Thornliebank
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 83
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Other
OK so I've gone for the GlucoNavii and 250 strips, hopefully will be with me tomorrow. Not concerned about a short stab to a finger.
Sounds a daft question, but what are users' experiences of testing?
Do you usally keep to the same finger or rotate things a bit?
Better to use left or right hand? (in the case of a right handed person)?
Any cumulative issues for fingers arising over time from testing?
I plan to monitor my BG for a couple of days consuming what is currently "normal" for me to give me some starting figures before I start making changes.
From a dietry point of view, I'm starting to look at this in detail.
Can see some quick wins just in the morning - taking my morning medication with cranberry juice instead of OJ, and I've tried Canderal Sugerly in my coffee (I have 2 mugs in the morning, and tea with no sugar rest of day) - it's just ok, but not the same as my demerara that I usually have. So there is 63g of carbs daily gone straight away. If I lose the 9.30am Belvita with my 2nd mug after the school walk with my little daughter, there's another 35g.
It's a start.. lol.
I’m so glad you’ve decided to test your blood sugars, you will learn so much. It’s best to rotate fingers, wash hands in warm water, keep the lancet to the lowest setting that’ll get sufficient blood, prick on the side of the finger (less painful than the pad) and always check an unexpected result, you can get the odd rouge strip.OK so I've gone for the GlucoNavii and 250 strips, hopefully will be with me tomorrow. Not concerned about a short stab to a finger.
Sounds a daft question, but what are users' experiences of testing?
Do you usally keep to the same finger or rotate things a bit?
Better to use left or right hand? (in the case of a right handed person)?
Any cumulative issues for fingers arising over time from testing?
I thought all strips would be "rouge" once used!I’m so glad you’ve decided to test your blood sugars, you will learn so much. It’s best to rotate fingers, wash hands in warm water, keep the lancet to the lowest setting that’ll get sufficient blood, prick on the side of the finger (less painful than the pad) and always check an unexpected result, you can get the odd rouge strip.
Oopsie!!I thought all strips would be "rouge" once used!
The damage is caused by high blood sugar levels which is what your new meter is measuring.I thought all strips would be "rouge" once used!
But I'd always question an odd blood pressure reading if it was too high or too low, and I usually test 3 times to rule out a rogue reading.
Now to go and find out what sort of numbers I need to be looking for... am I right in saying that if I want to get my HBA1C down to 6% / 48 and below, my target BG should be in the order of 7mmol/L and that I don't want it spiking above that level? ( EDIT found the info 4-7 before meals, no more then 8.5 2h after)
What is the damage from Diabetes caused by? Is it BG being too high (and the HBA1C "just" being a measerable indicator), or is it a high HBA1C itself? I am assuming the former.
Obviously the high BG will push up the HBA1C over time.
I highly recommend Pure Via Demerara as an alternative to the "real" stuff - currently available in Tesco and also Holland & Barrett.OK so I've gone for the GlucoNavii and 250 strips, hopefully will be with me tomorrow. Not concerned about a short stab to a finger.
Sounds a daft question, but what are users' experiences of testing?
Do you usally keep to the same finger or rotate things a bit?
Better to use left or right hand? (in the case of a right handed person)?
Any cumulative issues for fingers arising over time from testing?
I plan to monitor my BG for a couple of days consuming what is currently "normal" for me to give me some starting figures before I start making changes.
From a dietry point of view, I'm starting to look at this in detail.
Can see some quick wins just in the morning - taking my morning medication with cranberry juice instead of OJ, and I've tried Canderal Sugerly in my coffee (I have 2 mugs in the morning, and tea with no sugar rest of day) - it's just ok, but not the same as my demerara that I usually have. So there is 63g of carbs daily gone straight away. If I lose the 9.30am Belvita with my 2nd mug after the school walk with my little daughter, there's another 35g.
It's a start.. lol.
It doesn't work quite that way.I thought all strips would be "rouge" once used!
