Told by offhand 'phone call

[Barfly]

You can get the Spirit Healthcare Tee 2 + by registering on their website, answering an email to confirm you are diabetic and then you order directly and do not pay VAT.

@Drummer
I'll give that a go, thanks for the tips everyone.
Tony

 

[Ljc]

Metformin normally does not cause hypo’s but others can .
Cheese and ham are fine but what you put it between may or may not be , only testing will tell.
They are not supposed to keep your blood results ect secret .

Hope you get online access soon,mi find it very helpful to go back and recheck things

 

[Leadinglights]

@Ljc
The surgery is within walking distance for me, less than 1/4 mile there and back. The next nearest ones are 1-2 miles away and both have no vacancies for patients just wanting a change. The priorities are for families with children, which is just as it should be, I'm an old fart and not so important.
I have no idea what my Hb thingy was, they don't want to give you info they don't have to it seems. I have done an online request for access to my full medical records, we'll see what transpires with that but I won't hold my breath.
So meds can cause hypos? Umm..that's something of which I was unaware.

Brutally honest food diary.....now that WILL be hard!! Maybe I should not have had that cheese and ham toastie for lunch.....
Cheers Tony.

You should ask for your HbA1C result as it gives a indication of your starting point, you have a right to know that information. Metformin is not one of the meds which cause genuine hypos, some people get similar symptoms but that is usually just the body adapting to lower glucose levels when you make dietary changes.
Protein and fats are not a problem, it is the carbs, so the cheese and ham are fine, some people can tolerate bread some not so well so that is where testing is useful. There are some lower carb breads around if you look carefully on the supermarket shelves. Burgen or livlife are lower than normal bread or some adventurous people make their own Keto bread.

 

[trophywench]

@Leadinglights
Thanks for the heads up on these items, will check them out. Just had a quick look on Amazon- what do you guys think of this one? They claim it's used by St. John Ambulance....? https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Kinetik-...=1&keywords=gluconavii&qid=1625394937&sr=8-28
Tony

I have no doubt whatsoever that it's a decent meter - to sell em in the UK the results have to be within a 10-15% tolerance, the better machines being nearer 10% - but the meter is dearer to start off and the ongoing cost to the user ie you, are the strips and lancets so £11.75 for 50 strips rather than £8.

The meter I use - on prescription cos I'm T1 - is generally more accurate than 10% when I've checked veinous blood and asked the phlebotomist to request a straightforward BG test as well as the plethora of annual blood tests on the form - but the strips were in excess of £25 last time I bought some myself (don't ask - my own fault!) and in terms of what I need the results for frankly, 10-15% would be perfectly OK 99.99r% of the time. I can dose insulin in divisions of 0.01units - but percentages of small numbers are even smaller numbers and cease to be of great import. Yes yes, I do understand when you're an engineer that comment is blasphemy but we aren't talking about tolerances for machining tungsten carbide valves for a nuclear submarine, or making surgical implants for pet hamsters here, are we?

One thing I would suggest you do try and source though, is a Roche Accu-Chek 'Fastclix' finger lancing machine - and the lancing cassettes to fit. By far the kindest device for bodging holes in fingers - and I've had a bit of practice doing that!

 

[Docb]

@Barfly

If you read this,

View your GP health record

View your GP health record online, find out what's included in a GP health record and what to do if there's an issue with your record.

www.nhs.uk

You will see that your GP is legally obliged to provide you with access to your records. Remind them of that if they are determined to be obstructive.

And less of the old fart nonsense! No reason for a GP practice to treat you as too senile to be bothered about on the basis of your wrinklyness. If that became commonplace then a lot of us would be in deep trouble.

 

[Barfly]

I have no doubt whatsoever that it's a decent meter - to sell em in the UK the results have to be within a 10-15% tolerance, the better machines being nearer 10% - but the meter is dearer to start off and the ongoing cost to the user ie you, are the strips and lancets so £11.75 for 50 strips rather than £8.

