Blood sugar levels

[Mirror_man]

How many times a day should I test my blood each week for type 2 people keep telling me different things

 

[13lizanne]

Hello @Mirror_man Many people test first thing in the morning (fasting blood glucose) then in order to find out which foods you can tolerate without spiking your blood you would test immediately before eating then again two hours later. So, I would say , immediately on getting up in the morning, two hours after breakfast, immediately before lunch then two hours after and again immediately before dinner and then two hours after. The difference between the two readings will ideally be no more than 2 points (for example 6.0 before meal under 8.0 2hrs after.) After a while you will see which foods you tolerate and may decide to test less frequently. Good luck!

 

[Brunneria]

Hi and welcome!

I agree with what @13lizanne says.

It really comes down to personal choice and personal funds (if you are self funding your testing, as many of us T2s do).

All the conflicting advice out there comes down to a few really simple explanations:

- it is only worth testing your blood if you are willing to do something about it - by making lifestyle and diet changes that will give you better control
- most medical staff do not appreciate that this is possible, so they assume that any T2 who tests is just going to get stressed and upset at how bad their blood glucose is, while continuing to eat the very foods (carbs) that caused the high blood glucose in the first place. Mad, innit?
- the NHS can't afford to fund the testing kit (meter and strips) to every T2 so they have to come up with some kind of justification why testing isn't necessary.
- most NHS staff have never actually seen a T2 diabetic turn their life around, cut their blood glucose and drop their HbA1cs. Although as more and more of us do it, more and more staff are seeing us do it - but they rarely make the connection between testing and blood glucose control.
- it is written in the NICE guidelines that T2s only need to test if they are on insulin or other strong glucose lowering drugs (and for the reasons written above, most NHS staff agree with this)

Hope that helps.

 

[Bluetit1802]

I agree with the others, and would add that there is no point in testing unless you learn from what you see. If you keep a food diary (including portion sizes of each food) and record your before and after levels alongside, you will soon work out what you need to do. This may mean eliminating some of the food stuff or seriously reducing the portion size.

If finances are a problem, take one meal at a time. Test before and after lunch for a week, then the same with evening meal for a week, and so on.

 

[DeejayR]

- it is only worth testing your blood if you are willing to do something about it - by making lifestyle and diet changes that will give you better control

Hello. As @Bluetit1802 also says, the above seems especially important. Otherwise you just see the same depressingly high BS almost every time you test after eating. The changes you can make you will find on this forum and usually not at your GP practice. Takes a bit of getting used to that idea, so keep reading and asking questions. Good luck.

 

[bigjim19]

i agree with all the above i tested for a few weeks till i found what i could eat and what didnt agree
with my bs now only test in the morning and couple of times at weekends because it's differant
for me after my shift pattern during the week