New to diabetes

[Alexdj]

Hello I’ve been diagnosed with type 2 about 2months ago trying to control it with diet and exercise as my body wouldn’t agree with the metformin tablets what is the best way for me to test my blood to see if I’m going in the right direction

 

[IanBish]

Welcome. I couldn't get on with metformin, and ditched them after a couple of weeks. That was my decision - not my doctor's. Regarding testing, test just before eating, and again two hours later. The rise in your blood glucose shouldn't be higher than 2 mmol/L and should be less than 8.5 mmol/L. I hope that helps.

 

[lovinglife]

Hello I’ve been diagnosed with type 2 about 2months ago trying to control it with diet and exercise as my body wouldn’t agree with the metformin tablets what is the best way for me to test my blood to see if I’m going in the right direction

Hi @Alexdj & welcome to the forum

The link below has some information about testing that may help, it’s also in my signature also if you scroll down my signature there may be other links that are helpful to you

Thread 'Basic information for Newly Diagnosed Diabetics'

Oct 2, 2010

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 well over 190,000 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...

• Administrator
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Newly Diagnosed

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[Pipp]

Hello and welcome, @Alexdj

You could use a meter and test strips.
Testing on waking, immediately before eating, each meal, then two hours after.
Record the blood glucose levels and what you have eaten. This provides a snapshot of the various . You will soon see how various foods affect you.

Alternatively you could use a continuous blood glucose monitor, which keeps a record, constantly, of blood glucose levels.

Here is some further information, compiled by member @Rachox , which could be of use to you.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Blood glucose meters:

HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews.

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/



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/





SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + which is quite popular:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793



The strips are to be found here:

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



If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.



Don’t forget to check the box if you have diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)



If you’d like to try a free 15 day trial of the Freestyle LIBRE 2 plus follow this link:

Sampling | Diabetes Care | Abbott



Dexcom also offer a free trial of their Dexcom one + here

The Dexcom ONE+ CGM (Continuous Glucose Montoring) system | Dexcom

 

[Alexdj]

Welcome. I couldn't get on with metformin, and ditched them after a couple of weeks. That was my decision - not my doctor's. Regarding testing, test just before eating, and again two hours later. The rise in your blood glucose shouldn't be higher than 2 mmol/L and should be less than 8.5 mmol/L. I hope that helps.

Thankyou

 

[Mark Rawlinson]

Welcome. I couldn't get on with metformin, and ditched them after a couple of weeks. That was my decision - not my doctor's. Regarding testing, test just before eating, and again two hours later. The rise in your blood glucose shouldn't be higher than 2 mmol/L and should be less than 8.5 mmol/L. I hope that helps.

I also started just with Metformin 1a day eventually built it up to 4
all ok the after a week uncontrollable diarrhoea any way sufficient to say I went back down to 1 a day with nurses agreement but did start insulin, far better results far better reading not regretted is at all

 

[There is no Spoon]

what is the best way for me to test my blood to see if I’m going in the right direction

Hi @Alexdj for me I found the old ways are the best.

Are you clothes looser, can you tighten you belt an other notch. Is the mirror looking more attractive.
If you are heading in the right direction with lower blood sugar levels you should be seeing these physical signs.

There is a lot of help in the above posts on how to test your blood sugar levels and how to spot which foods effect you, anecdotally from my experience after 2 months you should be noticing that you need to update your wardrobe.

 

[KennyA]

Hello I’ve been diagnosed with type 2 about 2months ago trying to control it with diet and exercise as my body wouldn’t agree with the metformin tablets what is the best way for me to test my blood to see if I’m going in the right direction

Hi.

In addition to what folks have said above, in my experience getting a grip of two different but complementary reasons for blood testing is useful.

The long-term "how am I doing" information comes from the HbA1c tests that the GP surgery will run (usually every six months initially). This gives an estimate (not an average) of what your BG has been over the last three months or so, although it's heavily skewed towards the last month. This test works by counting the numbers of a type of haemoglobin molecule in your red blood cells that have had a glucose molecule attached. As red blood cells live around three months or so, this gives an estimate of what your glucose levels have been doing in that time.

