My doc say's

what do you think of the advice Celast?

Celast,
My humble opinion is that, at the start you need to test more to build up a pattern of your responses so try (at first) Fasting and at 2hrs after meals. test with all your types of meal so you can work out the effects of things like rice, potatoes, pasta, cereal, bacon & eggs. from this you can start to craft a workable diet.
You may find that carbs as well as sugars are something to avoid!
good luck

Hi. The whole point of testing 2 hours after a meal is to find out how much you do spike. High spikes can do a lot of harm so measuring your average sugar is not in itself enough. You also need to find out which foods affect you most. I feel that your doctor may be very good in many areas but I'm left with the impression that she's not a diabetes expert?

Agree with above. You need a system Celast. Testing for the sake of it is a waste of time. You have to be able to do something as a result of testing. So, two hours after eating, test. If the number is bigger than 7.8, you had too many carbs in that meal. Make a note. Next time you have a similar meal, adjust it to have less carbs, then two hours later, test. As said above, build up a picture of what you can and can't eat that way,

I was told to test after 4 hours rather than 2. I just thought she was mad, so basically the nurse was saying what your doctor said. Its like they have no idea.

dawnmc said:

Its like they have no idea.

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yep, scary isn't it..

It sure is, you get the feeling no-one really knows how to get a handle on diabetes, even the so called experts. Its no wonder there is an epidemic.

dawnmc said:

I was told to test after 4 hours rather than 2. I just thought she was mad, so basically the nurse was saying what your doctor said. Its like they have no idea.

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Is it the cynic in me thinking that after 4 hours you'd have "normal" readings so wouldn't go back "bothering" the the Doc with high BG readings?

Grazer said:

Is it the cynic in me thinking that after 4 hours you'd have "normal" readings so wouldn't go back "bothering" the the Doc with high BG readings?

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Yes that would be a very cynical thought. Also, testing every 4 hours would mean that you couldn't eat for 4 hrs without ruining the test (particularly hard for a sheep).

swimmer2 said:

Also, testing every 4 hours would mean that you couldn't eat for 4 hrs without ruining the test (particularly hard for a sheep).

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Oh, I thought it said four minutes and was bracing myself........

Hi all.
I was advised to test 2 - up to 4hrs , after eating my lite snacks.
NOT 4hrs afterwards , thought would just add this to avoid any confusion!
To give it a 2hr time phase 2-4 inbetweeny these times are acceptable and it does show
just where your blood sugar levels are sitting at.
I have found it helpful and a good guide to use against what types of snacks I have eaten.
For example... white bread sends me sky hi 17.7 [then I blow up with badly bloated tummy] :thumbdown:
whilst 4 small crackers only 7 plus greek yogurt 10 , so lesson was taught and learned !
Hope this helps ?
Anna.

If you really want to see how food spikes your bg, you need to test 1and 1/4 hours ater beginning your meal. That's when the highest point is reached with most meals. At 2 hours, you're on the way back down, especially if you take some medication with the meal.A high fat meal will delay the spike. I'm not sure why the 2 hour thing got established. I've never seen the rationale for it
Hana
You need to test frequently in the first 6 months to learn your own pattern. After that you can save on strips. I still test 2x per day after 10 years[paying for my strips] I need to keep on top of things to keep my numbers DOWN It's easy to slip up.
I survived a cupcake yesterday;made by granddaughter!
Hana

hanadr said:

I'm not sure why the 2 hour thing got established. I've never seen the rationale for it

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I think I understand the rationale. With a non-diabetic, BGs are normally back to nearly normal after just over an hour. We peak higher and thus a bit later because our BGs just keep climbing as a result of our (normally) poor phase 1 insulin response. If we test to measure our peak, there can be so many variations that it's hard to set "targets" for where BGs should be at that time. By two hours, our phase 2 response should have pulled our BGs back to a more reasonable level, and a more consistent level. You can then start setting targets for what those levels should be. Hence the 8.5 (NHS) or 7.8 (others and many of us)
If, however, you want a real map of how your BGs behave after food, then you're right, you need to test at 1 hour or so as well, and probably also 3 and 4 for later potential peaks with low GI meals (although I've personally never seen a peak at 4 hours)
As most of us have limited strips, I think 2 hours is picked for the consistent (Ish!) testing targets I've described above.

