What's the point of finger prick tests?

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Quokkagirl

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Type 2
Hi all,
Diabetes management is the key buzzphrase and part of that is taking finger prick tests. To be truthful, I've never worked out the purpose. It gives you a snapshot in time - e.g. if it's high when you get up in the morning (mine is usually around 9) what are you supposed to do about that? I'm not sure how they can help you manage the condition if you're on the high side. I can see their value for low readings, but I don't know what I'm supposed to take from the regular raised readings - other that the usual exercise, diet stuff.
And another question if I may - people talk a lot about certain foods causing raised levels and this being different in individuals. How the heck do you find that out, considering most people eat a combination of foods at meals.

Some of you seem so sorted - how do you do it? It's all still a mystery to me - more like black magic than science and it's beating me.
 
People tend to eat similar meals so it doesn’t matter that the meal comprises of a variety of foods. The main one to concentrate on is the carbs. You’ve answered your own question above - testing helps you determine which meals work for you. You’re 6 before breakfast, you eat two slices of toast and 2hrs later your blood sugar is 14. Conclusion: toast is a bad idea for you at breakfast.

Testing also helps you know whether you’re on target - ie keeping your blood sugar in range. The ‘snapshot’ is important because it give you an idea of where you are. Judicious use of these ‘snapshots’ helps you control your diabetes. Once you find a regime that works, you might not have to test as much.

Are you on any medication?
 
Hi @Quokkagirl I did read your welcome message, I hope your are getting those gastric problems worked out.

I can tell you how I use the meter, but I also recognise that finger pricking is not for everyone.

I used it to understand what foods raised my levels and what foods were okay. Testing at the beginning of the meal then two hours after my first mouthful. . What I learned was that, for example. pasta and noodles had a massive impact on my levels, whereas I could eat a couple of potatoes. I used the old carbs and cals app to keep track of carbs and calories and another app to record my BG.

I also tried eating just the ingredients on their own - so I did test just a bowl of pasta, or potatoes etc. That was really insightful

When I was first diagnosed I read Gretchen Becker's book about your first year with diabetes. It is a great book that really helps to explain what is going on with this condition. What it showed me is that you can take control of the condition if you want to. Yes there is a bit of effort to get the information your need. but once you have done that it is really easy. I test much much less frequently now. Every couple of months of so I will do a couple of days of more intense testing, although I do test every morning mostly for the 7 day average thread!!!.

The outcome of this is that I am currently not on medication any more and my levels are in the non-diabetic range.

Hope this helps

Nick
 
I would expand on the points above. It is not only food that affects blood sugars. It could also be exercise, stress, medication, quality of sleep, ...
It is useful to understand how all these things affect your levels so you can adapt where possible.
 
Welcome to the forum @Quokkagirl

Self monitoring of BG levels is commonly recommended on the forum, but as @Kopiert says, it doesn’t suit everyone, and there is absolutely no reason for you to do it if you find it upsetting or demoralising.

One of the shortcomings you identify - that it only shows a moment in time - can actually turn out to be an advantage. Conversely an HbA1c can give you very helpful information about overall trends, but it’s not so great at answering very specific questions:

Can I eat bread? How about wholemeal? Or seeded? Are wraps better? How about bagels? Or crispbreads?

How do I cope with fruit? Are apples better than oranges? Can I eat bananas OK! Are berries my best option?

The part of your diet that has the biggest impact on your blood glucose levels is the carbohydrate. But there are a lot of details, unexpected exceptions, surprises, and peculiarities. If you are attempting to manage your diabetes with your diet, then those details become really important. A moderate or low carb menu often works well - but which carbs should you keep for flexibility, and which should you avoid? BG monitoring can help you find that.

As others are suggesting, a common tactic on the forum is to use pairs of BG checks, one before and the second 2hrs after the first mouthful, to see the ‘meal rise’ from whatever you’ve eaten. Ideally you’d want this to be 2-3mmol/L or less. If you see a much bigger rise in BG, take a look at the main sources of carbs in the meal and consider portion reduction, swaps or changes. In a sense, to begin with the numbers themselves aren’t all that important. It’s the difference between them that you want to reduce. And if you get your meal rises down to a fairly modest level, you’ll find your overall levels - even your morning BG generally come down in time.

In a relatively short space of time you should build up a picture of the sorts of sources of carb, and the portion sizes, that your metabolism can cope with.

If you are interested in this approach you may find test-review-adjust by Alan S a helpful framework.

