Levels?

Skippy1707 said:

I’m so confused about levels.

I have the Aga Matrix BGM and was told by my nurse to not worry too much about testing but when I initially was diagnosed in February I was sitting around 7/8 and was told to go no lower than 4.

I’ve lost a stone so far.

This morning I had a fasting blood of 4.9

I ate two slices of toast with minimal spread and a small glass of OJ and after 2 hrs was spiked to 13.

It’s now 11am and I’ve retested and I’m at 5.8 before lunch

Are these ok? I know the 13 wasn’t but where should I be aiming for? Seeing the 4 worries me into thinking I need a sugar boost! I’m still new at this.

I’m on 3 metformin a day. I took one with breakfast, will take another with lunch and one at tea time.

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*sigh* Don't you just love it when a nurse confuses warnings? Metformin alone isn't going to make you hypo. You can easily hit under a four, and be absolutely fine. Now, if you were on gliclazide say, you could hypo indeed... But with just metformin, an actual, honest-to-god dangerous hypo is extremely unlikely. Also wonderful how you're told not to test, and not go under four. Are you psychic? How are you supposed to tell where you're at if you're not testing? It really irks me no end.

Anyway.... You're doing pretty good, testing against advice, so that's excellent. No need to up the sugars or worry about hypo's. https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html might help some with the food (saw the OJ and toast.... Not surprised you spiked), but all in all, you're on the right path. Bit of tweaking here and there, as wholemeal/wholegrain is still carbier than the bulk of us get away with, but.... Like I said, you're doing pretty good. Hang in there, and have a bit of faith in yourself. You're getting there.
Jo

Skippy1707 said:

That’s what got me.
My nurse tested me when I had gone in and I was about an 8 and that was about an hour or so after lunch from memory.

She told me not to go under a 4 and then gave me a monitor but told me I didn’t need to worry about testing so more conflicting numbers….so all I took from her was under 4 was bad…..other than that it’s been what it says on the side of my test strip pot which seems to conflict with each other and change all the time !

So I’m glad I’ve joined this forum to have some extra help and advice!
I texted before lunch at 5.9 and have just had a bowl of soup for my lunch. I’ll take my metformin now (and a paracetamol since I have a bit of a headache!) then test in 2hrs to see where that has set me

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I don't know what your pot looks like, but those are probably control numbers... If you use a test solution, that's the range in which they'd indicate, meaning your meter is still working correctly. Those numbers have nothing to do with actual blood tests, and everything to do with meters becoming inaccurate when they get older. I've never known anyone to actually do those tests, and the pharmacist looked at me like I was insane when I asked about test solutions when I was recently diagnosed. Most of us just get a new meter after a certain amount of years.

You want to be somewhere between 4-ish before eating and 8,5-ish afterwards, at all times. No-one's perfect though, and sometimes when you fast for instance, or follow a carnivore diet, you go lower than that all the time and never go over 5. Or you have a sneaky praline once and you spike to a 13, but head down again soon after. Sometimes there's stress, or a bad night's sleep, or an infection brewing. Anything can affect blood sugars. The numbers aren't the be all and end all, there is some flexibility there to suit this odd, fluid thing called life, so don't be so hard on yourself. Just keep in mind that if you aim for the normal range most of the time, if not all of the time (which can be hard, being human and all), you can keep from getting diabetic complications. Tweaking your diet a little further would probably help, but with the ranges you're in now, you're doing pretty good.

Test before a meal and 2 hours after the first bite. If you go up no more than 2.0mmol/l or less, you've hit the target just right for what your body can handle. Go from those numbers first, normal blood sugar levels should follow in the wake of that rule of thumb.

That headache might be because of the change in diet. Have some salt, it might help. (You might be a tad dehydrated)
Jo

Skippy1707 said:

Thanks @JoKalsbeek
I use the Aga Matrix and the levels on the pot day
Normal as 5.6 - 8.6mmol/L
High as 13.5 - 20.3 mmol/L

But again none of this was explained to me so I was still clueless.
I have control fluid and did that the other day and it showed as 7.6

I tested before lunch at 11.20 and it was 5.8 and I’ve just tested now at 2.25 and I’m at 6. I had chicken soup and a slice of bread so that seems good.
I’m drinking more today but I expect the headache is from me cutting down to one coffee a day and cutting out chocolate/sweets again.

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Yeah, that's for checking, not for your blood measurement and thus, not relevant... But the test you did does show your meter is working just fine. (Blood glucose can go quite a bit higher than 20.3. I think my meter maxes out at 33 or something, then it'll just say HI. Never happened to me, but our cat was diabetic, and he went through that a few times while we were working out how much insulin to give him).

Your numbers now, before and after lunch seem basically stellar. And I hope the headache'll go soon!

It's not impossible that the headache is sugar withdrawal, and will improve.