Quick question about testing strips for ketones

[New-journey]

i have just noticed my ketone testing strips are no longer on my prescription.
I have never had ketones, not even on diagnose but think I should have test strips in case I do get ill and my sugars are raised.
Is it normal to have test strips for testing ketones or do you have to quote NICE guidelines and persuade them?
Thanks.

 

[Sally71]

Yes we get them and so far have never had any argument. I only get a box every now and then, it's the sort of thing that you only need very occasionally but you have to have a few in stock just in case. But they don't have a very long life so quite a lot get thrown away because they are out of date, so it's really tricky to decide how many to keep in, there are only 10 in a box and you can easily use those up in one bout of sickness!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

If you rarely need them, and only want them to check in emergency you could go for urine strips. They are not as immediate, accurate, or convenient (it takes a while for ketone to appear in urine and clear afterwards), but will let you know whether you have trace, moderate or raised ketones that need investigating with blood strips.

The benefit to your practice is that they cost £5 for a tub of 50 rather than £2.50 EACH!

The only slight snag is that you can't get small quantities and if (like me) you are only an occasional user the chances are you'd need to throw most of the pot away as they need to be discarded 6 months after opening.

Having said that, it still works out cheaper for me as I'd have to dump and of the expensive blood strips that ran out of date too.

It all depends on whether you need to monitor ketones carefully I think. I so rarely register any that urine strips have always been perfectly fine for me, so I've kept using them.

 

[Robin]

I've never had ketone strips, and it's never come up in conversation ether at the hospital or my GP surgery. ( not that I've ever brought up the subject). I've been fortunate enough not to have felt the need for them since diagnosis, I've never been ill enough to be worried, but one day....

 

[Northerner]

I have ketone strips on prescription (although it remains to be seen if I have to convince the new surgery to prescribe them 😱). My argument was that, if I really needed to test for ketones I would need a very accurate way of measuring them, which urine strips don't provide (for me - it may be a personal thing). As Mike says, urine strips have an even shorter shelf life so you can end up throwing most of them away, whereas if you are actually ill you will definitely get through all the blood strips 😱 Yes, I need them very rarely - in fact I have only been really ill once, in 2012, and really needed them at the time in order to know just how critical my illness might be, and whether I was at risk of DKA. I was, at the time, but this didn't help me get the help I needed from the NHS, but that's another story - at least I was alert to the situation, and I was very thankful I had them.

The strips can still be used beyond their use-by date, although obviously they may lose some of their accuracy. My previous surgery had a habit of wrongly prescribing the ketone strips when I requested Optium glucose strips, so I ended up with quite a supply at one time - I had to start putting an explicit note on the prescription request for KETONE strips 🙄 Yes, it can be wasteful, as it can with urine strips, but if you fall suddenly ill trying to get some from your surgery could take too long for it to be useful.

 

[New-journey]

Yes we get them and so far have never had any argument. I only get a box every now and then, it's the sort of thing that you only need very occasionally but you have to have a few in stock just in case. But they don't have a very long life so quite a lot get thrown away because they are out of date, so it's really tricky to decide how many to keep in, there are only 10 in a box and you can easily use those up in one bout of sickness!

I hadn't thought of them going out of date, better check the box I have. Thanks.

 

[New-journey]

I've never had ketone strips, and it's never come up in conversation ether at the hospital or my GP surgery. ( not that I've ever brought up the subject). I've been fortunate enough not to have felt the need for them since diagnosis, I've never been ill enough to be worried, but one day....

I hope you never get to that day!

 

[New-journey]

If you rarely need them, and only want them to check in emergency you could go for urine strips. They are not as immediate, accurate, or convenient (it takes a while for ketone to appear in urine and clear afterwards), but will let you know whether you have trace, moderate or raised ketones that need investigating with blood strips.

The benefit to your practice is that they cost £5 for a tub of 50 rather than £2.50 EACH!

The only slight snag is that you can't get small quantities and if (like me) you are only an occasional user the chances are you'd need to throw most of the pot away as they need to be discarded 6 months after opening.

Having said that, it still works out cheaper for me as I'd have to dump and of the expensive blood strips that ran out of date too.

It all depends on whether you need to monitor ketones carefully I think. I so rarely register any that urine strips have always been perfectly fine for me, so I've kept using them.

