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non tester
- Thread starter sueharris
- Start Date
Sid Bonkers
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 3,976
- Location
- S.E.London, N.W.Kent borders
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- Customer helplines that use recorded menus that promise to put me through to the right person but never do - and being ill. Oh, and did I mention customer helplines :)
Hi Sue and welcome to the forum, I'm glad that you are happy with your progress but if you don't test how do you know things are working?
The Hb A1c blood test just shows the amount of glucose in your haemoglobin it does not show how your control is on a day to day or hour to hour basis, what I mean by that is that you could have an Ac1 of 6.2 which could be considered good but your blood sugars could be spiking to 14mmol/L or higher after food which is still dangerous but will not show up on an Ac1.
I would urge you to test at least a couple of times before and after meals, if your numbers are within N.I.C.E. guidelines then fine but you can't know that until you test. If it wasn't important to stay within N.I.C.E. guidelines they wouldnt tell diabetics to aim for them would they? The fact that your nurse tells you you dont need to test is purely down to cost and has nothing to do with your health.
Sorry if this sounds to much like a rant but I can't overstate the importance of testing to stabilise your blood glucose. Its not even something you need to do forever but till you find out how the food you eat affects your blood glucose it is the single most important thing you can do to help yourself, IMHO
Have a good look around the forum and especially read the Basic Information For Newly Diagnosed Diabetics
Kind regards
The Hb A1c blood test just shows the amount of glucose in your haemoglobin it does not show how your control is on a day to day or hour to hour basis, what I mean by that is that you could have an Ac1 of 6.2 which could be considered good but your blood sugars could be spiking to 14mmol/L or higher after food which is still dangerous but will not show up on an Ac1.
I would urge you to test at least a couple of times before and after meals, if your numbers are within N.I.C.E. guidelines then fine but you can't know that until you test. If it wasn't important to stay within N.I.C.E. guidelines they wouldnt tell diabetics to aim for them would they? The fact that your nurse tells you you dont need to test is purely down to cost and has nothing to do with your health.
Sorry if this sounds to much like a rant but I can't overstate the importance of testing to stabilise your blood glucose. Its not even something you need to do forever but till you find out how the food you eat affects your blood glucose it is the single most important thing you can do to help yourself, IMHO
Have a good look around the forum and especially read the Basic Information For Newly Diagnosed Diabetics
Kind regards
Hi Sue
I was diagnosed in December and initially i was diet control only. When I went back to see the nurse in January she said my readings were still high bloods - 7.2, cholesterol - 4.7.. I am now on metformin - 500g - once a day and simastatin 20mg - once a day. Since my initial appt with nurse in Dec - I have surprisingly lost some weight.. i was 11st 3lbs.. managed to lose some and now 10st 8lbs.. I know this is not ideal for my hight 5ft 1..still working on this!
I am not sure whether to start testing as it sounds so complicated.. with the timings of readings before or after food - how many hrs before or after..when is best time. Also being Chinese.. what foods I can and cannot eat?
Chris
I was diagnosed in December and initially i was diet control only. When I went back to see the nurse in January she said my readings were still high bloods - 7.2, cholesterol - 4.7.. I am now on metformin - 500g - once a day and simastatin 20mg - once a day. Since my initial appt with nurse in Dec - I have surprisingly lost some weight.. i was 11st 3lbs.. managed to lose some and now 10st 8lbs.. I know this is not ideal for my hight 5ft 1..still working on this!
I am not sure whether to start testing as it sounds so complicated.. with the timings of readings before or after food - how many hrs before or after..when is best time. Also being Chinese.. what foods I can and cannot eat?
Chris
Sid Bonkers
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 3,976
- Location
- S.E.London, N.W.Kent borders
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- Customer helplines that use recorded menus that promise to put me through to the right person but never do - and being ill. Oh, and did I mention customer helplines :)
Hi Chris, and welcome to the forum, the highlighted link in my answer to Sue would be a good place to start, it lists the N.I.C.E. recommendations for blood glucose levels and as for testing it is quite simple. To find out how the food you eat affects your blood glucose (bg) levels you need to test before meals and then again 2 hours after you finish eating, by this time your levels will ideally be dropping to near pre meal levels. If they are a lot higher then you would need to look at the carbohydrates in that meal and reduce them, then when you eat that same meal again repeat the two tests and see how the reductions you have made now affect your bg, if they are still too high after eating then you will need to reduce the carb content further.
Its just trial and error but pretty soon you will have a good idea of what different foods do to your bg levels. No one can predict what your carb tolerance will be, some diabetics can eat small portions of carbs with no real problem some have to cut them out almost completely to get good control, most of us will be somewhere in the middle.
With T2 diabetes insulin resistance is often reduced by losing weight, that is if you have weight to lose obviously. Also once good control is reached often a little more carb content can be added back to the diet but again this is dependant on your individual tolerance to carbs.
Hope that makes some sense
Its just trial and error but pretty soon you will have a good idea of what different foods do to your bg levels. No one can predict what your carb tolerance will be, some diabetics can eat small portions of carbs with no real problem some have to cut them out almost completely to get good control, most of us will be somewhere in the middle.
With T2 diabetes insulin resistance is often reduced by losing weight, that is if you have weight to lose obviously. Also once good control is reached often a little more carb content can be added back to the diet but again this is dependant on your individual tolerance to carbs.
Hope that makes some sense
This was really helpful - I must admit I do try ever so hard to be careful - virtually giving up alcohol apart from the odd glass of red - have to when watching "The Killing"!!!!! anyway I see my nurse in May and will def. speak to her about this as it does concern me somewhat - thanks for your sensible reply
Sue
Sue
the east man
Well-Known Member
Sue I think youll find that most T2's can consume the same amount of alcohol as an non diabetic. In fact, most say it helps lower thier BG. Obvisouly staying within the goverment guides lines :wink:sueharris said:
Eiche
Well-Known Member
But Sue, that is GOOD, not sad
Alcohol causes far too much trouble, not just for diabetics, but non diabetics too. We all know that when drinking in a social setting, we can all get a bit carried away and don't notice just how much we drink... So I think it's best to stay off the booze and have one less worry in your life
Alcohol causes far too much trouble, not just for diabetics, but non diabetics too. We all know that when drinking in a social setting, we can all get a bit carried away and don't notice just how much we drink... So I think it's best to stay off the booze and have one less worry in your life
I drink more now as a diabetic than I ever did before :shock: Mind you when I say more, I mean maybe a couple of small glasses of wine a week rather than a couple of drinks a year before. I really don't understand why there is so little choice in pubs and restaurants, especially in this day and age when every other female I know is on a diet every other week. I don't drink diet coke so find life very limited on a night out. Have started taking my own diet drinks in my bag!
Eiche
Well-Known Member
jaykay said:
Totally agree. The only "diet" drink I can stomach is coke zero, absolutely hate diet coke and pepsi pepsi! Alcohol I won't touch at all now, I'm on medication so I wouldn't anyway. I usually get a funny look when I ask for a sugar free drink and then "we only have water" How exhillerating huh LOL
