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Confused about the way forward

J

Julie Lyon

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Hi Everyone
I have type 2 diabetes and was rather complacent about it until I was recently told by the diabetic nurse at my practice that my slightly high HbA1c result had shot up to over 100 and she put me on Metformin. I've been on this now for about a month, but have no idea how I'm doing. The nurse said I would be tested again in 3 months. What I would like your advice on is whether I should be testing. I see on the forum that people do test. Also, if I should be testing, what should I buy for this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
Julie Lyon said:
Hi Everyone
I have type 2 diabetes and was rather complacent about it until I was recently told by the diabetic nurse at my practice that my slightly high HbA1c result had shot up to over 100 and she put me on Metformin. I've been on this now for about a month, but have no idea how I'm doing. The nurse said I would be tested again in 3 months. What I would like your advice on is whether I should be testing. I see on the forum that people do test. Also, if I should be testing, what should I buy for this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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Hi @Julie Lyon , welcome!

I would definitely test to see if the metformin and possibly diet changes are doing enough, a hba1c over 100 is very high.
Let me tag @Rachox for you, she has up to date information on meters and teststrips in the UK.

With your meter, you can test before and after meals to find out how different foods affect your blood glucose, so you can adjust your foods based on what you see.
More on this, and on the basics of T2 and dietary changes if you want to give that a go as well here, it's written by one of our members: https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html

Good luck!
 
Thanks for the tag @Antje77 , and welcome to the forum @Julie Lyon , here’s some info with links for UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.



HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews.

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/



Links to the strips for future orders:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/glucose-navii-blood-glucose-test-strips-50-strip-pack/



Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/





SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + which is quite popular:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793



The strips are to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097



If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.



Don’t forget to check the box if you have diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)
 
Hi Julie

When I was diagnosed with T2 my HBA1C was 99. I started by stopping to eat food such as breakfast cereal which had a lot of added sugar. I later stopped eating other high carb food such as rice, potatoes, bread, pasta, fruit juice and bananas.

I found this video to be useful as it explains the benefits of a Low Carb High Fat diet (LCHF) ...


My blood sugars got better over a few months the more I cut out the carbs. My HBA1C dropped to 44 after 6 months.

I found that testing my blood sugars helped me see how I was progressing and find which foods spiked my blood. You can test first thing in the morning, plus before and 2hrs after eating. You want the 2hrs after value to be less than 2mmol higher than the before value.

I now have a Contour Next meter. There is also a Contour Blue which has cheaper test strips. Both use the same Contour App. I use a Accu Chek Fastclix finger pricker which uses a box of 204 lancets in packs of six.
 
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