The meter I use - on prescription cos I'm T1 - is generally more accurate than 10% when I've checked veinous blood and asked the phlebotomist to request a straightforward BG test as well as the plethora of annual blood tests on the form - but the strips were in excess of £25 last time I bought some myself (don't ask - my own fault!) and in terms of what I need the results for frankly, 10-15% would be perfectly OK 99.99r% of the time. I can dose insulin in divisions of 0.01units - but percentages of small numbers are even smaller numbers and cease to be of great import. Yes yes, I do understand when you're an engineer that comment is blasphemy but we aren't talking about tolerances for machining tungsten carbide valves for a nuclear submarine, or making surgical implants for pet hamsters here, are we?

One thing I would suggest you do try and source though, is a Roche Accu-Chek 'Fastclix' finger lancing machine - and the lancing cassettes to fit. By far the kindest device for bodging holes in fingers - and I've had a bit of practice doing that!

@trophywench Thanks for this Jenny, it's all a bit confusing for a newbie like me, my old brain can only accept so much info, then I go to bed and it's all dribbled out in the night and I have to go over it all again until it sinks in......

I have ordered the Tee2+ as recommended by @Drummer from ebay should be here before my 71st birthday on the 11th.
I think some pricking things are in the kit, when I've got through them I'll get one of the Fastclick ones you have advised.

 

[Ljc]

The fast cix are the best , you will also need their lancing devise too as they won’t fit into other lancing devises .

Don’t worry it does take time for things to sink in especially when things are coming at you thick and fast as they are atm. I promise you it will get easier.

 

[Barfly]

Managed to access my records, a bit of a convoluted system to navigate, they really don't want you to get this information easily do they?

These are my blood test results, can anyone make any sense out of them?
Full blood count
Haemoglobin concentration 162 g/L [130.0 - 170.0]
Total white blood count 7.8 10*9/L [4.0 - 11.0]
Platelet count - observation 280 10*9/L [150.0 - 400.0]
Red blood cell count 5.01 10*12/L [4.5 - 5.5]
Haematocrit 0.465 [0.4 - 0.54]
Mean cell volume 92.8 fL [78.0 - 99.0]
Mean cell haemoglobin level 32.3 pg [27.0 - 32.0]
Above high reference limit
Mean cell haemoglobin concentration 348 g/L [310.0 - 360.0]
Neutrophil count 4.3 10*9/L [2.0 - 7.5]
Lymphocyte count 2.7 10*9/L [1.5 - 3.5]
Monocyte count - observation 0.6 10*9/L [0.2 - 1.4]
Eosinophil count - observation 0.2 10*9/L [0.0 - 0.4]
Basophil count 0.1 10*9/L [0.0 - 0.1]
Nucleated red blood cell count 0.00 10*9/L [0.0 - 0.0]

It's all just so much gobbledegook to me..... I presume the figures in brackets are the mean results for healthy individuals, so I can't see what is so bad about mine. I was once described as having borderline haemachromatosis (too much iron in my blood) But I gave up red wines, liver and reduced my red meat intake so thought I'd be ok.

 

[Robin]

Managed to access my records, a bit of a convoluted system to navigate, they really don't want you to get this information easily do they?

These are my blood test results, can anyone make any sense out of them?
Full blood count
Haemoglobin concentration 162 g/L [130.0 - 170.0]
Total white blood count 7.8 10*9/L [4.0 - 11.0]
Platelet count - observation 280 10*9/L [150.0 - 400.0]
Red blood cell count 5.01 10*12/L [4.5 - 5.5]
Haematocrit 0.465 [0.4 - 0.54]
Mean cell volume 92.8 fL [78.0 - 99.0]
Mean cell haemoglobin level 32.3 pg [27.0 - 32.0]
Above high reference limit
Mean cell haemoglobin concentration 348 g/L [310.0 - 360.0]
Neutrophil count 4.3 10*9/L [2.0 - 7.5]
Lymphocyte count 2.7 10*9/L [1.5 - 3.5]
Monocyte count - observation 0.6 10*9/L [0.2 - 1.4]
Eosinophil count - observation 0.2 10*9/L [0.0 - 0.4]
Basophil count 0.1 10*9/L [0.0 - 0.1]
Nucleated red blood cell count 0.00 10*9/L [0.0 - 0.0]

It's all just so much gobbledegook to me.....

