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testing blood

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T

thecatman3

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Can any out there help me with this. I have type 2 diabetes and i am on pills too control it. My problem is my GP does not want me to use a monitor to keep an eye on my readings. He says that twice a year on my check up is enough but i don't think it is. I would like to use the monitor and i have had to buy one at my own expense, can you demand to have the lancets and test strips on the NHS or do i have to keep buying them myself.
George
 
You will need to self-fund, from what I hear the cheapest option is the SD Codefree from Amazon
 
What medication are you on? I was put on gliclazide and was prescribed a meter and strips when I asked for one presumably because of the risk of going hypoglycemic. I get the consumables on prescription which, at my age, I don't have to pay for. Reading through posts on here does suggest that there is variability in pescribing practice from one GP to another. Maybe my GP practice is a bit more enlightened than yours. Maybe they appreciate that going back with data to show what effect medication has had has saved them a lot of time and has been invaluable in optimising doses.
 
thecatman3 said:
Can any out there help me with this. I have type 2 diabetes and i am on pills too control it. My problem is my GP does not want me to use a monitor to keep an eye on my readings. He says that twice a year on my check up is enough but i don't think it is. I would like to use the monitor and i have had to buy one at my own expense, can you demand to have the lancets and test strips on the NHS or do i have to keep buying them myself.
George
Click to expand...

Afraid not mate for some ridicules reason apart from cost you will have to self fund. You are correct you need to check often to know what foods etc. affect your blood sugars, can you let us know which monitor you are using we may be able to advise you on a more cost effective monitor and test strips. Also a list of medication and latest results will help.
 
thecatman3 said:
Can any out there help me with this. I have type 2 diabetes and i am on pills too control it. My problem is my GP does not want me to use a monitor to keep an eye on my readings. He says that twice a year on my check up is enough but i don't think it is. I would like to use the monitor and i have had to buy one at my own expense, can you demand to have the lancets and test strips on the NHS or do i have to keep buying them myself.
George
Click to expand...
H
 
I've just been diagnosed as you. My Doctor also does not think I need to test my blood, and to go for another test in 3 months. He said I am only just outside normal, 5.3, so a low carb diet should suffice for the moment. I've researched the carbs, and have 140ish gms. That's what the books say. That's quite easy to achieve. I've never had sugar in any drinks and rarely any sweet food. I've given up fruit yoghurt for Greek plain and look on bottles and tins. Hope this works for me. One cup of porridge and one cup of any pasta or rice.
 
You've got to test to see what suits you. Rice and pasta would send me into the stratosphere. :( Porridge maybe too.

I get my strips off ebay, cheapest for me, and a good friend gave me the meter.
 
Hello catman, I too was diagnosed recently, my DN said they don’t give meters as its not necessary and people become ‘obsessed ‘ about testing. After a couple of weeks a DN where I work (in a GP surgery) gave me a meter. I requested strips and lancets on prescription from my DN and told her that i believe there is a huge gap between doing nothing to help yourself and being obsessed, that I wanted to be proactive in finding what foods I could and could not tolerate and that I had never been obsessed about anything in my life (apart from David Cassidy when I was 12). It worked as I got them so maybe a further conversation with your GP may be in order. Good luck with it all
 
I agree with @Ditto but the only way you will know is to test, rice and pasta sends me very high. 140gms is more than my limit, 80gms or less I am comfortable with, this is only a personal perception for me but the only way I know is by testing.

@SueEK David Cassidy?🙄
 
Same as Ted and the others, I cannot tolerate any rice, pasta, or potato. I’m struggling on 9g carbs in a diet shake - they’re putting me in the high 12s. I wouldn’t know that without methodically testing - there’s a difference between methodical and obsessive, and I prefer to refer to it as the first. Some can’t tolerate carbs in anything other than minute quantities, others can get away with what would send me stratospheric.

Our trust won’t fund meters at all for T2s, which I think is very shortsighted. I’d be on a shedload of meds if I followed their recommendations, so my little meter is saving not only my body, but a ton of money for them. I don’t see how it can’t be cost effective in a motivated diabetic.
 
It is the same sort of advice as don't bother to check your speedometer, you can tell if you are going too fast when the fines come through the letter box.
 
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