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another test strip question (does everyone have a limit)
- Thread starter rayray119
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Proud to be erratic
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Please confirm that your meter does not keep a record of each finger pricking. I have 3 different meters and each gives me the history.
How many days (or hours) does a tub of 50 strips last? How many tubs do you use in any 7 days? Either of those answers will give a start point.
As @rebrascora commented, have you ever tested more than 16 times in a day? Also as @rebrascora commented if you can't explain this to us, your chances of convincing a Pharmacist are very poor.
If you don't have a figure for what you require when you meet, the Pharmacist will simply use the figure that has been prescribed by your former surgery. This will be clearly available on your medical records which will be available to your new Surgery. Then you will be back to your previous problem of a limited resupply and wrestling again with bureaucracy.
Your friend may think they have no 'due date' for resupply, but there will be somewhere in the Pharmacy dispensing process a tracking of every single prescription fulfilled for every patient (electronic records are everywhere) and if your friend started to exceed what was normal for them once or twice, the tracking would flag this up as a query. Pharmacies are a commercial business as well as a medical service and from both aspects they have to account for what they do; commercially to recover the money from CCGs and the NHS - as well as identifying theft and fraud within themselves (it happens); and medically from an ethics perspective.
How many days (or hours) does a tub of 50 strips last? How many tubs do you use in any 7 days? Either of those answers will give a start point.
As @rebrascora commented, have you ever tested more than 16 times in a day? Also as @rebrascora commented if you can't explain this to us, your chances of convincing a Pharmacist are very poor.
If you don't have a figure for what you require when you meet, the Pharmacist will simply use the figure that has been prescribed by your former surgery. This will be clearly available on your medical records which will be available to your new Surgery. Then you will be back to your previous problem of a limited resupply and wrestling again with bureaucracy.
Your friend may think they have no 'due date' for resupply, but there will be somewhere in the Pharmacy dispensing process a tracking of every single prescription fulfilled for every patient (electronic records are everywhere) and if your friend started to exceed what was normal for them once or twice, the tracking would flag this up as a query. Pharmacies are a commercial business as well as a medical service and from both aspects they have to account for what they do; commercially to recover the money from CCGs and the NHS - as well as identifying theft and fraud within themselves (it happens); and medically from an ethics perspective.
Ill see how many I use on Friday(if I end up doing it l they just strange my 8 and a half shift in to a 12 and 45m ones(of course this could change again) But I see you point about the cost but actually believe it may work out cheaper for them in the long run to not have the cannot reorder until date for them. I tried asking for help from other sources to help people out.
But thank you for the advice I'll let you know how it goes.
Leadinglights
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Clinical pharmacist reviews are happening in some surgeries not just to make sure that people are not requesting things they no longer need but making sure people are ordering the things they do need and should be taking. My daughter when doing her GP rotation had the sad story of a patient who had only ordered 1 of the three medications he should have had so she contacted him and it transpired his wife usually dealt with his medication requests but she had passed away and the one he requested was the only one he remembered.
So look upon it as a positive thing not a threat and an opportunity to sort out your issues.
So look upon it as a positive thing not a threat and an opportunity to sort out your issues.
good point thank you
Proud to be erratic
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I am sure there are lots of simple things the NHS could do to save money. One of those would be to shift more money into prevention and normal maintenance of diabetes with savings on hospitalisation and follow on costs after amputations etc.
ALAS, this big picture is not seen as something worth looking at (or perhaps not possible to alter) in relation to (or because of) sustaining and maintaining a smaller picture. That smaller picture is what we are all sucked into; inefficient and short-sighted diagnosing, along with short-sighted prescribing; with a total process bogged down in bureaucracy.
Talking of help, there are lots of people on this forum and several responding to this thread. They all want to help you to get the strips you need. But we need you to help yourself by doing the simple "housekeeping" task of working out what you require, numerically not an aspiration for an open cheque book. Partly done by creating an artificial guess of a worst case day for testing; underpinned by simple comparisons of how many actual tests are you doing determined from counting tubs of 50 used in a week, and how many days does a tub last.
If you started counting how many strips you actually use for the next 7 days (eg from midnight tonight to midnight next Monday) then you would have an initial average figure. That figure may not reflect a run of bad or busy days, but that can be factored up to give a worst case estimate.
If you feel I am starting to lecture you, PLEASE don't take these comments that way. I want, what you and all the responders on this thread want, that you get a satisfactory meeting with the clinic pharmacist and come away with satisfactory allocations for all your meds. Stress is bad for all humans, but particularly for those of us trying to control our BG. And having insufficient meds is stress you don't need.
