Blood testing kit

[RozeeC]

Hi all
I bought myself a kit to check myself. Can anyone advise when is the best time to do it and how many times.
Thanks

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

https://www.bloodsugar101.com/how-to-lower-your-blood-sugar

 

[miahara]

Great you've got youself a kit. Well done.
The primary purpose, at least in the initial stages after being diagnosed is to discover just what you can eat and ought not to eat in order to maintain a good glucose level. So, if you test before a meal and then about two hours later, you get a pretty good idea as to how the contents of that meal influenced your BG and what foods to avoid or limit.
What I did, and it gave me a pretty good perspective on my overall control was to test pre and post prandial, but to rotate the tests every day. So on Monday I'd test breakfast, Tuesday Lunch, Wednesday dinner.
I think the key thing at your early stage is discovering how YOU react to foods, we are all different!

 

[Kittycat_7_]

Hi,
Well done for getting a meter, it's important to do a fasting blood measurement every morning.
Then in the early days test before eating and 2 hours afterwards.
Always test more if your at risk of hypo from drugs, and if your driving.
Take care

 

[xfieldok]

Your morning fasting reading, before or straight after you get out of bed, can be influenced by the dawn phenomenon. The DP readings can be worryingly high. Ignore those readings for now, they are generally the last to come down.

By far the most important readings are those before you eat and 2 hours after the first bite. This tells you how carby your meal is and helps you identify what foods are suitable for you and which are not.

Record your food and readings on an app such as mySugr. I found it highly motivating. After about a week of data the app gives you an estimated HbA1c.

It's a huge learning curve, I promise it gets easier.

 

[RozeeC]

Your morning fasting reading, before or straight after you get out of bed, can be influenced by the dawn phenomenon. The DP readings can be worryingly high. Ignore those readings for now, they are generally the last to come down.

By far the most important readings are those before you eat and 2 hours after the first bite. This tells you how carby your meal is and helps you identify what foods are suitable for you and which are not.

Record your food and readings on an app such as mySugr. I found it highly motivating. After about a week of data the app gives you an estimated HbA1c.

It's a huge learning curve, I promise it gets easier.

Brilliant thank you

 

[xfieldok]

Another thing, read any packets ingredients. Get to know all the names for hidden sugars, lactose, glucose syrup etc etc

You will make mistakes. We all did. Treat any mistake as part of your education. Don't beat yourself up, it's a waste of energy. It took me 6 weeks when I first went keto after diagnosis to reduce my mistakes to a manageable level.

Despite the 6 weeks of questionable diet, I got my HbA1c number down from 122 at diagnosis to 35 after 4 months. I was pretty fanatical about it. But it shows what can be done.

 

[Winnie53]

I test a lot, up to 10 times a day, so I test my right hand on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, my left hand on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I test the sides of my finger tips, beginning with the pinky finger, once on each side, then continue with the other fingers as needed. This helps me avoid sore finger tip pads.

It's easy to remember. I test only my right hand on weekends.

Always remember to wash and dry your hands, or finger tip with soap and water prior to testing. If you get a high (or low) reading, you can wash your finger tip again then re-test.

Happy testing!

 

[xfieldok]

My left pinky seems to be lower for some reason