restriction on test strips
Hi Chris,
I'm type 1 diabetic (diagnosed this summer, aged 55).
Yesterday my Pharmacist told me that my doctor has decided to ration me to 3 boxes of test-strips a month ie 5 a day. I can't meet my obligation to the DVLA to test when I drive under this regime (I live in the country and have to drive to work, and back, to the shops and back, and to take my kids to their appointments). I can't test during exercise, or when I'm ill (I'm asthmatic as well and get lots of chest infections); I can't test when I'm working (I work with a very demanding autistic boy). I'm newly diagnosed and have not yet been on a carb-counting course, so I can't check and correct blood sugar if I take the wrong amount of insulin. I'm currently getting 2 hypos a day and I can't check for these either. My diabetic nurse was sympathetic, but said that anything beyond testing 4 times a day is a 'life-style' choice.
This is utter c**p.
It sucks. It's dangerous and type 1 diabetics need to get vocal and angry about these sort of restrictions. Diabetes UK say they are getting loads of people from all over the country complaining about them. They say that some type 1 diabetics are being told to test just twice a day or in some cases twice a week.
These kind of restrictions will result in the NHS having to pay far more to support people with resulting complications.
I have no choice but to fight this rationing, because I can't live without more test-strips. I have two children aged 6 and 11. I have a responsibility to keep them and myself safe.
However, it's come to something when you have to be afraid of your own doctor, because they literally are weilding the power of life or death over you. And also, my worry is that this is just the beginning. If these kinds of restrictions go uncontested, we may looking at the total withdrawal of teststrips further down the line. We have to fight it.
Sue