how often should you test youre blood glucose level ie every day or once a week .also if you do it before breakfast & do it 2 hours after youre tea should the reading at teatime be higher or lower am finding it a minefield at the moment so much conflicting information .
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testing
- Thread starter dingdong
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PattiEvans
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hi @dingdong
For tests to be useful they have to tell you something about the food you are eating and whether or not certain foods raise your blood sugar. To do this you need to test before a meal and 2 hours later looking for a rise of not more than 2-3 Mmol/l. That’s a lot of testing to start with, but you will soon build up knowledge of what foods affect you and what you can eat safely, then you can relax a bit.
For tests to be useful they have to tell you something about the food you are eating and whether or not certain foods raise your blood sugar. To do this you need to test before a meal and 2 hours later looking for a rise of not more than 2-3 Mmol/l. That’s a lot of testing to start with, but you will soon build up knowledge of what foods affect you and what you can eat safely, then you can relax a bit.
Docb
Moderator
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi @dingdong and you are asking a question that is often posed on the forum. Unfortunately, there is no simple straight answer. It depends on what you are trying to achieve.
There are two major reasons for testing as a T2. There are lots of minor reasons, but lets forget those for the moment.
The first major reason is to keep an eye on things, to check whether your blood glucose in the "normal" range. You can do that everyday or every few days either at the same time or at different times. If you do this and generally get readings between 4 and 9 then it is fair to assume that your blood glucose control is pretty good. Don't panic if you get the odd reading outside the range, that's normal, like as not it will be back next check. If you consistently get readings outside that range then you need to put your thinking cap on and do some more frequent testing.
The second major reason, and probably the the most useful thing you can do with a meter is to check on how different food stuffs affect your blood glucose levels. Its the way many of us have found which foods we cannot cope with and have as a result cut down on, or even eliminated, in our diet. You do this by testing immediately before you eat and then test again a short time afterwards to find out the effect of what you have eaten. The general guide is that you test two hours after and there is no need to be concerned if the rise in blood glucose is less than 3 units. That is a guide, some test earlier than two hours, some later, but it is best to fix a time that will be convenient to you and stick to it. In the early days, you might test at every meal but you fairly rapidly begin to get a sense of where the problems might be and zero in those meals. That cuts down considerably on the testing.
A complicating factor is if you are taking something like gliclazide which prompts your system to produce more insulin and cause abnormally low blood glucose which means you should not drive. In this case you might test before you drive, particularly if you are feeling a bit odd, to make sure you are above the safe driving limit of a reading of 5 or above.
Me, I tested a lot in the early days until I figured out how to adjust my diet to keep within my range of 5 - 9. I will now check occasionally if I have had something out of the normal for me just to see that things are OK for that new foodstuff. These days I check first thing in the morning and last thing at night to see where my levels are generally and because I take gliclazide I will test during the day if I think things might be going astray. They rarely are!
My usual caveat.... Comments are only relevant to T2 diabetics.... T1 is a whole different ball game.
There are two major reasons for testing as a T2. There are lots of minor reasons, but lets forget those for the moment.
The first major reason is to keep an eye on things, to check whether your blood glucose in the "normal" range. You can do that everyday or every few days either at the same time or at different times. If you do this and generally get readings between 4 and 9 then it is fair to assume that your blood glucose control is pretty good. Don't panic if you get the odd reading outside the range, that's normal, like as not it will be back next check. If you consistently get readings outside that range then you need to put your thinking cap on and do some more frequent testing.
The second major reason, and probably the the most useful thing you can do with a meter is to check on how different food stuffs affect your blood glucose levels. Its the way many of us have found which foods we cannot cope with and have as a result cut down on, or even eliminated, in our diet. You do this by testing immediately before you eat and then test again a short time afterwards to find out the effect of what you have eaten. The general guide is that you test two hours after and there is no need to be concerned if the rise in blood glucose is less than 3 units. That is a guide, some test earlier than two hours, some later, but it is best to fix a time that will be convenient to you and stick to it. In the early days, you might test at every meal but you fairly rapidly begin to get a sense of where the problems might be and zero in those meals. That cuts down considerably on the testing.
A complicating factor is if you are taking something like gliclazide which prompts your system to produce more insulin and cause abnormally low blood glucose which means you should not drive. In this case you might test before you drive, particularly if you are feeling a bit odd, to make sure you are above the safe driving limit of a reading of 5 or above.
Me, I tested a lot in the early days until I figured out how to adjust my diet to keep within my range of 5 - 9. I will now check occasionally if I have had something out of the normal for me just to see that things are OK for that new foodstuff. These days I check first thing in the morning and last thing at night to see where my levels are generally and because I take gliclazide I will test during the day if I think things might be going astray. They rarely are!
My usual caveat.... Comments are only relevant to T2 diabetics.... T1 is a whole different ball game.
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