# Testing one hour after meals



## MrsCLH (Feb 9, 2011)

Do you test one hour after you start eating your meal? Or one hour after you finish eating?

I've been testing one hour after I start eating. But because I don't feel nauseous when I'm eating I'm really dragging it out at the moment, sometimes could be 15-20 mins before I finish eating, so that could make a real difference to that one hour after reading if I should be waiting until one hour after I finished. 

Does that make sense? I've had some readings over 8 in the last week and reckon if I waited that extra 15-20 minutes I'd be within range. 

It's just that based on my readings, the diabetologist I saw yesterday told me to increase my morning and lunch doses by 1 unit and I tried it today and have hypoed a couple of hours after both breakfast and lunch. I've only just thought that maybe the readings the doctor was looking at are false because I'm not waiting long enough to test.

Would be interested to know what everyone else does.


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## novorapidboi26 (Feb 9, 2011)

its all about your quick acting insulins action time, which is usually 4-5 hours when using novorapid....

if you can leave this much time bewtween main meals then your tests should be accurate, which will allow you to confidently change doses...

I usually test one hour after the insulin has went in.....oh and im not preggers.....


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## Fiona25 (Feb 14, 2011)

Hiya,

I had this question too and according to the literature I read (I just can't remember where I read it), the test for pregnant ladies should be one hour after you finish eating.

The goal when pregnant is to avoid too much variation in blood sugars.  We have to try to stay in the range of a non-diabetic person as much as we can.  If, at the moment, you are eating little amounts over a long period of time I would have thought that is going to produce BSLs that are exactly what they are hoping for - where you don't get a big spike in BSL right after you've eaten.  If you eat a big meal quickly that's when you're going to get a BSL spike which exceeds the targets they set for us pregnant ladies.  

Definitely double check with one of the diabetes nurses/midwives though.

Cheers


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## MrsCLH (Feb 14, 2011)

Hi Fiona

Thanks for that. I was sure I wasn't meant to be checking one hour after taking my insulin, because I'm taking it 15 mins before eating to help with the one hour after meal reading.

I have been sticking with checking one hour after I finish eating and my readings are a lot better. When I upped my doses last week I was having so many hypos it was driving me mad so I'm going back to what I was taking before cos I reckon the high readings were due to testing too early. Back at hospital next Tues anyway so I can discuss it with them then.

Thanks again 

C


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## sugarfreerach (Feb 14, 2011)

to be honest im not worrying about this at present! i cant eat anything at th mo and if i do im sometimes sick after so no point giving insulin before hand as i just dontknow if i can eat the meal bolussed for. Plus my sugars are so ruddy low anyway! heop you nail it but i wouldnt worry to much about 1 hour spikes, as long as 2 hours are in range, thats what my dsn has said to me. she says we have so much to deal with anyway


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## Alan S (Feb 15, 2011)

MrsCLH said:


> Do you test one hour after you start eating your meal? Or one hour after you finish eating?
> 
> I've been testing one hour after I start eating. But because I don't feel nauseous when I'm eating I'm really dragging it out at the moment, sometimes could be 15-20 mins before I finish eating, so that could make a real difference to that one hour after reading if I should be waiting until one hour after I finished.
> 
> ...


Personally, I test an hour after my last bite.

But my peak time may not be yours. I am most interested in when I peak. I did some extra testing for a while to find when that was. I used a technique very similar to this advice from a *diabetes doctor* in the US:

_•• Have patients determine the best time for postprandial SMBG by testing 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, and 120 minutes after a meal to detect their peak postprandial glucose concentration_

Use that to find your own peak and then use that as your post-meal test time. The same technique can be used to find your lows or to graph the curve of your post-meal response to work out a better dose-to-carbs balance.


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## Northerner (Feb 15, 2011)

Alan S said:


> Personally, I test an hour after my last bite.
> 
> But my peak time may not be yours. I am most interested in when I peak. I did some extra testing for a while to find when that was. I used a technique very similar to this advice from a *diabetes doctor* in the US:
> 
> ...



