None of us like blood tests but, as someone with type 1 diabetes or otherwise on insulin injections, it’s hard to imagine coping without regular testing.

It’s fairly common for some of us to go through periods of low motivation to test from time to time.

The truth is, testing is important both in the long term and the short term. If you’re short on motivation to test, read on and see how testing can seen as be a boon rather than a bane.

Why has my motivation gone?

Low motivation may come for a number of reasons, including:

There’s good immediate reason to test regularly

Taken at face value, blood glucose testing doesn’t sound too great.

You take time out of your day to jab a lancet into your finger and get a result which won’t necessarily make you feel better immediately upon seeing it but, think a bit more and testing starts to bring some really substantial short term benefits such as:

Read more reasons to test your blood sugar regularly

Get back to feeling more like yourself again

Ultimately, testing helps you to keep your sugar levels on track more often and this results in a number of the benefits that you help you essentially feel more ‘you’ again.

If you haven’t quite been feeling yourself lately and your control hasn’t been at its best either, rather than letting testing slip, take initiative and test more often than you would usually.

The best way to break a vicious circle is to make a concerted effort into one area to fix things and extra testing can often do the trick.

Is your GP a barrier?

It is sadly not uncommon for some GPs to advise their patients to cut down on testing as surgery cost cutting measure. Diabetes.co.uk regards such cost cutting measures as counterproductive when applied to patients that use blood glucose testing as an integral part of controlling their diabetes.

If your GP tries to or has restricted your use of test strips, arrange an appointment with your GP to discuss the issue and make sure you’re well prepared with notes or evidence of how regular testing is helping with your blood glucose management.

If your test strips are reduced and you disagree with the decisio, you have a right to complain. Read more on problems with access to blood glucose testing supplies

Get some help from your meter

Blood glucose meters have come a long way from just giving a number of your blood sugar.

These days, some of the more advanced meters can present results to view on your phone and the Verio meters from OneTouch provide progress reports as to how your results have been trending recently.

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