unsure readings

carlos.

The best time to test depends on what you want to know and how tightly you need to control your BG levels.
The usual thing is to test in the morning when you surface as a start to your day. Then I normally test 2hrs after meals.

If I am trying something new in my diet, I test before meal, then at 1, 2, and 3 hr intervals so that I know exactly what effect it has on my BG. Dependent on the result - I can add or subtract that meal from my list.
Certainly some of the levels you quote are low. You need to perhaps have a snack before bed and during the day to bring things to more acceptable levels.

Current NICE targets : Fasting BG. No more than 7mmol/l
Before meals. Between 4 - 7 mmol/l
2 Hrs after meals. No more than 8.5 mmol/l

Hope this helps.
Ken

Hi Carlos,

The recommended test times are usually before a meal, then 1 hour after, then 2 hours after. The theory is that:
- the before test gives you your benchmark to compare the other tests against
- at 1 hour the food you have eaten will have pushed your BS to about it's highest level
- at 2 hours your BS will be showing a distinct drop back toward the start point.
If you want to do a further test then at 3 hours you should be back to where you started.

That's the theory, and it is a good general guide, but it's only an approximation and can be thrown out by several things. If the carbs in your meal were mostly high GI then your BS will have peaked in much less than an hour, if they were very low GI they could still be being converted into glucose 2 hours after eating. Fat also slows down the rate of conversion into glucose and absorbtion into the blood stream, so a meal containing a high fat content can make even a high GI food act more like a low GI food.

This is why you can sometimes get unexpected results from the tests - after a lowish 1 hour test you might think "that food didn't have as bad an effect as I thought it might" - but that could be simply because it hasn't finished converting into sugar after 1 hour. Similarly you could be surprised at a high 2 hour test, when what you are seeing is something that has only just peaked at 2 hours.

Hi Carlos.

A FULL explanation of a Protein Test is at the end of this link:

http://www.labtestsonline.org/understan ... /test.html

are they arranging it for you ?

Ken

Been a while since my last one - that took no more than a week as it wasn't urgent.

As for Metformin' after Diet and Lifestyle it is just the first step in Diabetes treatment. Hopefully you will be able to stop or slow progression with what you have learned on here.

Ken

carlos wrote:
yes true she just said i shouldnt have been taking them at the same time and it sounded like i was taking to much at once .



As she is responsible for any instructions as to when and how many to take that's a bit rich. :?

As for your Dr's appointment - why cancel. You can ask about any results from the test/s and just confirm to her the readings are now better, hopefully. Just think what you are not sure about and ask - you can always come back here for more advice.

Cheers
Ken

Hi Carlos,

I see you mentioned that your metformin are SR. These remain active for 12 hours so if you take one with breakfast and one with evening meal, then you are getting 24 hour coverage. If you take them both at night then they will be working away through the night (when you don't eat anything) but not the next day, so they wouldn't help your breakfast or lunch.

WEll done Carlos
I've been on Metformin for 6 years and take 2 of the normal 500s. One in morning and one in the evening.

Carlos.

You could try upping the carbs and/or calories a bit as you appear to be gaining control of Bg readings.

Ken

Hi carlos.

Can you tell us just what exactly do you have for breakfast when this happens ?
It might help to pin this one down.

Also what is your Bg before breakfast, 1 hr and 2 hrs after as well.

cheers

Ken

carlos.

Not sure if I have given you this site to look ar before ? It shows foods/snacks as a list with carbs and GI levels. It may be that although what you are eating is low in carbs it may be high GI. You can compare what you eat with the lists.

Link: http://glycaemicindex.com/

I know from my own experience I have to avoid cereal bars , rice cakes and definitely Hot Cross Buns !! :wink: I get spikes with ALL of them.

Take a look, you can print the lists out for quick reference.

Ken

More breakfast ideas here

http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/ ... fasts.html

I favour mainly fish (or meat) with salad, and a maximum of two oatcakes (15g carbs or less), some people can't handle much in the way of carbs at all at that time of day when insulin resistance is highest. By evening I can handle 30 - 50g carbs without spiking, many people have even more of a slope during the day.