First blood glucose test

charon

Well-Known Member
Messages
201
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Hello everyone,
I've just been diagnosed with diabetes and am taking tests for the next couple of weeks (once a day before different meals) before going back to see the nurse.

I was told not to change the diet too much - just cut out sugary things like jam and swap Raisin Wheats for Weetabix because raisins are not good and eat oranges rather than tangerines. I asked about carbohydrates being converted to sugar and was told not to worry about them.

Just taken my first blood glucose reading, 5 hours after a breakfast of 2 weetabix, and it came in at 13.0 - it seems like that is very high?
 

daisy1

Legend
Messages
26,457
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Cruelty towards animals.
Hi Charon and welcome to the forum :)

This is the basic information which we give to new members and I think you will find it useful. Ask all the questions you like and someone will come along and 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 well over 30,000 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 ... rains.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

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 blood glucose 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.
 

pav

Well-Known Member
Messages
361
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi, 13.0 after 5 hours is high, would be interesting to see what your sugar level is before a meal then 2 hours after the meal. The 2 hours after is when we normally test to see what the levels should be, 5 hours is more like a pre meal test.

I would suspect the 2 hours after meal would be very high going off your reading, I am no where near an expert and having to relearn things again after 13 years of being type 2. Foods made from white floor can be a problem and I also found that some cereals send my sugar levels high pretty quickly.
 

Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi. Yes, 13.0 after 5 hours is far too high so it will be interesting to see what your final set of results are. As you are probably aware, carbs are just as important as sugar within that food group so do follow Daisy's guidelines. It's far more important to worry about refined carbs than swapping the tangerines and raisins; weird. Do get hold of a meter so you can take control of your diabetes. You should have an HBa1C blood test within 3 months and if your sugars remain above 8.5'ish 2 hours after a meal then you may need some tablets assuming you are also low-carbing
 

charon

Well-Known Member
Messages
201
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Thanks both. That's what I thought. I deliberately tried to get a low reading for the first one with only weetabix 5 hours before and nothing for about 9 hours before that. Was disappointed that this was so high but could be anomalous (tomorrow will be before breakfast as I'm going out). If the fasting test gave a similar reading I would have thought they would have treated this a bit more urgently - the meeting with the diabetic nurse was arranged for 3 weeks after that result but I pressed for an appointment the following week. This was already about 3 weeks after the initial doctors appointment.

I have a meter which I'm meant to use daily before a meal for the next couple of weeks. Problem is that it only comes with 10 test strips, used one for the calibration test, failed on first blood test, needs another calibration test after a week which gives me 7 blood glucose tests in all. Guess I'll have to ring up to find out how to get more (and lancets).

I'm a bit surprised they ask for only one per day before a meal - I would have thought it would be an idea to test the peaks after each meal and how it was doing before the next.
I also asked if I should keep a record of what I am eating. They said not to but I am anyway.
 

pav

Well-Known Member
Messages
361
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
There no need to do a calibration (control) test a second time within a week, normally I do these on receipt of the meter if I have the control solution, then I do anther control test if I suspect the meter is acting up. Just done a calibration test on my meters as the supplier sent me another meter and wanted to check if the results are similar on both meters.

Its worth asking your doctor if they will give you a prescription for more strips and lancets, also worth asking for a sharps bin to put the used lancets and strips in. The supply of sharps bins vary area to area, yet another post code lottery like the test strips and lancets.
 

Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Yes, I'm not quite sure why they want you to test before a meal. I guess it's to check your background sugars but the peak after meals is just as important. I'm afraid so many GPs are very casual at diagnosis time. My GP left me in the 20s/30s at diagnosis, threw some Xerox diet sheets at me and said come back in 3 months. If you can afford it do buy some strips yourself. You can get them on eBay for around 1/2 price by bidding but only buy if they state an end date. Amazon and others will do them cheaper than your pharmacy and some will not charge you VAT which as a diabetic you don't need to pay. I agree that you shouldn't need to calibrate your meter for months if not years.
 

charon

Well-Known Member
Messages
201
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
The owners manual for the meter (GlucoRx Nexus TD-4277) says to run a control solution test on receipt, at least once a week, when receiving new test strips - and other times you might think it's necessary.

