Blood sugar test kits

[Puggit]

Suspect I have some kind of issue (seeing the GP tomorrow) - so I have started testing with a £20 kit from Amazon.

If I do 3 tests at the same time I can get quite a large variance - for example 4.8, 4.5 and 4.2 mmol/L just now. Last night was even worse, between 2.5 and 6.5 mmol/L over 4 tests at the same time.

Does anyone have a kit they can recommend? My fingers are starting to hurt...

[QuartzDad]

I'm type 2 and was given a Fine Test lite system by the hospital after a scare last month, appears that it can be bought online.

[FlyVintage]

Puggit said:

Suspect I have some kind of issue (seeing the GP tomorrow) - so I have started testing with a £20 kit from Amazon.

If I do 3 tests at the same time I can get quite a large variance - for example 4.8, 4.5 and 4.2 mmol/L just now. Last night was even worse, between 2.5 and 6.5 mmol/L over 4 tests at the same time.

Does anyone have a kit they can recommend? My fingers are starting to hurt...

A finger pick test is only a guide anyway and provides an “instantaneous” reading. Your doctor will send you for an HbA1c test which provides a kind of “3 month view”. From the results you quoted it looks like you have little to worry about but the HbA1c will give the full picture.

[Puggit]

Thanks FlyVintage - Yes, the numbers are within range, but if this test kit is right then I'm not seeing spikes 1-2 hours after meals and my highest readings are during the night and fasting readings of 6.8-7 mmol/L in the morning. As you say, the proper test will be the clincher.

My dentist first allerted me to issues due to my gums and repeating infections, then I kept waking up 4-6am (wide awake, unable to return to sleep) and having really tired episodes mid afternoon.

I'll update...

[DFNorfolk]

Puggit said:

Suspect I have some kind of issue (seeing the GP tomorrow) - so I have started testing with a £20 kit from Amazon.

If I do 3 tests at the same time I can get quite a large variance - for example 4.8, 4.5 and 4.2 mmol/L just now. Last night was even worse, between 2.5 and 6.5 mmol/L over 4 tests at the same time.

Does anyone have a kit they can recommend? My fingers are starting to hurt...

As a T1 diabetic those results wouldn’t be a concern, although the 2.5 is categorised as a “low”, the rest are well within a good range. For example mine can go lower than 2.5 and occasionally I’ll get results above 15.

As someone else said the key blood test will be your HBA1C which the Dr will arrange and in the meantime I wouldn’t want to say much more. If you want to get a better overview of your blood sugars without pricking your fingers get one of these:

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about-diabetes/looking...

As for finger pricking I used to have to do it 8-10 times a day and you eventually get use to it…….

[Huzzah]

DFNorfolk said:

Puggit said:

Suspect I have some kind of issue (seeing the GP tomorrow) - so I have started testing with a £20 kit from Amazon.

If I do 3 tests at the same time I can get quite a large variance - for example 4.8, 4.5 and 4.2 mmol/L just now. Last night was even worse, between 2.5 and 6.5 mmol/L over 4 tests at the same time.

Does anyone have a kit they can recommend? My fingers are starting to hurt...

As a T1 diabetic those results wouldn t be a concern, although the 2.5 is categorised as a low , the rest are well within a good range. For example mine can go lower than 2.5 and occasionally I ll get results above 15.

As someone else said the key blood test will be your HBA1C which the Dr will arrange and in the meantime I wouldn t want to say much more. If you want to get a better overview of your blood sugars without pricking your fingers get one of these:

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about-diabetes/looking...

As for finger pricking I used to have to do it 8-10 times a day and you eventually get use to it .

A libre 2 test kit is £50, continuous glucose monitoring for 2 weeks, with funky graphs on your phone to see what's going on.
Often you'll get a false 'out of whack' reading though.

[DFNorfolk]

Huzzah said:

A libre 2 test kit is £50, continuous glucose monitoring for 2 weeks, with funky graphs on your phone to see what's going on.
Often you'll get a false 'out of whack' reading though.

A lovely graph like this ?



May help put your glucose results in context OP

[QuartzDad]

DFNorfolk said:

A lovely graph like this ?



May help put your glucose results in context OP

Been wearing one for 3 weeks after being admitted with DKA, my blood appears to be maple syrup

[DFNorfolk]

Quartzdad you must feel like crap! Trust they get you sorted soon

[Puggit]

Thanks DFN and QD - those numbers are certainly eye opening compared to the numbers I've been reading about as 'abnormal'. Certainly put my mind at rest.

DFN - I think my chart would be similar to your's in shape, but with lower values - with a steady rise from 6pm to morning. I think that's not right?

[FlyVintage]

Puggit said:

Thanks DFN and QD - those numbers are certainly eye opening compared to the numbers I've been reading about as 'abnormal'. Certainly put my mind at rest.

DFN - I think my chart would be similar to your's in shape, but with lower values - with a steady rise from 6pm to morning. I think that's not right?

With the greatest respect, you are over-thinking this based on pretty unreliable self test results; wait for your doctors opinion.

[DFNorfolk]

Puggit said:

Thanks DFN and QD - those numbers are certainly eye opening compared to the numbers I've been reading about as 'abnormal'. Certainly put my mind at rest.

DFN - I think my chart would be similar to your's in shape, but with lower values - with a steady rise from 6pm to morning. I think that's not right?

Your higher blood sugar in the evenings could be because you’re more sedentary then and in the mornings it maybe due to the “dawn effect”, which you can see in my chart from about 3am-6am.

The one that gets me is that when I spar 8 rounds every week with the ex British Heavyweight Champion (I spar he just dances round the ring hitting me 😃) I thought my blood sugars would go really low due to it being 60 mins of hard cardio but they go high which apparently is down to the cortisone and adrenaline I’m releasing.

In short FlyVintage is right wait till you’ve seen the Dr as blood sugars can react to various things in a way I sometimes don’t understand despite having been a T1 diabetic for nearly 60 years but yours look, to me, to be well within a “normal” range.

[solo2]

prick your finger at the side rather than on the pad of the finger, it hurts just as much at the time but is not sore afterwards unlike when you do it on the pad

[frisser]

FORA 6 Connect Blood Glucose Meter