Comment

Comment by Randy on May 20, 2012 at 10:15am

Has anyone experienced grabbing pains in both calf muscles at the same time?

Comment by Akiva on March 28, 2012 at 8:02pm

thanks everyone. I am glad I found this site. I was told I was diabetic and how much I should limit my carb intact but beyond that I was not really given much else to go on. So I have been reading different sites and books but I find that sometimes it is quicker to ask a community like this for advice instead of waiting until I finally read the information that pertains to my questions especially since the community can actually direct my research to what it is I need to know.

Comment by Emmy on March 28, 2012 at 6:46pm

I forgot, there are also alarms you can set to remind you to test. :)

Comment by Emmy on March 28, 2012 at 6:45pm

Akiva, I have found Abbott's Freestyle meters to be the most reliable of all the brands I've tried, matching up with my lab tests. They have good customer service too. You can get one of their meters free at most drugstores, when you purchase 100 test strips. The Freestyle Freedom Lite is a good model. They require the smallest sample for testing, and you have up to a minute to test, plus you can add more blood within that minute if needed. This means far less wasted test strips than with other brands. It does NOT require coding and test results are within 5 seconds of applying the blood to the strip. You can have a look at this model here... http://www.abbottdiabetescare.com/freestyle-freedom-lite-blood-gluc...

and you'll find a video on this page, its the first one at the top http://www.abbottdiabetescare.com/adc_dotcom/url/content/en_US/gene...

Comment by mdgarnett on March 28, 2012 at 5:53pm

Akiva,

Echoing the advice already given, I'd definitely read through this forum and others and read a few of the recommended books.

For me, one key was finally learning that everyone is different. After 5 years of getting slowly but progressively worse due to poor self-control and poor recommendations from a dietitian, reading a lot led to eating and testing to see what sends my BG higher and what I can tolerate. But the fact that I am very carb intolerant might be different for you.

Frequent testing, btw, led me to the Walmart meter. I wanted to test 10 to 12 times a day when I was experimenting with food and my insurance would only cover 1.5 (weird number I think) test strips a day with the meter brand my doctor suggested. And at $1 a strip, I wanted something cheaper. Turns out my insurance liked that too and they've been covering what I need since the switch.

One other thing I'll mention related to meters. The accuracy of a meter is only about 15%. I've learned that repeat-ability is also coarse. I can test two times sequentially on the same finger within a few seconds and see 10 to 20 points difference some time. I believe the gov't is considering tightening up the requirements but nothing has been set. I picked the Walmart meter due to cost but it's performance was graded fairly high by Consumer Reports recently also.

Good luck. This has been a good forum for me. I've learned a lot and wish I'd found it much earlier than last fall.

Mitchell

Comment by BadMoonT2 on March 28, 2012 at 5:15pm

Akiva, both Wal-Mart and Target have store brand meters with strips that can save you money. Christalyn is right, you need to educate yourself, don't depend on your doctor to give you appropriate treatment. At the very least you will know the right questions to ask. I always recommend new diabetics check out the bloodsugar101 website. And of course tuD is a tremendous resource, spend some time going through old posts.

Comment by Christalyn on March 28, 2012 at 1:02pm

Akiva, Diabetes is not just about metering but it is about education. I would suggest start reading about diabetes. And some of the mystery will be resolved. There quite a number of very good books about diabetes as well as informational websites. There are a few books about diabetes and the athlete that may be useful.

Comment by Natalie ._c- on March 28, 2012 at 12:25pm

Akiva, if you are an early stage of T2, then you are VERY susceptible to low BGs. They happen because your pancreas secretes too much insulin at the wrong times. It really doesn't matter what meter you get -- cheaper store brands are just fine, but what's important is that you check. T2's with fairly good insulin secretion can EASILY go low after exercise, and 4-5 hours after eating (which is why CDE's usually recommend frequent small meals instead of 3 large ones). But if your doctor doesn't know what he's talking about, then you're sort of on your own, and WE want to help!!!

Comment by Akiva on March 28, 2012 at 4:34am

thanks badmoon I guess my next question what do you all recommend to do my monitoring and by that I mean product name like which product is better etc?????

Comment by BadMoonT2 on March 28, 2012 at 3:49am

Many doctors don't think T2s need to test but they are wrong. By testing you can learn how your body reacts to things like food and exercise. You can then make adjustments to gain better control.

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