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- Type of diabetes
- I reversed my Type 2
- Treatment type
- I do not have diabetes
Dear Andrew, we have spoken before about the fact my doctor did not want me to test with a metre and that you and others on the forum thought that I should. The problem is I have purchased the metre can do the prick test but have no idea what the results mean. Can you or anyone else give me an overview. Panic is starting to set in, I am a need to know kind of person so that I can make the necessary changes. Thanks again.
So here we go... In my words and as I experience
If you didn't eat (ie fasting) then your body should keep you somewhere between 3.8 mmol/l and 5.4 mmol/l (depends on how long and what you ate). This is known as your fasting level. My base level is 4.8 mmol/l with small deviation (about +- 0.3mmo;/l ) and if I ate a lot of protein then I will go to 5.4 mmol/l. When you eat your blood glucose levels rise and this starts from about 30 minutes after eating rising until a peak value and then falling. This rise period peak and fall period are all affected by what you have eaten, how much exercise you have done, how you are feeling, etc. Normally you would peak at somewhere between 7.0 and 8.5 but this varies again by individual and largely on how this meal compared to others in previous days. If you had had a lot of carbohydrates compared to the previous days then you will peak higher. Generally you shouldn't see peaks much above 10 but I have read 11.1 is some form of cut off if the body is working correctly (can't remember source).
After you peak (low fat meals will be at about an hour and high fat anything from 90 mins to 150 mins - well that is true for me) your Blood glucose levels fall towards your baseline level (generally you will be there at 5 hours but not always - again dependent on many factors esp protein quantity).
The 2 hour (and 3 hour) provide a measure of how well you return back to normal.
Important things to remember are:
1. Don't Panic over readings
2. Meters have an inbuilt inaccuracy of 10 to 15% (read the meters/strips leaflets). So a reading of 6 could easily be 6.6 or 5.5
3. Because of all the variables you are looking for trends and behaviours and not always exact numbers.
4. Once you understand your bodies reactions you only need to test sparingly to have a good grounding on how it is behaving
5. Once a month do a test meal to ensure you still see what you would expect to see. When you are at this stage I would say an HbA1c alone would be good enough except the NHS do these yearly which is pointless.
6. To get to understand how you react do some extensive testing every 30 mins or more frequent with various meals. You only need to do this a few times.