I was diagnosed in 2008 as type 2 and I have severe neuropathy in my feet and legs which lately on some days I am finding harder to cope with and the pain meds I am on don't touch it much. My question is though, my diabetic nurse has always said that there is no need to test my bs ever because the HBA1C test is enough and my last reading was 6.3. I have a meter but I have developed a fear of testing, pathetic I know but wth the dn stating it's not necessary I didn't worry. However, now I am thinking that maybe I should test and I just wondered if anyone else is in the same boat or if you think I should start checking my sugars from now on? Many thanks in advance for any replies.
Type 2 testing?
- Thread starter lrebecca
- Start Date
lrebecca said:
Hi rebecca and welcome.
Your last HBA1c of 6.3 is good but what it does not tell you is the possible highs and lows you are experiencing on a day to day basis as it is an average of your blood sugars over the preceding few months.
If I was you and had neuropathy I would certainly be testing more frequently as most of us are aware that good control will possibly improve the neuropathy. People have posted here that once they gained good control their neuropathy improved.
It is a choice that you have to make as to whether you test or not I'm afraid. :?:
CathyN
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 248
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- prejudice, racism, complacency, ignorance
Hi Rebecca
What testing appears to do for most people on this forum (including myself) is to help us to identify which foods give us those unwanted 'spikes' in our blood sugar readings. i.e when we test 2 hours after eating and the blood sugar has not returned to a good figure ( 8mmol/L or under) it is likely that we have not been able to cope with the food that we have eaten. The results help you to modify your eating; cutting out certain foods, trying smaller portions, eating more of certain foods etc. and combining the entire thing with exercise to give the best possible chance of metabolising the food effectively - so that we can be fairly confident that our blood sugar is not going into danger zones which cause complications to set in. As catherinecherub points out - the HbAlc won't highlight these occasions. This condition is life long and potentially fatal - so we need more than averages to help us understand how we're coping with it.
I have been advised not to test my BGs by a health professional. But I do - and since doing that (june onwards) I have lowered my overall BG readings and identified certain foods that cause my readings to soar into double figures. From my viewpoint, I'd like to ask a health professional to explain why I shouldn't have done that? What is wrong with taking positive action? And if it was their health and well being at stake would they not want to do everything they could to minimise the impact? You never know - with testing you may be able to reduce that 6.3 score ...... 6.3 is good, but it may go lower if you try.
In my small experience - the testing becomes easier the more you do it. Using a different finger each time/ getting the gentlest finger pricker that actually gives a good sample etc - and of course, being interested in the result because it gives you a chance to take a bit of control. These all help to make it second nature and not a big issue.
I hope you are able to make the right decision for yourself regarding whether to test or not to test. And that the pain from your neuropathy starts to ease.
Good luck xx
What testing appears to do for most people on this forum (including myself) is to help us to identify which foods give us those unwanted 'spikes' in our blood sugar readings. i.e when we test 2 hours after eating and the blood sugar has not returned to a good figure ( 8mmol/L or under) it is likely that we have not been able to cope with the food that we have eaten. The results help you to modify your eating; cutting out certain foods, trying smaller portions, eating more of certain foods etc. and combining the entire thing with exercise to give the best possible chance of metabolising the food effectively - so that we can be fairly confident that our blood sugar is not going into danger zones which cause complications to set in. As catherinecherub points out - the HbAlc won't highlight these occasions. This condition is life long and potentially fatal - so we need more than averages to help us understand how we're coping with it.
I have been advised not to test my BGs by a health professional. But I do - and since doing that (june onwards) I have lowered my overall BG readings and identified certain foods that cause my readings to soar into double figures. From my viewpoint, I'd like to ask a health professional to explain why I shouldn't have done that? What is wrong with taking positive action? And if it was their health and well being at stake would they not want to do everything they could to minimise the impact? You never know - with testing you may be able to reduce that 6.3 score ...... 6.3 is good, but it may go lower if you try.
In my small experience - the testing becomes easier the more you do it. Using a different finger each time/ getting the gentlest finger pricker that actually gives a good sample etc - and of course, being interested in the result because it gives you a chance to take a bit of control. These all help to make it second nature and not a big issue.
I hope you are able to make the right decision for yourself regarding whether to test or not to test. And that the pain from your neuropathy starts to ease.
Good luck xx
Hi Cathy,
I'm ever so sorry I didn't check often enough to see your reply until today.
I very much appreciate your advice and wholeheartedly agree with you, very well done on lowering your own BG levels.
I will look into buying my own strips if I am refused by the GP I'm with.
Thank you for your support. Kind regards.
I'm ever so sorry I didn't check often enough to see your reply until today.
I very much appreciate your advice and wholeheartedly agree with you, very well done on lowering your own BG levels.
I will look into buying my own strips if I am refused by the GP I'm with.
Thank you for your support. Kind regards.
