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[Jaxieb]

Hi, I am new here and type 2 diabetes for a very long time. Complicated relationship with food and diabetes. Have made many positive changes over the last 2 years for my health and diabetes. I need to pay more attention to the diabetes. Reading with interest the stuff around keto diet. I need to monitor my sugars more so want to get a blood sugar monitor andy better than others?

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome.

If you are self funding the two which are most often recommended on the forum are the Spirit Healthcare Tee2 or the SD Gluco Navii. These seem to be good basic reliable meters with relatively cheap test strips @£8 for a pot of 50. You go through a lot of test strips in the early days of testing and adjusting your diet, so the cost of the test strips is the most important consideration and they are not universal.... each meter has it's own dedicated test strips. At one time these meters were the cheapest on the market but there are now some cheaper ones online from China which some people have found less reliable, so those are the 2 options I would recommend. Basic meter kit is approx £15 and you get 10 test strips and 10 lancets with the kit... which you will use up very quickly, so I would suggest you purchase 2x extra pots of test strips to get you started and probably a box or lancets although many of us are naughty and reuse lancets multiple times when they are supposed to be single use.... I usually change mine biannually (shocking I know) and not had an infection as a result so far, so up to you if you want to follow the rules, in which case buy an extra box of lancets or be a rebel and reuse, in which case those 10 lancets with the kit might last you a year or two..... If you don't change the lancet regularly, remember never to test anyone else with it without changing it. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Jaxieb]

Hi and welcome.

If you are self funding the two which are most often recommended on the forum are the Spirit Healthcare Tee2 or the SD Gluco Navii. These seem to be good basic reliable meters with relatively cheap test strips @£8 for a pot of 50. You go through a lot of test strips in the early days of testing and adjusting your diet, so the cost of the test strips is the most important consideration and they are not universal.... each meter has it's own dedicated test strips. At one time these meters were the cheapest on the market but there are now some cheaper ones online from China which some people have found less reliable, so those are the 2 options I would recommend. Basic meter kit is approx £15 and you get 10 test strips and 10 lancets with the kit... which you will use up very quickly, so I would suggest you purchase 2x extra pots of test strips to get you started and probably a box or lancets although many of us are naughty and reuse lancets multiple times when they are supposed to be single use.... I usually change mine biannually (shocking I know) and not had an infection as a result so far, so up to you if you want to follow the rules, in which case buy an extra box of lancets or be a rebel and reuse, in which case those 10 lancets with the kit might last you a year or two..... If you don't change the lancet regularly, remember never to test anyone else with it without changing it. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks for such a detailed answer. I now know what to look for

 

[trophywench]

Look online then @Jaxieb - cos neither is available to buy at a real pharmacy, only online.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Jaxieb

Well done on the positive changes you have been making in recent years.

As @rebrascora says the cheapest reliable options we have come across

SD Gluco Navii (formerly the SD Codefree) which has Navii test strips at around £8 for 50.
The Spirit Tee2 has Tee2 test strips at just under £8 for 50

Let us know how you get on 🙂