Hi, I'm approx 8 weeks into having diabetes, as bg was so high I was put on gliclazide and metformin. After 1 week I was given a meter (GlucoRx nexus) this was great. I started to understand what causes highs and and lows in my bg. My doctor signed me off work for 7 weeks, this allowed me to start loosing weight going to the gym, controlling my food intake and getting fairly stable bg results (5.6 to 7.2).After 3 weeks gliclazide was stopped and metformin increased. Now I've had my strips stopped as I return to work due to my good results. Apparently this is all good now as I will get a yearly test. I tried to explain to the doctor and diabetic nurse that I'm away from home for 5 days a week, and my diet becomes more varied in hotels and less control over what is available. I was then given the usual talk, "metformin controls everything great you and are only type 2 so don't need to test. It will actually do more harm than good. You should not try to stay at your present levels as you will become far worse and will have more complications later". I thought being and staying high was more damaging to your health and that was why I was admitted to hospital at first. Anyway back to work and results range from 3.2 to 9.8. Maybe stress, diet, food eating times are involved but I'm not happy with this. I plan to remain testing and will stick 2 fingers up to my medical team and try to find a team that understands diabetes not just reading an out of date book as mine seem to have done!