Just found a thing to send to the doctor to get a prescription for consumables. On Amazon it's £11:95 for 50 strips and £6:95 for 200 lancets. How much is a prescription?
 

pav

Well-Known Member
Messages
361
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
If or when you are on medication to help control your diabetes apply for a medical exemption certificate, you can get the form from your GP and a doctor will need to sign it to confirm you are on meds. If treatment is via diet only unfortunately you won't be able for a free exemption, but you can apply for a pre payment certificate if taking a few meds can work out a lot cheaper.

At your next meeting with the nurse you might know which way they are going to treat you, if they decide its by meds keep any receipts for prescriptions as I think you can claim them back for a certain period.

Depending on your GP they may or may not give you a prescription for more than 50 strips at a time.

New prescription charges are £7-85 more details on the link https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nhs- ... -announced

Some manuals do tell you to use a control solution test that often, but in practice there's no need to. When my sugar levels jumped into the 20's early on in the year I ordered a control solution (these are normally free) to check its accuracy, turned out it was me and not the meter, this was the first time in a age that I ran a control test. The only other times I have run a control test were as I mentioned before was when Bayer sent me new meters (as my old meters were ancient and from a different supplier) and wanted to know if the results were similar between the new meters.
 

charon

Well-Known Member
Messages
201
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Second test after waking up - 13 hours after last meal came in at 14.3.
Now I'm a bit concerned.

I struggle to do much exercise as joints have problems - which was what caused me to go to the doctors. Wonder if that is to do with the BG level? I felt very tired and spent a couple of days in bed and had a lot of problems with knees but mainly my hands. I thought it was arthritis but doctor said it was carpel tunnel syndrome. Wonder if this is a nerve/circulation problem?

Going to try cutting out carbs as much as possible.

Not vastly overweight - BMI 25.9 - I guess that will come down now anyway.
 

pav

Well-Known Member
Messages
361
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
High blood sugars can cause different symptoms in how you feel the typical symptoms are on this page

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/type2-diabetes-symptoms.html

I can't do much exercise due to arthritis with some docs saying don't walk and others saying get out and walk the same practice can't even decide on the same treatment. Without seeing a doctor and the podiatrist to check your feet and nerves its hard to say if nerve damage has happened. A favourite one to cut out is any thing that uses white floor as that effects a lot of peoples BS and of course cutting out sugar itself like in cakes. Substitute white bread for decent wholemeal bread will help as part of reducing your BS.
 

nicola38

Member
Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Type 2
I think walking is good.you just start at your own paste until you can do more brisky walk you will feel so much better and lighter. Better still sign up to walk in your area and get more support and help its even nicer with other walkers by talking learning from others experience etc its fun you wouldnt even realise that you just walk that far. I enjoy my walks . And yes just use brown instead of white and cut down on yr potion size.Nicola

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 

charon

Well-Known Member
Messages
201
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Oh frabjous day!
Managed to get down to 7.9. Still a bit high but not so bad.

Meal 24 hours ago, Two weetabix 11 hours ago. Nothing else apart from water.
Reading before the weetabix was 14.3 now is 7.9.
Have been out most of the day including a fair bit of walking.

I don't know why it was so high earlier today but I suspect it was because I was mostly sleeping after the meal. If that's the case then exercise is very important for me. I'll have to see what I'm capable of doing tomorrow.
Anyway it means that the BG level does come down so I have something to work with - I'm going to get lots more test strips so I can see whats happening and am going to visit the doctor tomorrow to discuss it..

I wasn't feeling very well most of the day but began to perk up in the last couple of hours - that couldn't be due to the glucose level could it?

Anyway means that it looks like I have the possibility of controlling this even if it means not eating.

In response to the kind suggestions.
I don't eat white bread by choice - I don't at all now. Diet was very up and down depending on how much time I had - ready meals, garage sandwiches, chocolate....
I have stopped working to get this under control (couldn't really justify getting paid with what I was capable of doing)

What I have been eating since being diagnosed
Hovis wholemeal bread sandwich with tinned salmon, onions and cucumber.
Hovis wholemeal bread toasted with baked beans
Spread is flora buttery

Weetabix with semi skimmed milk.

Roast beef + steamed onions, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, mushrooms, gravy (was with a few potatoes but am stopping that)
I tend to have a similar meal a couple of days a week with beef/lamb/turkey.

Portions I don't believe are large - certainly a lot less than a week ago.
I'm capable of being pretty draconian about my food intake as long as I know what to do.

Is the semi skimmed milk ok or should I go for skimmed - if I have to cut milk out altogether it will mean finding something else for breakfast.
 

Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
HI. Well done so far. Looks like your new diet is good. You might want to go for whole grain bread rather than wholemeal as it is even lower GI. Watch out that the baked beans don't have too much sugar in them. Raw carrots are lower-GI than cooked but these are details. I've never felt ill when my sugars have swung around but some people do, but your feeling ill might be due to your diet changes and so on? They say skimmed milk has more sugar than full fat milk, but again I think that's details. I would carry on with the milk and whatever suits you.
 

mickey121

Well-Known Member
Messages
140
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I now eat Burgen bread available at most supermarkets a bit dear but it does taste nice,make sure you get put on a Desmond course as soon as you can ,just done mine found it very helpful . Good luck


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 

Yorksman

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
charon said:
What I have been eating since being diagnosed
Hovis wholemeal bread sandwich with tinned salmon, onions and cucumber.
Hovis wholemeal bread toasted with baked beans

It depends on which Hovis wholemeal loaf but the ingredients for the standard Hovis wholemeal are:

Wholemeal Flour (milled from 100% British Wheat), Water, Caramelised Sugar, Yeast, Salt, Fermented Wheat Flour, Vegetable Fat, Wheat Protein, Emulsifiers: E472e, E471 (made from Vegetable Oils); Soya Flour, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid
(Vitamin C).

The recipe contains 62% wholegrains from the wholemeal flour but not all the loaf is made from wholemeal flour.

A problem in the UK is that wholemeal and wholegrain do not have legal definitions so if 62% of the flour contains wholegrains, the remaining need not. The other thing they are not required to tell you is how much wheat flour they use in the loaf. As you can see, you have got many other things including caramelised sugar - to make it brown and rise more easily and even soya flour so you can't even be sure a wholemeal bread is 100% wheat flour let alone the product of wholegrains. 100% British Wheat just means whatever wheat they did use came from Britain, not that everything in the loaf is wheat. One supermarket loaf describes as wholegrain only contained 6% wholegrains.

When asked how much soya flour was used in a loaf described as wholemeal, Hovis replied, ‘The recipes we use in our Hovis breads are confidential.’

Have a look at: http://www.sustainweb.org/news/feb13_re ... ain_truth/ which you can download.

"For those, then, who are determined to eat bread made from authentic 100 per cent wholemeal…there is precious little alternative but to buy the flour and bake it themselves."
 

charon

Well-Known Member
Messages
201
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Thanks.
It's not due to the new diet though, more due to not eating at all.
Now the task is to find a diet that will keep the BG down but also give me enough to survive. Can last a few weeks while I'm testing.
I've only tested a long time without eating so far so I guess the task is to get a diet so the each meal doesn't increase the BG too much from the low (which I hope will be less than 7.9). I'm planning on two meals a day for the time being - one of which will be two weetabix.

I'll get some burgen bread today. Not eating baked beans at the moment but will do the salmon sandwiches on burgen bread tomorrow for the second meal.

Feel a lot more lively today. Main concern is the brain - I'm doing a lot of studying at the moment (more than a full time university course). In the last few months I've not been able to study much - which was the first indication that something was wrong.
 

charon

Well-Known Member
Messages
201
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
8.6 - 15 hrs after last meal (mostly asleep though). Much better than the equivalent 14.3 yesterday.
I've ordered another GlucoRx from amazon and am going to try and get extra strips today so I can monitor more regularly.
 

Yorksman

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
charon said:
I've ordered another GlucoRx from amazon and am going to try and get extra strips today so I can monitor more regularly.

I have one of those. Seemed a bit fiddly to begin with after my Accu Chek Mobile but after 4 or 5 times use it's easy. Remarkably, I get just about the same results as with my AccuChek except that the Glucorx strips are around the £12 for 50 price and Accucheck cassettes of 50 are about £30.

You can usually get cheaper Accuchek strips on ebay but until now there have been few GlucoRx. However, they are becoming available. I just got a box of 50 for £5.99.
 

charon

Well-Known Member
Messages
201
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
I got a prescription today for extra strips - doctor made a mistake and didn't include the lancets.
Went to the pharmacist and they were out of stock - went to another and managed it but asked them about the lancets and they said they were out of stock of those.

The first pharmacist said I should tick the box to say they were free, I think it said a medical certificate - I wasn't sure about that as I don't have one. The second pharmacist didn't query it but guess I'd signed for it.
To be honest the cost isn't much of a consideration at the moment.