On a positive note, I see in other threads that you are exploring meter options and wrestling with getting a better understanding of things like 'time in range'. I think this is great and give you a big pat on the back for getting on with improving your knowledge about diabetes. You were only diagnosed a little over 6 months ago. There is a huge amount to grapple with, yet here you are living with this and keeping your head above water, despite the inevitable trauma of hospitalisation (away from home on that day), the shock of the diagnosis and the awareness that this is now your new forever world! So really well done. Its not easy (nobody said it would be easy!) and as Gary Scheiner says in his book "Diabetes is complicated, confusing and contradictory". He is so right. Lots more complications to come, but unless you're Superwoman each challenge can only be managed one at a time.
i''m probably going leave this discussion there now and update you when i had that appointment(i will say the work is ad hoc which has ocured to me that it seems like i haven;t mettioned this before (i think that might be best for everyone at this point)
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Lucyr
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Rayrays meter does tell you how many times a day you test on average. I know this for certain as I have the same meter. You press the tick, go down to stats, then it tells you the number of tests per day in the top right corner. It also keeps the record of each individual finger prick so it would be easy to go back to a working day and count the number of test strips, if you wanted to know how many you need so that you could have a useful appointment
Proud to be erratic
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Thanks @Lucyr, that helps me understand how an initial weekly or monthly average can be derived by rayray. So now it's a question of gauging if the known current average is representative of what rayray feels she needs on more difficult days or fuller weeks.
I should have explained that I switched(my phone hadn't got thr date my tests perhaps need to look at setting it up probably)(and longer have one of the ones I was using) and no longer but that's besides point of what I was trying to explain as I said I think it's best for everyone if I leave the dicuuision here for now and I haven't see)(I know you're trying to help but I believe that's the best thing to do(it's honestly not that I'm unwilling to help to myslef)
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Lucyr
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It’s on the wavesense jazz meter itself that you get the average. It does it for different time periods so you can pick a long one to include time from before you switched
To get the number of tests on the wavesense jazz wireless meter download the aga matrix app and add your meter. On the homepage it will tell you how many tests you did in the last 7 days.
If you’ve used a combination of meters in the last 7 days get the average from each meter and add them together.
As I said it's best to leave it here. It may seem like I'm unwilling to help myslef but I promise you that's not case(there's a bit of UN century weather I will be working this week at Al at moment (I get it might be hard to understand that nots a simple awser to you even with all that). I appreciate you trying to help. I'm still loging you.. once again I'm going leave it here. But I promise you it's not that I'm unwilling to help myslef .
So can we agree to leave it here? I will update you. I do appreciate you trying to help and please don't take it like I'm preuposllu ignore ing your sujustions and looking for problems. And in very sorry I have come across that way.
silentsquirrel
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It's hardly been a discussion, has it? Your phone is irrelevant, we are talking about your meter, Even if the date us wrong, it will still tell you how many tests. If you cannot see how to get that, just click back through a number of tests and count.
Looks like that was a miscommunication again. What ever it's been it's best to leave it. And once again I promise it's not what people think that I'm unwilling help myslef(please believe this) etc.(I've managed to get around issue so far by doing stuff I think they might have ask Mr to come in because I've been writing nots when I ordered them(ordered them how either many I got left back when someone hoard kindly posted some please I had a ordered a couple of box's which has kept me going without having pay back in January which so had s bit of an overlap but I think at some point it would stop working with whole varttion. I have a bit of feeling it might just be because I've been pointing notes in the comments about things. So it may get a good outcome) I promise thouggh things arnt what they seem. I'm wondering if when I next order them I might be able to request more anyway simply for the the I'm going aborted in about a months time and the NHS advice is to take more). I just think if we carry out I'm going to get frustrated I'm going about not being able to get across why there simply isn't a simple answer to it with everything and other people are going going to get frustrated thinking that I'm being rude and igorging thier advice and looking for problems and not wanying sloving them(which isn't case I'm verry willing perhaps I shouldnt have mettioned it in trust place) and the last thing I want to do is cause problems on here.
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Lucyr
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I think the problem is, you say you’re not ignoring suggestions, but you started this thread 2 months ago and haven’t followed the suggestions but also haven’t made any progress on alternative ideas.
This issue could have been solved 2 months ago if you would just look up the average strips you use, find how many you need per month, and write in the comments box of your prescription “please change to x strips per month as I test an average of y times per day for my job”, or said that sentence to your GP.
Can leave it there on giving advice, but if you want things to change you do have to try acting on the suggestions you’re given.
This issue could have been solved 2 months ago if you would just look up the average strips you use, find how many you need per month, and write in the comments box of your prescription “please change to x strips per month as I test an average of y times per day for my job”, or said that sentence to your GP.
Can leave it there on giving advice, but if you want things to change you do have to try acting on the suggestions you’re given.
I was just updating that I got a letter following on what was sujusted followed on form perivous advice. I promise it I'd just thdf it's more complicated then it seems. I do know keep things in my inside pockets. I do follow. I will look back as much as I can. I have taken on bored what people have. I just promise you that's not what I'm doing I will still look back over things to get an idea. I've actually been alright since January by using my system I promise you that there really isn't an average(it's ovured me the only way this would be understood it is someone was actually in the company) i have listen to advice of other people like.
The reason I put it here was following advice of not started a new afraid.
I have done listen. To attuntive sujestes like keeping it inside my pocket.
I can say what I tend to when not working but I easily go over that when working depending on the shift on a variety of factors) it's and hoc so my average one week or even month or a few months will work different (I'm not agerging I'm just to explain in different way but even that want to explain it probably ). I promise you again it's not that I'm ignoring you.(I'm the last person do thi
I haven't released its sound like I hadn't done anything about other things.
I will still keep a log and look back other it and use that as a reference,(this is still taken some of it as reference(this still taking some of the advice)
I have been okay since January because of what I said before
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