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Braking up with your Meter!

Moniker

Well-Known Member
Messages
219
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Okay, we haven't broken up, but we've agreed to see other people/technology.

I have been diagnosed for a little over three months. I was given a meter and told to test three times a day. Which I have done quite faithfully. I always test first thing and then two or three times through the day. My levels have been fairly good and consistent. I have realized that I obsess way too much over minor fluctuations. 4.7 makes me happy, 5.1 is cause for concern. I also find I can't not test. I tell myself there is nothing new to be learned by testing after my usual lunch, but a few minutes later I find that lancet in my hand. I have decided more than once not to test for a day, but never last past lunchtime.

Anyway, I decided to refrain from testing for a week. Yesterday I sent my meter to spend week with my neighbour. I will get it back if there is a real need to test, but otherwise, I will try to eat and exercise well without being enslaved by numbers on a little screen.

So, do you continue to test as often once you have good control and knowledge of the effect of your usual meals on your levels? Do you have a healthy relationship with your meter?

Sorry I misspelled 'breaking'. I guess you can't edit titles.
 
Haven't tested for two years, since my blood glucose came under diabetic range. (T2).

No ill effects.
 
I too am obsessed and get grouchy if the reading is slightly more than usual, as you mentioned. I know it's not good but I still do it unnecessarily.

I hope you get on ok .


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
"4.7 makes me happy, 5.1 is cause for concern"
with the +/- 20% error with strips and meter, the BG could be the same real reading
 
jack412 said:
"4.7 makes me happy, 5.1 is cause for concern"
with the +/- 20% error with strips and meter, the BG could be the same real reading
Click to expand...

I do know that. That's part of the decision to rest the meter for a week. A few days ago I tested after the evening meal and got 4.9. That seemed suspiciously low, considering the birthday meal I had consumed so I retested, 5.6. But of course I couldn't accept that either. Third try, 5.1. I gave up and went to bed.

But that made me a little more crazy. If a reading was 'too high' I wanted to retest and get a prettier number. If the number was lower, then I felt I should check again to make sure. That way madness lies.

I have survived my first meter free day, and I think it will be a successful week, and a chance to reset my relationship with my meter.

I will shift my obsessive checking to my pedometer.
 
fair enough, with your BG within range and controlled, a monthly home check or the 3mth A1c should be enough
 
I have just had my first blood test since diagnosis. I'll be getting the results this week.
 
Whatever works for you, works for you.

I go through various phases with testing and probably overdo it at times, but I would rather do that than risk slipping into denial and carb creep. Sometimes I'll only test fasting and only test after meals if I eat something out of the ordinary. I keep promising myself to make that the new norm but never quite manage it. I guess we all end up doing what works for our personality. I'm two years into this journey, but still don't feel like I'm in control - maybe that's my problem, not the diabetes, LOL.
 
tbh i can't remember how many weeks since i last tested but i always get the same numbers and pretty much eat the same foods but! testing is very very important for folks that haven't been as lucky as us so don't let this put you guys off, i used to test 12+ times a day,
 
Since I have got the code free meter I find I test a lot more as the cost is far less than my previous meter. I am sure the novelty will wear off and I will go back to once a day on getting up .


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I was told I did not need to test two years ago, as BG had been consistently under diabetes range. Pity nobody told the untrained,and unqualified health care assistant when I was in hospital recently. She insisted on roughly stabbing my finger 4 times a day to test, because " all diabetics have to be tested, before they have food". Then deciding that SHE would alter my medication, because it was always a reading of between 3.8 and 4.2.

We each need to do what is best for each individual, as we are all different. For me, as long as my 3 monthly HbA1c tests by GP nurse stay within non-diabetic range I won't be using meter. Have to confess to being a bit obsessive when first diagnosed though.
 
If I don't test regularly, I slowly but steadily allow 'carb creep' - love that phrase @Indy51 !

It may take weeks or months, but without daily reminders to keep me on track, I'll eventually go back to rolling naked in Kettles Crisps and adding just one more extra long chocolate eclair...

The strips are worth every penny
 
When I saw my DSN last week I asked for three monthly HbA1c tests and was told it was too expensive and I'd have to manage with one every twelve months! Thankfully I can afford the Codefree strips and will continue to test first thing in the morning and at ad-hoc times just to confirm my readings are where I'd like them to be.
 

More cost cutting then?!

Methinks I have been very naive in thinking I was told no need to test myself because I had achieved such good BG control that it was no longer necessary.

Useful to go to my appointment next month armed with this knowlege.

Thank you

Pipp
 
After reading and listening to interviews with Jenny Ruhl, I'm not convinced that A1c is the "gold standard" that doctors like to pretend it is. Apparently there is huge variability in how long red blood cells live depending on a whole host of genetic and other factors. My A1c is perfect and it was even more perfect when I was very low in ferritin. Yet my fasting and postprandial levels give me a whole different picture than the A1c does, so I'm going to keep on believing my meter.
 
i start testing as my strip are expiring soon. the readings at 3.4-3.7 usually after meals. although i had sweet stuff and carb over mothers day celebration.
 
I am glad that you posted this as I have been thinking along the same lines for some time. In the early stages, after the first diagnosis, I found the glucose meter very valuable as a tool for getting my readings lower. It gave me the incentive to work on managing my diabetes. It also gave me the reward as I watched my fasting levels come down from the nines and tens into the fours and fives

It is, however, well known that the glucose meter is not an accurate tool. It can be out by 20% (plus or minus) and still be deemed to be working within its manufactured tolerances. I have noticed variations in results after I have eaten similar meals in similar circumstances. The same meal one day has recorded a two hour reading of 4.8, whereas the following day has recorded a reading of 7.3. Do I accept the 4.8 reading and make this meal a staple of my diet, or do I go with the 7.3 reading and eliminate the same from my diet?

I can therefore see the reason why most doctors do not prescribe glucose meters for Type 2 diabetics.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I reclaimed my meter today. There were a few times through the week when I missed it and a couple of times when I ate a little unwisely, secure in the knowledge that I couldn't test to see just how wicked I was being. Overall, I think it was a good week. I will probably do it again every so often when I feel myself getting crazy.

I replaced my compulsive finger sticking with compulsively checking my pedometer to see if I had reached 12 thousand steps yet. (Nope, just 9036)

I still haven't made an appointment to get my latest bloodwork results. I see that as positive as a month ago I would have been on edge, fearing the worst, hoping for the best. Now I feel that I have done my best to control my glucose levels and if that hasn't worked, I can make a new plan.
 
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