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Testing and Counting, new to me.

MrSteveVee

MrSteveVee

Member
Messages
12
Location
UK
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Everything I have to Eat!
Hi all,

Thanks for the welcome in my introductory post and just a couple of questions if I may.

Although my Sugar levels are fairly well controlled (6.4 at last check-up) I often experience that horrid headachy, thinking through cotton wool, slugish memory feelings in the afternoons. So I convinced the docs to fund me for some self testing, and I now have 50 strips as a one off.

Now the first question is, how best to ration my meagre supply of testing strips to get the best results.

Mon-Fri I follow the same basic diet. Porridge for brekies, mid day Banana, 2 sarnies (white) for lunch, apple for mid afternoon and dinner of potatoes, meat and two veg. Saturdays, normally a fried breakfast (yea I know!!), fruit later and an evening meal that varies and a few beers in the evening. Sundays Porridge, Sunday roast (slurp!!) and beans on toast for tea. (Now I know the weekends is bad, but if we don have some pleasure in life, whets the point!)

So the testing frequency I set up for the last week was.

Mon-Fri 11:45 (lunch is 12:00)
2:45
No test first thing as I always have the same breakfast

sat 13:00 ( check if I need more than just a bit of fruit to last till I the main meal at 17:30)
Sun 13:30 (Roast dins at 14:00)

Suggestions on improvement to get the best results would be appreciated. As mentioned, this I was more interested in trying to prevent the mon-fri afternoon feeling bad and memory/concentration problems as I work in IT running a small team and need to be on the ball

The second question is. I can see from other posts that I need to start counting carbs (I currently check sugar only and if the packet states more than 5g per 100g it is taboo). But, and this is the complicated bit. It appears that as well as carbs there is the absorption rate. So the question is, can you point me to a good book(s)/web site/source of info that gives both the carbs and absorption rates so that I can see what is best to plan into a diet

Thanks all, appreciate your time

Steve V
 
I appreciate that you only have a limited supply of strips but you need to test frequently in the early stages to have any meaningful data. You may have to get yourself some more strips, prescribed or purchased.........do NOT rely on a HbA1c reading as this is just an average over 3 months and misses all the highs and lows each day. HbA1c is only a trend indicator.

What we recommend is testing on waking......this gives you a baseline for the day. Then a test immediately before your meals, again a baseline to see how a food later affects your Bg levels. This means that you then need to test after 2 hrs to see what the levels are then.......it should be almost the same as the pre-meal reading. If not and it is high then that particular food is something to avoid or reduce portion size. A test just prior to bedtime will let you know how the overnight Bg levels are, possible Dawn Phenomenon effects when compared to the waking test.

That's what we recommend for at least a couple of weeks to see what is happening. I'm not sure if you have read the Basic Advice for Newly Diagnosed that Sue and I put together. This is in the Greetings and Introductions section here. That tells you what to do and about carbs etc.

Most of the foods you are mentioning are all carb laden so will do your Bg levels no favours at all. Get yourself a carb counter book and check the levels of the foods that you like, eliminate any that are too high in carbs and have a detrimental effect on Bg levels.

Forget 'sugars'.....it's total carbs you need to count, that includes any sugars. By only checking sugar content it gives a totally misleading reading for a Diabetic. As to how different foods are absorbed that all depends on the fats in them etc.....everybody is different in how long and how much the absorption of the carbs takes. There is no standard figure to refer to. Testing will tell you the answers.

Once you have plenty of data to refer to then you can stop testing so often, until then it's test, test, test.........
 
Hi Cugila,

Appreciate the reply, thanks it's been helpful. I understand the message and will be buying my own strips to continue checking but 8 times a day is not viable financially, hence the original question on the best test pattern for a limited supply.

If I wanted to cut down on the measurements I could for example omit the last thing at night and first thing in morning tests on the assumption that these are the least important as a pre-lunch test will be made and an after dinner test also made. that is still 6 per day so my meagre supply will soon dwindle :-(

I did notice a while back when I was just lurking on the forums that one of the strip manufacturers supplied 50 for about 12 GBP for 50 so I will probably hunt these down to use as soon as the current ones are used, however 100 strips per month would be about the max financially which equates to 3.5 tests per day for an average 28 days. See my dilemma?

I know what your answer is, I must test properly to get the correct results. Cannot disagree with this. But on one hand we have the doctors that state during my six years (5 years diet, one year oral Matformin 500 X 2) I have been under or just over (when I switched to Oral) the 7.0 threshold so according to them I am doing fine.
On the other hand I know I am spiking cos I often feel cr*p in the afternoons affecting my thinking and memory. And the third hand (must be a mutant!) is the one holding the finance strings (ahhh must be the wife!!!) that says we cannot purchase what is needed.

Bit of a pickle really! Not arguing with you, I know you are right, just stating things as they are at the moment. So current thinking was to focus on the noticeable problem area of the afternoon and test lunch times only with the view to testing (say) mornings once I have accumulated enough lunch time data. Or maybe a I should start in the mornings and work slowly forward…Hmm!

As for the carb counting. Yes I did read the guidelines - ta, very good, and yes I will start to carb count, I shall be looking in waterstones for a book this weekend. Appreciate the statement you made that the absorption rate is related to the fat content and the persons metabolism. Pretty obvious really and I feel a twit for asking it . lol (embarrassed blush).

Again appreciate your time and apologies for the ramblings. I know there is no correct answer anyone can give, its just good to put the problems down to chew over and listen to others in similar circumstances opinions.

