Advice on monitors please

[Ukkate1]

Hi all. I am slowly coming to terms with this diabetes malarkey! I am finding the low carb eating a challenge, especially as I need to lose quite a bit of weight , so need to consider low calorie also. I’m finding lots of new, healthier options and eating better. ( Be assured, however, that the current shortage of vegetables is not entirely my fault!)

I have decided to ditch the evil Metformin, for now at least. I just cannot tolerate the nausea and unpleasant side effects. I feel my body is telling me to try more natural options.

I am now looking at glucose meters, as I need to monitor my progress. There are so many bewildering choices. I have never even had a finger prick test before so I am clueless. There are some with cartridges, some with lancets, some with voices! Mention of ‘control solutions’ whatever they may be!

I am hoping that members can help with suggestions for an easy, uncomplicated device that I can just take out of the box and use. I have already had more help and support here than from my ‘ healthcare professionals’, so I know I can rely on this group for sensible advice.

Thanks in advance, you are such a lovely lot!

 

[rebrascora]

The main thing to consider when self funding a BG meter is the cost of test strips because you will get through lots and lots of test strips in the first few months until you get a handle on which foods cause you problems and in what portion size and which you can get away with.... and which is not worth the aggravation. Test strips are not universal and each make/model of meter has it's own test strips. Some companies will give away the meter kit but you may end up paying a fortune for their test strips because that is where they make their money. For this reason, the two BG meters which have proved both reliable and economical to use by people here on the forum are the Gluco Navii and the Spirit Healthcare Tee2. The pots of extra test strips used to be about £8 per pot of 50 but as with everything, they have gone up in the last year. If you buy a few pots with your BG meter kit (you only get 10 test strips in the kit) you may get a multi purchase discount. I would recommend you get at least 2 extra pots of test strips but you will almost certainly need more than that.
The meter kit will come with a finger pricker and 10 lancets which are supposed to be single use, but provided that you only use a lancet on yourself and don't also go using it on friends and family, then you can use it multiple times and in fact we have a standing joke on the forum that St Swithin's day is annual lancet change day.... Of course there are some teachers pets who follow the rules or perhaps change their lancet once a month even, but us hard liners stick to an annual lancet change..... but don't tell your nurse because she will have a fit!! 🙄
If you want to be a swot and change your lancet every time and you are a bit sensitive, then you might want to consider purchasing the Accuchek Fastclix lancing device and a box of cartridges for it. Each cartridge contains 6 lancets. This is considered to be the gold standard of lancing devices for convenience, ease of use and most importantly for many people, pretty much painless finger pricking. I have never used it and find the cheapo lancing device which comes in with the meter or in the box of extra lancets, absolutely fine for my own use, but I have tough skin. Apart from the Fast clix which has these cartridges of lancets, most other lancing devices take universal lancets.

Some people have had problems with some of the very cheapest BG meter kits so my advice would be to go with one of the 2 I have mentioned above as they are very well tried and tested and economical. As regards the control solution, some meters are provided with this so that you can actually use one of the test strips to ensure that they are reading within the range that they should. It is years since I used a control solution and the only time I would consider it is if I had a stron feeling that my meter/test strips weren't reading correctly and were not making sense. I know that will not be immediately obvious to you, but I would say, don't worry about control solution. If the two that I have mentioned come with it, fair enough, you will be able to waste a test strip checking they are reading within the range specified but if they don't, forget about it for now. Some manufacturers will supply a tiny bottle of it free or minimal cost, if you are concerned about accuracy of the test strips at a later date.

Hope that answers your questions.

 

[Ukkate1]

The main thing to consider when self funding a BG meter is the cost of test strips because you will get through lots and lots of test strips in the first few months until you get a handle on which foods cause you problems and in what portion size and which you can get away with.... and which is not worth the aggravation. Test strips are not universal and each make/model of meter has it's own test strips. Some companies will give away the meter kit but you may end up paying a fortune for their test strips because that is where they make their money. For this reason, the two BG meters which have proved both reliable and economical to use by people here on the forum are the Gluco Navii and the Spirit Healthcare Tee2. The pots of extra test strips used to be about £8 per pot of 50 but as with everything, they have gone up in the last year. If you buy a few pots with your BG meter kit (you only get 10 test strips in the kit) you may get a multi purchase discount. I would recommend you get at least 2 extra pots of test strips but you will almost certainly need more than that.
The meter kit will come with a finger pricker and 10 lancets which are supposed to be single use, but provided that you only use a lancet on yourself and don't also go using it on friends and family, then you can use it multiple times and in fact we have a standing joke on the forum that St Swithin's day is annual lancet change day.... Of course there are some teachers pets who follow the rules or perhaps change their lancet once a month even, but us hard liners stick to an annual lancet change..... but don't tell your nurse because she will have a fit!! 🙄
If you want to be a swot and change your lancet every time and you are a bit sensitive, then you might want to consider purchasing the Accuchek Fastclix lancing device and a box of cartridges for it. Each cartridge contains 6 lancets. This is considered to be the gold standard of lancing devices for convenience, ease of use and most importantly for many people, pretty much painless finger pricking. I have never used it and find the cheapo lancing device which comes in with the meter or in the box of extra lancets, absolutely fine for my own use, but I have tough skin. Apart from the Fast clix which has these cartridges of lancets, most other lancing devices take universal lancets.