But I'd always question an odd blood pressure reading if it was too high or too low, and I usually test 3 times to rule out a rogue reading.
Now to go and find out what sort of numbers I need to be looking for... am I right in saying that if I want to get my HBA1C down to 6% / 48 and below, my target BG should be in the order of 7mmol/L and that I don't want it spiking above that level? ( EDIT found the info 4-7 before meals, no more then 8.5 2h after)
What is the damage from Diabetes caused by? Is it BG being too high (and the HBA1C "just" being a measerable indicator), or is it a high HBA1C itself? I am assuming the former.
Obviously the high BG will push up the HBA1C over time.
Thanks all for the sugar tips. I'll give some of them a try.I highly recommend Pure Via Demerara as an alternative to the "real" stuff - currently available in Tesco and also Holland & Barrett.
That's what I thought (high sugar levels), thanks for the clarification.The damage is caused by high blood sugar levels which is what your new meter is measuring.
The Hba1c measures something else, high levels of glucose in the blood causes the blood cells to become glycated. The higher the blood sugar, the more glycated they become, as the cells live for around 12 weeks, it's considered to be a sort of 12 week average.
Don't get too hung up on the actual number's, the +/-15% accuracy of the meters means there's not much point getting excited over if your level is 6.5 or 7. You might want to reconsider your plan to do 3 tests each time, the possible variance from your actual level will be 30% for each test, so the average of the three results is no more likely to be any more accurate.
It's better to just accept that the meters give an idea of what range our blood sugar is in at the moment of the test, not an absolute definitive level.
Test before you eat and again 2hrs later, the difference between the two results show what that meal has done to your blood sugar levels.
Knowing that a bacon sandwich raises your blood sugar by 5 mmol in 2hr , but with bacon, eggs and mushrooms on a plate, your levels are the same at 2hrs as they were before you had breakfast, is far more useful than just knowing that after breakfast your levels are 8mmol.
Most of us try to keep to a rise of no more than 2mmol at 2hr , anything more than 2mmol means there were too many carbs in that meal for your body to deal with effectively
Double check your cranberry juice to make sure it doesn’t have a lot of sugar in, many do. There is a sweetener you can buy on Amazon called sukrin gold which is a brown sugar alternative. It might be closer to the taste you are used to from your Demerara sugar.
I expect your testing will throw up surprises, many things have carbs in and we All get caught out sometimes.
The Asda one in the fridge is 4g/100ml - I usually get the Tesco one which was (IIRC) virtually carb-free, I will check this when I next buy some.Most people don't bother washing lancets before re-use (by the same person).
Some even joke that St Swithins Day is the day to change the lancet. - Mine gets too blunt long before that, but still lasts for over a week of regular use.
I'm amazed that @Jim_AFCB can find Cranberry Juice with 0.1 grams of carbs per 100mls. I googled unsweetened Cranberry juice and that says 12gms per 100gms (which I vaguely recall is around 100ml).
Very grateful if you'd confirm the Asda and Tesco carbs per 100ml, please. They'd have to be taking carb out of the juice to get to that level. Is it possible these are cranberry-flavoured drinks?The Asda one in the fridge is 4g/100ml - I usually get the Tesco one which was (IIRC) virtually carb-free, I will check this when I next buy some.
Lunch today added 2 units to my BG - 6.7 before, 8.7 after which I gather is about what one would expect.
Yep, mostly water and sweetners (sucralose)Is it possible these are cranberry-flavoured drinks
Sterilisation is only necessary if you are sharing with others. Nurses etc are told to change it between patients.what do we do with lancets
I was slightly out - the Tesco Cranberry drink is 0.4g/100ml, still negligible. It's a drink rather than pure juice, but tastes the same as Cranberry Classic... to me at least!I'm amazed that @Jim_AFCB can find Cranberry Juice with 0.1 grams of carbs per 100mls. I googled unsweetened Cranberry juice and that says 12gms per 100gms (which I vaguely recall is around 100ml).
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