• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

times of testing and levels

In general it's best to test a bit randomly at first just check your levels are well controledd throughout the day.

I've fallen into something of a pattern now after a couple fo months, I test

Morning
Just before lunch 1200
Just before tea 1800
Just before supper 2100

There some days when i've only tested once and I'm not too obsessive about it as my diet is fairly stable now.

if I eat something for the first time, I tend to over-test and do it at half hour intervals for two to three hours.
 
Hi markymark,

The Guv's timings are a good piece of advice. Many people like to test 2 hours after they have eaten to see how certain foods have affected them. I do this because I use insulin and I need to know my bs is on track at all times - if I wait till just before the next meal my levels may drop too far, but if I do it after 2 hours I can eat somethng if necessary to get back in the 'zone'.
Your levels should be as close as possible to those of a non-diabetic. The further you stray, the greater the risks. A non-diabetics bs will remain pretty constantly in a narrow range between 4.5 and 5.5 mmol/l and this is the gold medal position, to coin a current phrase!

All the best,

fergus
 
My D. N. reckons that her own levels go up as high as 9 and as low as 3 and she is non-diabetic. I was surprised at those levels when she told me. Mind you this is the same D.N. who thinks I should only test once a day on insulin. :roll:
 
The DN is right enough.

At http://www.dsolve.com there is a slide show of what a team of researchers found when they put continuous glucose monitors on healthy non diabetics aged from 25-35.

The hbaic average was 5.0 and ranged from 4.5-5.5
The people tested had BMIs 20-25
The blood sugars ranged from 3.3-10.4

The higher end of the scale was after breakfast. Non diabetics have a dawn phenomenon too. Most of the readings were lower than this.
 
Thank you for posting that information Katherine.Fortunately my readings these days are hugely better than I got on high carb. diet but, if we do swing about a bit but still remain within those levels, is that acceptable or is the tighter control that the best low-carbers achieve much more beneficial? I was originally told by my D.N. that I should aim for readings between 4 - 8 but when I offered my record book up for inspection at annual check-up's she didn't even want to look at it.I'm really trying to get on top of my diabetes now but I wish I'd asked more questions at the outset.
 
So im testing before breakfast every day my 14 day avarage is 6.9 also 30 day average is 6.9 my eating times are 7am for breakfast 10am snack 1pm dinner and supper 6pm so when should i be testing and what levels should i be heading for?

ps i take x1 metformin and x1 glitzide after supper.

Help
 
More useful in my view to look at trends rather than just base data and simple average -although a 7 day moving average can also be useful. Easy to do if you have a spreadsheet available. If you don't, download Open Office, its free.

I tested twice daily, before breakfast and before my evening meal. (As my start figure was 14.4, I marked a target level on the graph and I also marked the 4-6 range and 4.5-5.6 range.) My goal was to be below 7 in 3 months. Key the data in 2 streams, no need to date mark but it is useful to have day number to show elapsed time on the graphics.

Select and apply a trend analysis on each data stream. Project the trend lines for the sets of data about 15 days forward. The slope of the trend line shows if you are moving towards or away from the target range, or flattening out. As the data accumulates you can then look at the last 30 days, last 60 days as well as all data graphic. Looking towards a target is more easy to interpret how you are progressing than looking at short term numbers or crude averages.
 
Back
Top