Some people have had problems with some of the very cheapest BG meter kits so my advice would be to go with one of the 2 I have mentioned above as they are very well tried and tested and economical. As regards the control solution, some meters are provided with this so that you can actually use one of the test strips to ensure that they are reading within the range that they should. It is years since I used a control solution and the only time I would consider it is if I had a stron feeling that my meter/test strips weren't reading correctly and were not making sense. I know that will not be immediately obvious to you, but I would say, don't worry about control solution. If the two that I have mentioned come with it, fair enough, you will be able to waste a test strip checking they are reading within the range specified but if they don't, forget about it for now. Some manufacturers will supply a tiny bottle of it free or minimal cost, if you are concerned about accuracy of the test strips at a later date.

Hope that answers your questions.

Thanks so much. Clear , sensible advice and very helpful. I am on Amazon now. So thankful for this Forum xx

 

[JJay]

You can get a free Contour Plus Blue meter from Ascensia Contour Plus Blue and test strips are currently only £8.49 for 50 from Chemist4U.

I’ve found this really easy to use and it also links to an app if that is of interest. The finger pricker uses multicoloured lancets which the child in me finds quite fun!

 

[harbottle]

You can get a free Contour Plus Blue meter from Ascensia Contour Plus Blue and test strips are currently only £8.49 for 50 from Chemist4U.

I’ve found this really easy to use and it also links to an app if that is of interest. The finger pricker uses multicoloured lancets which the child in me finds quite fun!

I second this recommendation. I've been using this one (Also got for free!) and another Contour one and am very happy with the results of both of them. The Contour devices are apparently very accurate and the Bluetooth connectivity is very good.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hope you get on well with your monitor, whichever you decide to opt for @Ukkate1 🙂

Just remember, the numbers you get from it are just information. They aren’t an assessment of how hard you are trying, they capture one piece of information from one point in time. Not how ‘well’ you are doing, or anything about the complexity of your life at the moment. Try not to think of them in terms of ‘good’ or ‘bad’; or ‘success’ or ’failure’ . They are just points of data to help you inform your choices, look for patterns, and decide what to do next. 🙂

 

[Ukkate1]

Hope you get on well with your monitor, whichever you decide to opt for @Ukkate1 🙂

Just remember, the numbers you get from it are just information. They aren’t an assessment of how hard you are trying, they capture one piece of information from one point in time. Not how ‘well’ you are doing, or anything about the complexity of your life at the moment. Try not to think of them in terms of ‘good’ or ‘bad’; or ‘success’ or ’failure’ . They are just points of data to help you inform your choices, look for patterns, and decide what to do next. 🙂

Thanks, I’ll try and keep all that in mind. Learning so much at the moment and this site and members are so helpful.
I strayed onto a site called Winning Type two diabetes together on Facebook. I think it’s American. Long debate about how many carbs should be consumed. Some on keto, who say under that more than 30 carbs a day is dangerous, while others who say advice from healthcare suggests 30-40 a meal. Got quite heated and both sides adamant they were right. I’m going with the advice from members here, who say up to 130 a day. I’ll see what my results say in three months time

 

[bulkbiker]

so need to consider low calorie also

If you cut carbs down enough then low cal shouldn't be necessary.

As for meters.. the running cost is the strips so try to find something that has affordable test strips.. I use the Tee2 from spirit healthcare

TEE2+ – Spirit Healthcare

shop.spirit-health.co.uk

Strips are £10 for 50 just remember to tell them you have been diagnosed with T2 to get the VAT off.

As for numbers of carbs I went keto with some fasting when first diagnosed and had great results and remission in 4 months after diagnosis.

 

[Deb_l]

I second this recommendation. I've been using this one (Also got for free!) and another Contour one and am very happy with the results of both of them. The Contour devices are apparently very accurate and the Bluetooth connectivity is very good.

I would also recommend the Contour Blue. I get the lancets and testing strips on prescription but they’re not overly expensive to buy. I think about £8 for 50 for the testing strips. If you have a look on the shop tab on here, you can purchase from this site.