How often to test

i would say a fasting test is good to see what happening overnight when you are likely to have no carbs working......

before and after food is useful too.............for those who don't get prescribed free test strips, testing only the foods that you think may cause problems would be how to prioritize the test strips.....

not being on insulin the test results are mainly just for information and will allow you to make good food choices depending on how you handle different foods....

tr4cie said:

I am type 2 and having read many posts on here about whether or not to buy a monitoring meter I have. Its probably been asked 10000s of times on here but how often should I be testing and when during the day? Many thanks.

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He'll Tracie,you will get someone tag daisy to send you info,.....
As a rule we test on waking( to see what fasting level is after a night's sleep)
We test before a meal then 2 hours after to see if the meal has spiked us.
I am type 2 on insulin
Hopefully diabell will be along soon he has lots of answers and so any questions he can generally help too..
Good luck.......
I presume you are type 2 diet/exercise and or maybe on metformin?

Hi @tr4cie and welcome.

I will tag @daisy1 to give you some basic information, which includes testing.

tr4cie said:

That's great, thanks, yes I'm type 2 diet/exercise and have just started on Metformin 500mg for two weeks then increase to 1000mg.

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I'm not sure which is optimum to test on metformin but sure someone will have answer....wishing you well and a great holiday,don't let diagnosis take over,you will soon find it is something you have,but life continues.......

Initially you need to test a lot! I'm afraid it means sore fingers but as axle222 said before meals and 2hrs later as a minimum but if you really want to understand how you react to certain foods/meals you might need to test at 1hr, 2hr and may be even 3hr intervals. Eventually you will get a good idea of how you react to the food you regularly eat and can ease off and give your fingers a rest.
This tells you how to use your meter to lower your glucose levels
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045524.php

@tr4cie

Hello Tracie and welcome to the forum Here is the information we give to new members which includes testing and carbs. I hope this will be helpful to you. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will answer.


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 over 150,000 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-and-whole-grains.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 bloodglucose 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.

tr4cie said:

Thanks so much for all your replies, interesting reading. Well I've tested and tested and what an eye opener for some foods I eat. Sometimes what you think won't cause an increase certainly does. Whilst I'm in 'test' mode it is certainly giving me a good insight into how my diet affects my blood glucose. I am very pleased I bought the monitor and have managed to bring my readings down from averaging anything from 10 to 17 to 8's and 9's and even a few 6s and 7s!!!

My next problem is Metformin, I would be very grateful for any advise about taking these. I started on 500mg for two weeks which didn't pose any problems (took them with my evening meal). Started taking one in the morning on Saturday and one in the evening. Yesterday within an hour of taking the morning one I had gripey stomach pains, needing the loo!! I took another one with my evening meal and again the same problems.

I'm back to work today and whilst you may think it very strange and silly I simply cannot go to the loo at work. Its not very private and my worst nightmare would be an upset tummy at work. I haven't taken my Metformin this morning because of this.

My question is whether I could take one with my evening meal and then one at bedtime? Therefore if the resulting stomach problems happen I am at home. I know that it is a side effect which will subside eventually but I usually have a stomach last cast iron yet this medication is having this effect.

Would be grateful for any advice guys. Thank you.

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Congratulations on your reducing BG levels, well done!

Good on you for sticking with metformin despite side effects, which will hopefully settle soon. There is a slow release version which may be easier on your system. Either way, yes you can take them with your evening meal - I think you can even take them both at the same time, which may better than taking one at bedtime without food at the same time.

Metformin takes a long time to peak in your body, like more than 8 hours, possibly. I don't know exactly how long but it seems to take this long to affect blood glucose. Hopefully taking it with dinner will help, but see how you go.

Here is some good info about metformin (I love this website but boy she gets bogged down in details sometimes, so I skip the detailed research stuff on these pages and go straight to the info I am looking for):
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045911.php

tr4cie said:

Thank you so much. Many thanks for the link too, I'm the same, if it got too much research stuff to trawl through I give up reading it. I've spoke to a diabetic at work too and he says it may not be good to take both together and I should persevere with taking one in morning and one in the evening......

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I don't know which is best, but there are people who take both at the same time, with no problems. Maybe ask your pharmacist or doctor?

This is an example of where it is better to get a professional opinion than an amateur one. And fortunately, pharmacists are free and no appointment is necessary.

I think if you're getting upset tums, taking both at the same time night possibly make things worse. Ask for the SR version which should help, but also try to avoid higher carbohydrate meals as these can sometimes cause problems - the very few times I had the runs was when I ate such meals! My Doctor also told me to stop taking my increased dose if I had side effects, wait a week and then try again - it's sometimes a matter of getting your body aclimatized, but some people and metformin just don't get along very well.

Robbity