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Food and our Meters

Voodoorising

Voodoorising

Well-Known Member
Messages
144
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Ok I have been diagnosed type 2 since 16 September 2017 and I bought my own meter after joining this forum and also managed to get one from my Nurse although she was reluctant.

But I still can't understand why they don't want to issue them ( besides the obvious cost to the NHS ) the benefits must out way the cost because if your more aware of what your food does your less likely to become a burden to them, again provided you want to I have spoken to so many that still just eat what they like as though don't truly understand what there doing to them selves.

I test tend to test 3 times a day first thing when I get up and before and after my evening meal. I test more when I am on my night shifts. I would be lost now without my meter.

For example knowing I was doing two night shifts I made a big pan of Thai Red curry from scratch no Jared stuff

It had chicken prawns broccoli carrots onion green Beans and red pepper. And other spices and coconut milk.

I took a portion into work and had it with half a portion of Asia ready to wok noodles. Then I had 5 strawberries afterwards.

Bloods before @ 9:30 were 5.2 and @ 11:30 8.7. Obviously I want overly happy with the result and thought it was down to the noodles. Tonight I had the same meal without the noodles and the results were more what I expected @9:30 they were 5.2 again and at 11:30 they were a respectable 6.2.

So with out a meter I wouldn't have known and been able to make a decision on removing the noodles. So how can people be expected to regulate and look after themselves if they have no meter. I think the NHS are so short sited at times.

Sorry for the rant things like this just get my goat when they are happy to waste money in other ways.
 
MY THOUGHTS, though may be completely wrong I s there's no money in it for them. At least here in the US. If you don't need more meds or need to fewuent the Dr, there is no money for them. Sad but true. Here, they aren't necessarily looking out for our health but rather their expected quota of patients and prescription sugar written. I think it must be different there though.
 
@Voodoorising, if you want an answer to this, take a look at the NICE guidelines for Type 2, here https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng28/evidence/full-guideline-78671532569 , from page 151.

It basically comes down to the point that the evidence available shows that Hba1C reductions from using Self Monitoring of Blood Glucose (SMBG) weren't significant enough to warrant recommending it (a reduction of around 0.5%) and the quality of the data collected in the studies reviewed was low.

The other aspect of the studies involved is how they used SMBG, which is critical to understanding why the outcomes demonstrated were not particularly good. Nearly all of them use a quasi-insulin dependent testing model aligned with twice daily insulin injections that has regular tests at points in time throughout the day, rather than the focused model that "Eat to your meter" recommends.

Maybe that's something for @Administrator to consider as a relevant study? Taking a reasonable sized group of type 2s that don't test, educating them in the methods of "Eat to your meter", working with one of the advertisers on diabetes.co.uk to provide meters and test strips and seeing what benefits came about. At least that way it should be possible to put together a decent quality study showing how SMBG could be effectively used in T2 treatment.
 
I'm sure it was testing that was the key for me. I was issued with a meter and test strips on prescription to begin with, I started with the diet I was told, low fat and high carbs, As that wasn't working the nurse told me to try low GI. That was even worse as with wholemeal pasta my 2 hour readings were high and so was my fasting reading the next morning. When I showed my GP the spreadsheet of all my readings which I also included the carbs and said to him that it showed the lower the carbs in a day the lower the following days fasting reading he said he was pleased I'd found that out. Why hadn't he or the nurse told me! I think the important thing is to use the meter as a diagnostic tool to find out what foods our body can cope with. I know a number of diabetics locally but none of them are willing to make drastic changes to diet or exercise. When I spoke to some of them after I was diagnosed their advice was to just take the pills and make minimal changes. Most of them had meters issued to them but my understanding was that they hardly tested.
Although I think a meter may be the key for controlling a lot of type 2's people need to be willing, and able to change.Most people in my age group, late 60's are not willing to drastically change their diet or take up any form of exercise even walking. So my thoughts are that if people want to try to control by diet, weight loss and exercise they should be given a meter and advice on using it and interpreting the results to make changes.
 
If I hadnt a meter when first diagnosed in 2002 I would be either blind or dead by now.
I praise myself for listening to my meter even then. Pregnancies would have been compromised too. Deaths of unborn babies.
I feel very strongly about this. My meter reading keeps me right.
 
Most of us Type 2ss on here are proactive and determined to control our diabetes, and we have all learnt from each other. I'm afraid we are in the minority. I imagine the vast majority, if given a meter, would play with it for a few days and then consign it to a drawer never to see daylight again. Then there are many that would use it but would be so stressed about it that they become ill.