You can't do HbA1c tests at home, although you can pay for additional tests privately. I've never seen the need to do this. The test does have some margin of error (I've had personal experience of one HbA1c test being extremely wrong) but this should be comparatively rare.

Fingerprick tests, the sort you do yourself with a meter, are (again in my experience) most useful for testing the impact of various foods, activities, and situations on your blood glucose levels. This will show you what raises and lowers BG in the short term. Normally for testing around food, you take a baseline test immediately before eating, and then test again after two hours. You are not testing to see "how high you go". What you're really testing is how effective your insulin response was in dealing with the carb and resulting glucose in what ever you ate. That's why the ideal is that after two hours the second reading is back down to within 2mmol/l of the baseline. It will almost certainly have gone much higher in the interim, which is normal and to be expected. The peak is usually somewhere around 40-45 minutes after eating.

As an example, a small milky coffee on an empty stomach will take me from low 5s to 9.6 within 40 minutes, but I'm back to low 5s by one hour. This shows that my system is efficent at digesting the lactose in the milk (it probably helps it being hot) and also efficient enough to clear the relatively small amount of extra glucose out of my bloodstream within minutes. My system won't clear a more substantial glucose load within 2 hours, so I normally avoid eating carbs in that sort of quantity.

CGMs are really good at showing you what happens when you're not testing - eg when you're asleep, or driving, or whatever. My BG will rise and fall all the time not because of food, but because our livers are constantly making and adding glucose to the system to replace what's being used up by muscles and brain. There's little we can do to directly control what the liver gets up to, but it's good to be aware that while food is the biggest influence on BG levels, the liver is a player as well.

Best of luck.

 

[Alexdj]

Hi.

In addition to what folks have said above, in my experience getting a grip of two different but complementary reasons for blood testing is useful.

The long-term "how am I doing" information comes from the HbA1c tests that the GP surgery will run (usually every six months initially). This gives an estimate (not an average) of what your BG has been over the last three months or so, although it's heavily skewed towards the last month. This test works by counting the numbers of a type of haemoglobin molecule in your red blood cells that have had a glucose molecule attached. As red blood cells live around three months or so, this gives an estimate of what your glucose levels have been doing in that time.

You can't do HbA1c tests at home, although you can pay for additional tests privately. I've never seen the need to do this. The test does have some margin of error (I've had personal experience of one HbA1c test being extremely wrong) but this should be comparatively rare.

Fingerprick tests, the sort you do yourself with a meter, are (again in my experience) most useful for testing the impact of various foods, activities, and situations on your blood glucose levels. This will show you what raises and lowers BG in the short term. Normally for testing around food, you take a baseline test immediately before eating, and then test again after two hours. You are not testing to see "how high you go". What you're really testing is how effective your insulin response was in dealing with the carb and resulting glucose in what ever you ate. That's why the ideal is that after two hours the second reading is back down to within 2mmol/l of the baseline. It will almost certainly have gone much higher in the interim, which is normal and to be expected. The peak is usually somewhere around 40-45 minutes after eating.

As an example, a small milky coffee on an empty stomach will take me from low 5s to 9.6 within 40 minutes, but I'm back to low 5s by one hour. This shows that my system is efficent at digesting the lactose in the milk (it probably helps it being hot) and also efficient enough to clear the relatively small amount of extra glucose out of my bloodstream within minutes. My system won't clear a more substantial glucose load within 2 hours, so I normally avoid eating carbs in that sort of quantity.

CGMs are really good at showing you what happens when you're not testing - eg when you're asleep, or driving, or whatever. My BG will rise and fall all the time not because of food, but because our livers are constantly making and adding glucose to the system to replace what's being used up by muscles and brain. There's little we can do to directly control what the liver gets up to, but it's good to be aware that while food is the biggest influence on BG levels, the liver is a player as well.

Best of luck.

Thankyou very helpful