• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Blood sugars

D

dawn28378

Active Member
Messages
25
My 5yr old has only been diagnosed T1 for three months and I wondered if someone could clear something up for me. One DSN has told me to check his blood sugars two hours after his pre meal insulin and one has told me to check it two hours after he has actually finished eating. What do you usually do? I am going to ask his DSN's but I'm curious. X
 
If/when I'm testing after meals I usually do it two hours after eating. Hope that helps.
 
Same, two hours after eating, as long as I've insulated at the start of the meal.

Sent from my GT-S5360 using DCUK Forum mobile app
 
The more often one checks, the better.

I check mine umpteen times per day, and my control couldn't be better. (Though in part, that's on account of what I eat: quite a lot of rye bread, mostly with pear and apple spread, eaten steadily throughout the morning and into the late afternoon.)

To obtain the blood-sample, I never use those nasty spring-loaded gadgets - they're far too severe. I just gently jab my finger with a bare lancet - it's simpler, quicker, and gentler.

I also don't bother with a meter, most of the time. (I tend to use meter-read sticks only first thing in the morning and last thing at night.)

Instead, I mostly use visually read strips: Betachek Visual - which can be purchased here: http://www.betachek.com/uk/store

They are on the UK Drug Tariff, but there is currently no UK supplier.

Each strip can be cut with scissors, so the cost per test is a few pence.

Because they're read visually, I find they give me FEELING for the state of things.

And feeling for one's condition is, I believe, especially important for a child with diabetes to develop.

If you buy two tubes, and keep the bulk of uncut strips in one of them, then your son can keep the other tube (containing a few striplets and a lancet) in his pocket.

Machines are fine, if they're needed. But why should anyone - especially a child - carry a meter around if it's not really needed?

If your son's blood-sugar is not well controlled, then the visually read strips will not be much use: for anything over 8mmol/l, they're won't give a clear reading.

But below 8mmol\l, they are really quite accurate. And the lower the blood-sugar, the more accurate the reading they give.
 

Are you on commission from this company or something? Not everyone wants to buy test strips, especially if we get them free on prescription.
I, along with many others, have to show my Consultant 3 months worth of tests on my machine for DVLA so such tests would be totally unsuitable.
 
Until recently, I was myself getting the visually read strips free on prescription. (I still get meter-read sticks free on prescription.)

And no, I'm not getting commission from anyone.

I was responding to a question from the mother of a 5-year-old type-1 diabetic.

I have been a type-1 diabetic for 30 years, and my condition has not always been as well controlled as it is now.

But my present exceptionally good control is not due to any advice I have recently received from any medical experts. Indeed I believe expert advice has got worse over the past 30 years, and not better.

In particular, I believe the DAFNE advice is misguided. (For the benefit of dawn28378, I should explain that DAFNE is an acronym: 'dose adjustment for normal eating'.)

If you're diabetic, and if you want to keep your blood-sugar well controlled - and especially if you want to avoid night-time hypos - then you should not attempt to eat normally.

But that said, I probably eat better now than I did even before I became diabetic.
 
If you are on insulin and type 1 why are you not getting them on prescription anymore?
I agree with testing frequently, I do a lot. I follow a fairly low carb diet so don't use much insulin, therefore keeping fairly good levels.

Angie
 
Please explain what you mean by "you should not attempt to eat normally". I have been a type 1 diabetic for maybe 9yrs now and have struggled a lot with my control of my blood sugars. I just today switched to a basal bolus regime and am hoping that I can finally get myself and my sugars sorted out. I would really appreciate any tips you can give for how best to control my glucose levels.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Sorry, I just made an edit to my last post: I still get meter-read sticks on presription.

But I don't want to use the blasted meter all the time.

Why should I? It's unnecessary, and the sticks are expensive - even if I don't pay for them myself.

Visually read strips are simpler. And I can tell at a glance if the reading is false because my finger was not properly clean - the reading will be smudgy.

One big complaint I have about modern diabetic care can be captured by this word: reverse-Luddism.

I don't want to use pen-injectors because they're too cumbersome and clunky. Instead, I use disopsable syringes.

I don't want to use the spring-loaded gadgets to get the blood-sample.

I'll respond to Alex1989 presently.

I keep things simple, and my blood-sugar stays well controlled.
 
What I do is called 'feeding the insulin'.

If you click on my username, you'll see what insulin I take, and when I take it.

The last thing I would do is to take basal insulin, because then you're risking a night-time hypo.

The effect of the insulin I take is exhausted by the time I go to bed, so it's practically impossible for me to have a night-time hypo.

I check my blood-sugar quite a lot - 15-odd times per day. And all the time it's kept near normal.

I eat quite a lot of rye bread throughout the morning and into the late afternoon. This helps to keep my blood-sugar stable.

The last major insulin dose I take is at 4.00pm. The effect of the Novorapid I take then runs out at around the same time as the Actrapid I take at 11.00am: for me, the effect of both runs out at around midnight.

At 11.00pm, so long as I haven't eaten anything that's slowly digested during the evening, then I know that my blood-sugar will drop by a further 2mmol/l by 12.00pm. So if my reading at 11.00pm is 4mmol/l, than I know (from experience) that I just need to eat half a slice of the Co-Op's wholemeal bread, and my blood-sugar will be near normal all night.

I take just a little Insulatard - a long-acting insulin - to stop my blood-sugar rising during the night.

