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Got my BG Meter

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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Anonymous

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Hi everyone

I've got my BG meter yesterday and, this morning, I took my very first reading. It was a bit tricky at first in getting enough blood to activate the sensor on the test strip as it's all very new to me, but I got there in the end, having used several test strips in the process!

My fasting reading on getting up was 6.5, which is within the NICE guidelines so that's a start I suppose. Had a carb-free breakfast of meats and salami and two cups of coffee with Splenda and will test again in a few minutes (two hours from my original meal) to see how I'm getting on.

Dave
 
Hi

I had the same trouble but it gets easier. I was dabbing the blood on top of the strip !! -wrong..... Just make sure that the glob of blood makes contact with the end of the strip and suddenly it gets sucked up along the middle.I think this is fairly universal! Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

6.5 is good!!

happy testing!
 
I found,for me anyway, that Splenda causes a rise in my BGs. Not big ones but enough.

All strips work by pulling the blood up a very fine tube by capillary action, the finer the tube the less blood you need to make it work.

My strips (GlucoRX) will work with about a pinhead of blood, it is very much a matter of getting it (the blood) on the end of the strip where the tube is, usually in the middle.

Good luck with your meter, don't forget to make a chart. Food eaten, BG before food and 2 hours after. You will quickly begin to see a pattern. Some foods will affect your BGs a lot, some that you would expect to push your BGs up do not! We all vary, but I can go out and drink a pint of beer and then eat say, 15 chips without any significant rise in BGs. If I eat a small bowl of porridge oats I get a real spike! Chips taste nicer anyway.

H
 
Well, two hours after breakfast, it fell to 4.7. I didn't have any carbs though and it looks as if the Splenda didn't affect me.

I shall shortly be trying some quorn breaded cutlets with broccoli and see how that goes. It's quite interesting - this testing lark
 

I eat a bit of Quorn, (I am a veggie) I find it a bit errr, binding. I try and eat it in things like veggie curry so I get a bit of roughage.
The Linda McCartney stuff is good and Asda own brands do some reasonable meat free veggie stuff.

Testing is interesting, at least in the early days. After a few years it gets so that you will know what you can eat without needing to test. I only test about twice a week now.

Try some Chromium Picolate and vitamin B complex, my meter tells me it makes a difference, only small but it can't do any harm.

H
 
Well, I'm not a veggie myself, although my partner is, so the foods we eat have to be acceptable to both of us. Main meals (usually the evening meal) where we sit down as a couple and eat together, we eat vegetarian. Otherwise, I will eat meat, especially for breakfast and lunch. :mrgreen:
 
Good start Ursus, and some impressive readings. You'll be heading for a great HbA1c at your next test if you keep it like this. By the way, when it's difficult to get enough blood, try to resist squeezing too near the puncture site. You can squeeze out fluids from the surrounding tissue into the blood which distorts the test result. Wash your hands in hot water before testing and massage to get blood into the tips first. If you have to squeeze, do it from further down the finger upwards.
 
Thanks Grazer. I am keeping things under control with my new meter and I'm pleased with it. For a test, I quite fancy having fish and chips and see what the result will be! Well, once in a while can't hurt.... surely? 8)
 
If it's fish in batter, the batter will hit the reading more than the chips. Bet you get a high one. And yes, once in a while CAN hurt in my books for a number of reasons - ask any ex-smoker about "an occasional fag once in a while...."
However, I'd be interested to see the results, so go for it!
 

Just to let everyone know, I am now officially Grazer's Guinea Pig :lol:
 

Quite right too! And after the fish in batter, i want you to try pancakes with jam. Then Fry's orange cream. The job doesn't pay much, but you die happy! :thumbup:
 

Brilliant result ursus wish my was that good after eating

Ermm Grazer any chance you might do a 'cash for questions' deal ... I really want to know about rice pudding and jam

Gilly x
 
Sounds good Gilly. I'll get the guinea pig on it as soon as the orange cream has been tested.
 
Did scampi and chips.... never again. just a handful of scampi and a small handful of chips. 2 hrs later 13mmol/L ........ yes, that hurts!!
 
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