Type 2: How often do you check your blood sugar and how do you deal with the stress?

[Kajata]

I’ve been T2 for about 10 years now, and I few years ago I had my test strips taken off prescription as I was told I didn’t need them and didn’t need to check my levels that often, just relying on yearly HBA1C checks.

Since then I’ve really struggled with my control and my HBA1C results have been fairly inconsistent, so I figured I’d go ahead and buy my own test strips and meter and check this stuff.

But now I’m out of the habit of doing it (and I’m paying for the strips myself!), I’m unsure what a good routine for testing would be.

Add to that, I’m finding that whenever I get a not-amazing result (unfortunately fairly often) I just get a wave of guilt about it, and so it makes me not want to do it next time.

I’m hoping a strict routine will help me stick to actually doing the checks, but I’d appreciate insight from others about what a good routine for checking might be, and if anyone has any good advice for dealing with the whole “Bad result, feel bad, don’t want to check again” cycle that I find myself stuck in.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

What do you call a bad result?

 

[Kajata]

Well, probably anything above a 7 or 8 really.

 

[trophywench]

Always irks me a bit when people expect not to have an increase of more than 2 or 3 after a meal. Yes in an ideal world, that is what you want if you have Type 2. But why would you expect yourself to be ideal in the first place? Is it honestly likely in any human?

If it suddenly changes from 2 or 3 without any explanation, then yes, OK start being concerned. But where you know why it happened, just say Oh blast - shouldn't have eaten/drunk that ... and try not to do it again. There is absolutely nowt whatever you can do about what's already passed - so a waste of your time and effort beating yourself up about it - but there is something you can do about what occurs with what you eat in the future, so put your time and effort into planning your meals instead.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I have reversed my diabetes, so I just go for anything under 8 which is a normal response.
When I used to check regularly when I was first diagnosed, I actually used to chase the highs.
A low reading didn't tell me anything really, blood glucose changes on many things, exercise, temperature, time of day, as well as what you eat.
A high meant "don't eat that again".
It didn't mean I wouldn't see a high again, it just removed one variable out of the equation.
Even that wasn't consistent, but it made life easier initially.
I was focused on losing weight and watching calories, so it didn't worry me to have a reduced menu at that time.

 

[Leadinglights]

You could start by testing every morning before you get out of bed as a fasting reading (some people's level goes up as soon as they get out of bed) and that will give you an indication of day to day progress. If it is consistently high much above 7mmol/l then you could do some strategic testing of some of your meals. Testing before you eat and after 2 hours and if your level is below 8mmol/l that is a good reading.
You could then only test if you are eating something new which you would like to become a regular meal.
If you are only expecting to be having something on the odd occasion probably not worth worrying about.
Just a personal view, others may suggest something different.
It is just being mindful of the carbs you are having and being prepared to change something if result is more than you would like but be realistic about the normal.