Monitor yes or no...

My personal opinion is that of a resounding yes, test. You do not want to go 'further down the line'. Pre Diabetes and Type 2 Diabetes need not be the chronic, progressive disease that our health care professionals would have us beleive. You may find that a few tweaks to your diet and excercise regimes means that you never reach T2 levels and may not have to test as rigorously as other people do but a glucometer is a very useful tool in educating you on how you as an individual react to certain foods.

It kind of depends on you and your personality.
In my case I don't like nasty surprises so monitor because I want to keep an eye on my blood sugar levels so I can be fairly confident that my HbA1c will be ok when I get my annual test. In the early days it is also very informative as to what foods cause blood sugars to spike and thus to avoid.
However I can see that for some people it could become a bit of an obsession. So it will depend on you. As your levels are quite low you'd probably gain a lot of benefit in the early days from food monitoring so I'd say go for it.
Test before first mouthful and then 2 hours after a meal and see how much your blood sugar goes up. If you want to let us know what you ate and how much your sugar goes up we can advice the likely culprits in each meal and then you'll soon get the hang of what not to eat.
It will be things like breakfast cereal, bread, pasta, rice, root veg and sweet fruits. You may be able to handle these in smaller quantities although personally I skip them altogether these days but then again my HbA1c on diagnosis was 87 mmol/m so significantly higher than yours!

I agree with @Guzzler and @bulkbiker

You won't know if your HbA1c is deteriorating until your next test, which is likely to be in 12 months if your surgery is not one of the pro-active ones. That may be too late. By buying a meter you can see instantly what is happening and be able to do something about it before your next test.

I agree with all of the above . You have a head start on me, I was only diagnosed when I was well into the diabetic range. You have a chance to get back down to non diabetic level quickly, a meter will only help you do this.

Yup, test. Now's the time to do something about becoming diabetic, and a meter will help you do that. There's no such thing as too much information.

Another me too agrees post!

Definitely get yourself a meter, use it and most importantly - as you've mentioned - act on the information if provides about the effects different foods may have on your diet, and you'll have the opportunity to improve your glucose levels or at the very least stabilize them.

Robbity

AngiH said:

Hi all
I am new here and although my reading is only 43 6.1 I'm aware this is prediabetic. I'm not expecting much help from my Doctors especially reading lots of comments in this forum. But my question is, should I consider getting a monitor or not bother unless down the line my readings get worse.
This has come totally out of the blue and I'm trying to get my head round the change ahead, but know it is now I have to act.
Thanks for reading

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A meter and a low carb diet and you will be back in the normal blood glucose range faster than banana skins.

I would ask yourself what you are trying to achieve by testing.
If you are testing to find out what is raising your BG and to adjust your lifestyle/diet to avoid becoming a person with type 2 diabetes, absolutely test.
If you are testing to find out if/when you pass from pre-diabetes to diabetes, you know it has happened but, so what?

I guess my point is, testing alone does not stop your diagnosis, only changes will.

Absolutely yes. You can’t make informed dietary choices without monitoring your own glucose. The official advice to actively discourage patients from measuring their own blood glucose is utterly absurd. The only logical conclusion I can draw is that someone doesn’t want you to get better.

Sorry for the conspiracy theory vibe but it winds me up. Totally preposterous!

AngiH said:

I just am still a bit overwhelmed and part of me thinks there is nothing wrong and the blood test is not right!!

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You are not alone in this thought. I thought that myself, many newcomers think that, and I guess many members on the forum thought that. It is part of the initial shock and denial. Perfectly common and perfectly normal. In my case, my diagnosis test was the 2nd January, which fell immediately after the excesses of Christmas, New Year, my birthday and a holiday. I was wrong, the diagnosis was right!!

AngiH said:

This is going to be a rollercoaster, my husband is saying a quick diet and I'll be back to normal and can revert to my normal eating..I'm not sure how true this is, or am I always going to be on that edge of watching etc? He seems to think there is actually nothing wrong with me, not in a bad way. He is the most supportive person, but I think he feels it's not anything to worry about and that I don't need to read into stuff. I think deep down he is trying to keep me calm as I'm a worrier at the best of times...

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You’re always going to have to moderate your carbohydrate intake. Otherwise you wouldn’t be where you are now. This is a good thing. Think of it as a wake-up call that everything you once thought you knew about healthy nutrition was upside down

In short, respectfully, your husband is wrong.

