Testing my bloods

[KeithinHerts]

I'm sure I am not alone in having a cup of tea when I wake up - perhaps with a biscuit - and then perhaps an hour later actually having my breakfast. Do I test my bloods a couple of hours after the first drink or after the "real" food?

 

[Dave Brierley]

It depends on what your trying to find out, if your trying to find out if the biscuit sends you high, test while eating the biscuit. If you want a more accurate fasting blood result, test first thing, likewise if you want to know if breakfast spikes you test for that.

 

[Arab Horse]

I would test before the tea and biscuit and then before breakfast to see how much of a rise you get and then 2 hours after breakfast. I used to get up, do my horses (2 hours work), test for my morning fasting level and then have my breakfast. I wasn't really getting the value I wanted, too high for fasting so I started testing before doing the horses and again before breakfast and found that my first result was fine so I now have my breakfast before doing the horses and then when I come in for my 2 hour one and my glucose levels are much better. We all have to do what suits us personally as we are all different and respond differently.

 

[ally1]

i find my levels rise after a cup of tea, and admit i drink alot of tea

 

[AndBreathe]

I'm sure I am not alone in having a cup of tea when I wake up - perhaps with a biscuit - and then perhaps an hour later actually having my breakfast. Do I test my bloods a couple of hours after the first drink or after the "real" food?

As others have said, it depends what you hope to learn.

For fasting, I suggest taking that immediately you get up. That gives you a baseline reading without any fuel in your system to influence the numbers. After that, testing before and after meals helps us understand the impact of what we eat on our bloods.

May I ask why you have a biscuit first thing? Are you hungry? If so, why not just have breakfast? Is it habit? If so, is it a habit you need to keep or ditch?

As well as get your bloods in check, are you looking to trim up at all?

I have never snacked, so that sort of thing is all alien to me.

 

[Arab Horse]

i find my levels rise after a cup of tea, and admit i drink alot of tea

I HATE tea but I have started to drink the very occasional cup of green tea as it is supposed to be very good for you (anything that tastes that bad must be good for you) and the fruit teas which taste marginally better so that I cut my coffee consumption.

 

[ally1]

i,ve never liked green or fruit tea

 

[Bluetit1802]

I'm sure I am not alone in having a cup of tea when I wake up - perhaps with a biscuit - and then perhaps an hour later actually having my breakfast. Do I test my bloods a couple of hours after the first drink or after the "real" food?

Test before your cup of tea to get a fasting level.
Test again before breakfast and 2 hours after your first bite of breakfast to get your breakfast levels. (so you can see what your breakfast has done to you by looking at the rise from before and after)
If I were you I would ditch the biscuit. This will not help your before breakfast level and therefore will impact on your after breakfast level.

 

[Robbity]

I'd definitely test before eating or drinking anything other than water first thing, then again before snack and probably before breakfast unless they are both fairly close together. But you also do need to think about why /what you're testing for at any one time.

I can get a liver dump just by getting up, going to toilet, then going down to kitchen to put the kettle on, so do any fasting tests before I actually get up. And I must admit I can have a snack and not test, but may then see a higher than expected reading when testing before my next meal.

Robbity

 

[millysue]

I HATE tea but I have started to drink the very occasional cup of green tea as it is supposed to be very good for you (anything that tastes that bad must be good for you) and the fruit teas which taste marginally better so that I cut my coffee consumption.

Why cut coffee?

 

[Arab Horse]

Why cut coffee?

I did drink a lot of it and I have a coffee called Rocket Fuel (very strong) or Nescafe Alta Rica or other strong coffee and have one and a half heaped teaspoons per mug. Everyone has been telling me for years to cut down so I decided I would try and see if it made any difference: It hasn't! I can drink a mug before bed and still sleep, I am either immune to the caffeine or have worked up a great tolerance to it over the years.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Why cut coffee?

No need to cut coffee or tea, but just be aware caffeine can raise BS levels.

 

[millysue]

I did drink a lot of it and I have a coffee called Rocket Fuel (very strong) or Nescafe Alta Rica or other strong coffee and have one and a half heaped teaspoons per mug. Everyone has been telling me for years to cut down so I decided I would try and see if it made any difference: It hasn't! I can drink a mug before bed and still sleep, I am either immune to the caffeine or have worked up a great tolerance to it over the years.

I have been drinking black coffee for 40 plus years, not as strong as yours.
Husband is on decafe coffee, nurse recommended due to health problems.

 

[millysue]

No need to cut coffee or tea, but just be aware caffeine can raise BS levels.

If I cut out coffee I get headaches. And I can't drink decafe, yuck taste

 

[KeithinHerts]

Thanks everyone for your input. I tried a different approach this morning and the readings were interesting. No biscuit but the sugar in the tea certainly had an effect! Up from 6.4 to 8.6.

 

[Mike d]

If I cut out coffee I get headaches. And I can't drink decafe, yuck taste

Taste or "hit" ? It is addictiive MS

I would cut it down slowly and mix it a bit. Mike

 

[Arab Horse]

My sister was always saying that I would be weak and shaky, headaches etc. if I stopped my coffee and I should try so I eventually did to shut her up. She said I had to go 24+ hours so I picked a weekend when I had nothing on and did it. Well, the only thing I found was that I was really dying for a coffee (could have murdered for one) as I don't really drink much else and was just having plain tap water but no headache, shakes or other horrors I was told I would get. As I don't have milk or sugar with my coffee I decided it was fine with my diabetes but would just cut down the number of mugs per day rather than have it weaker and not enjoy it. just in case my liver or pancreas preferred less caffeine.

 

[Mike d]

Hi AH

Tried decaff with full cream?

Mike Hope you're OK

 

[Arab Horse]

Hi AH

Tried decaff with full cream?

Mike Hope you're OK

Don't like decaff and don't like cream in my coffee. Very happy with strong and black except when I go to horse shows with friends. We always stop en route and get a yummy coffee (mocha or something else equally sugary) and cake so I now have to watch them eat and drink what I would love to have. I do pinch a tiny corner of someone's cake, just enough to taste but not enough to bother my glucose level. I also miss having my cheesy chips/burger/jacket potato at the show; there is often nothing suitable on offer for me so I take a chicken breast or cold meat to eat just in case and if there is something I can have that is a real bonus.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Funnily enough, when I was working in a past life I drank loads of coffee. I kept getting headaches. Someone told me to cut the coffee as that might be causing it. I stopped drinking it totally and changed to tea. Result. No more headaches. So in my case it was the coffee causing the headaches.