How's that for specificity?
 
Ok...I don't mean to be rude but...why on earth would I want to give my 5yr old son the responsibility of trying to judge whether the "special stick" was telling him if his blood sugar was ok or not?! He's much too young for that kind of responsibility. And who wants a 5yr old faffing about with scissors?! And we already teach him to recognise the physical signs of what's happening with his sugars whilst using his meter for reading. And what's wrong with using a meter? You still have to carry around your meter and lancet device i presume? The same as anyone would their small meter pouch, He has a very gentle lancet pen that he barely feels when he uses it and his blood strips require the minimal amount of blood. I started this thread to ask advice on when was the best TIME to test his sugars after he eats. Not to have someone try and convert me from using a perfectly good meter that does a perfectly good job in helping me keep my son safe!
 
Hooked and Brett......Thank you. That's what I thought I should be doing. I appreciate your responses.x
 
Hi Dawn, I take no offence.

Your son is not always going to be 5 years old. And barring miracle cures, he's always going to be diabetic.

I didn't suggest that he faff around with scissors. That would be for you to do. And one does have to be quite manually dexterous to do it. But if that's a problem, then of course you don't have to follow my suggestion.

In response to your specific question: No, I don't have to carry a meter around unless I believe I need to take it with me. But if I did take it with me, I would certainly also take the visually read strips.

Meters can malfunction. They can be dropped in the drink. They can be lost. Batteries can run out. I could go on.... .

I'm not trying to convert anyone away from using a meter.

I too use a meter, especially last thing at night and first thing in the morning. But I certainly don't want to be dependent on any machine.

And also, as I said, I don't use a lancet device, because I don't need to. I just use the bare, plain lancet. But I will only use lancets which have a bit of plastic to stick on the end, so I can keep it and use it again, until it begins to use its exquisite sharpness. I tend not to throw things away after just one use, unless I think I need to.
 
You are welcome.
Whilst more extreme methods may work for some individuals, I do feel it's a dangerous path to go down for them to hand out advice to other diabetics.

Follow your son's diabetic team advice first and foremost.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 

Dawn I check immediately before and 2 hours after I start my meal as this gives a slightly higher reading for me normally and I am trying to reduce the peaks. Above all test, test, test and learn.

Come back here with any questions but as you have already seen you need to exercise caution as not everyone's advice will be appropriate for your sons circumstance.


Diagnosed Type II 1998 1 x 80 mg Gliclazide, 4 x 500mg Metformin and 1 x 100mg Sitagliptin - HbA1c - 48 mmol/mol
 
Hmm....having worked within the Nhs for 13yrs as an Auxiliary and having done the cleanliness champions course for infection control, I'll stick with the single use device and maintain low risk of infection we've got going! Fiddling with scissors and cutting up sticks to do tue same job that can be done in 4 seconds with a perfectly good meter that reads blood sugars and ketones (save us having to use urine sticks)seems ridiculous to me! This suits my son amd us. Just as your sticks suit you. We carry a spare battery in his pouch and we have a back up meter at all times in the house and car. I'm not niave. I am aware that these things are breakable, not waterproof and can malfunction. Just as I am aware that I can trust my instinct and know that I am beginning to read the signs with my son and can tell when he is low or running high. The meter helps to give me an EXACT reading. If I was out and about and went to take his reading because I thought he was hypo and the meter wasnt working then I would treat him as if he was...I wouldn't ignore the signs because I couldn't read it on a meter.
 
Hooked....they are generally great! And very, very supportive. Just once or twice I've had mixed messages. That could be down to me trying to take a lot of information in all at once though. So much to understand! His team is great though.

Do you know how I can get in touch with the page administrator? Apparently I don't have permission to access the page fully. I can't reply to direct messages and few other things.
 
Meters do not give truly exact readings: they only appear to do so - and that can be seriously misleading, especially as they give no clue as to the veracity of the readout they give. (That's unlike visually read strips, incidentally.)

Using the meter twice in immediate succession, I will sometimes get readings varying by as much as 3mmol/l. That can be a very serious difference, especially last thing at night.

Visually read strips certainly don't give exact readings. But especially when my blood-sugar is near normal or low, they are sufficiently accurate. Most of the time, they very much serve my purpose.

I have been diabetic for thirty years. And I remember some time ago - more than 13 years ago, incidentally - a diabetes specialist told me that the human skin has its own anti-septic properties. And that, I presume, is why I've never had an infection from using lancets or syringes more than once.

I accept that what I've written may be inappropriate for you and your son at present. But as I wrote previously, your son is always going to be diabetic. And you originally asked about blood-sugar testing. But blood-sugar testing is not just about not having hypos. It's also about keeping one's blood-sugar as near normal as is safe, as much as is reasonably possible. For just as the short-term effects of hypoglycaemia are dangerous, the long-term effects of high blood-sugar are certainly not good either.

That's why I originally wrote (words to the effect) that it's best to test as often as is reasonably possible: the more often one tests, the better.

Now that you've made 5 postings, you should be able to use Private Messaging.
 
Neil....thank you. I can see that everyone has s different method of managing themselves. It will be a case of finding out what works best for my son I suppose. I just thought that for his DSN's to get an accurate account of his readings, would there have to be a particular time after meals to test his bloods. He has his Novorapid before his meal so I wondered if it should be two hours after his injections or two hours after he finished eating.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…