a couple of questions please

[nessa1970]

1. For your after-eating BG test, if it is tested over the 2 hour period is this an issue?, an if yes, what is the latest time frame?
2. I'm wondering if there's an app to remind you to test for the after meal as I'm struggling to remember.
sometimes I am testing 3 hours or 4 after my meal and is this really that significant?
Cheers Nessa

 

[andcol]

my meter can actually be set up to alert at the 2 hour point so may be yours can too. 4 hours is probably too late. 3 hours would be good if you have a really fatty meal. When I was testing lots I would test at 1, 2 and 3 hours. If you meter cannot alarm you then may be you phone will

 

[Scandichic]

You should be able to set your monitor with an alarm to beep.
Most people spike 1-2 hours after a meal. Some foods take longer to spike. In my case bread, pasta and rice.
If you are looking to bring your bs down I would, test before eating then at half hour intervals afterwards. It helps identify which foods do and don't spike you. It will also identify when you spike and by how much.
The downside is that this can be expensive but if you can do it for 2 months then you will have a good idea of what you can and can't eat. You can keep a food diary and write your readings down.
I did this and it really helped. My bs is around the 5s most of the time.

 

[Cloudlesssky]

When I finish my meal I just set my phone alarm or timer for 2 hours. Works for me! (My meter doesn't have a timer)
Bee Gee

 

[neverforever]

Same as BeeGee I have a routine, bloods, write down levels, set alarm on phone, meds, food, two hours re take bloods. Its amazing how quickly you get in the swing good luck. If I don't do this I will forget

 

[Bluetit1802]

When I finish my meal I just set my phone alarm or timer for 2 hours. Works for me! (My meter doesn't have a timer)
Bee Gee

The optimum time is 1hr, or 2hrs or whatever after your first bite ..... not 2hrs after you finish.

 

[Cloudlesssky]

Don't know what I'd do without my phone.
Use it for so many things - and occasionally make a phone call too!

 

[Cloudlesssky]

WHAT??? Bluetit, that's something else I didn't know!
2 hours after starting the meal NOT when I've finished it.... Grrr, ok, got it now!
Bee Gee

 

[Bluetit1802]

WHAT??? Bluetit, that's something else I didn't know!
2 hours after starting the meal NOT when I've finished it.... Grrr, ok, got it now!
Bee Gee

If you think about it logically, your food starts to digest as soon as you start, not after you finish! It makes life difficult if you are having several courses though!

 

[Cloudlesssky]

I'm interested to see that you were only diagnosed in Jan of this year, Bluetit.
It's encouraging to see just how knowledgeable you have become in the past 12 months.
I hope I'll be there by next September!
May I ask, ... did you opt not to have Metformin, or was it not offered you?
(Obviously, being so high when I was diagnosed I was put on it straight away, but I'm hopeful I might be able to lose it at some point along the way!)

 

[Bluetit1802]

I'm sure you will be even more knowledgeable before long BeeGee. I only know a tiny fraction of what there is to know, and all I do know has been picked up from this forum and the lovely supportive members. We are all still learning, but what better place could there be for us all to learn together!

Metformin has never been mentioned to me. I was just sent away with a booklet on the NHS Healthy Plate, advised to lose some weight, and to go back in 3 months. I was "lucky" in that I was caught fairly early with my HbA1c of 53. Then I found this forum but it took me till April to get a meter and start testing.

Just carry on posting and reading, testing and asking questions, and you will get there before next September.

 

[nessa1970]

my meter can actually be set up to alert at the 2 hour point so may be yours can too. 4 hours is probably too late. 3 hours would be good if you have a really fatty meal. When I was testing lots I would test at 1, 2 and 3 hours. If you meter cannot alarm you then may be you phone will

Thanks Andrew I'll check my meter book to see if mone does that. Cheers

 

[Cloudlesssky]

It's all these little snippets of information that I keep picking up ... Very important info too, that I feel stupid not knowing already! But I certainly know more from this site than anywhere else! Thanks guys,
Bee Gee

 

[nessa1970]

You should be able to set your monitor with an alarm to beep.
Most people spike 1-2 hours after a meal. Some foods take longer to spike. In my case bread, pasta and rice.
If you are looking to bring your bs down I would, test before eating then at half hour intervals afterwards. It helps identify which foods do and don't spike you. It will also identify when you spike and by how much.
The downside is that this can be expensive but if you can do it for 2 months then you will have a good idea of what you can and can't eat. You can keep a food diary and write your readings down.
I did this and it really helped. My bs is around the 5s most of the time.

So is a spike when it might be high after an hour after eating then if you test again it might be lower?

 

[nessa1970]

The optimum time is 1hr, or 2hrs or whatever after your first bite ..... not 2hrs after you finish.

Oh after your first bite. I've been doing 2 hours since finishing my meal. Thanks

 

[nessa1970]

Same as BeeGee I have a routine, bloods, write down levels, set alarm on phone, meds, food, two hours re take bloods. Its amazing how quickly you get in the swing good luck. If I don't do this I will forget

Thank you

 

[carty]

I still don't quite understand the testing after the start of a meal ,for instance if we have friends here for a meal and maybe have 3 courses finishing with cheese which I may eat quite a lot of ( trying to put weight on ) it may be 1 hour after the start of my meal if I test then surely that won't give me a true reading?
CAROL

 

[sanguine]

Don't worry Carol, it's just another of the variables we have to be aware of when testing. The stomach, brain, pancreas and liver all react quickly to the 'first bite' so that is what we should consistently count from. We all have some meals that last only 10 minutes, and others that go on for hours, just log what happens and you will learn from the the data.

 

[andcol]

what happens is you will get a drawn out profile rising over a period of time and then coming down. If you eat it all fast you get more of a spike and if you eat over say an hour the same food te spike will be less but will last longer. The amount of fat in the meal also has this effect on the profile

 

[Scandichic]

So is a spike when it might be high after an hour after eating then if you test again it might be lower?

Yes. You'll get the hang of it soon!