How many times does everyone check their glucose levels every day?

[Erin]

That is very cool Breck. A1C testing kit on Amazon; I will check it out. I suspect, though that you have to send you blood sample, and they have to return the results. BTW I am in Canada, but I will check it. Thank you.

 

[MeiChanski]

Are you on insulin or sulfonylurea's ?

Yes insulin

 

[Ashintheuk]

Yes insulin

Do you get false hypos, or feel a bit shakey above the hypo zone?

 

[Jaylee]

Guys,

The topic for this thread is "How many times does everyone check their glucose levels every day."

Please move any discussions other than this topic to either another thread or via PM.

Thanks.!

 

[Ashintheuk]

Guys,

The topic for this thread is "How many times does everyone check their glucose levels every day."

Please move any discussions other than this topic to either another thread or via PM.

Thanks.!

Is trying to establish why very frequent testing is done due to anxiety, or a concerted attempt to stay in the safe zone, or testing to comply with driving laws off topic ?

 

[Jaylee]

Is trying to establish why very frequent testing is done due to anxiety, or a concerted attempt to stay in the safe zone, or testing to comply with driving laws off topic ?

... Then by all means start your own thread.

Futher derailment will be deleted or incur sanctions.

Thanks for your compliance.

 

[HlionC]

1. When I wake up
2. Before lunch
3. Before dinner
4. Before the gym
5. 2 hours after the gym
6. Right before bed

+ before I have a snack it if I feel low or high. No more than 10 times per day, maximum.

 

[HlionC]

Between 6 and 8 - logged in an app so I can see trends quickly. It's so easy not to notice that I'm consistently a little high after a particular meal which should tell me I might need to consider tweaking the ratio for that meal. Morning and night tell me how the basal is doing (I'm split dosage) so I know if I need to think about basal testing.

The app records the carbs eaten, insulin injected, whether I've exercised etc and to be honest I'd be lost without it now. I have coming up to 3000 entries stored and the accumulated data really does help keep me more or less level.

It will calculate insulin dosage for me if I input my ratios (which it stores), carbs and current blood. It also asks if I've exercised recently so it can take that into account. Provided I keep the ratios spot on it's usually right. Currently I have four ratios for it to work on because it changes as the day goes along. It'll also keep track of injection sites if I want it to, but I'm good at changing site so I don't need it to.

I could more but tbh I'm more or less happy as things are.

Hello! Regarding your high after a meal, that's totally normal if you're type 1. Even if you give yourself the right insulin, your levels will creep up 1-3 points within the two hours following your meal - mainly because insulin and food absorbtion doing 100% coincide. If it's more than 3 points you're raising, then it might be that your insulin is wrong.

H

 

[WuTwo]

Hello! Regarding your high after a meal, that's totally normal if you're type 1. Even if you give yourself the right insulin, your levels will creep up 1-3 points within the two hours following your meal - mainly because insulin and food absorbtion doing 100% coincide. If it's more than 3 points you're raising, then it might be that your insulin is wrong.

H

I do know this - what I mean by testing after a meal, is testing at the point where my blood goes to its highest after consumption. (Found by testing at very frequent intervals straight after eating until the curve starts to go back down). Thus when I say "high after a meal" I mean high allowing for highest point, insulin correction yada yada.

What my trends show is if the insulin is wrong consistently allowing for consumption curve and insulin on board, and then I know it's time to tweak the ratio for that particular meal.

 

[HlionC]

I do know this - what I mean by testing after a meal, is testing at the point where my blood goes to its highest after consumption. (Found by testing at very frequent intervals straight after eating until the curve starts to go back down). Thus when I say "high after a meal" I mean high allowing for highest point, insulin correction yada yada.

What my trends show is if the insulin is wrong consistently allowing for consumption curve and insulin on board, and then I know it's time to tweak the ratio for that particular meal.

Ahhh, gotcha!

 

[Gvac]

I have recently been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (Feb 22) and I am still trying to get my head around it all. When I think I have eaten well and my blood glucose should be good I check and its high or going too low. So at the moment I use my Freestyle Libre2 and check it around 20-25 times a day. I'm not yet at the point where I feel in control. Hopefully things will get better.

