When I was first diagnosed, my doctor gave me 3 months to get my act together before starting diabetes meds. He told me to test once a day and the dietician gave me a schedule of rotation to go through. It didn't take me long to learn that measuring fasting on Monday, post breakfast on Tuesday, ... taught me very little and I started doing sets before & after some meals and "eating to the meter." My results: substituting whole wheat pasta for regular pasta made a change so small it wasn't significant. Substituting an extra helping of broccoli for the pasta with butter & cheese sauce to bring the calories back up made a substantial difference in bg readings for me. At 3 months my A1C and weight were down enough that my doctor said "just keep doing what you're doing." For the past few months I've been doing a set of 7 tests once a week. Now that I'm satisfied that I can maintain a bg in the 90s for an entire day I'm considering changing to 3 consecutive sets of 7 once a month. Of course none of this applies to anyone on insulin or any other medication which can lower blood glucose levels to an unsafe level. It also helps that last year's 220 pounds is now 150 pounds.

I believe that my doctor only wants me to test before meals. That's okay by me because 2x/day is plenty of times to poke myself, thank you very much.

gaelicstorm26 wrote: »

My regular doctor referred me to an endo because I had some recent not-so-great bloodwork. I was only diagnosed with Type II in April of 2014 and my most recent tests show that I'm already showing early signs of kidney damage. My regular doctor feels that it is unusual for this to happen so quickly and helped me to set up an appointment with the local endo. I don't go until September; however, they sent a packed with sheets for me to record my blood sugar readings. On the sheet, they ask for the readings BEFORE meals. I've never tested that way before. Has anyone done that? I'm planning to continue testing after meals as well so that I know how different food affect me but the prospect of testing 7-8 times a day is...well...tiring.

Has anyone tested this way before?

I test 6-8 times per day--upon waking up (must be done within several minutes, maybe 15-20 minutes, of getting out of bed to precede the body's "sugar dump" from the liver--otherwise, my blood sugar reading will be 20 mg/dL higher), before each meal, 60-90 minutes after first bite of each meal (i.e. where my blood sugar peak seems to occur) and right before bed. I don't test with small snacks, just meals.

I'll test on any of my fingers--on their flat surface, both sides, the tips, alternating to different locations so the other locations can heal. I've also found it helpful to try different lancets (i.e. poking needles) available on amazon. My 28 gauge (i.e. thickest needle) lancet produces more blood than needed so I switched to a 33 gauge (i.e. thinnest needle) lancet and that was far less painful but sometimes I didn't get enough blood. Now I'm using a 30 gauge lancet and that's working well with just a little more pain than the 33 gauge lancet. I still occasionally use the 33 gauge lancet since that works well on my finger tips which are more sensitive to pin pricks.

I avoided doing my own blood sugar testing for decades and now it just a regular part of my meal routine that I should have been doing all along. It has be very helpful with determining just how my body reacts to what & how much of whatever I'm eating with regards to blood sugar levels. A "side effect" of keeping my blood sugar peaks at decent levels (for me that's < 140 mg/dL or not too far above that amount) has been reduced cravings for "bad" carbs (white bread, pasta, fries, sugary things, etc.) which made it easier to make good food choices (& portion sizes) that also led to weight loss (over 50 pounds so far) without too much difficulty.

pseudandry wrote: »

I like to test before meals to see if I'm "truly" hungry. If my BG is high (or at least not low), I can put off a snack 'cause I know that my body doesn't "need" the extra food right now. I usually have a glass of water ... For so many of us, thirst mimics hunger... and see how I feel in 30-60 minutes (and test again if necessary). It's saved me from snacking when I didn't need to or eating lunch or dinner too early and then being hungry again later in the evening. (Type II - oral meds only)

I usually test before meals as well, but I never thought of the 'thirst' thing. Great tip. I also test before bedtime, some days.