Surely that would depend on what you eat though, as different meals would peak at different times? Also, the OP is Type 1 so it would also depend on bolus time etc. and becomes much more complicated e.g. if you inject say, 15 mins before eating then your insulin may get working in time to reduce a peak, or you might miss it, again depending on food. I personally call my 1 hour test an hour after I injected, and if looking for the peak would test again 2 hours after injecting.


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## MrsCLH (Feb 15, 2011)

Oh bless you Rach! I have got horrible constant nausea which only abates when I eat. Haven't been sick once yet. So I am loving my food at the moment, amazing how it can be so different for everyone!

Thanks for the other comments guys, way to complicated for me, sticking with what I'm doing, like Rach says, enough to think about!


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## Northerner (Feb 15, 2011)

MrsCLH said:


> Oh bless you Rach! I have got horrible constant nausea which only abates when I eat. Haven't been sick once yet. So I am loving my food at the moment, amazing how it can be so different for everyone!
> 
> Thanks for the other comments guys, way to complicated for me, sticking with what I'm doing, like Rach says, enough to think about!



If you try and think too hard about it, it seems impossible - so stick with what works for you!


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## macast (Feb 15, 2011)

MrsCLH said:


> Thanks for the other comments guys, way to complicated for me, sticking with what I'm doing, like Rach says, enough to think about!




I think that we should remember that ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL 

if it works for you MrsCLH then stick with it


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## Fiona25 (Feb 15, 2011)

Really glad things have settled down by testing a little bit later and, most importantly, that it has sorted out the hypos.  I think the comments about figuring out what works for *you *are wise.  

Fx


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## Alan S (Feb 16, 2011)

Northerner said:


> Surely that would depend on what you eat though, as different meals would peak at different times? Also, the OP is Type 1 so it would also depend on bolus time etc. and becomes much more complicated e.g. if you inject say, 15 mins before eating then your insulin may get working in time to reduce a peak, or you might miss it, again depending on food. I personally call my 1 hour test an hour after I injected, and if looking for the peak would test again 2 hours after injecting.



Agreed on all counts. However, over time, I found that my usual peak is pretty consistent at one hour after the last bite. But, because of that testing, I am also aware that a low-fat meal will peak earlier and a high-fat, high-carb meal will peak later (the pizza effect).

Whether you are type one or two, if you test enough with a range of times after meals you will eventually find a timing that is fairly consistent for you as an individual. It may be slightly different at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and may need an extra check if you eat out or travel, but most people are fairly regular in their eating and dosage habits after a while.

That's my real point. We are all different, so doctors or nurses telling people two hours is the right time for all is invalid. Far too many people only test at two hours - and thus miss their peak. We each must find our own timings and work with those.


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## bev (Feb 16, 2011)

Hi MrsCH,

We used to test at the two hour mark. But then we attended a conference at FFL at Windsor and heard Gary Schiener (think like a pancreas) talk about testing and peaks. We now test one and a half hours after bolusing as the normal profile for fast acting insulin is around forty minutes, and once you put food into your mouth it only takes two minutes to get into your bloodstream. So we bolus ten minutes before eating to give the insulin a head start, and then test at around the one hour to one hour twenty minute mark to check whether the insulin has met the rise of the food or not. Although fast acting insulin takes four hours to lose its effectiveness, it is past its peak around the one hour mark. Of course, it does depend a lot on what it is you are eating. If fatty and high carb that takes a while to digest, then you should be looking at testing at the two,three, and four hour mark to work out what foods peak at what time so you can avoid the spikes and also to give the correct dosage over the correct time (if you are on a pump). I would think that pregnancy hormones play a large part in keeping good control or not - so my personal view would be to test, test and test again for the whole of your pregnancy to keep levels as within range as possible.Bev


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## FM001 (Feb 16, 2011)

Testing one hour after eating is a must in order to establish which foods you can and cannot tolerate, without doing so could mean that you are spiking way above the accepted norm.  Fast acting insulin's are most active between 1-2 hours after injecting and to test two hours after eating could leave you under the false impression that some foods are perfectly acceptable, the idea is to keep testing until you find the foods that are best suited to you personally then you can relax the one hour test and only test occasionally after this time.  Foods which are low to medium on the glycemic index in my experience are the best foods to keep blood glucose as near as normal.


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