I know there have been times where she’s forgotten though and tested after eating and her blood sugar level was through the roof! I think she had that problem a lot more when she was first diagnosed though, and has really since gotten most everything under control.

I test 6-10 times a day. I used to test only pre-meal and seemed to do ok with my A1c (around 7.5) and then 8 months ago I got motivated to begin checking more often to find where I was running high throughout the day. I now test 1-2 hours post meal (I can set an alarm on my meter) and whenever I can remember throughout the day. With the pump, it is very easy to make a small, quick correction when needed to get back to my target range. Since testing more, I have seen my A1c drop to under 7 ( 6.8 to 6.5 for the past 6 months – the lowest I have been since diagnosis).

I do not eat consciously a low carb diet. I love carbs, I just have to be a little picky about which ones I choose to eat! Since diagnosis I have cut down on the huge heaping plates of pasta that I love to consume, but still enjoy the occasional Italian meal. I usually eat a large salad for lunch or dinner and any fresh fruit throughout the day. Desert is my weaknesses …I find it much easier to have a spoonful or two and stop rather than cutting something I love totally out of my life.

I run 3-4 miles 6 days a week and fit in light weights whenever possible. My yellow lab still has lots of puppy energy so we walk at least once a day also.

I am always open for new suggestions to my daily diabetes regiment; this is just what works for me right now!

Allison
Community Outreach
AgaMatrix, Inc.
http://www.wavesense.info

I was prescribed Glyburide (20mg once a day) and the ADA diet plan, which I tried for a couple of months. My blood glucose (bg) was all over the place from very high to low. So, the ADA diet plan was having me eat lots of carbohydrates (200grams/day) driving my bg up & the Glyburide was causing production of lots of insulin which would cause my bg to come plummeting down, frequently necessitating eating to bring it back up.
Kind of a roller-coaster effect.

I was fortunate that my “then” doctor prescribed me lots of test strips. I was on private insurance at the time, so cost was minimal.

I then discovered thru reading that for Type 2 (T2) diabetics that carbohydrates are the only food type that will cause bg’s to go up. So I drastically cut my carb consumption & my bg’s no longer skyrocketed up after eating. I was able to reduce my Glyburide dose in half in a couple of days & stop it altogether in about 4-5 days. My bg’s had dropped into the “normal non-diabetic range” (Fasting/Pre-Prandial 70-110mg/dl at that time).
I continued this very low-carb regimen for 7+ years maintaining a HbA1c of 5.6% to 6%.

I was testing my bg’s fasting, pre-prandial plus 1 & 2 hours post-prandial & bedtime.

At about the 7 year point I found information that said that the truly “non-diabetic” will have an HbA1c closer to 5% than the top of the normal range at 6%, so I asked my Dr (after some research on medications) to prescribe me Metformin (2000mg/day) & Glyburide (20mg/day) which I have been using in “tailored doses” timed to coordinate the effects of the meds with the digestion of the few carbs that I do eat. My HbA1c was then running around 5.2%, so that experiment was successful.

But then, along came Medicare & a new Doctor because we’d moved across the country. My Doctor only wants me to test once a day at random times which is IMHO a waste of time & strips. It teaches nothing.
But I am still able to get 3 strips a day from my supplier (so far). So I “hoarde” stips to use for testing meals where I’m not sure of their bg effect & occasionally will test at bedtime plus the following morning to check my Dawn Effect (DE). This strip hoarding means that some days I don’t test at all when I’m being really careful about carb intake & other days I’ll test quite a lot around my meals to learn how a particular food combo effects my bg’s.
Doing it this way has caused my HbA1c to slip back up to 6% & I’m not happy, but haven’t found a way yet to get more test strips which will allow me to keep better control. Testing & seeing the results also is a motivator. If bg’s are higher than I want, I adjust what I eat. If they’re good enough, then that’s more motivation to do the right thing.

My goals for bg to maintain good HbA1c is to have fasting/pre-prandial of 70-99mg/dl (the latest non-diabetic number), 140mg/dl or less at 1 hour post-prandial & 120mg/dl at the two-hour post-prandial mark, returning to fasting level before the next meal.
Those kind of bg numbers give me that

I have slipped into a rutine of oatmeal each weekday morning sometimes with a banana or dired cranberries. Lunch is usually chicken and green beans or pork and green beans. I like nuts or whole wheat ritz and peanutbutter for snack.

Supper can be a 1 egg omlet with diced pepers, onions and ham or a chicken and green bean cassrole.

The first 2 months were bad because I did not think my primary care physician was working to get my numbers down. A1c of 6.6, BC of 356 when diagnosed. Since going to an ENDO and getting on Byetta my A1c is down to 5.7 and I have lost 11lbs.

I have alway taken Nyquil at night when fighting colds and coughs but that drives my BC up. Having to learn new techniques.

My insurance company subscribes to a program called Smart Steps and I have a diabeties educator/nurse call me about every 2 weeks to check on my progress and offer ideas. This has really helped me.