Along with being given a meter, people need to be properly educated as to why they have one and how it can be used to best advantage. When I told my nurse I was "eating to my meter" she hadn't a clue what I meant. She had never heard of anyone testing out different foods - and she is one of the better nurses with a lot of experience. She also presents the local newby courses.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Most of us Type 2ss on here are proactive and determined to control our diabetes, and we have all learnt from each other. I'm afraid we are in the minority. I imagine the vast majority, if given a meter, would play with it for a few days and then consign it to a drawer never to see daylight again. Then there are many that would use it but would be so stressed about it that they become ill.

Along with being given a meter, people need to be properly educated as to why they have one and how it can be used to best advantage. When I told my nurse I was "eating to my meter" she hadn't a clue what I meant. She had never heard of anyone testing out different foods - and she is one of the better nurses with a lot of experience. She also presents the local newby courses.
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That's shocking!
You see the meters were agreed on the principle of helping medics see what was going on rather than enpowering the patient. A nhs tool not a patient tool. Hence why not given out religiously. Meter companies are holding nhs to randsom with somd of their costs. You don't really think free batteries are really free, do you?
 
your doctor does not get paid if you control your diabetes with diet your doctor does get paid if your controling it using medication
prior to diagnosis I had 4 letters in 2016 asking me to come into surgery and have a free NHS health check I remember thinking wow they are proactive about my health I realise now though that once a patient turns 50 they want an A1c test
I was sent to diabetes.org but boy Im glad I got it wrong and typed diabetes.co.uk
 
heli2010 said:
your doctor does not get paid if you control your diabetes with diet your doctor does get paid if your controling it using medication
prior to diagnosis I had 4 letters in 2016 asking me to come into surgery and have a free NHS health check I remember thinking wow they are proactive about my health I realise now though that once a patient turns 50 they want an A1c test
I was sent to diabetes.org but boy Im glad I got it wrong and typed diabetes.co.uk
Click to expand...

The over 40s health checks are a good thing because they pick up many emerging problems, not just diabetes. They used to be only for the over 60's and have now extended to over 40's. I think it is a brilliant innovation. I was glad of mine in the over 60's days otherwise my diabetes wouldn't have been picked up as early as it was. I will be forever grateful.
 
The problem I think is that given the number of T2 diabetics there are now only a very small number of them test their blood and do LCHF. We tend to think that it is a lot more but actually the most who do it are probably on this group and that is just a drop in the ocean among the thousands of diabetics that there are not just here but everywhere in the world. There is just not enough doing it to show the powers that be that it is the right way to go and it is not just them but it is diabetics them selves who will take some convincing that they do not need starchy carbs as they are the staples of most of the worlds diets and have been for centuries so we are talking about changing the world on how to treat diabetes
.
 
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Bluetit1802 said:
Most of us Type 2ss on here are proactive and determined to control our diabetes, and we have all learnt from each other. I'm afraid we are in the minority. I imagine the vast majority, if given a meter, would play with it for a few days and then consign it to a drawer never to see daylight again. Then there are many that would use it but would be so stressed about it that they become ill.

Along with being given a meter, people need to be properly educated as to why they have one and how it can be used to best advantage. When I told my nurse I was "eating to my meter" she hadn't a clue what I meant. She had never heard of anyone testing out different foods - and she is one of the better nurses with a lot of experience. She also presents the local newby courses.
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I think there is a huge training issue here both with the diabetic nurses (NHS) and of course the newly diagnosed diabetic. I am absolutely adamant that if when diagnosed I spent a day being trained on the potential implications of failing to control my blood sugars and how relatively easy it is to rectify then I would not have spent 6 years with especially high numbers. Blindness is a distinct possibility and this could be used to coerce most people into taking reasonable care, Retinopathy certainly scared the **** out of me. If we are then showed how to eat to meter and are given quality information on low carb eating i'm convinced most would avoid the horrors we see today. I absolutely refuse to believe the majority are so self destructive that they would not comply given the aforementioned specific interventions at diagnosis. The current 'you are now diabetic, crack on' that seems to be the order of the day is the precursor to the tragedy we have within diabetic health care today. The NHS has a lot to answer for and it pisses me of royally!
 
What everyone is missing is that the way the NHS process works is that there needs to be proper, independent, well researched evidence for NICE to make a recommendation. There is no evidence, of whatever quality, relating to eat to your meter. That's the issue. So it won't get recommended as an approach, unless someone chooses to take on that research mantle.
 
tim2000s said:
What everyone is missing is that the way the NHS process works is that there needs to be proper, independent, well researched evidence for NICE to make a recommendation. There is no evidence, of whatever quality, relating to eat to your meter. That's the issue. So it won't get recommended as an approach, unless someone chooses to take on that research mantle.
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There's also no 'proper, independent, well researched evidence' that reducing cholesterol protects against heart attack but they seem to have run with that one so I don't accept your assertion that the NHS always makes evidence based decisions.
 
