When to test?

[graham292]

Hi. I have recently stopped taking Metformin for my diabetes and am now controlling it by diet alone (with my doctors blessing). The Metformin was destroying my stomach, so I embarked on a high fibre, low sugar, low fat, low salt and low carb diet. Not cutting out anything completely but everything in moderation. My sugar levels are usually between 5 & 6.5. I will be back at the doctors in 3 months time to see how things are progressing. I need to keep a "once daily" record of my sugar levels for the next 3 months. My question to you is, when is the best time of day to test ?

 

[DeejayR]

Ideally, on waking, before each meal (including breakfast if it's a long time after you wake), two hours after the first bite of every meal, and last thing at night. Plus any time you feel "odd"! I also used to record in detail what I ate and how I felt (if I had a cold, e.g.), since otherwise I couldn't relate the numbers to the food.
Good luck. It's time consuming but in my view well worth it and useful for a dialogue with your GP.
Sorry, welcome to the forum

 

[Aboaia126]

Hi. I have recently stopped taking Metformin for my diabetes and am now controlling it by diet alone (with my doctors blessing). The Metformin was destroying my stomach, so I embarked on a high fibre, low sugar, low fat, low salt and low carb diet. Not cutting out anything completely but everything in moderation. My sugar levels are usually between 5 & 6.5. I will be back at the doctors in 3 months time to see how things are progressing. I need to keep a "once daily" record of my sugar levels for the next 3 months. My question to you is, when is the best time of day to test ?

Welcome,
You need to test your blood sugar 10 hours from your last meal this what is called fbs and 2 hours after your breakfast which is called 2HPP.
They should be with the normal rang.
Also you need to test your HBA1C this will give you idea about your long term sugar control, but D,nt do it frequent, do it every 4 to 6 month.

 

[Pinkorchid]

Hi. I have recently stopped taking Metformin for my diabetes and am now controlling it by diet alone (with my doctors blessing). The Metformin was destroying my stomach, so I embarked on a high fibre, low sugar, low fat, low salt and low carb diet. Not cutting out anything completely but everything in moderation. My sugar levels are usually between 5 & 6.5. I will be back at the doctors in 3 months time to see how things are progressing. I need to keep a "once daily" record of my sugar levels for the next 3 months. My question to you is, when is the best time of day to test ?

So you really won't want to do the before and 2 hours after meals testing as you are not cutting anything out just going for everything in moderation and that seems to be working for you as your levels are good I am not sure what time of day it would be best to test as you are only going to be doing a once a day test record for your doctor but someone else here may be able to tell you

 

[ButtterflyLady]

Welcome,
You need to test your blood sugar 10 hours from your last meal this what is called fbs and 2 hours after your breakfast which is called 2HPP.
They should be with the normal rang.
Also you need to test your HBA1C this will give you idea about your long term sugar control, but D,nt do it frequent, do it every 4 to 6 month.

For newly diagnosed people, 3 monthly HbA1c is best. Dropping down to 6 monthly is ok if the BGs are in the normal range.

 

[DeejayR]

Oops -- I missed out a bit which is that I'm not familiar with your current diet @graham292 so I can only go with what I know, and a once-daily test can't give you a very good overall picture since you don't know what's happening after particular foods, singly or in combination, or before eating for comparison. Unless you have already done that, having been diagnosed a few years ago, in which case I apologise again.

 

[graham292]

Oops -- I missed out a bit which is that I'm not familiar with your current diet @graham292 so I can only go with what I know, and a once-daily test can't give you a very good overall picture since you don't know what's happening after particular foods, singly or in combination, or before eating for comparison. Unless you have already done that, having been diagnosed a few years ago, in which case I apologise again.

It looks like I wrongly assumed that so long as the levels were ok at the same time every day it didn't really matter what happened in between tests (within reason).

 

[DeejayR]

Unless you have other health issues, or even if you have, you might like to check out the idea of eating low-carb-full fat which is the basis of good management for many of us here (but not all). I'll ask @daisy1 to give you her newbie info about life, diabetes and everything. I don't want to deter you from a regime which you think is working for you but on the other hand I thought I was doing the right thing by taking the NHS advice. Wrong!

 

[daisy1]

@graham292

Hi Graham and welcome to the forum

Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

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

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.

 

[graham292]

Many, many thanks for all of the advice. So much more than from the GP.

 

[Sirmione]

A few hours browsing the internet will give you a lot of information,which boils down to this even in non-diabetics blood glucose levels rise after any meal, but the the extent of the rise varies with the type of food. Because your body has to convert different types of food into glucose after a meal the rise in bloud glucose level due to food the different types occurs at different times following a meal.. Simple sugars will show up as peaks in your blood glucose level in seconds, starchy carbohydrates in minutes to an hour but the body really has to work hard and switch to a different mode to burn fat.
So the order bad to good for most us here is
(1) Simple Sugars
(2) More Complex Carbohydrate
(3) Protiens
(4) Fats.

After about 2 hours after a meal if the blood glucose level is within the target range and no more than about 2 mmol/l greater than immediately before the meal then all is well with your choice of food.

 

[T2 Med free]

Hi Graham I have just turned to diet only I checked my blood this morning and then at 3pm I rec' pm is the best time well that works well for me I had no side effects to my tablets I just wanted to control my life with medication and with docs blessing no sugar no salt and it's working well for me Good Luck