Ex type2 resuming testing. Best place for strips?

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lrw60

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I don't want to use the tax avoiders until we start getting some of our money back! So not amazon :evil: etc. Rant over.

I am going to resume testing after many years of being told I don't need to, this site has convinced me that I do.
I will try my practice for strips, but I don't hold out much hope. So where do I go from here? My machine, which I think still works, takes the Medisense Optium plus strips. The reason I have decided to start testing again is that I have been meds free since Oct 2012 and I want to make sure that I am not eating unwisely. I will probably test before and after (2 hrs) breakfast and my evening meal. If the testing proves that I can eat as I do then I will only test for a week once a year or every 6 months. I found one internet site that has them for about £16 per 50. They were out of stock.
Lee.
 
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michaeldavid

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I suggest you purchase Betachek Visual.

http://www.betachek.com/uk/store

You can cut them with scissors, and that makes the cost around 3 or 4 pence per test.

I'm happy to pay for them myself because I couldn't do without them: I test my blood-sugar umpteen times per day. (I use meter-read sticks too, but only when I need to - 2 or 3 times per day.)

Betachek Visual are very accurate for readings below 8mmol/l, which is where my blood-sugar is most of the time.

I eat very well. And I probably have one of the best HbA1c readings in the country.
 
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lrw60

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michaeldavid said:
I suggest you purchase Betachek Visual.

http://www.betachek.com/uk/store

You can cut them with scissors, and that makes the cost around 3 or 4 pence per test.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I have looked at their website and it seems ideal. I will either send for some or try to buy them locally. I am still looking for cheap strips for my machine as well.
 
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michaeldavid

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You won't be able to buy them locally.

They are on the UK Drug Tariff, but there is no current UK-based supplier.

I can't help you with the sticks for your machine. But I know that ebay seems to be loaded with sticks people have presumably been prescribed with, but don't use.

And indeed you may wonder why it is that British GPs don't prescribe Betachek Visual, and save the NHS a fortune.

Since they don't, it's no wonder that there is no UK-based supplier: no company is going to make a profit by importing stuff that GPs won't prescribe.
 
kentish maid

kentish maid

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have you phoned Abbots I use the freestyle they cost £15.35 for 50.They came the next day.
 
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Anonymous

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lrw60 said:
I don't want to use the tax avoiders until we start getting some of our money back! So not amazon :evil: etc. Rant over.

I am going to resume testing after many years of being told I don't need to, this site has convinced me that I do.
I will try my practice for strips, but I don't hold out much hope. So where do I go from here? My machine, which I think still works, takes the Medisense Optium plus strips. The reason I have decided to start testing again is that I have been meds free since Oct 2012 and I want to make sure that I am not eating unwisely. I will probably test before and after (2 hrs) breakfast and my evening meal. If the testing proves that I can eat as I do then I will only test for a week once a year or every 6 months. I found one internet site that has them for about £16 per 50. They were out of stock.
Lee.
Click to expand...

If you are just going to test occasionally, bear in mind the 'use by date'. I asked my DN about the '90 day' shelf-life for my Accu-Check Compact+ test strips and she advised me not to use them after the expiry period. I suppose there' no way of knowing if they are still OK after the expiry date or not. You don't want to go buying lots of strips if they become theoretically 'unusable' after a period.
 
paul-1976

paul-1976

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I can only say comparing some out of date strips on my spare SD codefree meter with some new ones purchased for my mother in law(who I'm donating the meter to) that the results were very close and within a 15% tolerance but I wouldn't push it too long after the expiry(the expired were 2 months out of date)
 
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