FINGER PRICKING

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Hi. If you are talking about the finger prick 'lancet' to use with your glucose meter, I'm afraid it is needed for as long as you have diabetes - typically for life. The alternative is to self-fund what is called a CGM or Flash Glucose sensor which avoids finger-pricking. These are not cheap but work well - I started using one a few months ago. With the lancet, people will test from perhaps a couple of times day or more. It is legally necessary to test before driving and during long drives. If I have mis-understood your question please clarify.
 
DaveB said:
Hi. If you are talking about the finger prick 'lancet' to use with your glucose meter, I'm afraid it is needed for as long as you have diabetes - typically for life. The alternative is to self-fund what is called a CGM or Flash Glucose sensor which avoids finger-pricking. These are not cheap but work well - I started using one a few months ago. With the lancet, people will test from perhaps a couple of times day or more. It is legally necessary to test before driving and during long drives. If I have mis-understood your question please clarify.
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Thank you Dave-B no you have not misunderstood i only asked out of curiosity, thought perhaps after a few months
the medics would say , just take the pills (no such luck). will have look at the glucose censor.
 
gandolph said:
just started with diabetes, how long will i have to use the needle for blood test.
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Depends a bit on the type of diabetes. @DaveB is right that it is certainly for life if you are an insulin user. For those not using insulin, the frequency of testing will diminish with time. In the early days, whilst you are figuring out what is going on you might test several times a day until you get things under control and then reduce to none at all if you are confident that control has been achieved.

Its a bit like all things diabetic, depends on circumstances!
 
The frequency of testing depends why you are doing it.
Are you doing it to calculate an insulin dose? If so, you need to test for as long as you need insulin.
Are you doing it to determine your tolerance to different foods? If so, you will test until you have a large enough choice of foods for you.
Are you doing it to track improvements? If so you will do it until you have reached your target level. Although you may still decide to test occasionally to check all is ok.
Are you doing it to write it down in a notebook and do nothing else with it? If so, why are you testing?
 
DaveB said:
It is legally necessary to test before driving
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Libre readings have been accepted for driving for some time now so this statement isn't correct
 
DaveB said:
Hi. If you are talking about the finger prick 'lancet' to use with your glucose meter, I'm afraid it is needed for as long as you have diabetes - typically for life. The alternative is to self-fund what is called a CGM or Flash Glucose sensor which avoids finger-pricking. These are not cheap but work well - I started using one a few months ago. With the lancet, people will test from perhaps a couple of times day or more. It is legally necessary to test before driving and during long drives. If I have mis-understood your question please clarify.
Click to expand...
I should have clarified in my post that testing before driving etc would be for those on insulin or a tablet such as Gliclazide. As others have said, if you are testing to understand what is going on and not having medication that can cause hypos then you may only decide to test every few days or whatever. BTW the Sensor I mentioned is typically the Freestyle Libre 2 system.
 
If a type 2 and setting up the menu for what you can and can't eat - maybe four months, with the main work done in the elimination phase, which for me lasted around two weeks.
After that, a few checks to see how something new might change levels.
 
Please note that if you use sensors (Libre or CGM) they don’t completely remove the need for finger pricks, you still have to do a few for calibration purposes/check that the sensor is working properly. They do however significantly reduce the amount of pricks you do have to do (our test strip usage went down by half when we were using Libre, and is now down to hardly any at all since we switched to a different pump and Dexcom sensors, because the pump links to the Dexcom and doesn’t demand a finger prick each time, and we are finding Dexcom far more accurate than Libre)
 
DaveB said:
I should have clarified in my post that testing before driving etc would be for those on insulin or a tablet such as Gliclazide. As others have said, if you are testing to understand what is going on and not having medication that can cause hypos then you may only decide to test every few days or whatever. BTW the Sensor I mentioned is typically the Freestyle Libre 2 system.
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For driving a car, you don’t have to test before driving if on gliclazide unless you feel hypo. If on insulin then you can either finger test or scan your libre. If driving a bus or truck etc then rules are different.
 
How are you getting on with your monitoring @gandolph

Are you making changes based on the results you are getting? What sort of numbers are you seeing?
 
Hi and welcome
I am Type 2 and at first I tested 8 times a day - on waking, immediately before and 2 hours after first bite of meal, and before retiring. I kept a record and also a food diary so I could see which foods spiked my glucose. Once I had worked out what I could and could not safely eat, I reduced the finger pricks to new foods only. When my DN wanted to put me on Gliclazide, I was told I would have to test before driving and then every 2 hours, and also notify DVLA. So I opted for a different medication! For all insulin users, regardless of type it is for life.
 
depending on your local CCG you might be able to get the Libre on repeat prescription. Every region has different criteria. you can find out your local CCG criteria by looking for the formulator on the CCG/trust web pages. Its not snooping it is in the public domain. must people don't realise you can go looking

Good luck
 
Piglet said:
depending on your local CCG you might be able to get the Libre on repeat prescription. Every region has different criteria. you can find out your local CCG criteria by looking for the formulator on the CCG/trust web pages. Its not snooping it is in the public domain. must people don't realise you can go looking

Good luck
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The OP is on gliclazide only, so T2. It’s highly unlikely that they would qualify for a Libre. So far they are prescribed only for T1 and not every T1 will get them.
 
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