Would finger-prick blood sugar testing be useful before my GP appointment?

[Bridesmaiddespair]

I’ve recently spoken to a friend about how rubbish I was feeling and she suggested I see gp and have general bloods done due to symptoms listed below. They’ve made me an appointment for a weeks time. In the meantime if I wanted to check blood sugar levels whilst only having access to a finger prick machine how would be best to do this? Unfortunately financial constraints mean I can’t access one of the continuous arm ones at moment. Or is finger prick testing not going to be helpful

symptoms: dry mouth, very increased thirst, weeing all time, significant itching in past 2 weeks, fatigue, sleeping after a large meal, grouchy and irritable. Past few days also very bad bloating, wind and tummy aches.

context: 40s, very overweight ( trying to reduce with portion control and more exercise), on b12 injections, family history of diabetes, had gestational diabetes 10+yrs ago.

Thanks

You can get a 2 week free trial for libre freestyle. They are likely to do a hba1c test anyway with those symptoms which is an average sugar level from past 3 months.

It wouldn’t hurt (as long as you do it right) but unless the results are dramatic it’s unlikely to speed anything up because you already have an appt in a week for bloods and the HbA1C blood test generally comes back really quick and tells the GP what your average sugar level has been for the last few months.

If you do decide to do finger prick testing then there are some things that will make the information more useful.
1- wash your hands properly first, residue on your fingertips can give a false reading
2 - do the tests at the right time and record the results in a notebook/app (first thing in the morning before eating/drinking) then 2 hrs after each meal.
3 - keep a record of what you have eaten and drank. Be detailed and write it down in the order you’ve had it so you can see how your sugar levels reacted to it.

i found out i had T2 because i bought a freestyle Libre after being unable to get a doctors appt and suspecting diabetes. I put it on, waited for it to warm up and almost immediately it was reading high. When the numbers got into the ‘way way way above the normal range’ readings I rang 111 who had a Dr call me back and they sent me to A&E. A few hours later I had a bag full of insulin, metformin, various testing stuff and a referral to the Diabetes team.

Over the next few weeks learned that I can’t eat potato, even on insulin potato spikes my sugars high and keeps it there for hours. I can eat basmati rice but long grain is risky, don’t even talk to me about chocolate it makes me feel sad.

Thank you so much for the fast replies it’s much appreciated. All good info! I ordered the machine as my gp has a habit of cancelling / rescheduling appointments and I didn’t want to wait till next week and possibly then have another couple weeks wait. I am trying to sign up to the libre sensor free trial also, I am concerned that the change in symptoms has become quite noticeable and I’d rather know what’s going on and relax or know and make more drastic changes if needed

Unfortunately they can’t as they don’t have a diagnosis of diabetes

A finger prick test is more accurate for snapshot of your blood sugars right there and then. It seems much easier than getting a libre sensor. I’d have waited for a definitive diagnosis as it’s available on the NHS.