Am I wrong for testing my blood ?
No!
Diabetes UK - Knowing your blood sugar levels helps you manage your diabetes and reduces your risk of having serious complications – now and in the future.
Diabetes.co.uk - In the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) does not permit people with type 2 diabetes who are not treated with insulin access to diabetes test strips on prescription unless doctors state a legitimate reason or benefit for a particular patient. “Permit” seems an odd choice of words, “encourage” might be better. This I imagine is because they will not give you a prescription for the strips. Diabetes.co.uk go on to say - However, there is now a bank of evidence that structured Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose (SMBG) can have positive effects on people with non-insulin dependent type 2 diabetes, including helping them to better understand their condition,
reduce their HbA1c levels, and improve their diabetes control.
American Association of Diabetes - One of the researchers commented that study participants said that sticking to a regular, self-monitoring schedule really helped them to know where their blood levels were and take appropriate action, such as adding physical activity or choosing a healthy snack. They also said it helped them to accept that they had diabetes and to feel confident that they could control it rather than letting it control them. (American Association of Diabetes Educators, Aug. 5, 2015)
I expect we could find a lot more of these recommendations from different diabetes bodies.
I think the best thing is to ask your DN a very simple question.
Over the next year, how do I tell if my diet and exercise regime are helping me to control my BG. Are you honestly telling me that I have to wait a year to find out that my BG is out of control and if so, how do I prevent the damage done by having poor BG control.
Maybe diabetic patients with complications make her feel that she's more important and needed. DOn't worry about her too much, I think the NHS is guilty of endangering our lives in a ridiculous effort to reduce costs, offset by billions of pounds required to treat complications.
