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AndyMUK

Newbie
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Was Prediabetes in 2019 with HBa1c of 43. I did make some changes to eating etc but shocked to get a HBA1c of 56 last week. Reason I got a test is due to too frequent urination. I’ve been put straight on metformin tablets.

Trying to work out how to deal with all this and modifying diet as I’d really like to reverse it if at all possible. I was told if I lose 15% weight it may reverse.

It seems to be very difficult to find a decent glucose monitor to buy - being a bit of a geek I wanted one that does Bluetooth and integrates with Apple Health. OneTouch Verio Reveal seems to do this but I can’t find them anywhere - are these meters on prescription only or something?
 
Hi.i got my hba1c down from 71 to 51 by losing 1st 4 lb.not sure about meters but someone on here will probably know.good luck.
 
My Hba1c was also 56 at diagnosis, I got a phone appointment with a dietitian. I had no symptoms at all other than usually needing a 3am pee.

It took me some time to get over the shock of the diagnosis, but while I was doing that a bit of reading suggested reducing carbohydrates and also avoiding (mostly) high GI foods. A year later my HbA1c is 46 (pre-diabetic range) and I've lost 12kg. I've been doing more exercise as well. There are some dietary low-hanging fruits, listed in the link below. I've also discovered cauliflower rice which surprised me with how acceptable it is under a spicy sauce or stir-fry.

What is the glycaemic index (GI)?

The glycaemic index (GI) is a rating system for foods containing carbohydrates. It shows how quickly each food affects your blood sugar (glucose) level when that food is eaten on its own.
www.nhs.uk
 
https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html should give you an idea of what dietary measures you can take to get your blood sugars back into the normal range. Considering your numbers, you should be back to good in to time at all. I don't know about the Verio Reveal, (I could only find a US website, and on amazon it's not available, so it may be discontinued?) but it's not the gadget you need to look at, it's the strips. If you go the dietary route, you'll need a whole lot of them. Massive amounts. And that's where the costs lie. However, if you like graphs and such... Maybe a CGM would be more up your alley to start with? Still expensive, (I think 150 for two weeks?) but they do tend to have connectivity. Still need a pricker to check in case of lows during the night as they can be false readings and need checking. If you lie on the monitor it can scream bloody murder thinking you're hypo.

Don't count on a meter on perscription for a T2, they're usually a no-go. Too many of us, we're bankrupt the NHS and their equivalents around the globe.
 
Hi, and welcome to the forum.

There are a number of different approaches you can take. Medication is one, diet is another, and within diet there are a number of options. You need to find the one that works for you.

I have had huge success with low carb and was in normal BG range within four months. Weight loss (>60lb, still losing) followed later - I'm one of those who tends to think that weight loss is associated with normal blood sugars, but follows it rather than precedes it. There's an entire thread on these forums devoted to "Success Stories" - worth a look.

I don't know the meter you mention. I'm attaching some info on UK meters compiled by a forum member @Rachox - we have no connection with any of these machines or manufacturers. Constant Glucose Monitors are more expensive but useful up to a point. I took advantage of a free trial of a Libre a bit back, but don't know if that's still possible. It gave me some information I couldn't have got from fingerpricks or A1cs. I used (and still use) a Gluco RXQ fingerprick meter. They are inexpensive themselves (mine was free) but the main costs for all meters is in the testing strips. I probably tested more in a day just after dx as I do in a week or two now.


HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews if you use this link and select the meter plus 5 packs of strips, and then add the code dcuk (all lower case) at check out you may get money off, I’m not sure if this code is still valid.

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/

Links to the strips for future orders:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/glucose-navii-blood-glucose-test-strips-50-strip-pack/

There are also discount codes for when you come to buy more strips - "navii5" and "navii10" will give you 20% off purchases of 5 packs of strips and 25% off 10 packs of strips respectively. Again I’m not sure if these codes are still valid.

Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/

Discount codes for the Code Free strips, again I haven’t used them in a while.

5 packs 264086

10 packs 975833

SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + which is quite popular however I haven’t been able to find it on their website lately.

(Old link which doesn’t work for me now but maybe works for you, if it doesn’t try the phone number below

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793 ) or Google it and you’ll find it’s available from other outlets.

The strips are to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097
 

Hi, newly diagnosed also. I’ve been using the Accu chek instant which is not the cheapest on the market @ up to £35.00 but is blue tooth and integrates with apple health quite nicely. Comes with it’s own app (my sugars) that gives you the options of including exercise,food details, carbs per meal and pics of your food which I’ve found useful. It also integrates map my run app via blue tooth if you use this program. It emails you a report each week which compares on where you were at the previous week. You can also print out graphs from within the app from whatever date set you want. Lloyds chemist have it on a 25% off price at the moment. Don’t know if it’s a general across their other shops though. The test strips work out at 25p each on a subscription from amazon. I’m guessing i pay that little more than others because use their program and blue tooth option that i found some of the others didn’t have.
Like i say newly learning all this but between my fitness pal, map my run, my sugars app and the useful people and info on here it has got my figures down and made me stick to being accountable to what i eat in 5 months.
 
Apparently apple are close to a blood glucose test in their Apple Watches without a pinprick! Watch this space!
 
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