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Checking BG’s and HBA1C results

mountaintom

mountaintom

Well-Known Member
Messages
574
Location
Lauragh, Kerry
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi all,

Any T1’s out here who do minimum bg checks i.e. pre and post pran, 3 meals a day and still receive moderate to good or even excellent results on their hb’s? I’m wondering how the emotional and psychological aspect of checking all the bloody time can affect the quality of life we lead.
I’m steering toward less checking as I’m getting tired of thinking about it ALL the time. I know some people on here treat it like some sort of exciting science experiment but it’s wearing thin with me after 3 months (and a great first HBA1C result). My recent horrific stomach bug actually felt like a flaming holiday in some ways because I let my bg’s go sit in a cupboard for couple of days.
Thanks.
 
mountaintom said:
Hi all,

Any T1’s out here who do minimum bg checks i.e. pre and post pran, 3 meals a day and still receive moderate to good or even excellent results on their hb’s? I’m wondering how the emotional and psychological aspect of checking all the bloody time can affect the quality of life we lead.
I’m steering toward less checking as I’m getting tired of thinking about it ALL the time. I know some people on here treat it like some sort of exciting science experiment but it’s wearing thin with me after 3 months (and a great first HBA1C result). My recent horrific stomach bug actually felt like a flaming holiday in some ways because I let my bg’s go sit in a cupboard for couple of days.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
I test loads because I want to know what my body is up to. This hopefully will help in the long term fight against T1. When I'm at work I test less as I'm in a routine and eat the same foods. I test about 8 times a day. On my days off I experiment with food and also being less active I test more, a lot more esp with foods that spike me and then correction doses.


Im seeing my nurse on Monday, she will gasp when she sees my 3 months worth of tests. But it's my body and if they gave me a Libre I would test less.
 
When I was first diagnosed with D I did frequent finger checks - until I destroyed my fingers. That brought frequent checking to a halt. I would then check a couple of times a day and frequently 1 time every 2 days only checking when really high or low. I got to know by the way I felt what my BGL was. CGM is a game changer.

You are very correct some D's allow it to become their life. You need to be a bit more careful as you are new to the game. Although we have the same condition (I don't even like calling it a disease as that sounds like we are sick and weakly and about to die) we all react differently to different foods, stress, exercise and even weather. You can expect to have a honeymoon period again it is different for everyone (some it's for years, some a few days. Some it's a small reduction, others are technically off medication - you will be told to take a few units, just to keep the habit going). Once that has come and gone join most of us. I HAVE DIABETES, DIABETES DOESN'T HAVE ME. Apart from being smart with what you eat, but that should go for everyone, with a reasonable amount of exercise the odd check and jab and the 3 month chemist visit for resupply and 6 month Dr visit there will be little interruption to your life. Occasionally things go wrong like when you get sick and then things really go wrong.

I'm now on a pump and CGM. I have to do 3 finger checks a day to calibrate the CGM and that is it. Fiddle a few numbers into the pump, replace the cannula etc every 3 days CGM every 6, the odd battery replacement and that's it. I lead a completely normal happy life and so do most D's. I even take holidays from this forum as I'm to busy living life. There are a couple of Moaning Myrtles here as well. They are so good they could even make the happiest person on earth depressed.

I had a relative that was D. All he could talk about was D, he had everyone running in circles, strict meal times and food... He had come from an era when that was the case, but he was on the modern MDI and at family gatherings would have 'hosts' running around in circles stuffing it up for everyone else. The host would be to busy running after his fictitious needs rather than doing on what they had planed. He was on exactly the same insulin as me. One Christmas I got so fed up with it when he started, I asked him what his BGL was he said 6mmol/L. I told the host he was fine and to ignore his requests and to just keep a slice of bread and some soft drink available. He was ****** as he was no longer the centre of attention. All future family events went without a problem

One thing that is essential is a good medical team. They hunt in packs. They will either all be great ok or bad. If Ok or bad keep looking. Once you find a good group, keeping D in check will be really easy.
 
I check mine every hour (day and night) - I end up buying a lot of my own strips.
My a1c is still mediocre at 48 though so I wouldn't say it necessarily helps!
 
ExtremelyW0rried said:
I check mine every hour (day and night) - I end up buying a lot of my own strips.
My a1c is still mediocre at 48 though so I wouldn't say it necessarily helps!
Click to expand...
That's a pretty good result, I'm delighted whenever mine's been that low. But I don't really understand why you're testing that often, even at night? Surely the stress caused by lack of sleep would cause more problems than the benefits from the frequent results. It might be cheaper and easier to use a cgm (eg libre).
I can understand frequent testing while your tinkering with diet and insulin, but if things are running OK I don't believe you need to do it that often, before meals and bed is plenty.
Having said that, I'm not trying for an HbA1C much less than 7 (50), as I start to lose hypo awareness at levels less than that.
 
mountaintom said:
Hi all,

Any T1’s out here who do minimum bg checks i.e. pre and post pran, 3 meals a day and still receive moderate to good or even excellent results on their hb’s? I’m wondering how the emotional and psychological aspect of checking all the bloody time can affect the quality of life we lead.
I’m steering toward less checking as I’m getting tired of thinking about it ALL the time. I know some people on here treat it like some sort of exciting science experiment but it’s wearing thin with me after 3 months (and a great first HBA1C result). My recent horrific stomach bug actually felt like a flaming holiday in some ways because I let my bg’s go sit in a cupboard for couple of days.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
'Twas the other way round for me, on diagnosis testing once a day was recommended, and it was all about comparing colours on the end of the strip to a chart on the strip tub, no finger pricking machines and any complications I get will have come from that period although the clinic were never concerned by my control...

So I'd have to say that better control comes from testing as much as you can, I was testing 8+ times a day pre libre (50+ times now :) ) and have a much better grip than I did, but is it a comfort blanket? I don't know, having gone down hard a few times over the last 33 years I'd say maybe.

A couple of months back I lost my tester and survived overnight :p even waking to a good sugar when I scrounged one from my neighbours dead husband, but it was tense waiting for accucheck to send me a new one, I went to the clinic and scrounged another meter just for the strips but didn't swim or work on my ladders due to a lack of confidence.

.
I’m wondering how the emotional and psychological aspect of checking all the bloody time can affect the quality of life we lead..
Click to expand...
But conversely think of the quality of life that could be affected by not checking as much!
 
Yes I use a libre some of the time. I still get up and check it every hour though. I don't trust my blood sugars to be honest. They are very erratic.
 
Depends on the day really. Usually a minimum of 6 tests a day but can reach 15 if sugars are playing up or I'm exercising/driving a lot.
If you feel just doing the minimum will help you mentally then try it - just remember one or two more if you feel low/high.
 
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