Hi mikiboo, welcome to the forum
🙂 So sorry to hear you have been having such a tough time of things lately

It doesn't sound as though your nurse was much help or had much of a 'bedside' manner. If your blood sugar levels are on the high side then this will probably also be affecting your mood, so bringing them under control would certainly help. But how to do that without a meter, so you can monitor the effect of different foods on you as an individual? It's all well and good telling people to lose weight and eat healthily, but if you're not given much information or the tools to do that, then that's not much help at all
Have you spoken to anyone about your depression? Your GP would probably be a better bet than this nurse, as he should be able to prescribe treatments or refer you to a specialist.
Unfortunately, many people find themselves in a similar position to yours, where the nurses and doctors don't believe you need to test, but for some people that is their best route to learning about their diabetes and how best to deal with it. One approach that has helped members in the past is to purchase a meter and strips themselves and use them to gather information about what areas you might be able to improve things. Then, you could present this information to your doctor and he/she would see that you are serious and highly motivated, and that the testing you are doing is actually helping you - in the face of such evidence, they would need a good argument to deny you the test strips on prescription.
A lot of meters have expensive test strips, but there are a few around that are adequate for the task, and much cheaper. One is the
SD Codefree Meter which has
test strips that are around ?7 for 50. You would need to folow an efficient testing regime, such as
Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S , so that you can make each test count. At the same time, keep a food diary of everything you eat and drink, including the amount of carbohydrate so that you can build up an idea of what you are consuming and where you might be able to make some changes for the better.
Finally (sorry if I am overloading you with information!) I would recommend reading
Jennifer's Advice and
Maggie Davey's letter, and getting a copy of
Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker - these will all help you to understand diabetes better, and how to tackle it.
You ask about changing your nurse, well I suppose it is possible, but perhaps instead of changing her to a different person, why not try changing her mind by showing her that you can do this, and that you know what you are doing. Do not rely on the healthcare professionals for all your care - 99% of the time it is down to YOU to look after yourself and learn what you need to do, as you are living with this all the time. Please feel free to ask any questions here, whenever you wish - you are not alone in this, there are lots of friendly people here who have a vast range of experiences and will be able to help and support you!
Well done on your weight loss to date, and I hope that the slow release metformin is much kinder to you
🙂