If you need to self fund your BG meter, the most affordable meters members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 - which both have test strips at around £8 for 50
 
The value of testing is to enable you to make better food choices. The aim is that your 2 hour post meal increase is no more than 2-3mmol/l and not about 8.5mmol/l if it is consistently more than that then you know your meals are too carb heavy and you can reduce the portion size of the high carb food in the meal, cut it out or make a substitution for something lower carb.
It is a good idea to keep a food diary so you can spot problem foods or even time of the day when you had that meal.
I have seen that people can tolerate a slice of toast at lunch time but not for breakfast.
People can cope with say 20g carb if it is pulses but not potatoes or bread but they will only know that by testing.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Welcome to the forum @Quokkagirl

Self monitoring of BG levels is commonly recommended on the forum, but as @Kopiert says, it doesn’t suit everyone, and there is absolutely no reason for you to do it if you find it upsetting or demoralising.

One of the shortcomings you identify - that it only shows a moment in time - can actually turn out to be an advantage. Conversely an HbA1c can give you very helpful information about overall trends, but it’s not so great at answering very specific questions:

Can I eat bread? How about wholemeal? Or seeded? Are wraps better? How about bagels? Or crispbreads?

How do I cope with fruit? Are apples better than oranges? Can I eat bananas OK! Are berries my best option?

The part of your diet that has the biggest impact on your blood glucose levels is the carbohydrate. But there are a lot of details, unexpected exceptions, surprises, and peculiarities. If you are attempting to manage your diabetes with your diet, then those details become really important. A moderate or low carb menu often works well - but which carbs should you keep for flexibility, and which should you avoid? BG monitoring can help you find that.

As others are suggesting, a common tactic on the forum is to use pairs of BG checks, one before and the second 2hrs after the first mouthful, to see the ‘meal rise’ from whatever you’ve eaten. Ideally you’d want this to be 2-3mmol/L or less. If you see a much bigger rise in BG, take a look at the main sources of carbs in the meal and consider portion reduction, swaps or changes. In a sense, to begin with the numbers themselves aren’t all that important. It’s the difference between them that you want to reduce. And if you get your meal rises down to a fairly modest level, you’ll find your overall levels - even your morning BG generally come down in time.

In a relatively short space of time you should build up a picture of the sorts of sources of carb, and the portion sizes, that your metabolism can cope with.

If you are interested in this approach you may find test-review-adjust by Alan S a helpful framework.

If you need to self fund your BG meter, the most affordable meters members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 - which both have test strips at around £8 for 50
Click to expand...
One of the key aphorisms is ...
'Eat to your meter'

It should tell you how carbs affect you and help decide on portion sizes of them.
 
The way I work it is to eat one chosen different specific food at 2pm every day and test 2 hrs later to confirm the effect. I try different foods on different days and repeat the foods regularly. The foods have varying amounts of carbs too from 0.1g of carbs to 98g of carbs (that was some huge and exceptional celebration food feast (chocolate cake)). The normal test foods do not ever go above 55g of carbs and are normally about 10g to 20g. I have 419 tests so far and it has shown that not one single food has any adverse effect on me (including that celebration cake feasting). If it did I would ban or reduce that food.

Todays test is 3 rice cakes and 5g butter on each. Total carbs 5.6g

So, for me the use is in the confirmation that the foods I am presently eating are ok for me and a warning sign for action if any future food were to affect me badly.
 
I am supposed to have a liquid diet due to liver problems but Slimfast shoots me into double figures which scares me. I've stopped measuring as I don't know what to do about it, maybe change to Exante? Ignorance is bliss but also stupid. I do feel we need to measure and know what's what.
 
Ditto said:
I am supposed to have a liquid diet due to liver problems but Slimfast shoots me into double figures which scares me. I've stopped measuring as I don't know what to do about it, maybe change to Exante? Ignorance is bliss but also stupid. I do feel we need to measure and know what's what.
Click to expand...
Have you tried home made soups which can be made very low on carbs.?
 
Leadinglights said:
Have you tried home made soups which can be made very low on carbs.?
Click to expand...
I am trying not to have food in the house at all. I have a problem with food. Doesn't matter what it is nor how determined I am not to pig out, given half the chance I will throw all caution to the winds and go for it. I do luv soup. I am quite pathetic, I realise this. 🙄 I would like to blame it on being brought up with not enough food but I think I was piggy before that. Back in the day with Dad and two sisters I always used to bag the job of putting out the Sunday mash so I could scrape the pan. Pig! No excuse for it.
 
