Frustrated with different measurements

[cellocello]

It might just be me but I’ve been diagnosed type 2 for 2 years now and I’m finding it incredibly frustrating getting info that’s of any use. Firstly I know I’ll be told ‘go to your diabetes nurse’ but I’ve found these nurses to be very jolly but very behind the curve in terms of up to date advice. Some might know that things have moved on but I’m still getting all the shit about having whole meal carbs and the Living well plate

. It seems they’re mainly geared up for people who take no responsibility for their own health and are at the receiving end of toe amputations etc… that’s not their fault - I know they have to tow the party line of their Healthboarc and no matter how hard you try to be careful you might end up in amputation land.

so I have to go online and when I ask ‘is this a healthy reading? I get ‘a healthy reading for a diabetic person is between 70-130 mg’ But I’m sticking needles in my fingers and getting between 4.5 - 10.9 which I know is a different measurement and I could get my calculator out to convert it but it’s so frustrating / and then some people refer to percentages!!!

Its so fucking difficult!! I’ve stopped metaformin because even on slow release I was caught short with bouts of the shits. I’m on gliclazide now with huge sugar cravings and up and down sugars with even the smallest amount of carbs. Honestly it seems I can’t have more than 50g of carbs in a whole day without my count being 8/910.

sorry for the rant… anyone else frustrated???

The 70-130 is the American readings guide, they measure in mg/dl, while uk uses mmol/L. Its essentially divide by 18 to get the mmol/L, so that guide range you quote converts to 3.8- 7.2. If you specify uk blood glucose recommendations when you search you should be finding what you need. In England NICE recommend pre meal BG levels of 4-7, and post meal (not tested sooner than 90 minutes) of below 8.5 in those with type 2 diabetes.

I'm guessing the percentage part is something else all together. HbA1c (the average glucose blood test your nurse or gp orders) used to be reported in % in the uk, it’s now reported in mmol/mol to be inline with most of the rest of the world.

Gliclazide works by making your pancreas produce more insulin, which in turn can lead to carb craving (as you’ve found). There are other oral medications that work in different ways that might work better for you, can you ask your gp or nurse to review that as an option? Did you give the metformin SR a really good go? It can take a few weeks for it to settle down, guts wise.

This website might be helpful for you, but if you are considering reducing carbs your gliclazide might need reducing on advice of your diabetes team https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/prediabetes-and-diabetes/

I hope you can find something that works for you op.

Why do you think advice has moved on, where have you got your information from.
Remember diabetes is an industry and companies like Diabetes.co. uk make money out of selling low carb.
Diabetes .org still recommends wholemeal etc and it works for me.

You can probably change you BGM to mg setting if you find it that confusing or use something like DIabetes M to convert your readings . The app
Ive just done the Empower Course which is very informative, referred by my gp