Finger pricking - How many times do you do?

[Shas3]

Am just curious - How many times do you measure each day? At 6 months, i am still learning and I sometimes go overboard (once i did a dozen times in a day). But mostly i am still doing 6 - 8 times a day, which I think is too much (and expensive too). I have no specific instructions from my doctor.

Secondly, i am also curious if “30 day / 90 day average BG level” etc. are any useful? I do panic when i have a high reading (over 8). but my 90 day average (with over 400 measurements) looks closer to 7. Should i worry less? Or these average across months is a useless metric?

 

[Nickers]

I always test before a meal, bed and early morning and if I get up through the night I also do as I can have early morning hypos. Don’t panic we all get highs at times and if you’ve only been diagnosed 6 months it’s still new. Take care

 

[Member496333]

There is no too much or too little. Test as often as you feel is necessary for you to build the confidence that you need in order to manage your condition.

 

[Shas3]

I always test before a meal, bed and early morning and if I get up through the night I also do as I can have early morning hypos. Don’t panic we all get highs at times and if you’ve only been diagnosed 6 months it’s still new. Take care

Thanks Nickers. Interesting that you measure before a meal but not after. Curious why so? I am so worried about the meal spiking my BG that sometimes i test 2/3/4 hours after every meal especially if at 2 hour measurement it is higher than 9. It is almost like i need to know when it is coming below 8.

 

[Deleted Account]

In my mind, there is no such thing as too much testing if (and only if) you have a reason for the testing.
For example, as someone with type 1 (treated with insulin) I test
- before every meal to calculate insulin dose
- before I drive to check I am safe to drive
- before I exercise to check my BG is not too high or low
- before I go to bed to check I do not need to make any adjustments to my levels
- whenever I wake because waking in the middle of the night is an indication my BG is too high or too low
- whenever I feel "off" to confirm I am not too high or too low
- 30 minutes after I have corrected a bad hypo to check I am recovering
- 2 hours after a new recipe if I am likely to repeat it to check whether I took the correct insulin dose

Depending on my day, I may test anything from 4 to 12 times a day.
And none of these tests are to write it down in a book and ignore - they all have a purpose.

 

[Freema]

Am just curious - How many times do you measure each day? At 6 months, i am still learning and I sometimes go overboard (once i did a dozen times in a day). But mostly i am still doing 6 - 8 times a day, which I think is too much (and expensive too). I have no specific instructions from my doctor.

Secondly, i am also curious if “30 day / 90 day average BG level” etc. are any useful? I do panic when i have a high reading (over 8). but my 90 day average (with over 400 measurements) looks closer to 7. Should i worry less? Or these average across months is a useless metric?

as a type 2 measuring is good, if one is a type 1 there is no way around measuring ones blood glucose

I am type 2

During the first months I measured 3-4 times a day, Firstly in the mornings, which I still do, and then before and after a meal, now I don´t measure that much...

Don´t measure much now as I do know how much carb is in my usual meals and when out with others I try to avoid eating a lot of the stuff with many carbs in, like bread potatoes, sauce with flour in it .. and family knows I many times eat the foods without bread now... like meat-slices and cheese and eggs and tomatoes ... instead of sandwiches ..

I put ALL my food choices in my lifesum app even the days I cheat, so I always know how many bad days I have and so on.. but I also count my level of proteins every day and try to stay around 80 grams of proteins ...

my daily goal of carbs is 100 grams , but I am not very good at staying in that area... but everyone is different some can keep blood glucose in normal range when only being under 50 grams and others can cope with 120 grams ... my numbers are only truely normal in the mornings if I stay under 80 grams in total for the whole day.

when we measure we need to know about the carb level in the meal and of our total daily range of carbs as well otherwise it gives no meaning to measure...

DO YOU KNOW YOU PERSONAL DAILY LEVEL OF CARBS ?
IS IT 100 GRAMS
OR IS IT 50 GRAMS
OR IS IT EVEN UNDER 20 GRAMS A DAY...
TRY FOCUS ON THAT ..

 

[Member496333]

Thanks Nickers. Interesting that you measure before a meal but not after. Curious why so? I am so worried about the meal spiking my BG that sometimes i test 2/3/4 hours after every meal especially if at 2 hour measurement it is higher than 9. It is almost like i need to know when it is coming below 8.