Are they the only resilts? They are a 'full blood count' which shows what is going on in all the components of your blood. It checks that your immune system, and clotting mechanisms etc are functioning properly, and that you aren’t anaemic. The first figure in each row is the result, and the bits in square brackets is the normal range you’d expect the results to be in. So if the first figure is somewhere between the figures in square brackets, it means they’re OK.

What would be more use, is if there’s other tests, especially one labelled 'HbA1c' which will tell you what your Blood glucose levels have been over the past three months.

Also, other tests usually done can include liver and kidney function, (LFTs for liver, and Creatinine, or estimated GFR for kidney) and sometimes Thyroid.(TSH)

 

[Barfly]

@Robin

Ahh there are 3 more:

Plasma fasting glucose level 9.2 mmol/L [2.8 - 6.0]
Above high reference limit
Raised random glucose, consider further investigation for diabetes
Fasting blood

and

Haemoglobin A1c level - IFCC standardised 57 mmol/mol
IFCC non-diabetic normal range 25 - 41 mmol HbA1c/mol HbA
WARNING: HBA1c should not be used when red cell lifespan is
disturbed, eg. blood loss, haemolysis, transfusion.

and


Pathology Investigations

Calcium/Albumin
Serum calcium level 2.30 mmol/L [2.2 - 2.6]
Serum albumin level 46 g/L [35.0 - 48.0]
Serum adjusted calcium concentration 2.28 mmol/L [2.2 - 2.6]
Calcium corrected for Albumin

Serum lipid levels Treatment target is 40% reduction in Non HDLC.
Serum cholesterol level 5.7 mmol/L
Serum triglyceride levels 2.3 mmol/L [0.5 - 2.3]
Serum HDL cholesterol level 1.28 mmol/L
Serum non high density lipoprotein cholesterol level 4.4 mmol/L
Serum LDL cholesterol level 3.4 mmol/L
Serum cholesterol/HDL ratio 4.5

Renal profile Multiply GFR by 1.21 if Afro-Caribbean race.
This result indicates Stage 3a CKD (G3a)
Serum sodium level 139 mmol/L [132.0 - 146.0]
Serum potassium level 4.6 mmol/L [3.5 - 5.0]
Serum urea level 4.5 mmol/L [2.5 - 6.7]
Serum creatinine level 108 umol/L [59.0 - 104.0]
Above high reference limit
GFR calculated abbreviated MDRD 59 ml/min/1.73m*2
Acute kidney injury warning stage NA

Thyroid function test
Serum free T4 level 16 pmol/L [10.0 - 22.0]
Serum TSH level 1.6 mu/L [0.3 - 5.5]

 

[Leadinglights]

From a non medical point of view most of those results are within the normal range except for your HbA1C which is 57mmol/mol which puts you in the diabetic zone being over 48mmol/mol but not grossly so and not as high as many people have started out. The other result is the total cholesterol at 5.7mmol/l which is higher than they usually like as it is above 4. Often the cholesterol will sort itself out with a low carb diet which is what you need to be looking at to bring your blood glucose levels down. The other blood results are looking for infection, kidney function and a host of other things which your GP should discuss with you and indicate any areas of concern if there are any.
You have been given some good advice in the above posts but just take your time to digest everything and come back with any questions.

 

[Barfly]

Thanks @Leadinglights for that.
When I had a blood test in Aussie, the clinician there told me not to be concerned about cholesterol at all. He said the latest research said that a high count was not bad at all.
Apparently the medical profession always assumed from the 1800's when post-mortems were performed on heart attack victims, they always found high levels of cholesterol in and around the injury site, consequently they proclaimed that high cholesterol is a bad thing leading to heart attacks. This has been the medicos prevailing view ever since and is taken as written in stone.
He told me the latest research could not support this cause and effect scenario, and they were doing a lot of investigations and had reached the conclusion that far from causing the injury, cholesterol was rushed to the injury site to protect the injury and was like a fire engine coming to put out a fire. That was how he described it.

