Type 2 Best time to test When blood sugars stable?

[Caz141]

Hi all,
After 8 months of up’s and down’s, battling with my diet, low carb, no carb, high carb, keto, my glucose levels, my 2 hr figures and quiet frankly any one that wanted to fight me lol and oh my lord total head spin going on. It has been a deep learning curve. Some great advice (manly from this site and you guys and gals) and some real bull***t!!! Coming from people that are suppose to know. I don’t need to mention any names on that one, you all know…it appears it’s a right of passage that is travelled by many until we educate ourselves.
I finally got my HbAc1 into the normal range just scrapping through at 5.8 (40mmol/mol)

i now know the foods that most spike me which are pretty much all the usual, just about everything white is out it would seem with the brown and wholemeal really not far behind.
I’ve not got to the stage where i want to give up my monitor though but trying to use it as a gage to see where my sugars are at various times.

My question is. When would be the best times just to keep a tally on what my bloods are doing?.

I notice a lot do the first reading of the morning but if you suffer from the dawn phenomenon then is this a true reading or is it a case when your sugars are really level that we suffer less from this.
Or is this the part that i take what I’ve learnt from the constant testing, avoid what i need to and run with life blindly?? Not totally blind though because i have knowledge now…

It’s probably another one of those questions that there is no right or wrong way, right but i thought I’d put the question out there to those of you that have lived longer with this silent disease.
I’ve tested for so long now that I’m not sure what I’m testing for any more but still looking for peace of mind that I’m going in the right direction and not screwing all my figures (or that my body has got less insulin sensitive) up when i now have to go a year before the next HbAc1 test which seems like such a long while to know your on the right track.

 

[Lamont D]

Hi all,
After 8 months of up’s and down’s, battling with my diet, low carb, no carb, high carb, keto, my glucose levels, my 2 hr figures and quiet frankly any one that wanted to fight me lol and oh my lord total head spin going on. It has been a deep learning curve. Some great advice (manly from this site and you guys and gals) and some real bull***t!!! Coming from people that are suppose to know. I don’t need to mention any names on that one, you all know…it appears it’s a right of passage that is travelled by many until we educate ourselves.
I finally got my HbAc1 into the normal range just scrapping through at 5.8 (40mmol/mol)

i now know the foods that most spike me which are pretty much all the usual, just about everything white is out it would seem with the brown and wholemeal really not far behind.
I’ve not got to the stage where i want to give up my monitor though but trying to use it as a gage to see where my sugars are at various times.

My question is. When would be the best times just to keep a tally on what my bloods are doing?.

I notice a lot do the first reading of the morning but if you suffer from the dawn phenomenon then is this a true reading or is it a case when your sugars are really level that we suffer less from this.
Or is this the part that i take what I’ve learnt from the constant testing, avoid what i need to and run with life blindly?? Not totally blind though because i have knowledge now…

It’s probably another one of those questions that there is no right or wrong way, right but i thought I’d put the question out there to those of you that have lived longer with this silent disease.
I’ve tested for so long now that I’m not sure what I’m testing for any more but still looking for peace of mind that I’m going in the right direction and not screwing all my figures (or that my body has got less insulin sensitive) up when i now have to go a year before the next HbAc1 test which seems like such a long while to know your on the right track.

As you are diet only, it is recommended by those who have to watch there BG levels, to do so around meals, pre meal and two hours after. Keeping within the two mmols difference at two hours.
if you need to find your fasting levels, then it is a prudent to wait at least half an hour after waking and before eating and drinking.
it would also be prudent to keep a food diary. This will help you and your doctor understand what is going on with the food mainly carbs you do have.

 

[HSSS]

I test new foods that I don’t know my reaction to, if I’m unwell, or if I do something differently or am otherwise out of the normal routines

Then on top of that I periodically do more comprehensive testing for a few days just to make sure what I think is working still is, which would include fasting levels and some routine before and after meals testing.

