If anyone has ever read any of my other posts on this topic, you would know where I stand on the notion.
I am infuriated whenever I read that T2 and testing doesn’t do any good for controlling BG levels. That is true if you don’t use the testing to gain an understanding and to learn what is good for you and what is not. The simple act of just testing, does no more good than the act of buying a gym membership.
If you don’t go to the gym, and do the workouts, the membership is useless. If you test and don’t use the data, its a waste.
Anyone who says testing is of no value to a T2, is, well, I won’t say it. Just fill in any derogatory term you like, because how the heck else would I have gotten my initial A1c number down from 6.8, to 5.5, to 5.0 if I didn’t know what I could eat, and when I could eat it??? Am I supposed to find twelve things I can eat, by testing, and then give up testing, and spend the rest of my life eating those twelve things? Am I not entitled to try new foods, and see how the affect me? You cannot test a new food without three strips, and one day of testing, doesn’t give you information that it will be okay every time you eat it. You need to verify it more than once.
There are days when I don’t test at all. Those days, I eat what I already know is okay for me, on a schedule I have an understanding of. There are days when things come unraveled, and any hope of a standard schedule or a regular set of meals, is out the window. What do I do then? Just eat, and spike, and not care?
I get up in the AM, and if things are okay, I am in the mid 80’s, so I know what I can eat for breakfast. I am very sensitive to carbs in the AM, but an 85 allows me to eat a good meal. Bad night’s sleep and a morning number of 107 precludes any real carbs in my breakfast, or I will go over the magic 140 mark.
Long day on a project and I don’t eat a whole lot, so by dinnertime, I test and I see as low as 75. That means I can eat a pretty good meal and satisfy my hunger.
As I, and many others have pointed out, the backwards, ignorant, money grubbing medical professionals think the only use of a strip is for a T1 to determine insulin amounts. They are stupid. Over paid, and underedictated. I went to a podiatrist with overwhelming pain and agony in both feet that put me on my back for most of the last month. I asked him if he had ever had any foot problems, and he said no. I won’t go back there for his advice, since he has no frame of reference for what I am feeling. I am stuck with the regular doctor I have, who threatens my strip supply every time I see him. When I do have a choice, he will be history.
I don’t seem to have a lot of high numbers, so far. Based on what I read from a lot of the good folks here, I am doing really well. Time will tell if that will continue, but I want to keep things as low as possible, to postpone any increases and issues that are sure to come along sooner or later.
Far as I am concerned, I could not care less about my A1c number. It doesn’t mean anything, and I say that because if I am not testing regularly, and I go find that my A1c number is rising, how in the world do I know what it is that is causing it, if I am not monitoring myself on a fairly regular schedule???
A1c is not relevant if you are testing enough to be confident that you do not exceed 140, and if so, for more than an hour or so, max. If I had to choose, I would want strips, and iforget the A1c test.
The question I always ask is, what is the downside to testing responsibly, for a T2? There is none. Doctors don’t seem to have any qualms about passing out the anti-depressants and mood altering drugs to anyone with a hang nail, and they are quick to diagnose high blood pressure and force pills upon you for that, rather than weight lose and exercise, and tell you to monitor at home, so what is the big deal about T2’s testing when they feel the need to know what is going on?
Its all about the money, and nothing else. Finally, a tool we can use to help maintain our health, and they don’t want us to use it.
Nuff said.
John