For Type 2's Struggling to get BG Test Strips

[Peter C]

I was diagnosed Type 2 in October this year and i have tried to get my test strips on prescription but i can't, my DN and GP have said that i don't need to test with them and have given me urine sticks on prescription instead but i'm not happy with that so i am having to buy my test strips and lancets. My lancets cost me ?8 for 100 which is not too bad but the test strips are very expensive but i have actually bought some recently on a well known online marketplace site and 100 strips have cost me the same price as 50 would have done from a chemist. At the moment i tend to test times a day but i wish we Type 2's could get these on prescription

Hi there,
yes as a newly dxed T2 you have walked straight into a National Scandal - the restriction of test strips to T2 diabetics and the advice to newbies not to test.
As far as the lancets go, many diabetics don't use a fresh one every time and there is a tradition on alt.support.diabetes that you only change lancets on St. Swithuns day.
Urine testing is pretty useless ( except for original dxing) - it only tells you what the state of play was a couple hours BEFORE the test.

 

[LisaLQ]

Hello again,

Sorry you are suspicious of Jennifer's Smart Advice - it is actually legendary among the international online diabetic community.

here's another legendary source of information as well ...David Mendosa
http://www.mendosa.com/advice.htm

Not on the same scale but another major contributor to the online diabetci community is the Aussie called Alan S. Read his "test, Review, Adjust" advice here ...
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html

Hopefully this kind of material will help you to put the "nurse practitioners" advice about not needing to test "yet" into perspective. Hmmmm... "yet", when will she recommend testing - when the damage is done ?

if you need a book to read kick off with Gretchen Becker, "Type 2 Diabetes : the First Year".

All this year Accuchek having been giving away their meters FREE ( because they make their money from the strips ). If you go into a Pharmacy and chat to the pharmicist ( not the shop assistant) you might be able to blag a free meter ( or contact Accuchek and just ask for one ). The meter comes with an initial dozen or more strips to start you off on. Why not do a bit of experimentation like this with testing ?

Thank you for the information, I will read those.

However, I dont need to test if my diabetes is under control (which evidently it already is). Luckily for me, mine was caught very early - and as long as I eat well I will be fine. After all, the only reason you need to test is to know what triggers higher BG levels, and get them under control, and as I'm early stages and the diet is working - I simply dont need to know my glucose level. Not quite sure why that sounds so strange. My HbA1c was much better than expected, because I did as my nurse ordered and changed my diet. I still dont understand why I would need to "test test test" just to find out that...I have it under control lol.

Cant get any simpler than that. Thanks for the info, I'll share it with my nurse and see what she says. Your friend's site may be factual for all I know, but you have to agree the internet is full of sites that are less than factual or fad like - and I am not prepared to change all my diet and health care to suit someone who's never seen my medical records.

 

[Peter C]

- I simply dont need to know my glucose level.

Hello again again,

HbA1c and bg testing measure different things which not related. The A1c is NOT the measure of your average bgs.
But there is a formula which is used to convert A1cs to average bgs ...this is it.... Ave bg(mmol) = 1.59 x A1c -2.59.

Substituting your 6.4 A1c into this we get average bg levels for you of 7.6

The general recommendation is to keep bgs in the range 4 to 7 as far as possible. Diabetes Uk suggests a bg at the 2 hour post prandial stage of under 8.5. Your average of 7.6 suggests you are comfortably in the 4s some of the day but that you are spiking well into double figures post prandially ( when much of the dmage is done ).

T2 diabetics, especially in the early days, need to follow a low-spike diet and they can only establish that through testing.

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"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink", Traditional Proverb

 

[LisaLQ]

Testing does not reduce your blood glucose level. It's only a test. Only the patient and/or his/her medication can reduce blood sugar levels. And apparently I'm doing that well as it is. You have to remember that is my first HbA1c result after only being diagnosed a month ago, so will include two months where I wasn't sticking to the diet because I was undiagnosed and therefore didnt know. My fasting glucose on diagnosis was only 7.8, so they caught it very early.

I can see we're going to go round in circles for this one. There's no way I can change my treatment, I asked about testing and was refused, and I'm on benefits and cant afford to buy test strips when I have 5 kids to feed and cloth.

I'm not concerned for now. You shouldn't be either.