HELP HELP Need help with Meter Times

[StoneGirl]

Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 8


I'm learning, but a bit confused about when to do the blood meter checks. I've heard from 3 to 10 times a day. I did get my meter and strips, and have had reading from 123 to 285. The 285 was about an hour after eating some lightly breaded chicken strips, about 2 bites of rice, and some broccoli. I expected it to be a decent reading, maybe a little high, but not 283. I felt very tired, exhausted, and could hardly finish supper. So, I need more info on getting numbers ready to take to the doc next week. It would probably be best to do 3 main meals, and 2 snacks, right? If it were you, when would you take the blood test? An hour after each meal? Someone told me to ignore all but the supper meal, and do a 1 hr and 2 hr check. But then, I won't know about various foods affect from the other meals. ???? I'll buy however many strips I need to get a good understanding, but I'm not getting concensus at all. Your thoughts - -those of you who have had Type II for some time - -what would you advise as to whether to eat 3 meals or 5 small meals - - and when would you take the blood samples?? Those of you who have begun to be "ole pro's" at it, can I'm sure give me some good advice. Much thanks - - -

[adiantum]

G'day StoneGirl, According to my education classes,
Test upon waking in the am
Test 2 hrs ( not before) after a meal
have 3 meals a day. Morning & afternoon tea is allowed but only if you have worked/ exercised hard enough to have earnt it.
Rice & the bread on the chicken will be what raises your bg

[paulT2]

Hi StoneGirl,

I'm sure you will get a variety of answers on when to test.
Probably the best advice I can pass on is to test consistently and use the results to make decisions on what you should eat.

The best advice I was given when I asked a similar question when I was newly diagnosed and confused was to aim for no more than a 50 point increase in your post prandial reading.

If you can't get your numbers down into the 'normal' area straight away - then try and keep the increase from food 50 or less.

Eat to your meter results.

Learn about portion sizes and how some carbs will 'do a number' on your numbers while other carbs can be 'slow burners'

Anyway YMMV but this is how I test:

1. Always a fasting test when I wake in the morning ( I aim to be below 100 for this test ... I usually come in somewhere between 85 - 110)

2. Just before most meals ( I aim to be below 110 for this test and usually I am in the 80 - 90 range ... if I am higher than 110, I may consider a meal change or perhaps some exercise )

3. Two hours after my first bite of food (note, not two hours after finishing eating) I aim to be below 140 for this reading and often I am below 120 and sometime I screw up and am in the 150's

Testing is part art, part science and part lotto! Seriously though - if you don't know where you are starting out from (fasting and pre meal) then how can you figure out where you end up (post meal) and more importantly how can you understand what those results mean in terms of what you just ate?

Please note these are results I get now after nearly a year and a half of experimenting with diet and exercise.
I am happy with my results but it has been a hard and consistent effort on my part to get here.

If you find you are 'not getting a consensus' on when to test - this is really because there isn't one right answer!
In answer to three meals versus five smaller meals again this is part personal choice and part what works best for you.
I personally find I get better results if I eat small amounts regularly but I still eat 'main' meals - I just try to balance the carb content. I spread my carbs through the day and try to avoid eating high carb meals or meals with lots of fast acting carbs from processed foods etc ...

Anyways, keep on testing and experimenting with foods that work for you - remember portion control!
Also, do you keep physically active? This can help with your numbers too.

Just my 2 cents!

[morrisma]

Welcome to the club!

Test when you wake, 2 hours after the first bite of a meal and before bed. More often as conditions warrant.

You need to get a carb counting book and learn to adjust insulin for the amount of carbs eaten.

Keep trying!
Mike

[Hammer]

Stonegirl, you didn't say if you were taking any type of diabetes medications, but being new, I'd assume you aren't. From what I've been reading here on the forum, you should do a fasting test. That test can either be when you first get up, or, before you go to bed. If you test before you go to bed, you should not have eaten for at least 6 hours....more if possible. Since 6 hours after dinner is rather late, it might be best to test when you first get up.

Now that you have your fasting reading, I think it's best if you test before you eat a meal so that you know what you BG (blood glucose) numbers are. You should then test two hours after your first bite of food. This will let you know just how much your BG levels have gone up from what you ate.

You should test before and after each meal....a total of six times each day. You might incorporate your first morning fasting BG test and your before breakfast test into one test, since you can test in the morning just before you eat breakfast.

So, I'd say six tests a day would be the minimum you should test.

[thomaca77]

I am a Type 1, but as for your suprise about the meal, I can speak to that....

My husband calls breaded fried chicken "Diabetic Kriptonite"....There doesn't seem to be much carb in a chicken strip, but for me it always packs a wallop, and seems to raise my blood sugar for HOURS.

There are other diabetics who have no problem with breaded chicken, but have major problems with other things (rice, or potatoes, or whatever.)

For me it is Fried Chicken and Oatmeal!

When I was diagnosed as a Type 2 (long story) my endo told me to test at 2 hours after I started eating to get an idea of how a particular food or meal affected me. Keep in mind, though, that if you lingered over dinner for an hour and a half, you need to push your test later.

I you are willing to spend the money, test as many times a day as you feel you need to to keep sane! At first, you will probably want to test alot, to get a handle on what is going on inside you. You could test when you get up in the morning, after some of your meals, before bed, maybe even in the middle of the night once in a while.

Once you begin to see patterns, and feel more comfortable that your medications or your lifestyle changes are working for you, you can do much fewer tests. I know type 2's who test once a week, some who test once a day, some who test 2-3 times a day, and after unfamiliar meals or activity, or when they just don't feel "right".

