II was diagnosed 1 month ago. Upon returning from the doctor I took a BS reading and got a 26 mmol result (5pm). I've been taking metformin (now on 4 tablets per day). For the last week, my morning fasting levels averaged 7.5mmol. However, the last 2 days they've been a little higher - 9.3 and 8.9. Also, this morning, I tool 3 readings on different fingers (2 on 1 hand and 1 on another) and got 3 different readings (8.9, 9.9 and 9.3). I am concerned that my Sinocare reader could be faulty. I am pricking the finger, get a decent amount of blood and let the blood travel up the strip. I don't think I'm doing anything wrong but would appreciate your thoughts. My nagging concern is that despite getting to around average of 7.5 in the morning that I might be levelling off. Clearly, I want to get down to below 6 ASAP. Any thoughts, help and guidance much appreciated. thanks
Recently diagnosed, morning blood readings
- Thread starter lechiffre1969
- Start Date
- Messages
- 5,186
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
- Dislikes
- Not being able to eat as many chocolate digestives as I used to.
The ISO standard for home glucose measuring equipment permits a tolerance range of +/- 15% so the difference between 8.9 and 9.9 is within tolerance. (8.9 +15% = 10.2).
If you are really concerned, you should be able to contact the manufacturer and obtain a reference liquid with a known glucose value that can be used to determine if the meter is accurate. They usually send this out as a freebie.
Also, your blood is constantly changing as nutrients absorbed near the stomach get pumped around the body. So differences between fingers and differences between left and right hand are quite normal.
Hi. It is very unlikely that your meter is faulty. I think you are aiming a bit too strictly to a 6mmol meter number. Few of us expect to get near that. Anything below 8.5 mmol 2 hours after a meal is good and often it can be a bit higher. Morning fasting readings can vary quite a bit due to to the liver's overnight glucose dump so I would be guided more by 2 hour post meal readings. Can you let us know what your BMI is? That 26 mmol number was high and it's just worth checking that you are T2 and not a T1/LADA in the wings.
Thank you. I was diagnosed as T2. My diet pre-diagnosis was incredibly skewed towards carbs, sugar, processed rubbish. I quite often would not even have meals and would eat biscuits, chocolate bars, and crisps. I feel terribly ashamed writing that. However, since my diagnosis, I've completely cut everything out. I've been keeping a detailed log of everything I eat. The closest I've come to a snack item is a handful of walnuts. I think my initial reading was so high as 2 hours earlier I'd devoured a large number of sweets! The next morning, my BS went down to 22.6, then 20, 17, 14, 12, 11, 10. Within 2 weeks I was down to 8 - 9. The metformin is no doubt helping significantly but my change in diet has been considerable - the healthiest I think I've ever eaten. My BMI is 29 today. I've lost a stone in 4 weeks.
