Daily Testing?

[Retanna]

Hi,

I was diagnosed with T2 on 22nd July last year with Hba1c of 110. Weight 19 stones 9lb.
I have lost 4 stone in weight and am still losing slowly. I Follow a self imposed lowish carb diet ( around 50g or less a day) Cut out virtually all bread, pasta, rice and potato and not finding that too hard.
I have been finger pricking 2 x a day at my own expense and choice ( DB nurse said no need)
I am on 2g of Metformin a day ( Would love to reduce that)
Just had my latest Hba1/c on 22nd December and that came back at 36 well below the target given of 53!
Most of this has been achieved by following advice and postings on here, don't feel support from medical profession has been that good other than dishing out the pills.
My question is I have been testing BG levels twice daily, first one fasting and the other before my evening meal or when trying a new food to see how it affects me. I am thinking of cutting that back to one test a day unless checking a specific food, when do members think would be the optimum time to do one test daily or should I carry on testing twice daily?

TIA

 

[KennyA]

Hi,

I was diagnosed with T2 on 22nd July last year with Hba1c of 110. Weight 19 stones 9lb.
I have lost 4 stone in weight and am still losing slowly. I Follow a self imposed lowish carb diet ( around 50g or less a day) Cut out virtually all bread, pasta, rice and potato and not finding that too hard.
I have been finger pricking 2 x a day at my own expense and choice ( DB nurse said no need)
I am on 2g of Metformin a day ( Would love to reduce that)
Just had my latest Hba1/c on 22nd December and that came back at 36 well below the target given of 53!
Most of this has been achieved by following advice and postings on here, don't feel support from medical profession has been that good other than dishing out the pills.
My question is I have been testing BG levels twice daily, first one fasting and the other before my evening meal or when trying a new food to see how it affects me. I am thinking of cutting that back to one test a day unless checking a specific food, when do members think would be the optimum time to do one test daily or should I carry on testing twice daily?

TIA

Excellent result. Testing advice is usually to test immediately before a meal and two hours later to gauge the impact of the food on the bg level. Your testing style seems to have been more "monitoring".

It's really up to you. I find that I test very little now as it's almost always the same results. I will still test for a new food or food combination, or if I feel a bit off for some reason, usually to exclude BG chages as a cause.

If you are now at such a good bg level, what advice have you been given about stopping metformin?

 

[lovinglife]

I very rarely test these days as I’m now pretty embedded in my way of eating (20g carb a day) once a month maybe I do a days testing just to keep a check or it’s a new food etc. I do test my fasting a couple of times a week as it took me a long time to get that down so my thinking is if that raises again then I need to investigate with more testing.

 

[plantae]

You've lost a lot of weight! Well done

 

[Retanna]

Excellent result. Testing advice is usually to test immediately before a meal and two hours later to gauge the impact of the food on the bg level. Your testing style seems to have been more "monitoring".

It's really up to you. I find that I test very little now as it's almost always the same results. I will still test for a new food or food combination, or if I feel a bit off for some reason, usually to exclude BG chages as a cause.

If you are now at such a good bg level, what advice have you been given about stopping metformin?

Spoke to DB nurse this morning and she has told me to reduce Metformin by 1 tablet, now to take 2 x morning and 1 x evening and a further Hbac/1 test in three months to see if all ok and possibly reduce dosage again then. Thank you for your views.

 

[Retanna]

I very rarely test these days as I’m now pretty embedded in my way of eating (20g carb a day) once a month maybe I do a days testing just to keep a check or it’s a new food etc. I do test my fasting a couple of times a week as it took me a long time to get that down so my thinking is if that raises again then I need to investigate with more testing.

Thank you for your views.

 

[Retanna]

You've lost a lot of weight! Well done

Thank you. Actually amazed how easy it has been and never feeling hungry, forgot to add cut out alcohol and beer apart from some Whiskey at Christmas.

 

[jonathan183]

If you want to test once a day then you might find fasting when you get up increases first as it tends to be the last to respond when readings are going down. Other than that before and after new foods you are checking for your response.

 

[HSSS]

Great results. Well done indeed

I’m curious if you only test before dinner/new meals how do you know how they effect you if you don’t test again after them?

 

[MrsA2]

I test once a day. It's now part of my morning routine as much as cleaning my teeth is. It's just to monitor and to keep me on track.

I will then test a lot more if I'm in a situation where I'm not as in control of my own food - holidays, work travel, family visits etc. I find it just helps me stay on track as its very easy to wander off track.

It really is up to you, just do whatever works for you

 

[Retanna]

Great results. Well done indeed

I’m curious if you only test before dinner/new meals how do you know how they effect you if you don’t test again after them?

New foods tested / test before and after once to see, tested once didn't do it again. Got a nice list of what I can eat and what I should avoid.

 

[Retanna]

I test once a day. It's now part of my morning routine as much as cleaning my teeth is. It's just to monitor and to keep me on track.

I will then test a lot more if I'm in a situation where I'm not as in control of my own food - holidays, work travel, family visits etc. I find it just helps me stay on track as its very easy to wander off track.

It really is up to you, just do whatever works for you

Agree with what you say, common sense.

 

[Retanna]

If you want to test once a day then you might find fasting when you get up increases first as it tends to be the last to respond when readings are going down. Other than that before and after new foods you are checking for your response.

Agree, that's what I was thinking of doing and think I will do that for a while. Spoke to the DB nurse yesterday and they are still saying no need to test if using Metformin. However I disagree as I like to know what foods cause me a problem so I can avoid them. The nurse discussed my recent Hba1/c test yesterday and because I have got it down to 36 has reduced my Metformin to 3 x 500mg a day which is what I was hoping for and maybe if after three months and my Hba1/c is still down dropping another 500mg which is my ultimate aim to get off them and control by diet alone.

 

[Lupf]

HI @Retanna, well done on your weight loss and reduction of HbA1c to non-diabetic level.
How are you able to sustain your weight loss?

As no one told me how often to test, I only did it 2x per week, always first thing in the morning.
When joining this forum I started testing 2 hours after eating
until I understood impact of various foods.
After a while I reduced testing to once a week, and I can often predict the result.
You need to decide yourself on how often you want to test.

When I managed to reduce my Hb1Ac to the 40s, my GP agreed with me to come of Metformin.
I suggest to ask for a consultation with your GP, where you could discuss stopping medication.