@tim2000s How can we get some research done into this? I'm only a sample of 1 so statistically not relevant. My feeling is that it would need to start with recently diagnosed diabetics type 2. But even then they would need to be checked to find out if their pancreas was still making insulin, otherwise it could lead to people feeling a failure. This is not a normal test at diagnosis. Is this something that this site could investigate? This site did start a low carb program with good results I understand. As I think things stand now GP's benefit financially from the number of diabetics they have. This doesn't encourage them to give newly diagnosed the tools to control it so well that they might get removed from the diabetic register.
 
Voodoorising said:
But I still can't understand why they don't want to issue them ( besides the obvious cost to the NHS ) the benefits must out way the cost because if your more aware of what your food does your less likely to become a burden to them, again provided you want to I have spoken to so many that still just eat what they like as though don't truly understand what there doing to them selves.
Click to expand...
I think the problem is that we see the NHS as one great big entity, accountants see the NHS as lots of little bits and in this case the meter issuing bit doesn't see giving out meters as cost effective because it's the diabetes complications bit that is making the saving. I'm not an accountant and I am a cynic, but I bet I'm not too far off the mark.
 
Hiitsme said:
@tim2000s How can we get some research done into this? I'm only a sample of 1 so statistically not relevant. My feeling is that it would need to start with recently diagnosed diabetics type 2. But even then they would need to be checked to find out if their pancreas was still making insulin, otherwise it could lead to people feeling a failure. This is not a normal test at diagnosis. Is this something that this site could investigate? This site did start a low carb program with good results I understand. As I think things stand now GP's benefit financially from the number of diabetics they have. This doesn't encourage them to give newly diagnosed the tools to control it so well that they might get removed from the diabetic register.
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That's why I tagged @Administrator - it may be something that diabetes.co.uk would look at.
 
Voodoorising said:
Ok I have been diagnosed type 2
So how can people be expected to regulate and look after themselves if they have no meter. I think the NHS are so short sited at times.

Sorry for the rant things like this just get my goat when they are happy to waste money in other ways.
Click to expand...

BG Testing certainly gives one peace of mind. For me it provides a really good measure of the impact foods have on my Blood Glucose Levels. Sure you can read about it in nutritional books or be advised by a nutritionist but when you have the means to provide a measure of the impact of eating this or eating that - it's important for both Type 1s and Type 2s - and not only a measure but for me anyway, it also provides an indicator of the reaction times of the insulin I take - that's equally important.

So you're totally justified with the rant. By the way - tasty sounding food you were making there :)
 
Hiitsme said:
@tim2000s How can we get some research done into this? I'm only a sample of 1 so statistically not relevant. My feeling is that it would need to start with recently diagnosed diabetics type 2. But even then they would need to be checked to find out if their pancreas was still making insulin, otherwise it could lead to people feeling a failure. This is not a normal test at diagnosis. Is this something that this site could investigate? This site did start a low carb program with good results I understand. As I think things stand now GP's benefit financially from the number of diabetics they have. This doesn't encourage them to give newly diagnosed the tools to control it so well that they might get removed from the diabetic register.
Click to expand...
As I said in my previous post when it comes to diabetes we in this country are just a drop in the ocean as it is a world wide epidemic. Studies and research on a low carb programme and the benefits of testing for T2's needs to be done on a much wider scale the odd small research study here would probably not achieve anything with the NHS
 
I live in a "post code lottery" area where T2s do actually get issued meters? My T2 dad on met was one of them...
Discussions with the odd T2? "I got a meter but don't use it." I've spoken to T1s with the same "ethos".. That's how it goes.. I suppose.?!

I chatted with a DSN once on the subject of T2 monitoring? Her answer was. "Some people get obsessive about testing" But to be honest. She had no clue looking at my clear logging of bloods, carb count & boluses...
My conclusion? The DSN& Ds I spoke to, couldn't be *****! It's up to us to take care of ourselfs by whatever means. Because? As I have found out some peeps have had guns put in there hands. But no desire to shoot. They just take the pills/insulin at face value & carry on....
 
3.6 million diabetics given meters?

Diabetes already costs 14 billion a year, so then an initial meter, then 100 strips a month each, say £250 per patient per year.
£900 million spent.

How many of those 3.6 million people will use that meter effectively, and commit to a lifetime change, and how many will simply put them on ebay?
Because if you allocate nearly one billion pounds to providing meters, that equates to a quarter of a million patients that need to come off the diabetic register entirely, and have nothing else spent on them to justify the cost.
 
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