 

[Lobsang Tsultim]

I embrace my dawn phenomenon

From my libre trial, I know that my highest readings of the day are typically just as I'm getting up, so I do that one test per day. If these are reasonable, then the rest should be too. Then every few months, I do I full week of testing - 7 times a day - to confirm this hypothesis is still true.

 

[Caz141]

As you are diet only, it is recommended by those who have to watch there BG levels, to do so around meals, pre meal and two hours after. Keeping within the two mmols difference at two hours.
if you need to find your fasting levels, then it is a prudent to wait at least half an hour after waking and before eating and drinking.
it would also be prudent to keep a food diary. This will help you and your doctor understand what is going on with the food mainly carbs you do have.

Thanks Lamont for that info. I have kept quite a detailed food diary going on over the last 8 months but Have not found my docs to be much help on this score.
As much as it has been an up and down journey. It has also been very interesting. Especially with pie and chips that took me from 6.9 to 18 in 2hrs, 3hrs later before it started coming down on a finger prick test. Not going there again any time soon..i learnt what a fine line it means to still be in remission and that I’m no more insulin sensitive than what i was when i started but a lot more controlled for the time being.

 

[Caz141]

I embrace my dawn phenomenon

From my libre trial, I know that my highest readings of the day are typically just as I'm getting up, so I do that one test per day. If these are reasonable, then the rest should be too. Then every few months, I do I full week of testing - 7 times a day - to confirm this hypothesis is still true.

Thanks lobsang, that makes sense that none of the first readings are above the first reading of the day. I had not noticed that one but runs true looking through my log book. I think I’m going to adopt that embrace.

 

[Caz141]

I test new foods that I don’t know my reaction to, if I’m unwell, or if I do something differently or am otherwise out of the normal routines

Then on top of that I periodically do more comprehensive testing for a few days just to make sure what I think is working still is, which would include fasting levels and some routine before and after meals testing.

Thanks HSSS for the ideas. I guess out of norm will be tested when i go on holiday.

 

[Lamont D]

Thanks Lamont for that info. I have kept quite a detailed food diary going on over the last 8 months but Have not found my docs to be much help on this score.
As much as it has been an up and down journey. It has also been very interesting. Especially with pie and chips that took me from 6.9 to 18 in 2hrs, 3hrs later before it started coming down on a finger prick test. Not going there again any time soon..i learnt what a fine line it means to still be in remission and that I’m no more insulin sensitive than what i was when i started but a lot more controlled for the time being.

In my investigations into how certain carbs spike my BGs, and one in particular that had me getting more questions than answers.
It was to do with potatoes, when boiled, my BG levels would spike around 16mmols from normal, I couldn't offset the spike with butter because I'm lactose intolerant. When chipped and cooked in veg oil, it was once 19mmols, then 18.3mmols with another, same portion size as standard from normal levels.
I then once done same portion in dripping. The spike was 16.1!
Why?
Well, obviously, the starch (carbs) was not good and afterwards would never be part of my diet!
But, why the two to three mmols difference in BG levels, between the two different fats? And in every other experiment I did, it was the same, regardless of food, carb levels, bigger and smaller portions, deep fry, shallow fry, there was always a higher reading with veg oils.
I found that cooking with saturated fat was lower, always!
the only oil I found even close to saturated fat was 100% virgin olive oil or coconut oil, but my taste buds, wouldn't play! And yeah, I'm fussy!
This lead to me testing other stuff, which included some ingredients, which increased my cholesterol levels, rather than bringing them down, so the likes of spreads, which I have never eaten before, were found to increase my BGs, and increase my spikes.
And I found that palm oil in such quantities, and other foodstuffs in processed food were not as healthy as the burb would advise us.
In the end of my exploration of how I could rely on a healthy balanced diet for me. I knew that only fresh food, with saturated fat was for me.
I am totally carb intolerant, and my endocrine health is very good!
Shame, the rest is falling apart!
That is one of the benefits of experimentation and a food diary!

Best wishes.