Ditto said:
I am supposed to have a liquid diet due to liver problems but Slimfast shoots me into double figures which scares me. I've stopped measuring as I don't know what to do about it, maybe change to Exante? Ignorance is bliss but also stupid. I do feel we need to measure and know what's what.
Click to expand...
Beware some 'diet' foods as they can be very high in carbs and raise BS a lot
 
Hi. If you are started on certain meds such as Gliclazide it will be vital to test before driving as the wrong dose can cause a hypo. This is when finger-prick testing is essential. You may have heard of the Freestyle Libre 2 flash glucose monitor which I have. It's not cheap at £100/month but does give you the graphical view of your BS over time which finger-prick testing doesn't. When on insulin or even Gliclazide it can be a very useful tool.
 
I can’t tell you the last time I checked my BG. I find it a pointless exercise, in my own case. However if I was on any meds that could cause a hypo, I would be checking all the time.

I have no idea what Metformin is doing in my body, no-one has ever told me what is supposed to happen!
 
Annette&Bertie said:
I can’t tell you the last time I checked my BG. I find it a pointless exercise, in my own case. However if I was on any meds that could cause a hypo, I would be checking all the time.

I have no idea what Metformin is doing in my body, no-one has ever told me what is supposed to happen!
Click to expand...
I think the metformin is meant to help the body use any insulin you are producing more effectively by reducing insulin resistance, however it still needs dietary changes. Other medications work differently, some encourage the pancreas to produce more insulin and some remove excess glucose from the body by excreting in the urine. They are often used in combination but all suggest they only work when accompanied by lifestyle changes.
 
Quokkagirl said:
It's all still a mystery to me
Click to expand...
Hi @Quokkagirl

You said when you get up in the morning your blood sugar reading is 9mmol, I wonder what it is before you get up in the morning, e.g 30mins before you get up? It may be your blood sugars are actually better than you think (esp during the night).

As @everydayupsanddowns (and you) mentioned, a one off reading is very limited on it's own, but 2 readings e.g one before and one after a meal are very useful.
 
Kopiert said:
Hi @Quokkagirl I did read your welcome message, I hope your are getting those gastric problems worked out.

I can tell you how I use the meter, but I also recognise that finger pricking is not for everyone.

I used it to understand what foods raised my levels and what foods were okay. Testing at the beginning of the meal then two hours after my first mouthful. . What I learned was that, for example. pasta and noodles had a massive impact on my levels, whereas I could eat a couple of potatoes. I used the old carbs and cals app to keep track of carbs and calories and another app to record my BG.

I also tried eating just the ingredients on their own - so I did test just a bowl of pasta, or potatoes etc. That was really insightful

When I was first diagnosed I read Gretchen Becker's book about your first year with diabetes. It is a great book that really helps to explain what is going on with this condition. What it showed me is that you can take control of the condition if you want to. Yes there is a bit of effort to get the information your need. but once you have done that it is really easy. I test much much less frequently now. Every couple of months of so I will do a couple of days of more intense testing, although I do test every morning mostly for the 7 day average thread!!!.

The outcome of this is that I am currently not on medication any more and my levels are in the non-diabetic range.

Hope this helps

Nick
Click to expand...
thank you Nick. Most helpful and yes, the gastric problems are not resolved but are explained to a great extent.
 
Amity Island said:
Hi @Quokkagirl

You said when you get up in the morning your blood sugar reading is 9mmol, I wonder what it is before you get up in the morning, e.g 30mins before you get up? It may be your blood sugars are actually better than you think (esp during the night).

As @everydayupsanddowns (and you) mentioned, a one off reading is very limited on it's own, but 2 readings e.g one before and one after a meal are very useful.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I've never considered testing before I get up...could you explain why it might be enlightening please? To be fair, I've had little advice on the daily monitoring.
 
Inka said:
People tend to eat similar meals so it doesn’t matter that the meal comprises of a variety of foods. The main one to concentrate on is the carbs. You’ve answered your own question above - testing helps you determine which meals work for you. You’re 6 before breakfast, you eat two slices of toast and 2hrs later your blood sugar is 14. Conclusion: toast is a bad idea for you at breakfast.

Testing also helps you know whether you’re on target - ie keeping your blood sugar in range. The ‘snapshot’ is important because it give you an idea of where you are. Judicious use of these ‘snapshots’ helps you control your diabetes. Once you find a regime that works, you might not have to test as much.

Are you on any medication?
Click to expand...
Thank you. Yes, I take Metformin and Gliclazide. My HbA1c tests are up and down - sometimes very encouraging and sometimes a disaster with no apparent change in my every day eating and living patterns.
 
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