I have not done any investigations on line about it and cannot vouch for it's veracity. Just reporting what I was told a few years ago.
Tony

 

[Robin]

Ah, they look like the full annual tests that I get. I wouldn’t worry about any marginal results at the moment, a lot of things in the body can be thrown out of whack by higher blood glucose, and they should settle down together.

 

[Leadinglights]

Thanks @Leadinglights for that.
When I had a blood test in Aussie, the clinician there told me not to be concerned about cholesterol at all. He said the latest research said that a high count was not bad at all.
Apparently the medical profession always assumed from the 1800's when post-mortems were performed on heart attack victims, they always found high levels of cholesterol in and around the injury site, consequently they proclaimed that high cholesterol is a bad thing leading to heart attacks. This has been the medicos prevailing view ever since and is taken as written in stone.
He told me the latest research could not support this cause and effect scenario, and they were doing a lot of investigations and had reached the conclusion that far from causing the injury, cholesterol was rushed to the injury site to protect the injury and was like a fire engine coming to put out a fire. That was how he described it.

I have not done any investigations on line about it and cannot vouch for it's veracity. Just reporting what I was told a few years ago.
Tony

Many people will agree with the cholesterol not being of too much concern but clinicians do seem to be obsessed with it being low, low, low for 'at risk' people. It is needed by the body for all sort of functions, synthesis of hormones, vitamin D, tissue repair but it does seem to be a matter of opinion whether a higher level is of concern, hence the rush to put people on statins.
I hope things make a bit more sense to you now.

 

[Eddy Edson]

Many people will agree with the cholesterol not being of too much concern but clinicians do seem to be obsessed with it being low, low, low for 'at risk' people. It is needed by the body for all sort of functions, synthesis of hormones, vitamin D, tissue repair but it does seem to be a matter of opinion whether a higher level is of concern, hence the rush to put people on statins.
I hope things make a bit more sense to you now.

The reason clinicians are "obsessed" with getting LDL cholesterol lower for at-risk people is because of the huge volume of consistent, high quality evidence from controlled trials and observational studies which demonstrates a clear link between LDL cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease. The reason why statins are commonly recommended is because another very large, consistent and high-quality body of evidence demonstrates that they are very safe and very effective means for lowering LDL.

This isn't a matter of "opinion" amongst experts. People claiming to be "experts" who take a contrary line are generally quacks and grifters.

 

[Barfly]

Thank you @Leadinglights and @Eddy Edson for your responses.
A balanced view is always helpful, I will continue on my unsteady path towards an even more healthy lifestyle. No sugar is my primary goal, including cakes, ice cream and chocolate. I can (just about) live without chocolate, but I simply cannot do the same for cheese. A pal of mine who has T2 told me he was advised no more than a (small) matchbox size lump a day is ok. in conjunction with other measures. I can live with that.
Cheers both-hey I hope a glass of white wine or scotch daily is ok???? My old Dr in aussie said it was ok was he so wrong? Beer is another thing.........

Just did a quick Google and came up with this....not proven...but not disproven either....https://sciencenorway.no/cholestero...could-explain-old-cholesterol-mystery/1810159

 

[Barfly]

Well it's been a fortnight since my diagnosis of T2 and I am learning to live with it.
After much reading up I decided to ignore my doctor's advice and just take one metformin tablet after breakfast.

I bought the Tee2+ tester and I struggle to get it to send the info over to the smartphone. I have to do two or three attempts to send it before the smartphone grabs the data. Anyone else having this issue? I'm pretty tech-savvy (ex tv engineer and ex computer systems admin) and I dread to think how others get on if I have this much trouble.
The other thing with which I really struggle is remembering the before and after meals testing my tests have been pretty haphazard so far.