 

[agwagw]

Hi everyone I’m new to the forum it’s lovely to meet you. Iv been diabetic for seventeen years, type 1. Over the past number of years say around five or six iv been dealing with mental health issues and unfortunately my diabetes control has declined rapidly which has caused problems for my vision aswell. However I’m looking to get back into the swing of things and take better control of diabetes and my life living with it which will of course mean measuring my blood glucose levels very efficiently so I was just wondering on average how many times a day does everyone check their levels ?

Hello there. I used to do about 14 finger pricks per day - pretty useless to predict going up or down however. Then I self-funded the Libre sensor system for a couple of years - it is superb! Gives you instant readings just with a swipe of the reader, which shows a chart of your BG level (plus lots of other things if you want to analyse the data). Also, my poor scarred fingers have recovered. I then managed to get the sensors from the NHS. NICE have recently said that anyone with Type1 qualifies for the Libre system. Definitely recommend it - the improvement in my BG control has been remarkable.

 

[Blackers183]

I attended the DAFNE (Australia) program many years ago and the guide was only test before meals and bed, obviously more if you are unwell. That assumes of course that you stay within range, I’ve recently gone across to Libre2 and find myself scanning way too many times, my readings have been a bit all over the place though. I’ve changed my diet to very low carbs (seems to be working) and hope that I can get back to testing 4 times a day.

 

[Erin]

Hi everyone I’m new to the forum it’s lovely to meet you. Iv been diabetic for seventeen years, type 1. Over the past number of years say around five or six iv been dealing with mental health issues and unfortunately my diabetes control has declined rapidly which has caused problems for my vision aswell. However I’m looking to get back into the swing of things and take better control of diabetes and my life living with it which will of course mean measuring my blood glucose levels very efficiently so I was just wondering on average how many times a day does everyone check their levels ?

I check it in the morning after waking up to prevent eating too much; before lunch or brunch, once or twice in the afternoon, before supper, after supper, and before going to bed. I may vary according to how I feel and circumstances of the day which may be unusual; so about 7-8 times. I use a meter. It's a good question

 

[HSSS]

Type 1 or 2?
On insulin or other hypoglycaemic drugs or not?
Learning to understand which foods cause what effects or well understood?
Gaining control remission or been there for ages?
Sick or well?
In our normal routines or in a new environment?

all of these will drastically effect how often a person tests.

 

[Deleted member 543160]

As a (currently diet only) T2 I generally check m fasting level first thing in the morning, then immediately before and two hours after each meal to see what, if any, impact the carbs I've eaten have had on my glucose levels. If I feel it necessary /useful I may also i do some extra checks if I ever have to take different meds, if I'm ill, or very stressed. I used to check 1 hour into meal if I thought I might go extra high then.

When I wore a Libre sensor I used the Reader every 8 hours to collect its data, and at meal times to see how the reading and any meal time finger pricks corresponded, I learned more from this regarding how food in different combinations affected me, than than I did from doing the pre & post meal pricking, and (possibly more informative) how non food related issues could often have a much bigger impact on my glucose levels.

 

[StewM]

I attended the DAFNE (Australia) program many years ago and the guide was only test before meals and bed, obviously more if you are unwell. That assumes of course that you stay within range, I’ve recently gone across to Libre2 and find myself scanning way too many times, my readings have been a bit all over the place though. I’ve changed my diet to very low carbs (seems to be working) and hope that I can get back to testing 4 times a day.

I’m not sure how they explained it to you, but they explained it to us as it’s a good idea to test four times a day minimum, not maximum. Also that 4 times a day number didn’t account for the existence of Libre, so definitely did not have that device in mind.

So yeah, it’s good to test before meals. It’s also good to test if you’re feeling Low. You can set alarms on your Libre to notify when your numbers get high or low. I find they’re pretty reliable and generally only do additional scans if an alarm goes off, nowadays.

 

[becca59]

Type 1 using a Libre and average 20 scans a day. What does it matter. It doesn’t cost any more, isn’t invasive and helps keep me in range. Winner winner chicken dinner!

 

[finzi1966]

Type 2 Libre user - I’ve just checked on the app, and it says I scan 25 times per day (averaged over the last 90 days).

If I was finger prick testing, I would probably only do it these days after a “new” meal probably at 2 hours and then again at 3 hours if it hadn’t returned to baseline at two.

 

[Riva_Roxaban]

I do a fasting bgl, and before and after meals.