Annoyed with myself

This advice still stands. Have you taken it ?

 

Hi Maskedman

Apologies for putting this pretty bluntly but with a fasting BS level in excess of 13, and no way of knowing whether it has improved, it may not be too long before you either don't have any fingers to test or can't see to read the test monitor.

 

OK, look at it from your partner's perspective, does he/she really want or deserve to be saddled with looking after someone whose health is just going to deteriorate, and probably sooner rather than later? Do you want this, because it WILL happen? Kidney failure, heart attack, stroke, blindness, amputations. The reverse is also true, take control now and you minimise the risk.

I hated testing initially, and you should see the instruments of torture for doing so that were available back in the 80s. But I've read a few times in this thread about using the sides of your fingertips - this is absolutely brilliant advice, forget about just not hurting, you may not even feel ANYTHING! Honestly!

 

I'd take that advice with a pinch of salt. Your DSN needs to retrain, or take the DS out of her job title. A fasting bg reading of 13.7 is not at all good, being more than twice what it should be. It would seem counselling of some sort may be a way forward? You need to do something...

 

Masked man, (shakes head sadly) I looked at your web site.If you do not test and carry on with high BG's like you have now you will very soon no longer be able to see or do that web site.I know that it is all new to you but you simply need to accept that this is your life from now on.
Please have a good read round this forum,you are not the only person who came here in denial and has turned their life and diabetes around.You need to take control now so that you can have a long and active life,you are only a young person with a lot of life ahead of you,please make the most of it.

 

Maskedman, get your partner to launch a stealth attack while you're asleep. Or take up gardening, car maintenance and DIY as hobbies; they never fail to provide me with adequate amounts of blood for a test!

Seriously, I know how you feel. I've had a deep-seated phobia about needles since having adrenaline injections for asthma as a toddler. Scared the living daylights out of me. Yet, I've managed to become accustomed to stabbing myself at regular intervals since diagnosis. If I can do it, you can, and despite what your DSN might tell you, there's really only one way to get your diabetes under control and that's to test until you've found the right diet for you.

Very best wishes and PRESS THAT BUTTON!

 

Have you adjusted the setting on your lancet, it might have to go a bit deeper. Are you using different fingers?

It does take a while to get used to it.

 

When I prick my finger, very little blood appears - I then have to squeeze the finger til enough of the red stuff comes out

 

As peppi says, you have to 'milk' the blood from your finger. It doesn't just appear.

 

Brilliant - well done you! Now you just need to work on getting that number lower

Not wishing to p*** on your parade, but there is apparently some evidence that squeezing your finger excessively - to coax a blood droplet to form - can actually REDUCE the reading displayed on your meter?! Something about plasma diluting the sample. Doesn't seem to stop ward nurses who IME could part-time with the Spanish Inquisition! I don't know if anyone else has heard this or could shed any further light...?

 

My Freestyle Mini meter requires the smallest blood drop. Even if you can hardly see it, the machine beeps. I have a Contour too and it needs far more blood, although it has a COOL countdown 8)
Ken
AST isn't less accurate, it just lags a bit behind fingers, so isn't advisable if you are experiencing changing BG. Since I'm, T2 on very little medication, that doesn't really apply to me.

 

well done masked man,
as already said ,we need to get those bloods down so you dont suffer serious health probs,
you did it yayyyyyyyyyyyyy