Should I test myself?

I would but it’s your choice at the end of the day. I can’t see what harm testing would do but I can see what harm being diabetic and not knowing for a year would. Better to fix it early rather than allow damage to occur.

Hi @Orangeteddy Testing needs to be structured so that you learn what raises your blood glucose and when and also what to limit and avoid. I have been testing for 6 years since first diagnosed, I test much less now as the obvious lessons have been learnt but try to test at least full day a month to keep myself honest.

Welcome to the forum by the way from another prediabetic. Tagging @daisy1 so you can get the new member welcome post tomorrow.

I think if I were you, I'd go low carb for 3 months,then ask for another blood test,say you are worried maybe? Then depending on the outcome,you could get a meter and take it from there. Lots of good advice on this forum from people with experience.

Test .... period. No "ifs", no "buts" and watch your diet, your BMI, and exercise. Do not want you as part of this group that falls into that range before it's too late

Hi and welcome @Orangeteddy ! If you want to stay in the pre-diabetic arena you should think about what what you are eating and how that impacts on your blood sugar and insulin resistance. Testing does help you identify the foods that elevate your own BS, we all react slightly differently so it's not really a simple one size fits all equation. However a pretty reliable rule of thumb is that your BS is directly related to your carb intake and reducing carb intake keeps BS down. If you've been doing a lot of reading and research you proababy have discovered that a LCHF diet is favoured by many contributors the DCUK and is very successful for many.
There was a link (below) posted by @ringi on here today that leads to some superb videos explaining diabetes and diet and how diabetes may be reversed. Best I've seen and I've now seen many.
Best of luck.
Dave
http://blog.virtahealth.com/reversing-diabetes-101-truth-about-carbs-and-blood-sugar/

Orangeteddy said:

Hi. I've just been told I am prediabetic with a score of 45 but have been told they don't need to test me again for a year. I'm trying to do lots of reading but the nurse said I dont need to keep testing. I note lots of people here do so should I?

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Hi Orangeteddy

Welcome to the forum, I was diagnosed on the 21/11/17- my HbA1c was 42, I tested once a week on random days. I-am not going anymore now as I didn’t do anything about the readings.
My main focus is on changing my diet and exercise.
I have started the low cal low carb eight week diet plan from the book below (see photo). The portions were a bit shocking at first but it does fill me up. I also have a tbs of cider vinegar before meals or just add it to the meal.
I have started using chai seeds, barley. I have yet to try quinoa. I sometimes have nuts or a fruit in between meals
My cholesterol is also raised. I have stopped all bread, rice, cakes etc
I drink a few cups of green tea -I add a few drops of vanilla to improve the taste - tea,coffee with non fat milk, lots of water

I brisk walk every other day for at least one hour and cycle on my stationary bike indoors
I have lost six pounds an dI feel good. I aim to reverse this as soon as I can. I will ask to get tested in the next three months or so

I hope this helps

@Orangeteddy

Hello Orangeteddy and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

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 259,000 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.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.

Orangeteddy said:

Hi everyone and thanks for all the replies. I'm a complete novice at this and can think of loads of qs but will keep reading. As the general opinion here is to test my next q is what tester should I use?

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Many people on here use either the Codefree or the Tee2 because the test strips are the cheapest on the market. You can pay between about £7-50 and £30 for 50 strips, so you need to be very careful.

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/

Even non diabetics can have high readings after carby meals so testing and getting a higher result than you expect could panic you into thinking you had now got diabetes but you may never develop it .A finger prick test is only for that moment in time and cannot diagnose diabetes only a proper blood test can do that

Orangeteddy said:

Hi again everyone. A big thank you for all your replies. Clearly there's lots for me to do and learn, some of which I already so which is beneficial. I try and keep active already and last years Xmas pressie of a Fitbit is a good nag.

One massive problem for me is shift work. I work round the clock shifts and meal times cannot be planned easily because of the nature of my work. I only find out when I arrive at work when I have my break. I can and already do take food to work and I'm a great fan of home cooking so no ready meals. I don't drink or smoke - my vice is my sweet tooth. I am chocoholic and drink lots of coffee (no sugar in the coffee).

I have cut the sweet stuff completely since being told I'm prediabetic but xmas is coming and sos my holiday soon! Eek!

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Shift work won't help but can be managed with some planning on which foods to take with you to eat - preferably low carb.

Have you decided to buy a meter? This will help enormously with your food choices alongside a detailed food diary (that includes portion sizes)

Good luck, and keep asking questions.

Orangeteddy said:

Hi again everyone. A big thank you for all your replies. Clearly there's lots for me to do and learn, some of which I already so which is beneficial. I try and keep active already and last years Xmas pressie of a Fitbit is a good nag.

One massive problem for me is shift work. I work round the clock shifts and meal times cannot be planned easily because of the nature of my work. I only find out when I arrive at work when I have my break. I can and already do take food to work and I'm a great fan of home cooking so no ready meals. I don't drink or smoke - my vice is my sweet tooth. I am chocoholic and drink lots of coffee (no sugar in the coffee).

I have cut the sweet stuff completely since being told I'm prediabetic but xmas is coming and sos my holiday soon! Eek!

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Hi
Don’t despair
As you like to cook, there is some easy sweet treats you can make for diabetics using chai, avocado and cocoa etc

Orangeteddy said:

I think I will get a meter as it would be useful to know what is going on although I realise the test will only show what the status of the blood sugar is at the time of the test. I take on board the comments already made in favour of and against testing.

Regarding the sweet treats, I was wondering about maybe making some low carb flap jack style bars?

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A meter will also tell you at a glance what each meal and food choice has done to your levels by testing before you eat and 2 hours after first bite. From this you can learn which meals need a tweak or two.

Do keep letting us know how you get on. There is so much to learn, what is causing the HBA1C of 45 which equates to a home meter average of 7.4 over the 3 months before?

Orangeteddy said:

Hi again everyone. A big thank you for all your replies. Clearly there's lots for me to do and learn, some of which I already so which is beneficial. I try and keep active already and last years Xmas pressie of a Fitbit is a good nag.

One massive problem for me is shift work. I work round the clock shifts and meal times cannot be planned easily because of the nature of my work. I only find out when I arrive at work when I have my break. I can and already do take food to work and I'm a great fan of home cooking so no ready meals. I don't drink or smoke - my vice is my sweet tooth. I am chocoholic and drink lots of coffee (no sugar in the coffee).

I have cut the sweet stuff completely since being told I'm prediabetic but xmas is coming and sos my holiday soon! Eek!

Click to expand...

Congratulations on acquiring a Fitbit. I have one and find it enormously motivating. I have set myself targets for miles, steps, active minutes and floors. Having multiple targets is cunning, as I go out intending to meet eg my floors target, but when I've achieved that I see that I only need 500 steps to meet that target, so on I go, and having achieved my steps I see I only have a short way to go to meet my miles target ... Brilliant! Did you know that 10 - 20 minutes of even steady exercise AFTER a meal has a strong effect in lowering bg?