Confused Type2 newbie.

artijayne

Member
Messages
15
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi I want some advice on purchasing a blood glucose monitor or metre. Having trouble posting on the forum.
 

artijayne

Member
Messages
15
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Waking up with a banging headache. Feel better after food. So is because of low or high blood sugars, or dehydration. Melt diagnosed so started low carb eating. Gp said to lose 2 stone in 3 months. On Metformin. Any advice please.
 

HelenMW

Well-Known Member
Messages
77
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Spiders, peas and most of all diabetes!
I'm a newbie too so not exactly expert advice but I bought the SD Codefree monitor from Amazon for about £15. Since seen them even cheaper at Homehealth-uk.com. There are questions about their accuracy compared to other metres - a lot of people seem to be saying they measure a bit on the high side - but they seem to be cheaper by miles especially for replacement testing strips. As a newbie I'm finding I sometimes use 2 or 3 strips at a time, due to errors so I wouldn't want to be paying the prices of some of the ones on the market. Lots of people have said on here not to stress about each individual reading but to look at trends, so for that the Codefree is fine. Hope this helps xxx
 
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Scimama

Well-Known Member
Messages
942
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi @artijayne welcome to the forum, I will tag @daisy1 as she post very useful info for newbies.

I have a SDcodefree meter as I have to pay for my own (my GP surgery refused as I wasn't on meds) as @HelenMW says the strips are the cheapest available if your buying your own thats really important.

All meters sold in UK have to confirm to certain restrictions in terms of accuracy. I have had my meter for a few years now and the readings have always been in good correlation to my HbA1c results.

A meter will show you by how much or how little each food affects your blood glucose and thus help you manage your diabetes.
 
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amgrundy

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,333
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Being bored
Hi artijayne welcome to the forum. I have an ACCU-CHEK Softclix I got this free off my doctor. I do like it, it is easy to use had no problems with it.:)
 
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Oldvatr

Expert
Messages
8,470
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I have an Abbott NEO supplied anf supported by my GP and DSN,which they are currently feeding on scrip. I also use an SD Codefree which I fund myself. The NEO seems to be more stable and is definitely more accurate when I approach hypoland. it has large epaper display (like a small Kindle) and a red light that comes on when it thinks I am too low or too high (very useful when in hypoland, since the first thing to go for me is my eyesight). it has a built in averaging function, but I use my PC to log instead. The NEO sometimes spits a test strip out and fails to take a reading, so I have to be careful making sure it is properly inserted. it has never given me a misread, but I do get rejected strips as mentioned.

The SD is a different story, and its readings can vary quite significantly. Funnily enough it averages out within a couple of mmol/L of the NEO, but ALWAYS higher. But i can get differences of up to 7 mmol/L between them off the same blood sample. i use it as a sanity check and i use it to check how the difference changes when I change to a new pak of strips. i have by this detected 2 paks of counterfeit strips.

The strips are cheaper for the SD, and us diabetics can buy them VAT free by registering as such with the supplier. if i had to choose just one meter then I would trust the NEO, but not the SD.
 
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mo53

Expert
Messages
7,869
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hello and welcome @artijayne . This is a brilliant forum with many kind, friendly people who have knowledge gained from first hand experience. Have you decided how you are going to achieve your weight loss? Have you looked at the threads on the food and nutrition section.
 
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daisy1

Legend
Messages
26,457
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Cruelty towards animals.
@artijayne

Hello Artijayne and welcome to the forum :) Here is the basic information we give to new members and I hope it will be useful to you. Ask more questions if you need to and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.