To test or not to test...

[DiabeticGeek]

I don't want to stir up a storm, but on other forums I use people tend not to post what they think if the more vocal people have a different opinion.

Thank you very much for posting SAE - it is really important to hear alternative views. These sorts of forums are wonderful things, but there is a real danger of being swayed by the tyranny of the majority - or even the eloquent minority for that matter!

I am interested to know what people think, and how they come to their conclusions. As you say, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I'm being a bit nosy I think

Not nosy at all - this sort of discussion is why we are here.

As for the original question as to whether or not to test - my GP didn't tell me to go easy on testing, he told me not to do it at all. He was very firm on that - it was the very first thing that he said to me after he told me that I had diabetes. He gave me reasons, but given what I have learned here and in my reading (including some of the research papers on the subject) I am quite skeptical about those reasons and have a sad suspicion that cost is the real reason.

But that's me, and everyone's different.

Absolutely - for some people testing is, no doubt, a very bad idea. Although IMO some of the research that has been widely publicized in this area is deeply flawed, one thing that it does show is that if people don't make effective use of the results then testing is, at best expensive and useless, and at worst can cause serious stress.

I started out this thread by saying that I am, both by training and by inclination, a scientist. I tend to look at problems in terms of scientific questions and if I can reduce those questions to nice simple numbers or curves on a graph then so much the better. I would worry far more about an unknown than ever I would about data - so for me any results (even really bad ones) would be less stressful than no results. The way that I view it is that if things are going well I want confirmation of that. If things are going badly I want to know so that I can fix them. If my efforts to fix them don't work I still want to know so that I can try something different.

At the moment, I am testing a lot. Not really to help me control the diabetes, but rather to help me learn about it. I am plotting BG curves after precisely defined meals, and seeing the effect of changing aspects of those meals and doing different periods and types of exercise. I am repeating these experiments so that I know how much variation to expect. Once I am confident that I know what is going on I hope to use this information to fine tune my diet and exercise regimen to me, and at that point I will probably cut the testing right back. I hope, in the long term, that I should only need to do a single fasting test in the morning - quite possibly only a couple of times a week.

That is my current thinking - but I was only diagnosed three weeks ago, so it may well change. I am learning a lot very quickly!

 

[SilverAndEbony]

I used to be a pharmaceutical analyst analysing blood samples so I'm also inclined to experiment and report the results 'properly', as our lecturers spend years training us to do!
Now I software test analyst developing scripts to check the software meets the requirements fully. Then I have to run them, but the analysis bit is much more fun :wink:
I can get rather obsessed about details so not being able to work things out is very stressful.

I just found that the whole thing was way to much for me to cope with emotionally at first - and as my diabetes nurse advised me to not test and worry about that at first. Just worry about the bigger picture in a way - starting to change my lifestyle as far as diet & exercise is concerned. And definitely not get too stressed if my best efforts didn't work as it probably meant diet and exercise probably weren't going to do it for me. Once I started my glucose levels started to improve I was advised to start testing to check they don't go 'off' again. I still get very stressed about my diet, weight, exercise, etc, etc, etc. Especially before a diabetes clinic appointment.

 

[DiabeticGeek]

I used to be a pharmaceutical analyst analysing blood samples so I'm also inclined to experiment and report the results 'properly', as our lecturers spend years training us to do!

That is exactly what I am doing now. I am trying out different meals and plotting BG curves, I do this with and without exercise at various periods after the meal and repeat the experiments until I get consistent patterns. I am looking upon testing as a tool to help me learn what is going on inside my body. It is going to take a while - once I am confident that I understand how an NHS prescribed low sugar/low fat diet is effecting me I am planning to do the same sort of thing with a low carb diet. Eventually, if I can get things well under control I hope to scale the testing right back to occasional ongoing monitoring, and only test very much if I make changes to my diet.

I just found that the whole thing was way to much for me to cope with emotionally at first - and as my diabetes nurse advised me to not test and worry about that at first. Just worry about the bigger picture in a way - starting to change my lifestyle as far as diet & exercise is concerned.

Absolutely, everyone is different. For me I would find not knowing what is going on quite intolerable. I have only been doing this for a week but already I feel much more relaxed about the whole thing - before I started testing the unknown was really getting to me.

Yesterday I saw a different diabetes nurse to the one that I had seen previously, and she was quite supportive about testing. She said that she didn't recommend it but understood why I wanted to do it and that if I found it useful then it was a good thing. Unfortunately there is no way that this practice is going to prescribe strips. Their view is that testing is not necessary for diet controlled T2s, so if I want to do it then I have to pay it. I have looked at the NICE guidelines to see if pressure could be brought to bear, but they are quite vague as to whether testing is recommended for diet controlled diabetics. For the time being I shall bite the bullet and buy my own strips.

 

[hanadr]

I believe in testing too and do so "every now and then ", because my strips are rationed. I'm a biologist and totally fail to see what the NHS has to gain by setting up diabetics to develop complications, which will cost far more than strips do.
I was told by a pharmacist though, that there was a time when it was quite common for diabetics to have more than one meter on the go and get strips for all of them. Wouldn't it be easier for them to ensure strips for ONLY one meter each? The suppliers often give out free meters to Diabetic nurses, which they can pass on to patients.
As to when to test. Dr. Lois Jovanovic has said that 1 hour after meals is better than 2, because by 2 hours the BG is dropping and the peak is an hour after the first mouthful. this must apply mostly to insulin users, but makes sense to me.
The oficial explanation is that type 2s cannot react to their meter readings so there's no point. NICE doesn't say this, but it was said on a recent BBC radio programme on diabetes, by someone who is "an expert" . Sorry can't remember his name, but he made my blood boil. Even though I contributed a bit about low carbing, I was congratulated on weightloss, which was put down to eating less. The effect of low carbing was brushed aside. They hate it that we who deal with this problem daily, know more than they do. They'd probably tell patients not to look on the internet if they thought they could get away with it. Has no-one on a PCT ever read Bernstein? the proof is in the long term success of his treatment regimes for patients, "The doctrine of small numbers" and 30 grams total carbs per day. If the Americans didn't measure fibre in with their carbohydrate, Bernstein might not ban carrots and his stuff would be perfect. It is nearly.
I'm rambling, so should stop writing. I should go eat breakfast. bacon and eggs i think