Hi Rebecca, I would say you should be testing your blood to see what affects your food is having, as mentioned above. After a while when you know what foods are ok you can ease off and test occasionally to check things are fine or you try something new, I have tested since diagnosis in May and while my GP and nurse said don't bother, eat a normal diet along with 50% carbs? (which I never)I felt it necessary to control my BG after advise on here and researching myself, my last HBA1C was 5.4mmol and Nurse was made up with me, this was not done adhering to their methods. I use a Codefree and strips off Ebay, which helps keep the cost down and have now managed to get one pot of strips out of Nurse, not asked for another yet but will do soon.
iv been buying code free since i knew about them on here
iv just posted about testing strips today
my nurse said i only need to test at 6 monthy clinic :roll:
i was shocked after going back to self testing my blood sugars were going down to 1.9
dr yesterday had the nerve to say
how do you react to 1.9
like dying i said
now at least im going to get them free
as i dont know how many im allowed i shall keep a supply of code free
and not mention it to the dr
i get my code free of amazone
take care
iv just posted about testing strips today
my nurse said i only need to test at 6 monthy clinic :roll:
i was shocked after going back to self testing my blood sugars were going down to 1.9
dr yesterday had the nerve to say
how do you react to 1.9
like dying i said
now at least im going to get them free
as i dont know how many im allowed i shall keep a supply of code free
and not mention it to the dr
i get my code free of amazone
take care
Thank you very much for your replies, it is very much appreciated.
Thank you for your advice Roy. I got a free meter off this website a while ago and I have started to use it, I will also have to request strips from my GP's but they have never advised testing at all. Thanks to this site and advice I have read, I now realise that I do need to be informed and testing is the only way to be certain.
Thank you for your advice Roy. I got a free meter off this website a while ago and I have started to use it, I will also have to request strips from my GP's but they have never advised testing at all. Thanks to this site and advice I have read, I now realise that I do need to be informed and testing is the only way to be certain.
I'm a newly diagnosed T2 and the first thing I did was buy myself a meter and start testing before and after eating and then a couple of hours afterwards to identify which foods I have a problem with and which foods I'm OK with. I haven't even bothered telling my GP or DN that I test myself as I'd probably get the response that most people get - 'there's no need'.
My view is that there may be no need as far as THEY'RE concerned but there IS a need where I AM concerned and that's what people need to remember. The NHS has one agenda and you have yours. The two aren't necessarily the same. NHS 'need' is based on financial constraints - eg, too many people testing themselves might overwhelm the NHS with an influx of diabetics they can't cope with. A patient's need is to find out how their own body is working and reacting to various things so that they can better manage their own condition.
Personally I think EVERYONE should test their BG levels regularly either at the pharmacy or at home because the NHS is now banging on about the huge wave of diabetes that's threatening its resources as if its OUR FAULT.
Perhaps all the stupid NHS dietary advice that we've been encouraged to follow like sheep has actually helped CAUSE this wave of diabetes so I don't think we should worry about upsetting our DNs by testing ourselves.
Also, it annoys me that the NHS seems to spend endless amounts of money and resources on searching for a cure for cancer and on detecting cancer yet diabetes is left on the back burner. Everywhere you look there's a mobile breast screening bus churning out glossy pamphlets and leaflets and offering on the spot testing.
Why can't the same be done for on the spot diabetes tests? Why don't we see mobile diabetes testing buses? Why are there 850,000 undiagnosed diabetics walking around? Why are some medical conditions deemed to be worthy of pouring money into while others aren't?
And why are diabetics more likely to be made to feel guilty for being overweight and bringing it on themselves when it's a problem with insulin production or effectiveness that causes it? I think it would be unheard of for a cancer patient being tut tutted at for causing their own condition so why do some NHS professionals think it's OK to tut tut at diabetics?
My view is that there may be no need as far as THEY'RE concerned but there IS a need where I AM concerned and that's what people need to remember. The NHS has one agenda and you have yours. The two aren't necessarily the same. NHS 'need' is based on financial constraints - eg, too many people testing themselves might overwhelm the NHS with an influx of diabetics they can't cope with. A patient's need is to find out how their own body is working and reacting to various things so that they can better manage their own condition.
Personally I think EVERYONE should test their BG levels regularly either at the pharmacy or at home because the NHS is now banging on about the huge wave of diabetes that's threatening its resources as if its OUR FAULT.
Perhaps all the stupid NHS dietary advice that we've been encouraged to follow like sheep has actually helped CAUSE this wave of diabetes so I don't think we should worry about upsetting our DNs by testing ourselves.
Also, it annoys me that the NHS seems to spend endless amounts of money and resources on searching for a cure for cancer and on detecting cancer yet diabetes is left on the back burner. Everywhere you look there's a mobile breast screening bus churning out glossy pamphlets and leaflets and offering on the spot testing.
Why can't the same be done for on the spot diabetes tests? Why don't we see mobile diabetes testing buses? Why are there 850,000 undiagnosed diabetics walking around? Why are some medical conditions deemed to be worthy of pouring money into while others aren't?
And why are diabetics more likely to be made to feel guilty for being overweight and bringing it on themselves when it's a problem with insulin production or effectiveness that causes it? I think it would be unheard of for a cancer patient being tut tutted at for causing their own condition so why do some NHS professionals think it's OK to tut tut at diabetics?
This sounds about right my doctor and nurse tell me not to test as not needed. they then send me to a dietician and they tell me to test 2hrs before a meal and two hrs after as that way i will be able to find out whay foods affect me so go back to the doctor for a perscrition to be told the dieticiaon is wrong HOW DOERS that work
Very well expressed Grace, I couldn't agree more. I am newly diagnosed T2 as well and I feel my GP surgery have not been very helpful, after diagnosis all i was given was a one page leaflet and the advice that I could eat what i like but to have say just half a donut instead of a whole one!!! Since reading this site I realise how stupid and dangerous that advice is. They did send me for retinopathy and i am booked for a Desmond Day in a couple of months but i have had no tests for kidneys or any checks on my feet. Like others on this site, when i asked about testing, they said there was no need. I really feel that you have to take responsibility for your own care otherwise we are doomed.
