving. Testing for anyone with diabetes is essential.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I think different GPs have different opinions. The official advice is based on research that suggests many people find BG monitoring inconvenient, confusing or distressing, and concentrates on using BG checks to avoid hypoglycaemia.

However many enlightened GPs, and members of the forum fit into what is described as a ‘subgroup’ in that research (a large subgroup if the experience of the forum is anything to go by!). This group find huge and sustained benefit in using BG strips to evaluate the individual reactions to foods and to create a more BG-friendly eating plan - which can result in very well managed diabetes (sometimes called remission) for some members here.

The really tricky thing is that blood glucose responses to food are highly individual, and it can be impossible to say which forms and amounts of carbohydrate will ‘spike’ your BG without checking for yourself. But the good news is that it is possible to check this for yourself and tailor your own ideal way of eating that suits you and your BG levels. Using a BG meter, and checking before and after 2 hours after meals, and noting what the differences are allows you to identify amounts or types of carbs that cause big BG rises. Then experiment with reducing portions or switching to different types (sometimes just having things at a different time of day makes a difference) to gradually improve post-meal BGs.

If you are interested in using a BG meter to find out how different foods affect you, you may find test-review-adjust by Alan S helpful.

One of the most affordable meters members here have found is from SD, and has been recently updated to the SD Gluco Navii which has test strips at around £8 for 50

Good luck and let us know how you are getting on 🙂

 

[grovesy]

My recent letter removing my strips from my repeats quoted NICE guidelines.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

My recent letter removing my strips from my repeats quoted NICE guidelines.

Yup. I was disappointed that the 2015 NICE review for T2 didn’t support SMBG (self monitoring) for T2s wanting to improve their management on diet and exercise.

The T1 guidance is currently being updated, but I’m not sure if they are updating the T2 guidance as well. And even if they are it would need some significant studies to have been published to support self monitoring rather than just a softening towards low carb. NICE need the evidence base to change in order to update their recommendations. Particularly if the old recommendations were not to do something.

 

[trophywench]

Yes indeed grovesey! - but only those few words which suited them, to try and back up what they were doing.

It is absolutely true that some folk, in the piece of research which proved the theory that it would be distressing, did find it distressing and therefore stopped doing it.

Here's a history lesson!

The group known as 'Farmer et al' took X number of T2 diabetics that were being treated and studied by the research group for a number of years, none of them were on either insulin or a glicazide, so no hypo inducing treatment. Every one only by a GP surgery; if they got any complications and hospital diabetes clinic referral, they automatically thereby got removed from the study. At that time, internet forums for most things were in their infancy or childhood, only one called Diabetes Insight was evident at that time. I was a member of that cos it already had a number of apparently well informed diabetic members, who'd joined it after jointly being members of the internet Newsgroup Alt/Support/Diabetes before the vast majority of people even owned a home computer, let alone a Dial up Modem, so it's very unlikely that more than 0.5% of the participants would be getting info from anywhere other than their GP. None of the group were given any suggestions about what they could do should the test result be anything other than between 4 and 7. I wasn't one of them so maybe some GPs may have said eg 'adjust your diet' or 'take more exercise' - but of course no specific clues as to how or what or what to expect or watch out for when/if they took the advice, we'll do another blood test in 6 months (or a year) to see how you're getting on.

So - hardly surprising folk got rather jaded with bodging holes in their fingers for no apparent reason, is it!!!

We saw that change to NICE Guidelines for T2 coming a mile off on DSF (which morfed from Diabetes Insight) and Lo! we were as correct about that as we have been for any number of other things over the years, except of course we have taken no pleasure whatsoever from that one.

It's purely a small part of the overall NHS cost saving directives from successive UK Governments over the past decades is what it always was and still is. it was foolish then and still is, too. It has ALWAYS been false economy to save money today and then need to spend even more later to correct it - whatever it's for.

Which reminds me …. Pete, we really really do need to invest in new living room carpet, it has been over 21 years since we had this one, so it's done well really, hasn't it!

 

[Clairebear7919]

Hi
Most experienced members here find a BG meter invaluable in managing their diabetes.
The meter that you currently have uses middle of the range test strips cost wise. I would say that you would be better buying a meter that uses cheaper test strips. The SD Gluco Navii BG meter or the Spirit Health Tee2 both have test strips which cost £8 per pot and the meter costs about £15 to buy, so a couple of pots of test strips and you will start saving money..... considering that diabetes is a life long condition, even if you get it into remission, you are likely to go through more than a couple of pots of test strips, so it makes sense to buy a new meter with cheaper test strips in the longer term. After a couple of months of regular testing and recording readings with the meals they related to ie keeping a food diary, you will be able to reduce the number of tests you need to do to maintain good control but in the early days testing before and 2 hours after each meal will give you a lot of very valuable information, but will also consume quite a lot of test strips, so worth the initial investment in a new meter which uses cheaper strips in my opinion.

Thank you so much for the advice