Hello PreD's and Type II types, I assume we all check our fasting blood sugar each morning. How many checks do you do over the course of the day? One, two, none? I read on another site that testing 2 hours after every meal is essential in order to find out how diet impacts your blood sugar. Any thoughts about frequency of monitoring? Also, if you do measure more than once a day do you have a spread sheet or some other tool to chart your measurements? It would be nice if CK had something like that available so one could correlate BS with diet.

March Green Check Challenge 16/31
HW 210
CKSW 197
CW 175
GW 155

I test a lot, like 7 or more times a day; however, I am insulin dependent. Before I was taking insulin my doctor had instructed me to test my blood levels once every two days, sometimes in the morning and sometimes two hours after a meal, it was my choice so long as I documented the time.
Having said that, how often you test is something that should be worked out between you and your doctor/diabetes nurse. How often a person should test really comes down to the medications the person is on and how good that person has been controlling their diabetes.

Now, while I am not suggesting that insulin is the answer, once I started on insulin (combined with diet and exercise) I was able to control my sugars. However I do this at the expense of testing a lot and by taking insulin with every meal.

I strongly urge anyone who is pre-diabetic or diabetic to take some classes. In many cases diabetic classes are offered at local hospitals and if done via a referral are often covered by insurance. In all honesty diabetes education really has saved my life.

As for keeping a log of my blood glucose tests I picked up a little pocket day planner for four bucks from Walmart. I have also tried some computer based record keeping, but I like the portability of my little journal (I put it in my pocket and take it with me most of the time, of course I usually have my meter on me as well.)

Like you, I think it would be a great idea for CK to add a spot in the daily diary for adding meter results and insulin dosage amounts. I would like that too. It would be great to have all of my important daily numbers in one place.

Paul


May all beings be happy!
HS 348
SW 280
CW 277
GW 200

Sometimes I check mine 8 times a day

I check mine about 4 times a day. I'm taking Byetta now and it seems to help a lot. I also take Medformin. I would like to get off the Byetta because sometimes it makes me sick. Seems like after I took off about 20 pounds it started making feel sick. I am on the lowest dose but still makes me feel bad.

Darlene

I am also Type II... I am on Victozia and Metformin and am now down to testing 2xs each day before a meal and 2 hours after that meal, and I rotate my testing between breakfast, lunch and dinner.. I have a Dr. given goal of having my premeal BG under 100 and my after meal at <140... so if I am high after a meal ... I can go to CK and see what I ate that triggered my BG to spike; i.e. excess carbs, fruit vs. bread, etc...

You need to follow whatever testing directives your Dr. has given - everyone tests differently depending on insulin dependence, meds, and how well your BG is under control... remember information is power! And checking your sugar often keeps it in the forefront of your thoughts!

Debra

Has anyone requested from CK to put a spot in the dairy for bs readings? That would be great.

I second Paul's recommendation to attend a diabetes class -- it really answered a lot of my questions, and hooked me into a support group that has been very useful.

As for recording test results, I was able to get a Contour USB for $10 (introductory promotion at my local pharmacy!) which is a glucose monitor AND USB drive all in one...it hooks right into the USB drive of my laptop and uses Bayer's software....not perfect, I'd like to be able to make more/customized notes, but does a good job of logging and keeping the stats for you, AND allows download to an excel spreadsheet if you want to do something custom.

Marysze