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Finger Pricks

Route 66

Well-Known Member
Messages
205
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Having read some very useful posts about finding out what foods have what effect on your BS, I have decided that I want to start finding out what affects me and what not so much.

However I am confused about when to test and how insulin would affect the result.

I currently take 26 units of mixed insulin 15 minutes before breakfast and 16 units 15 minutes before the evening meal.

Do you take the insulin and then wait 15 minutes and then carry out a finger prick before the first bite and then test again after two hours?

Would the insulin not give an incorrect picture by lowering the figure after two hours?

Hoping someone can explain as I am in the realm of confusion.

Many Thanks
 

Well I check my blood sugar before taking insulin, so I don’t take too much if I’m already low. Then I check my blood sugar again after eating so I can take a correction dose after eating to correct out my blood sugar.

If I can, I usually take insulin 20-40 min before eating, but I often end up taking insulin when I start eating, because it’s sometimes hard to plan. Like when you’re out eating, and do not know how large your portion of food are before you get served.

But I always check my blood sugar before injecting, never after.
 
Hi Route 66 - that's a long way to go. I was started on insulin in Feb 2018 and was told to check just before each meal. My dose was 18 units of 30/70 in the morning before breakfast and 14 units before the evening meal. All meals were supposed to be taken at the same times every day. There was no way to find out the affect of different foods although some such as battered or breaded fish would still have an affect several hours later before the next meal. In effect the pre-meal tests had no benefit at all in finding out what different foods did to me bg levels.

I started on a low carb diet about a year ago when my insulin was up to 62 units a day and I had gained nearly 20 lbs. Last December my bg was low enough to stop taking insulin. That was when i started checking the result of different foods by testing just before a meal and at 1 hour and 2 hours after. This is the only way to see the results of different foods. I now use the Freestyle libre which is a lot easier and less painful then finger testing about 12 times a day. The sensor actually checks every 15 minutes and now I can see the graph of the ups and downs of different foods. I don't have to guess whether a bg reading is part of an increase or a decrease.
Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
I want advise my six months fasting reading come to 58 , should I take any medicine , Dr advise me take one to take one tablet of alogliptin 25mg , should I take or not I am not sure my morning sugar reading is 5.8.
 
Been injecting for 30 years, finally got a bit of a clue about Diabetes, it helped enormously by going low carb. I inject before eating but base my injection dose on what my blood test result was and what I'm about to eat. I've always been advised to test two hours after eating and try to ensure that my level is no higher than 10 (86) at that point.
Hope that helps.
 

Hi Stephen,

That is so helpful. Many thanks for that. I am on 30/70 with 26 units in the morning before breakfast and 16 units before dinner. They hadn't mentioned taking meals at the same time and that is really good to know as is the mention of the weight that you have gained. I have just started to put a little bit of weight on after a lot of worrying about the loss.

Thanks for the info on the Freestyle Libre which may well be a good investment. I will definately look at it.

Once again - Many thanks.
 

Thank you so much - That makes things much clearer to me.
 

Thanks for that.
 
BTW - The increased weight was before I started on low carb and began lowering my insulin. I have now lost over 30 lbs. Down to about 157 lbs which is back to my weight at 18 when I was playing rugby 2 or 3 times a week. The low carb really works.
The problem with insulin for me was that if my body was not allowing my own insulin to work why would the injected insulin. Without the major diet change, the glucose produced by carbs could not be used by any form of insulin so my body turned it into fat. I suspect this was the dangerous fat around the waist as I was also weight lifting at the gym and had little fat anywhere else. My waist size also went up by about 6 inches!
 
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