Good Luck!
-Carisa

[StoneGirl]

THANK YOU SO MUCH - for all the good responses as to how I should test. This is quite helpful. Obviously very lightly breaded chicken strips, and 1 tsp of rice (threw the rest out), are not something my body takes kindly to. After the 283 reading at 4pm, I felt lousy the rest of the day. It feels as though you can't move, your arms feel heavy, and you certainly can't think in a cohesive manner. Looking back I think I had this for several years. The one blood test I had during a physical, I'd just lost about 30 lbs, which sorry to say, I gained back. The results had me close to the top numbers, but not over. Now, I realize the horrible "exhaustion" and mental blur I felt the last 3 years was probably this. I am so glad to at least finally understand why I'm so tired, almost to the point of personality change. I look back at the doctor trips in the past two years: fatigue, mental sluggishness, eyes gummed up of the morning, visual bluriness (went to Optometrist several times), some places which took forever to heal, yeast infections-which I didn't normally have, nausea, even bile effect if not keeping something on my stomach every few hours. So many things that I had begun to feel frantic to know what was going on. Now, I see they probably all pointed to Diabetes II. I just hope that however long I've had this working on me, hasn't done some seriously permanent damage on body cells. I've begun my journey toward health, and I feel some sadness that it won't be easy, and some foods I love will probably be "forbidden", but I'm thankful to finally find the answer to why I kept having so many things wrong, after having been a pretty healthy person for a long time. One of my hardest challenges: I tended to do a lot of eating out. Tell me, what do some of you find to be great choices for eating out? Any particular eateries? Tasty foods? (Obviously, breaded chicken or rice won't work for me-ha).

Thanks for the interaction and great helps from each of you. This makes the journey so much more hopeful. I, too, went through a week of just staring at the wall, being afraid. I told "no one" for about 2 weeks I am still fearful, as I realize this thing had really been doing a job on me. The more I understand what, how, when, and other questions answered, the more empowered I feel to fight this.

[Janlaton]

Welcome, My doc and diabetic ed person both say am rising, before lunch, bedtime and occasionally 2 hrs after 1st bite of meal to see how meds are working.

They say 3 meals a day with 1 carb serving(15 carbs) in between b'fast and lunch and lunch and supper if I am going low. For me I do find personally I do better if I save a b'fast carb til midmorning but My lunch has to be at a certain time a work and I go low if I do not space my carbs out.

Be sure to count any breading as a carb, check the package to see how many are in a serving. How much rice did you eat. 1/3 cup is a standard serving. Yes, use the measuring cups to serve your plate! :(

If you have not had a meeting with a dietitian get your doc to set one up for you. THey can really give you some good guidelines. Above all do not FORGET to exercise, even if it is a 20 minute walk a couple times a day it burns calories and carbs and brings bown the bg.

Praying you will adapt well.

[thomaca77]

Hey, Stonegirl!

Just because breaded chicken strips are the devil, doesn't mean they are "forbidden"!! Gosh, that sounds more menacing than evil chicken! :D

I still eat breaded chicken, but I only do it occasionally, as a treat. And because I take insulin to treat my diabetes, I take extra with chicken because I know I will need it. Ask your doctor if there are any measures you can take when you need a treat...like extra excercise, which can really help lower blood sugars.

I am also guilty of eating out alot. My best solution....order whatever, then put half in a box and take it home for tomorrow. I actually cut everything in half right at the beginning of the meal, to be sure I don't get distracted by good conversation (or good beer) and eat too much.

It really is overwhelming at first, it was for me (two weeks watching nothing but the Food Network:) ) But it really will become just a part of your everyday life in time, almost like second nature.

Oh, and Janlaton is right, buy yourself a good set of measuring cups and spoons (and a food scale if you can manage), keep them out and handy in your kitchen, read all the serving sizes on your food packages, and USE THEM! For me, portion size is like the first line of defence.

-carisa

[fgummett]

Exactly... no food is verboten by D... you simply need to make healthy choices most of the time :)

[Hammer]

Hey there Stonegirl! If you should see your numbers that high again, what you can do to feel better is what Janlaton said....go out for a walk or do some sort of exercise. If you felt bad and your numbers were high, had you gone for a walk, it would have lowered your numbers and you would have felt better.

Exercise is the one thing that you can do at the spur of the moment to help bring those numbers down rapidly. The hard part is if your numbers are high, you probably feel lethargic and don't want to exercise. If you can make yourself exercise, you will begin to feel better as you do it.

As for what to eat when going out, any type of protein is always good, like fish, chicken, or beef. Just make sure that it's not breaded, as that adds the carbs to it. Vegetables are good, but stay away from potatoes or rice. Pasta is a definite no-no. Of course, you need to test after each meal to see how the food has affected you. You might find that something like potatoes might not affect you that badly....or maybe a certain type of potato might be okay to eat, while others are not......like a baked potato might be okay, but mashed potatoes or french fries are bad. Testing is the key.....;)

[jerryn]

If you want to see how food effects you, test before you eat, then test 2hrs after you eat.

Check when you wake up in the morning, check before you go to bed. That what I do.. that's 4 times/day

I forgot to mention.. I only test my supper meals.

I don't feel like testing at work, so I eat a Kaschi frozen dinner (pretty decent in my carb rage)
Breakfast.. heck I have a 50 mile commute and I need to leave at 7:00am so I don't have time.. again low carb like hard boiled eggs.