Should I get a blood glucose meter?

[Lawrencepa]

I have no idea what to get or how to get started in measuring my blood sugar. I've been putting it off because I don't like the thought of pricking my finger all the time. I always thought of my prediabetes as something I can just counteract by losing some weight and eating right. Do I really need to get my own kit or is it enough to do LCHF with occasional GP blood test?

 

[Grateful]

That is your personal choice.

A lot of people on this forum will say that you cannot get good control of your blood glucose unless you know exactly which foods spike your BG (because we are all different). They have a very good point.

I chose to do things differently. I use the labels on the food, and information from places like dietdoctor.com, to add up the daily grams of carbs. This has worked very well for me, and is in line with the recommendations of conventional medicine for diet-controlled T2s or prediabetics.

 

[Guzzler]

Yes. In my own opinion a glucometer is an essential piece of kit. I was also not keen on the thought of finger pricking every day but as I only just feel the lancet rather than being hurt by it I got used to it very quickly.
There are lots of hidden carbs we have to watch out for i.e in sauces etc but there is the fact that we all may not react to a particular food in exactly the same way. A little of a food may spike me but not you, how will you know if you are not testing?

 

[Bluetit1802]

If you decide to go ahead, and in my opinion I believe you should, the 2 popular meters on here are the Codefree and the Tee2 because they have the cheapest strips. You only need one meter but you need thousands of strips, so you need to check the price of replacement strips before you buy. They can range from about £7-50 for 50 up to about £30 for 50.

You can't buy them in pharmacies.

Try here for the Codefree meter
http://homehealth-uk.com/product-category/blood-glucose/blood-glucose-monitor/

and here for the extra strips
http://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/sd-codefree-test-strips-to-be-used-only-with-the-sd-monitor/

There are discount codes if you buy in bulk.
5 packs 264086
10 packs 975833

The Tee2 is here and the meter is free.
http://spirit-healthcare.co.uk/product/tee2-blood-glucose-meter/

 

[Geordie_P]

I think you should get one, and then use it as you see fit. They're much easier to use than I first expected, and the finger-pricking is a pretty much a painless non-issue.

I do think your point about losing weight and eating right is quite valid- better you do that and don't test, than you test all the time and don't take care of the fundamentals, but then, why not try to lose weight and eat right, and test to see how you are doing? I don't test myself much, but that's because I've tested most foods and drinks I come across and I know what affects me. If anything anomalous happens though, I like to do a test and get some data- A few months ago I had a bad fall- took a test- didn't spike me at all- that's worth knowing (my diabetic dad had a fall and his bg went up to 20 something). I went out last weekend and had some carby food- thought it would be OK coz I had some gin to keep my bloods down. 2 hrs later, 9 point something BG, so I know not to try that again.

Like I say, I'm much less of a 'tester' than most on this site, but I don't see any disadvantage to having an accu-check or something for your reference