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Hi from a new one

Sunhat

Sunhat

Well-Known Member
Messages
78
Location
Andalucia
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi to you all. :wave: I live in Spain (it is wet, windy and chilly today) I am 56 and have type 2 diabetes, controlled by diet only. I have joined the local diabetic association here and they gave me a glucose testing machine. The Dr has never advised me to test my glucose levels (I see a Dr at the private medical center, not a specialist) I have full blood tests every 2-3 months. My hba1c (or whatever it is called!!) is 6.5 at the present. I have not been given a figure to work towards.
I was diagnosed aprox 4 years ago. My sister was diagnosed type 2 a couple of months ago (she lives in Scotland) and her practice nurse has advised her not to test her glucose levels as it could cause nerve damage to her fingers. I thought it was important to test glucose levels? I am confused. Is it the health service wanting to save money on testing strips?
My question is..... (or are) 1. Where can I buy testing strips on-line? I have a Bayer Breeze 2 machine. To buy the strips here in Spain they are around 45€ a packet :shock:
2. When is best to test? Obviously I can´t test before/after every meal, my bank account would soon be empty!! So when would be best to test, if I need to?

Many thanks

Sunhat
 
Hi Sunhat and welcome to the forum :) I'll try to answer some of your questions. It is very important to test your BG levels as that way you can see what foods you can eat, which you can't, and which you should eat less of. Testing before and 2 hours after meals you need to get similar results. I would say the minimum you need to test is 2 hours after meals. It's better to test before the meal then 2 hours after if you have the strips to do it. When you have worked out what effect foods have on your levels, you can test much less often. In the UK they are reluctant to prescribe test strips to type 2s - purely a matter of cost. The excuse that testing could cause nerve damage to her fingers is rubbish in my own personal opinion. Most members on this forum who have to buy their own strips get them from eBay.

To help you, and it would be a good idea to send this to your sister too, here is the information we give to new members. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will have an answer for you.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS


Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find well over 30,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes ... rains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
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Please sign our e-petition for free testing for all type 2's; here's the link:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/petition/

Do get your friends and colleagues to sign as well.
Click to expand...
 
Hi Sunhat. At least we don`t have to be jealous of your weather today then :wink:

Welcome to the forum.
 
Hi Sunhat

Welcome to the forum.

An HBA1c of 6.5% is pretty good and can be improved further by reducing your carbs and testing to see what you can tollerate.

I was testing 6 ish times a day at first (for about 3-4 weeks whilst researching ) but now ( 4 months down the line) once a day, which to be honest I don't really need to do, as I know what I can and can't eat. I just like to keep a check that I'm getting the reads I would expect.

I always check after a new food and still keep a note on my spreadsheet if it has a spike.

Mary x
 
Thanks for the reply, I will print it off and sit and read it. BTW my sister has posted here..... Tandydog!! I discovered her after I posted. My name (Pamela) means sunhat in Spanish :lol:

Here is Spain the dr´s do not give testing strips on prescription now (so I was told) As we are under retirement age (retired early) we are not in the Spanish NHS system, so have to pay for private medicine. I get full blood test every 2 months, apart from a funny liver count reading (no I do not drink!!) everything was ok. It was (we think) the antihistamines I took for a month due to an allergy, so now I am very careful with taking medication.

I will have a look on Amazon for the other testing strips mentioned in Tandydogs replies. Our brother died (at 1 month before his 62nd birthday) due to ignoring us all saying he was diabetic (our father was too, he died with gangrene in both feet, again he ignored things, head in the sand, it won´t happen to me syndrome) Brother ended up totally blind, end stage renal failure and 3 weeks before he died had a leg amputated. He never went to the diabetic clinic and ignored things.... mind you, the district nurse visited twice every day to put in eye drops and refused to check his legs, not their job I was told. They were extreemly worried when our brother died that I would take things further, but our brother ignored things so how could I kick up a stink? Anyway, both of us (me and Tandydog) are determined NOT to go the same way as our father/brother.
A friend said I must be devestated to be diabetic.... no annoyed, not devestated. Stupid comment! Her hubby now has prostate cancer, I was tempted to ask if she was devestated!

Sunhat
 
Good for you both. hi Tandydog as well.

Terrible shame about your brother and dad.

People are funny aren't they? Hopefully, in time you will come to see the diagnosis as a positive turning point where you get your health in order.

i see you were diagnosed 4 years ago, was your latest HBA1c of 6.5 as a result of you newly taking it seriously or have you been pretty good anyway?

Mary x
 
Hi Pamela
If you just print off the information I posted for you, you will miss all the information in the links. There is a terrific amount to read !

By the way, it has been a lovely warm day here in Switzerland today. It's a long weekend here for 1st of May.
 
I will read the links without printing then! My first HbA1c (I keep them on the pc) was 6.2 the highest it has been was 7 . I have been trying to be good and eat well, but some days I think to hell with it.... but very rarely. After our brother dying I have been determined I am not following the same path, me and Tandydog are the sensible ones in the family ( :roll: )

Sunhat
 
Sunhat said:
My sister was diagnosed type 2 a couple of months ago (she lives in Scotland) and her practice nurse has advised her not to test her glucose levels as it could cause nerve damage to her fingers. I thought it was important to test glucose levels?
Click to expand...

Yes most people on the forum would recommend testing. We have heard many different reasons why Type 2's shouldn't test ranging from "IT WILL SEND YOU MAD" to "sine waves" It's all absolute nonsense. What about Type 1 diabetics who HAVE to test, have they all got "nerve damage to their fingers". Some progressive GP's do recommend Type 2's test but many do not. Many think the reason is purely down to cost and my own diabetic nurse admitted that was why I wouldn't be getting test strips in my part of the country. Not sure if Scotland is the same as England but in England every gp practice gets £2000 pa for each diabetic on their books. Perhaps your sister should go and ask for some of that money to be spent on her treatment. Of course your sister should test as how else will she know if what she is eating is safe?
 
Hi sunhat and welcome! Yes of course you must test as everybody else has said. They're just too mean to give them out. Well done on your control so far, do ask if there's anything we can help you with.
 
After seeing what Dad and brother went through, all because of stupidity, nothing more, makes me determined to not go the same way. I am just trying to register with Paypal to buy the testing moniter mentioned (SD Codefree) ..... now paypal is another thing!! :shock:
 
Its really a good article. This site is so helpful. I want to know some other information about this post. So please give some other information about this side.Thanks
 
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