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T2 Frequency of Testing

thingybobby

thingybobby

Member
Messages
14
Type of diabetes
Type 2
I check my sugar every morning, or more often if I've been particularly naughty!

Levels have been all over the place through comfort eating during the Pandemic, but now range between 7-10

At a recent Medication Review, it was suggested that I test FAR LESS frequently???

How about you?
 
I check mine at least twice a day, getting up and before bed. I sometimes test more than that though if I remember!
 
Since I came off the meds, I test once every 2 or 3 days, fasting only, just to keep a check on things. Still on keto diet - I'd thought I would try different foods and see how they affected my bloods, but actually I am perfectly happy with sticking to keto.
 
If you're not taking any medication that can cause your levels to go too low, then the only reason to test is to see what your food choices are doing to your sugar levels, and to help you to decide on a diet that will give you good control.
So test just before eating and again at around 2hr's after your meal. The difference between the two results will give you an idea of how good or bad that meal was for you blood sugar.
If at 2hr's you are 2mmol or more above your pre meal level then you probably need to re think that meal, make it less carby or strike it from the menu altogether.
So at the start maybe 6 or 8 times a day, after a while you will know how your usual meals impact your levels and will only need to test if having something different or just occasionally to check that things haven’t changed and your levels are still Ok.
 
I'm still new to this so I would be testing a good few times a day but also work can dictate timing and frequency of testing. I can get lunch and dinners in work but i tend to bring in my own food that i already know doesnt spike me. When I'm trying a new recipe or food ill test 1,2 sometimes 3 hrs post meal to see if or what effect it has on my BS .hopfully Ill get to the stage of @Outlier and others in testing every other day
 
thingybobby said:
At a recent Medication Review, it was suggested that I test FAR LESS frequently???

How about you?
Click to expand...

Do you self fund? If so it's entirely up to you how often you test.

Hard for HCP's to advise you to test more often if they aren't providing strips.

You have your diabetes though so you should monitor it as often as you want.

With levels like yours I'd be testing multiple times a day especially before and after meals.
 
I test everyday, first up for a fasting bgl, then before and after meals which include breakfast, lunch, dinner.

I have been off T2 diabetic medication for several years now, and as I get subsidised strips I can test when ever I like. I like to call it recovery than remission.
 
Well, if you aren't learning from all the tests, then yes why bother?
But if you can use them to learn what foods suit and don't suit your body, then carry on testing, and adapting your food accordingly
 
I check in the morning upon waking, after my lunch and before main meal - I self fund (lots of heated comments with the dn about funding) so I self fund now ;)
 
Yes, it is beyond me why medical professionals can justify asking people with diabetes monitoring their blood glucose to test far less than what they are currently comfortable doing. It gets suggested it is financial/about funding, and nothing to do with a genuine concern for self-monitoring for an individual, and I cannot help but believe that must be correct, as nothing else makes sense.

Anyway, that being said - I self-monitor for physical activity, and emotions, and medications, as well as the obvious for food and drink choices. I find it exceedingly helpful to know what I am doing is helping, or isn't helping, or doesn't make any difference.

I can't imagine my life with this condition that is affected by so many variables, without me knowing what is going on with my blood glucose, and how I can affect it.

I would like to see a world with medical professionals asking me how helpful is self-monitoring, listening to the reply, and then they ask how many test strips could the public health system assist me by providing, and then they went ahead and provided me with that. And as the years go by those medical professionals acknowledged that providing subsidised test strips was a lot cheaper and way less misery-making than kidney dialysis, and amputations. Not to mention all the other conditons that diabetes run amok can make a lot worse - like arthritis, eye troubles... and well, we all know the lists. (And nowadays we can add death by covid, hospitalisations with covid...etc etc.)
 
thingybobby said:
I check my sugar every morning, or more often if I've been particularly naughty!

Levels have been all over the place through comfort eating during the Pandemic, but now range between 7-10

At a recent Medication Review, it was suggested that I test FAR LESS frequently???

How about you?
Click to expand...
I test in the mornings 3-4 times a week or if I’ve eaten something that’s more carby than I usually have to see the effect it has.
 
Yes, @Mike d - agreed. Optimistic indeed. But certainly best practice for diabetes care.

One of the dire warnings is that obesity and obesity related diseases threaten to cripple health care systems around the world if the food industry continues untrammeled. This is obviously 'our' disease, but also cardio vascular disease in all its glory.

I do know of a country that scores the highest in the EU in diabetes care, and that is Sweden. In Sweden - they provide as many BG test strips as you could want, as part of a self-monitoring person's treatment program.
They're on a repeat script. They come in the mail. State subsidised. So - it can happen! (ps I know most of the British isles are not in the EU - it was just a comparative measure I came across recently.)

In my home country, Aotearoa/NZ - no. I take it, the same as the UK - where test strips are being treated like pieces of gold, and self-monitoring as some kind of odd, and redundant practice for those strange type two's who actually DO 'diet and exercise', as health professinals know all to well - is the best treatment out there for the majority of type two diabetes cases. (I am not including the 20% or so that are insulin dependent, but insulin dependents need to test for at least sometimes fear of hypo reasons? I believe. Forgive me if I am wrong.)

Anyway, this is an umbrella issue of the 'how many times a day do you test?', and not directly answering the poster's question. Forgive me. I am just very interested in the adjunct issue of how those medical professionals deal with their attitude to self-monitoring (as of course I have had to deal with it too, as many of us do, endlessly fighting for support to self-monitor in one of the best ways we know how - by BG testing.)

For myself personally right now, I cannot imagine my big experiment with taking metformin without my BG testing (only 3 times a day, 4 times max, as my BGs are so newly stable). My local medical centre is very strict on how many HBA1cs I should be getting, so the daily BG tests at home is a crucial part of me knowing what is happening in my body,and with my treatment. Bizarre that this is considered wasteful and throwing gold (those pesky test strips) to the wind.
 
Personally I find the more often I test, the better my control, it’s a sign that I’m currently motivated and therefore thinking about my numbers, the opposite uses my denial, you can’t be in denial unless you test with your eyes closed, I hate finger pricks and so self funded libre for years.

edit: I apologize to speaking on the T2 thread but I was apparently T2 for years so was speaking from that perspective and if they can change my dx once, I may be T2 again one day, anyway, sorry
 
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