I still don't know what is a "normal" glucose level and what is considered a hypo and a hyper.
I have settled on testing mainly after evening meal, is that what I should be doing?

device_id​

seq_num​

glucose(mg/dL)​

glucose(mmol/L)​

date​

time​

manual​

cs​

ketone​

lo​

hi​

premeal​

postmeal​

nomark​

fasting​

event​

insulin_type_1​

insulin_amount_1(U)​

insulin_type_2​

insulin_amount_2(U)​

carbs(g)​

medicine​

weight(lbs)​

bp_low(mmHg)​

bp_high(mmHg)​

exercise​

exercise_time(min)​

memo​

ketone_value(mmol/L)​

gki_value​

gki_glucose(mg/dL)​

gki_ketone(mmol/L)​

device_id_from​

F046036K1674​

6​

180​

10​

2021-07-12​

18:50:50​

N​

0​

0​

0​

0​

0​

1​

0​

0​

6​

None[0]​

0​

None[0]​

0​

0​

Metformin[3]​

0​

0​

0​

None[0]​

0​

​

​

​

​

​

G​

F046036K1674​

5​

225​

12.5​

2021-07-11​

19:04:36​

N​

0​

0​

0​

0​

0​

1​

0​

0​

6​

None[0]​

0​

None[0]​

0​

0​

Metformin[3]​

0​

0​

0​

Low Intensity[1]​

2​

short bike ride​

​

​

​

​

G​

F046036K1674​

4​

259​

14.4​

2021-07-11​

08:39:14​

N​

0​

0​

0​

0​

0​

1​

0​

0​

2​

None[0]​

0​

None[0]​

0​

0​

Metformin[3]​

0​

0​

0​

None[0]​

0​

​

​

​

​

​

G​

F046036K1674​

3​

259​

14.4​

2021-07-09​

20:15:26​

N​

1​

0​

0​

0​

0​

1​

0​

0​

6​

None[0]​

0​

None[0]​

0​

0​

Metformin[3]​

187.391​

0​

0​

Medium Intensity[2]​

10​

10 miles ride​

​

​

​

​

G​

F046036K1674​

2​

155​

8.6​

2021-07-08​

18:32:30​

N​

1​

0​

0​

0​

0​

1​

0​

0​

6​

None[0]​

0​

None[0]​

0​

0​

None[0]​

0​

0​

0​

None[0]​

0​

​

​

​

​

​

G​

F046036K1674​

1​

144​

8​

2021-07-08​

17:59:57​

N​

0​

0​

0​

0​

1​

0​

0​

0​

5​

None[0]​

0​

None[0]​

0​

0​

None[0]​

0​

0​

0​

None[0]​

0​

​

​

​

​

​

G​

I don't know if anyone can make any sense out of this excerpt from the spreadsheet the test kit sends to my email.

 

[Drummer]

It doesn't make much sense as you don't seem to be testing according to the usual routine.
There is no need to get it to link to another device, test yourself before starting to eat and then two hours later, and to start off note the things you ate and the difference in the numbers - you can just click the back button to see the numbers.
If you see an increase of more than 2 mmol/l then reducing the high carb foods in the meal would mean a lower number next time - with any luck.

 

[Barfly]

@Drummer - Thanks for the reply. What is the usual routine? What is "normal" for the glucose level? I still have absolutely no idea, all the reading I have done and I can't find this most basic of information......it is so weird.
I am perplexed.
Tony.

 

[Drummer]

For a type two the important thing is to not eat the foods which cause spikes after a meal.
So take a reading as you are about to eat, then another two hours after that.
The first test should show you your present state - I would get a reading of about 5 these days - that is mmol/l, you don't need the US units.
Two hours later the number should be ideally no more than 3 whole numbers higher, 2 would show that the meal was good in carbohydrate terms - I can get as low as 1 because I just can't get my Hba1c to go below 42.
Once I got my actual reading to be no more than 8.3mmol/l I stopped doing the first test and just watched the numbers drift down as I went on eating the same things week on week, avoiding high carb foods.
You will find a lot of information in the manual which came with the meter - I suspect the usual Y chromosome aversion to reading the manual is the problem. Try pg 43.
Reading the manual has always been my super power/secret weapon.