when I was first diagnosed with type 2 I was told to only test twice a week also.... dumb advice! In hindsight I think that every diabetic regardless of type should be testing regularly throughout each and every day. This means testing your FBG, plus preprandial and postprandial readings. I'd also go as far as testing in different situations (which I've done)... eg. when you're emotionally stressed, in pain, exercising, etc. How else are you supposed to know what your body is up to? We only have a meter that tells us what our BGLs are.... that's our tool to assist us to live a healthy life.

The question of when to test must vary with the length of time the sufferer has been diagnosed and whether BG's are managed well. When deciding what food is good for you then - ok test more regularly until you find the diet that suits you best. For established, well controlled diabetics the test both before and two hours post prandial is to let your doctor see how well you body is responding to present medication. If, over a few days, your levels are too high but the diet is correct, he will be looking to increase controls. So there are two reasons for testing with different motives.

There are many reasons why testing may be necessary besides those mentioned Not necessarly on a regular basis of course.

When one is ill for example. It is important o know what effect illness or medication is having on your levels. I have eacrtly the same symmptoms for hyper and hypo readings , as do others.
When exercising or before or afer exercising . Before to check if you need to eat somehing in orfder o prevemnt yourself going too low and afterwards o check what effec the exercise has had on your levels. You can also tell which forms of exercise are most beneficial for your bg by doing this.

keeping a record of times beween meals and he effec his has help to ge better control and it is possible to learn to manage the dawn phenomenon too. You can also discover how you are afffected by temperaure. _ I know hat I was amazed to discover the exent o which cold weather affected my bgs. this enabled me o avoid hypos when taking my daily walk in the winter.

I am sure here are plenty of other ways in which meters help us to control our bg levels. Even if t is not necessary to test for these hings all the time it is important o have he means of testing if necessary.

Up until fairly recenly . although T2 were discouraged from esing on a egulr basis hey were sill advised o es if ill or o check how a new medicaion affeced them. Apparenly those hings are no longer important.

I've tested long enough to know that my problem is the Dawn Phenomenon and if the Metformin gets that down early (question of timing) then I produce enough insulin to cope with the low carb load my body gets at lunch and dinner. When I reduced the amount of carbs from 100g per day to 50g per day to lose weight, I tested a lot and ended up with really sore bruised fingers. My GP doesn't ration me on lancets or strips but he has advised me to just test if I feel off now. However yes, it is best to test to establish your own pattern and which veg and fruit for example spike you. I can eat strawberries but not blueberries, blackberries or raspberries. I can eat carrots but not parsnips. Once you've established patterns then you can ease up a bit.

Artichoke said:

I've tested long enough to know that my problem is the Dawn Phenomenon and if the Metformin gets that down early (question of timing) then I produce enough insulin to cope with the low carb load my body gets at lunch and dinner. When I reduced the amount of carbs from 100g per day to 50g per day to lose weight, I tested a lot and ended up with really sore bruised fingers. My GP doesn't ration me on lancets or strips but he has advised me to just test if I feel off now. However yes, it is best to test to establish your own pattern and which veg and fruit for example spike you. I can eat strawberries but not blueberries, blackberries or raspberries. I can eat carrots but not parsnips. Once you've established patterns then you can ease up a bit.

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until you change medications :lol:
I test a minimum of 4 times per day... if I hypo it's a lot more than that... sometimes 12 times a day.
And my endo expects to see all my readings too... it's the first thing he asks for.
oh... I have 4 fingers I use the most... but yes, sometimes they can get sore.