Take care

Steve V
 
Steve.
It makes my blood boil at some of the things that our HCP's state......everything is usually down to cost and the Patient doesn't get much of a chance. I'm fortunate in that I have a great HCP and Endo at the Diabetes Clinic near me. Nothing is too much trouble and cost is NOT an issue.

I understand where you are coming from regarding the frequency and your own costs.....thing is what cost do you put on your health ? I would rather do without a few things and get a few more strips if it kept me complication free in the future. Just a thought.

Anyway, I think the cheapest strips possibly were Abbot but not sure about that. Many buy them from Ebay at much reduced cost.

As for testing ....at least do the 2 hrs after meals if nothing else. That will be a good indicator.
 
Thanks for the tips and advice Cugila,

Steve V
 
Make sure that you wash your hands thouroughly before you test as resedue on your fingers when testing will taint your test result! :)
 
Steve,
I know 50 strips isn't many to be working with but once you start testing you will find that you progressively need less.
You say you have the same sort of food each day so in theory if you test 8 times on one day that should give you a good indicator what the other similar days will be like. Then of course do the tests at the weekend for your differing meals. You don't need to test each time if you eat the same food and you know what it does to you.
I bought my own meter and strips when I was diagnosed and started a food diary (excel spreadsheet) filling in each meal and the pre and post readings. Next visit to the nurse I showed her what I was doing and she then prescribed me test strips for my meter so I could continue controlling my levels. So if you show you are keen and taking control (and prepared to finance some strips) they may meet you half way and let you have some.
Hope this helps
Angie
 
Angie/All

Good advice - ta. I think I am convinced and am now embarking on a more stringent test pattern than I first envisaged. I have been researching on this forum and the web, looks like there is a strip manufacturer GlocosRX and the strips are £12 per 50, still pricey but far less than the £27 per 50 for the accu-checks I currently have.

I have also had a good think about what it is I need to achieve as after reading this forum and some random testing I was starting to run round in panic convinced that the Diabetes that I thought I had under control for the last 6 years was in fact out of control and I was doomed!

So what is it I need to achieve. Well for the last six years I have managed to keep under the 7.0 threshold, only going onto Metformin a year ago as the desiese progress and my current diet could no longer control it, so from the Doctors point of view, aI am doing very well. What I do experience however is (mainly) afternoon feelings of headachy, hard to think and memory recall problems, not good for an IT team lead! So this is what I need to address first

I shall now test as recommended by Cugila. That's 7 (How did I count 8...Ahhh cos I work in IT lol) tests a day. as per you suggestion I will put this into a spreadsheet along with the carb counts for the food I consume and collect this data before deciding on the next steps

Speaking of Carbs, I also read Viv's diets and checked other publications elsewhere on the web and came to the conclusion that the breakfast I have stuck to on docs orders of Porridge or Wheatabix is in fact terrible and I should be eating bacon and sausages! And further more, If I told the doctor that I had switched to this new diet he would go mad and beat me with repeatedly with his stethoscope!! This conclusion also sent me into a right state concluding that all I could live on for now on is a lettuce leaf!

But, a deep (but shaky) breath later, as mentioned I will first get some data then start looking on how to cure the afternoon problems followed by a longer term better diet altogether.

On a final note, and for anyone that has managed to read this far without falling asleep!! I started the testing pattern as of yesterday, and already I am confused (yet again) If I look at the evening meal. Prior to the meal the reading was 6.3. I had a belated valentines dinner so ate lots of what I shouldn't i.e loads of potatoes etc. 2 hours later it read 10.1. a couple more hours, before I went to bed it was back down to 6.3. This morning before breakfast it was back up to 8.0. How can this happen. I thought it should go down over night not up!!

Am I testing wrong?? Wrong finger perhaps? maybe I need to throw the meter away and just wait till I purchase a new meter and strips from GlucosRX before starting? maybe I sleepwalk and raid the fridge,Is this sort of readings possible??

Very confused again. Thought I was in control and knew what I was doing but in fact seem to be totally out of control......Aghhhhh (Buries head in sand and refuses to look at the world!)

thanks for listening

Steve V
 
Did you have alcohol with your Valentine's dinner? That could have caused your bg levels to dip during the night, so your liver might have pushed out more glucose to compensate, giving you a higher morning reading.

My morning readings are often the highest of the day - apparently the liver pumps out a bit of glucose first thing to get us in a state to function properly!

I'm sure someone will come along who understands it better than I do, and will explain properly to us both! :wink:

Viv :)
 
Steve.
Your bedtime reading and the morning reading will almost certainly NEVER be the same, as Viv said during the night your body will 'liver dump' if the level drops too low or you may get the Dawn Phenomenon effect which is similar just preparing you for the day ahead. A normal reaction.

It also all depends on when you tested in the morning, was it immediately on waking or some time later before breakfast ? Any activity between waking and testing can also elevate your Bg levels without you eating a thing !

Some people find a small carby snack before bedtime helps to kep the levels more constant throughout the night and may then avoid the 'liver dump' or the DP effect. Some of us also have to eat as soon as we get up to ensure the DP doesn't take over and raise levels. Trial and error really.

Don't get bothered about it.....Diabetes control is not an exact science.......
 
Viv/Cugla,

Thanks for the replies, theyare most helpful. I will stop getting so paranoid now and just settle down to recording daily readings whilst making pretty lanced patterns in my fingertips lol

Have a good evening

Steve V
 
Hi Steve

You shouldn't be using your fingertips to test your blood, use the sides of your fingers by your nails ...
 
Ahhh that's the secret. Thanks for the tip Denise

Steve V
 
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