I also don’t measure after meals anymore. This is because I know that nothing I eat will cause a spike. What I am interested in is trends creeping upwards over time. On the days that I test, I only test first thing in the morning and once before my main meal. For me this is my green light that I am maintaining some semblance of insulin sensitivity. Postprandial would be a waste of strips.

But that is my current regimen based on where I am now. A year ago I was testing easily eight times per day or more. It’s a very personal thing. The only advice worth giving with regards to self-monitoring is to ignore the advice of anyone giving you advice with regards to self-monitoring

 

[WuTwo]

About 6 or 7 times a day if there are no problems. Any hypos or highs, then add in another 2 or 3.

 

[Shas3]

There is no too much or too little. Test as often as you feel is necessary for you to build the confidence that you need in order to manage your condition.

Great advice as always... today at lunch I let my guard down a bit and went to 12 before returning to 8 an hour or so later.

But after a very nice Tuna steak for dinner, i am at 6.... Felt so good. Now to worry about morning fasting number!

 

[britishpub]

How many times do you measure each day?

I average about 4 times a week nowadays.

 

[Shas3]

I average about 4 times a week nowadays.

I want to get to that state soon!!!!!!!

 

[Nickers]

I do sometimes check after meals just not always. You check when you feel you need to.

 

[Shas3]

I do sometimes check after meals just not always. You check when you feel you need to.

Right!! I am slowly realizing some foods (like dinner I finished two hours ago - Tuna with some salad) just are perfect- 6.0 at 2 hours! So next time for tuna i will skip measuring. I guess it is just a matter of getting confident snd comfortable and cutting down the measurements

 

[Robinredbreast]

Probably 6 to 10 times a day and I don't drive either, so I would think a lot more if I did drive.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Nowadays, over 5 years down the line, I just test a maximum of 3 times a day, often less than that. I am only interested in fasting, before evening meal, and bedtime. (looking for trends). I have no need to test meals these days under normal circumstances. Before adopting this method I used to test 6 to 8 times a day. I also use a Libre on a part time basis to keep an eye on matters.

 

[Pasha]

I test a lot when I am trying out new foods or meals. Takes quite some time also to learn when readings are false ie ex 10-15% too high or too low. Also takes a good few strips to test values/readings as a function of time. ie influence of insulin resistance and gluconeogenesis.

 

[Traceymac23]

Once a day normally upon waking up.........anything above 6.0 or if I have any other issues then I do pre-lunch.......if that one has risen then I do pre-dinner and if it rises again I'll do last thing at night whilst actively trying to bring the count down after each poor result through diet or a burst of exercise.

Once I get a score below 6.0 I leave my fingertips alone for the day if I feel Ok.

Currently in hospital so am being tested four times a day.

 

[Shas3]

Once a day normally upon waking up.........anything above 6.0 or if I have any other issues then I do pre-lunch.......if that one has risen then I do pre-dinner and if it rises again I'll do last thing at night whilst actively trying to bring the count down after each poor result through diet or a burst of exercise.

Once I get a score below 6.0 I leave my fingertips alone for the day if I feel Ok.

Currently in hospital so am being tested four times a day.

Thanks. Hope you get well soon. Speedy recovery

 

[Shas3]

Nowadays, over 5 years down the line, I just test a maximum of 3 times a day, often less than that. I am only interested in fasting, before evening meal, and bedtime. (looking for trends). I have no need to test meals these days under normal circumstances. Before adopting this method I used to test 6 to 8 times a day. I also use a Libre on a part time basis to keep an eye on matters.

Thanks. Nice. I do want to get to a state where i can do 2-3 times a day and be at peace...

 

[Shas3]

I test a lot when I am trying out new foods or meals. Takes quite some time also to learn when readings are false ie ex 10-15% too high or too low. Also takes a good few strips to test values/readings as a function of time. ie influence of insulin resistance and gluconeogenesis.

New foods I understand bit i am lost on how one reads into insulin resistance/gluconeoSomethingSis (ignorant me.... something to do with protein to glucose??) using strip???

And 10-15%???? I didn’t realize meters have such an error range... i use ehat is called AccuCheck Active... should I assume they have errors (and do what??? Check more times???)