AngiH said:

This is going to be a rollercoaster, my husband is saying a quick diet and I'll be back to normal and can revert to my normal eating..I'm not sure how true this is, or am I always going to be on that edge of watching etc? He seems to think there is actually nothing wrong with me, not in a bad way. He is the most supportive person, but I think he feels it's not anything to worry about and that I don't need to read into stuff. I think deep down he is trying to keep me calm as I'm a worrier at the best of times...

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...I wish your husband was right. But you have a genetic predisposition for diabetes. A "quick diet" isn't going to change that. Now that you know, you can avoid getting T2 for a long time, who knows, maybe indefinitely, but it will take work.

I like to give hope to people who have been diagnosed T2 and feel like their world has ended. I tell them it'll be okay, and they will be, *if* they're willing to do the work... You're in the luxury position that you can head this off just by lowering your carb-intake. No complications, no worries when you're ill with something else, making your sugars out of control... No sugar peaks when you have a sleepless night or such things. If I'd had that choice, if I'd known what was going on and how to tackle it... I never would've gotten this far.

You're on the road to T2. Fact of life. Now you decide whether to take it seriously and stop it before it starts, or end up with regrets and coulda shoulda woulda's. I'd give a lot to be in your shoes right now. And tell your husband it's a lot easier with proper support at home. Mine was at every appointment and consultation, learned all he could, was right there with me through all of it. Worries got shared, victories too. It's good not to be alone in this. And I'm hoping it'll never get so far for you, as it's gotten for me.

Meter from me.

I did read there are 4 stages to type 2 diabetes.
Stage 4 IS type 2
Stage 3 IS pre-diabetes
Stage 2 IS insulin resistance..
Can't remember what stage 1 was, but if I could turn back clock and halt this with no meds, no complications, just by adjusting my food choices....I would in an instant.

I would say welcome to the club, but hopefully I won't have to...

AngiH said:

Wow thank you all. Ok I think the next step is knowing the best monitor to buy without breaking the bank haha.... I just am still a bit overwhelmed and part of me thinks there is nothing wrong and the blood test is not right!! I absolutely want to put this right so I guess the monitor is going to prove an invaluable asset! I now need to overcome the fact that last time I had a finger prick test done in the chemist a few years back I almost passed out..how embarrassing

! Thanks again

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The weird and wonderful thing is so many of us have become far more aware of what we eat and what food can do to us that we now look upon our diagnosis as being a life changing positive. Not everyone but a fair old few have made major lifestyle changes and are reaping many benefits as well as becoming (in many cases) smarter than our doctors especially where T2 diabetes is concerned.

I agree with @bulkbiker , my diagnosis has been a blessing in disguise, as well as getting my type 2 under control, I’ve lost a shed load of weight, my blood pressure is now normal on half the BP meds I was on and my arthritis is more bearable too. I feel younger and more energetic. You won’t be sorry if you take action now rather than at a later date

Here are some meters that are popular on the forum:

Taken from a post by @Bluetit1802 as she wrote it so nicely:


The most popular meters for self funding T2's are the Codefree and the Tee2 because the strips are much cheaper than other meters, and you need a lot of strips. You can't buy them in pharmacies.


Try here for the Codefree meter

http://homehealth-uk.com/product-category/blood-glucose/blood-glucose-monitor/


and here for the extra strips

http://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/sd-codefree-test-strips-to-be-used-only-with-the-sd-monitor/


There are discount codes if you buy in bulk.

5 packs 264086

10 packs 975833


The Tee2 is here

http://spirit-healthcare.co.uk/product/tee2-plus-blood-glucose-meter/


Don’t forget to check the box that you have diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for either meter)

AngiH said:

Wow thank you all. Ok I think the next step is knowing the best monitor to buy without breaking the bank haha.... I just am still a bit overwhelmed and part of me thinks there is nothing wrong and the blood test is not right!! I absolutely want to put this right so I guess the monitor is going to prove an invaluable asset! I now need to overcome the fact that last time I had a finger prick test done in the chemist a few years back I almost passed out..how embarrassing

! Thanks again

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Hi hope all goes well for you but please seek advice about which monitor you buy as some can be unreliable.