Newbie and a Geek

[Vortex]

Hi All

I'm a 37 yr old guy who has just been diagnosed (a week ago) with with type 2 and attempting to control with diet and metformin. Over the past week my blood sugar has been between 11 - 20 although it has peaked today at 22.8. I'm also advised to test my ketones if I'm over 15 which so far they appear to have settled down to zero (on day of diagnosis and the following day they were off the scale).

The hospital supplied me with disposable meters and I've been in touch with a couple of manufacturers and they have said they will send me a free meter so thats one thing sorted. I've tried reducing sugar in my diet this week which is taking some getting used to and suspect I'm probably eating too much fat now. I'm awaiting appointment with dietician which I hope will give me some more pointers so I can try and get on top of things.

I'm a bit of a computer geek and have been trying to find a free program that I can download to record / track my readings and then monitor results. So I guess my first question is can any of you guys and gals suggest any ?

My second question is I have a massive sweet tooth for chocolate so can you offer any suggestions to quench it ?

Thanks is advance.

Simon

 

[sugarless sue]

Here is the link to the Communities own Lifestyle page where you can keep track of your readings etc.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/mylife/index.html

You can also download software for some of the meters which also does this.

Below is the information we give to the newly diagnosed Type 2's, hope it will help.

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics.This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid or reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating then two hours after eating you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the affect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.

As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work ! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try !!

As a Type 2 the latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.
If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

Sue.

Try eating dark chocolate. The higher the percentage the better, above 85% there are less carbs !

 

[adm]

Not free, but for £25 or so you can get the Bayer Contour USB meter ( see yur GP to get a prescription for the strips). This is the ultimate geek meter....yes I'm also a geek!

It helps you record, log and analyse your readings so that you can have educated discussions with your doctor about what's best for you. And of course prove to you the impacts of your dietary choices....

Well worth it. Looks like a big USB stick. Recharges from a USB port on your computer.

 

[Vortex]

Thanks for the help and advice.

the contour advert is on the bottom of the screen....I'm almost drooling on my keyboard at the geekiness of it.. .....do you think I need to get out more ?

 

[AndyS]

I use OnTrack on my Android handset and have to say I am very pleased with it.
More detail on the authors website of you can download in in the Droid Marketplace.
gexperts.com/products/ontrack/ontrack.asp

I went through a few online ones before I settled for this since I always have my phone and even if I dont have a data connection I can still record my values there and then.

 

[Dollyrocker]

If you don't have a 'downloadable' meter there's a website where you can log your readings , meds etc and it will generate graphs etc.

sugarstats.com you can also upload results to it via twitter. I used it for a while and thought it was prettu good

 

[DazG]

Wow you certainly are a geek arent you :lol:

Its great that you are so interested in keeping a check on things.

Im 34 and recently diagnosed also

When it comes to sweet things, ive never been into chocolate or sweets so its no big thing for me, but I did used to like a sweet cup of tea, cant have that anymore but am slowly getting used to sweeteners.

Some people have the odd piece of very dark chocolate if they have a craving. I just eat pickled jalapeno peppers, they sort out any cravings I have, and also burn my tongue making me not want to eat anything for a while afterwards.

 

[Pneu]

I have kept an excel spreadsheet for a number of years.. with a tab of each week and then details by the hour for each day.. this is now a pretty hefty beast!

I calculate all-sorts of useful (and not so useful!) information from my numbers such as unit to carb ratios, average bg's, bg's to HbA1C's, BG readings within ranges, I can give it my current BG's and a target BG and get the correct corection dose out etc...

If you like to play about then spreadsheet is the ultimate way forward! I can spend an ages analysing my results and get that last little bit of control eked out..

 

[Dippy3103]

I am using on track with my android as well, i find it very user freindly. Plus it was my favourite price as well.

 

[Chrissy2k]

Hi, I use the One Touch Ultra Easy monitor, it's free and has software you can download, you have to ask for the USB cable for it, but thats free too, it's great, you can easily upload all your data and keep track of things, I hope this is helpful,
Chrissy

 

[chrisgod]

Just come across this via search and so adding my name on as I too would love to find something I can use to record my data!

I DO have the USB add on for the Breeze BUT it will simply NOT work on either XP as I had and CERTAINLY will no work on Win7 Ultimate 64 bit as I have now!

Has anyone else used anything which may help me out?

Regards

chris

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