That is very helpful and as I don't need to monitor my ketones, urine strips will do in a emergency if ever I have one. I will be asking for these. Thanks

 

[New-journey]

I have ketone strips on prescription (although it remains to be seen if I have to convince the new surgery to prescribe them 😱). My argument was that, if I really needed to test for ketones I would need a very accurate way of measuring them, which urine strips don't provide (for me - it may be a personal thing). As Mike says, urine strips have an even shorter shelf life so you can end up throwing most of them away, whereas if you are actually ill you will definitely get through all the blood strips 😱 Yes, I need them very rarely - in fact I have only been really ill once, in 2012, and really needed them at the time in order to know just how critical my illness might be, and whether I was at risk of DKA. I was, at the time, but this didn't help me get the help I needed from the NHS, but that's another story - at least I was alert to the situation, and I was very thankful I had them.

The strips can still be used beyond their use-by date, although obviously they may lose some of their accuracy. My previous surgery had a habit of wrongly prescribing the ketone strips when I requested Optium glucose strips, so I ended up with quite a supply at one time - I had to start putting an explicit note on the prescription request for KETONE strips 🙄 Yes, it can be wasteful, as it can with urine strips, but if you fall suddenly ill trying to get some from your surgery could take too long for it to be useful.

I do hope your new surgery prescribe them. I think I will ask for the urine strips and see what they say. I don't have a DSN now and surgery is waiting for a new one, so it will only be a nurse who knows a little about diabetes, will be interesting to see what she says. I think for my next long travels though, I would prefer to take the ketone strips so I can have the accuracy. Thanks.

 

[Kaylz]

I had to have a rant to get my ketone strips back, I was using a Freestyle Optium Neo for a month after diagnosis then Paul gave me the Accu Check Aviva Expert, I check my ketone strips all the time as they are never that well dated and I noticed that they were nearing the expiry, this was around the time I had my Libre trial too and Paul had told me to order glucose strips for it too as they were the same strips as the optium, so put in an order for both but they weren't in with the rest of my prescription, when I called the surgery I was told they had been removed from my repeat as I had changed meters bear in mind I need the optium for ketone testing 🙄 xx

 

[New-journey]

I had to have a rant to get my ketone strips back, I was using a Freestyle Optium Neo for a month after diagnosis then Paul gave me the Accu Check Aviva Expert, I check my ketone strips all the time as they are never that well dated and I noticed that they were nearing the expiry, this was around the time I had my Libre trial too and Paul had told me to order glucose strips for it too as they were the same strips as the optium, so put in an order for both but they weren't in with the rest of my prescription, when I called the surgery I was told they had been removed from my repeat as I had changed meters bear in mind I need the optium for ketone testing 🙄 xx

Did you get them back?

 

[Kaylz]

Did you get them back?

Yes but I still don't get the glucose strips! I will enquire about them when I'm at the surgery nurse on the 18th though as its always best to have a back up box as a just in case situation, know what I mean? xx

 

[New-journey]

Yes but I still don't get the glucose strips! I will enquire about them when I'm at the surgery nurse on the 18th though as its always best to have a back up box as a just in case situation, know what I mean? xx

I would love a back up box, I am always on my last one when I get a new one and they still say I am ordering early. You have to have your glucose strips!

 

[Northerner]

Yes but I still don't get the glucose strips! I will enquire about them when I'm at the surgery nurse on the 18th though as its always best to have a back up box as a just in case situation, know what I mean? xx

Yes - I use my Optium as my back-up meter, so periodically get strips for it. The strips also work in the Freestyle Libre reader, so it's useful for checking when a sensor appears dodgy 🙂

 

[Kaylz]

I would love a back up box, I am always on my last one when I get a new one and they still say I am ordering early. You have to have your glucose strips!

I still don't see why they are being so restrictive with your strips, its not right at all!!

Yes - I use my Optium as my back-up meter, so periodically get strips for it. The strips also work in the Freestyle Libre reader, so it's useful for checking when a sensor appears dodgy 🙂

Precisely, I wouldn't be ordering them all the time, I'd get a box and if not used keep an eye on the date and order a new box when it was getting close to the expiry but they wouldn't give me them when I had my trial even though they are still on my prescription xx