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Mondays child
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18-06-2017, 07:50 PM
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Advise please on self testing blood glucose.

Hi
I was diagnosed ages ago of having type 2 diabetes
Between having to change doctors practices due to moving to a new area and my own bad attitude of " oh just another thing they have found wrong with me " nothing was really done.
However I had an appointment with a new diabetes nurse who really explained things to me. The outcome was that I drastically changed my diet. Sugar is now a thing of the past as is sweets, biscuits, cakes etc which was hard for me as I drank coffee and tea with 3/4 spoons of sugar. The nurse has put me on 2 different meds and gave me blood glucose monitor which has me a little confused. I am taking readings before meals and two hours afterwards but so far they don't seem to make sense.
I am ranging between 20.0 to 10.7 over the first two days but the little booklet that came with the tester says the optimal target is between 4.0 to 8.0. Does anyone here use these testers. Where am I going wrong.
The other thing the nurse said was that she could improve my problems immediately if I would inject. Is this true as I'm a little frightened of needles, I don't even look when they take blood, will injecting hurt or do you get used to it. I've got so many questions about this but my appointments with the nurse are so short.
From an Extremely worried Mondays child type 2 person.
Gravitas
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18-06-2017, 07:53 PM
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Re: Advise please on self testing blood glucose.

You must be on medication?
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18-06-2017, 07:58 PM
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Re: Advise please on self testing blood glucose.

MC, tried to PM you but couldn't.

There are several members on here who have type 2 diabetes and should be able to help you with your questions.
Just be patient for a couple of days until they pop in and read your thread, and I'm pretty sure you will get some information.

In the meantime, may I suggest you jot down any questions as they come to you, then you can take that with you to your next nurse's visit, so's you won't forget anything.
Good luck.
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18-06-2017, 08:13 PM
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Re: Advise please on self testing blood glucose.

Hi Mondays Child,

Are you on Metformin tablets?

You should test your blood before breakfast, then again before lunch, then before evening meal and again before bed.

As long as you don't go under 4.0 or over 9.0 you should be fine.


If you do have to go on Insulin Injection, you will be fine, it doesn't hurt, the blood sugar testing hurts more then the Injections.
Gravitas
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18-06-2017, 08:55 PM
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Re: Advise please on self testing blood glucose.

I find it odd so many people can put 3 or 4 spoons of sugar in a cup of tea or coffee. And drink high sugar pop.

I've not had sugar in the house since I married at 26.
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18-06-2017, 09:13 PM
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Re: Advise please on self testing blood glucose.

It's not always caused by sugar intake gravitas. It's genetic too. My father had it and died from the complications. He wasn't eating takeaways or gorging himself on cream cakes. He did like rich food though - lots of meat, full fat milk, butter, but he wasn't overweight. My mum has it now but the doctor hasn't given her any advice on diet. Apparently it can be
a consequence of old age. She hasn't had a rich diet, or a very high fat one. She's never drank or smoked. I'm at high risk of developing it, my older brother has. I'm not overweight and I've cut down on sugar, I exercise, but the genes are against you.
Gravitas
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18-06-2017, 09:33 PM
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Re: Advise please on self testing blood glucose.

Originally Posted by AnnieS ->
It's not always caused by sugar intake gravitas. It's genetic too. My father had it and died from the complications. He wasn't eating takeaways or gorging himself on cream cakes. He did like rich food though - lots of meat, full fat milk, butter, but he wasn't overweight. My mum has it now but the doctor hasn't given her any advice on diet. Apparently it can be
a consequence of old age. She hasn't had a rich diet, or a very high fat one. She's never drank or smoked. I'm at high risk of developing it, my older brother has. I'm not overweight and I've cut down on sugar, I exercise, but the genes are against you.
Yeah. I wasn't just having diabetes in mind. More a general rule.
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18-06-2017, 10:04 PM
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Re: Advise please on self testing blood glucose.

There's no need to take so many blood tests during the day or after every meal. What you are looking for is an average reading and if you do your test more or less at the same time every day you can assess your diet for that particular day.

I use an `Acu-Check` kit which comes with the tester itself, a type of pen that works like a ball-point pen used with changeable needle cartridges and a few sample test strips which I renew from Amazon.

When I first got it, I tested myself in the morning before breakfast - the so-called fasting period, then two hours or so after breakfast and the same again two hours after lunch. The after fasting test can sometimes be quite high because your liver produces blood sugars while you sleep. Insulin in the blood normally `tells` the liver to stop producing glucose but if you have too much fat around the liver this message is blocked. BTW you don't need to be obese to have a fatty liver. The drug Metformin is designed to replace insulin in telling the liver to stop producing glucose. I'm on Metformin (two a day) but also take Milk Thistle tablets and apple cider vinegar for the good of my liver.

The reading taken two hours after a meal should not ideally go above `8` on the meter, if it does you just need to think what you had to eat for your last meal or through the day. I've just done mine a short time ago and the reading was `4` - this is because I haven't had any carbs today, a real danger to diabetics, as the carbs (especially refined carbs) get converted to glucose more readily. If you do keep on getting high readings you need to adjust your diet accordingly.
Mondays child
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18-06-2017, 11:49 PM
9

Re: Advise please on self testing blood glucose.

Hi Mups I don't think I qualify to PMs yet, I think you have to be a member for longer.

Hi Suzie I am on both metformin and and metabet SR one of each twice a day. The thought of self injecting is leaving me cold at the moment as I think the nurse was hoping that I would go for it straight away rather than trying tablets and monitoring.
She told me that she is the one that handles the difficult diabetic case's and that all my blood tests came back exceptionally high.

Hi Judd, thanks for the info I now need to cut down on my carbs then. This was not explained to me at all in fact it was my idea after I had seen her to stop all sugar.
I am really confused about what's safe to eat and what's not as when I look online I'm getting conflicting information.
Basically it feels that my diet should consist of small pieces of cardboard and sips of water.
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19-06-2017, 12:14 AM
10

Re: Advise please on self testing blood glucose.

Some "experts" advocate an alkaline diet which avoids red meat, sugar, fried foods, etc.
 
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