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Testing and rubbish memory

HSSS

HSSS

Expert
Messages
7,675
Location
South of England
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I constantly forget to test when I mean to.

The number of times I sit down take a couple of mouthfuls and then remember. So question one is when is it too late/how quickly does food or drink start it’s spike? Seconds or minutes? Wondering how much value there is doing it a bit late. I keep my monitor in the kitchen right where I dish meals up and still forget.

Then trying to remember the 2hr one is even worse. I sometimes remember to set my Fitbit alarm, but I even forget that a lot! How do you remember to do it?

For the record I am totally rubbish at all things like this and always have been. Eg taking tablets at regular intervals, even just daily. One of the reasons I have to make diet work for my diabetes as I’d be hopeless if I ever get to the point of needing meds.

Which all reminds me to go take a tablet I forgot earlier....see what I mean
 
Last edited:
Boo1979 said:
I dont think a few minutes (5-10) either way is going to make a massive amount of difference. The absolute figure may be say 0. something out, but then again we will all show the biggest peaks at different points in the 2 hour post prandial window and the pattern of rises is the important thing when comparing foods and their effect on our sugars
https://mysugr.com/postprandial-glucose-why-your-blood-sugar-is-so-important-after-eating/
Click to expand...
I’ve never worried too much about the after timings being exact for this reason. So long as I remember to do it 90-150mins I’m happy. Approximate is good enough for the reasons you list.

I was curious more about the before reading and how quickly the foods will set off whatever rise they will. If I don’t know where I started and do the preprandial test once I’ve already started eating it’ll show a smaller rise than actually occurs. By how much will depend on how fast glucose is metabolised from the food, and probably which food it is I guess. Maybe I need to accept a few minutes late I still better than not at all.
 
From the link I posted
“ Usually blood sugar starts to rise 10-15 minutes after a meal and reaches its peak after an hour. “
 
HSSS said:
I constantly forget to test when I mean to.

The number of times I sit down take a couple of mouthfuls and then remember. So question one is when is it too late/how quickly does food or drink start it’s spike? Seconds or minutes? Wondering how much value there is doing it a bit late. I keep my monitor in the kitchen right where I dish meals up and still forget.

Then trying to remember the 2hr one is even worse. I sometimes remember to set my Fitbit alarm, but I even forget that a lot! How do you remember to do it?

For the record I am totally rubbish at all things like this and always have been. Eg taking tablets at regular intervals, even just daily. One of the reasons I have to make diet work for my diabetes as I’d be hopeless if I ever get to the point of needing meds.

Which all reminds me to go take a tablet I forgot earlier....see what I mean
Click to expand...

I find using the alarm, or count down timer on my phone helpful. I would set the 2 hour countdown as soon as I started eating. You could do something similar?
 
I really wouldn't worry too much about getting timing out by a few minutes for either your pre-meal or post-meal tests. Over time any errors will average out as most of the time you'll get your timings pretty close to what they ought to be.
I no longer test at every meal as I've now got a pretty good idea as to how most foods I eat affect my BG and know what foods to avoid.
When I did test regularly, I'd do a BG test just before eating and then set the timer on my watch for 2 hours when I started eating and between that and kitchen and garden clocks I managed, most of the time, to do the post-meal test pretty much on time. My meter has an alarm facility that I can set but to be honest I've never bothered using it.
 
I’m not other testing every meal these days either. But when eating something different it’s as frustrating hell when I forget.

This has reassured me that a few minutes late with the premeal test won’t make much difference as I have at least 10 minutes looking at the link above.

I’ve never been too hung up on precise after meals. I’ve tried the watch/phone alarm with some successs but I forget to set it or turn it off and get distracted before reaching the monitor. Not a lot for it bar a brain transplant I think.
 
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