Cost of Monitoring Blood Glucose in France

[bluecurlylegend]

I've taken up residence in France a number of years ago and found out that I was Pre-Diabetique. So I bought a fairly inexpensive test kit to monitor my blood glucose. With the help of this forum I got some very good results, my HBa 1C is now around 5.6 mmol/L But only my constantly checking ! I used to get my Gluco-Navii test strips sent over from UK every six months or so, but now I've been told that the supplier can no longer send them to France.
As I'm not actually classed as diabetic I can't get a monitoring system under the national health system here. I have to buy it privately and the costs are three times higher than anything I could get in the UK. Anyone else in this situation ?

 

[EllieM]

Have you looked on amazon UK for sellers that post internationally? Or is the postage too expensive?

 

[Goonergal]

Have you looked at other meters and checked whether the manufacturer would ship strips to Europe? Check out the Tee2 from Spirit Healthcare. They don’t give the shipping costs on their website (within UK is free) but do say to contact them for overseas shipping requirements. The strips are a bit more expensive than for the Gluco Navii, but may still be cheaper than what you can get in France.

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/policies/shipping-policy

 

[bluecurlylegend]

Have you looked on amazon UK for sellers that post internationally? Or is the postage too expensive?

Yes, I've checked Amazon UK and any suppliers there just say "Sorry, can't send to France " Brexit ?

 

[EllieM]

Yes, I've checked Amazon UK and any suppliers there just say "Sorry, can't send to France " Brexit ?

That's weird, I tried putting france as a destination on amazon UK and got quite a few hits. Do you have a French doctor? Can you ask what systems they recommend for their diabetics? Or just ask at a pharmacy? Whatever strips they sell will probably be available cheaper online, but you may want to change your meter.

I sympathise, because I loved my freestyle lite, which I used in Australia, but because New Zealand only prescribe one brand of meter (caresens) I've had to change to that. (Not desperate to get strips posted from overseas when as a T1 I can get them for free from the government).

 

[bluecurlylegend]

Have you looked at other meters and checked whether the manufacturer would ship strips to Europe? Check out the Tee2 from Spirit Healthcare. They don’t give the shipping costs on their website (within UK is free) but do say to contact them for overseas shipping requirements. The strips are a bit more expensive than for the Gluco Navii, but may still be cheaper than what you can get in France.

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/policies/shipping-policy

Thanks for that, the TEE2 and test strips would be much cheaper than anything I could get here. However I've sent them an enquiry by email, so we'll see what happens. The attitude in France is that if you're pre-diabetic your only options are to stick to the usual standard Western diet, exercise more and lose weight. Absolutely no chance of getting a tester on the health system. Pretty **** galling since I had been sticking to the recommended diet....you'll all know what that is !!.... and I'd been cycling over 200km a week. I was 70 years old at the time. But I sourced a Code Free unit from Amazon UK and with the help of this site adopted a low carb regime. For the first time in my life the weight dropped off me ! .... and has stayed off ! But I would have had difficulty if I had not been able to monitor my Blood Glucose levels.
I dare say Brexit has done wonders for some people but it's not helped me much.
I was wondering if there are any members living in France in the same situation as me and how they're coping ?

 

[EllieM]

Hmm, google suggests to me that they have different brands of glucometer in France, Halta and callex
⁣Bandelettes test pour glucomètres (ld-medical.fr)

My french is (very) rusty but it looks like strip are 20 euros for 50 ish...

You wouldn't get free testing strips as a prediabetic in the Uk or NZ (don't know about Australia, they do give them to some T2s) so I think it's just a question of sourcing a meter that you can tolerate that has affordable strips in your country. I initially hated my caresens but I've grown to like/tolerate it.

 

[bluecurlylegend]

That's weird, I tried putting france as a destination on amazon UK and got quite a few hits. Do you have a French doctor? Can you ask what systems they recommend for their diabetics? Or just ask at a pharmacy? Whatever strips they sell will probably be available cheaper online, but you may want to change your meter.

I sympathise, because I loved my freestyle lite, which I used in Australia, but because New Zealand only prescribe one brand of meter (caresens) I've had to change to that. (Not desperate to get strips posted from overseas when as a T1 I can get them for free from the government).

I'll have another go with Amazon UK and see if I can find someone who'll send stuff to me. I do have a French doctor but he's definitely last century... when I mention Low Carb he just blanks out. However I don't want to change him because he's actually quite a decent chap and he's happy to agree to disagree with me. He was really worried about my cholesterol readings and was determined to get me on statins but I've body swerved them too. Our Pharmacist is very helpful but the cheapest test strips she does cost more than €0.45 each whereas I was getting Gluco Navii strips for £0.14 from UK.

 

[bluecurlylegend]

Hmm, google suggests to me that they have different brands of glucometer in France, Halta and callex
⁣Bandelettes test pour glucomètres (ld-medical.fr)

My french is (very) rusty but it looks like strip are 20 euros for 50 ish...

You wouldn't get free testing strips as a prediabetic in the Uk or NZ (don't know about Australia, they do give them to some T2s) so I think it's just a question of sourcing a meter that you can tolerate that has affordable strips in your country. I initially hated my caresens but I've grown to like/tolerate it.

Accu-Chek seems to be the most common device in France, you can pick them up from Pharmacies at about the same price as online. Same for the test strips... works out at about €0.50 per strip.
Maybe I'll just sell a kidney on the black market....

 

[Riva_Roxaban]

You wouldn't get free testing strips as a prediabetic in the Uk or NZ (don't know about Australia, they do give them to some T2s)

If you are a member of NDSS, strips are subsidised at $6.60 for 100 strips, if you have a PBS health card they are $1.20 for 100 strips

You had to get your GP / CDE to sign a form every six months so you could get them at these prices. We will probably go back to doing this after covid is beaten, if it's ever beaten.

https://www.ndss.com.au/products/

EditL Forgot to put link in post.

 

[EllieM]

Accu-Chek seems to be the most common device in France, you can pick them up from Pharmacies at about the same price as online. Same for the test strips... works out at about €0.50 per strip.
Maybe I'll just sell a kidney on the black market....

Hmm, well the website I linked to has the calla ones at .22 euros a strip.... Though it may be that you have to add VAT to that or it's only available to health professionals.

When I looked on amazon france it had testing meters but no separate strips, seems very weird to me.

 

[EllieM]

You had to get your GP / CDE to sign a form every six months so you could get them at these prices. We will probably go back to doing this after covid is beaten, if it's ever beaten.

Do they sign off on prediabetics for strips if they are using them to successfully keep down their levels?

 

[Riva_Roxaban]

Do they sign off on prediabetics for strips if they are using them to successfully keep down their levels?

No, according to this bit here on the NDSS registration page you cannot join.

You are not eligible to register if you have impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glycaemia, sometimes referred to as pre-diabetes.

https://www.ndss.com.au/about-the-ndss/registration/

 

[MrsA2]

Easiest is to order from Amazon UK, have delivered to a friend/relative in the UK and have them post to you as a gift (on the customs label), or better still bring over lots when they next visit

 

[bluecurlylegend]

Hmm, well the website I linked to has the calla ones at .22 euros a strip.... Though it may be that you have to add VAT to that or it's only available to health professionals.

When I looked on amazon france it had testing meters but no separate strips, seems very weird to me.

It is a bit of a maze looking for a glucometer and test strips in France. The cheapest strips I've found so far are still averaging out at €0.40 each.

 

[bluecurlylegend]

Easiest is to order from Amazon UK, have delivered to a friend/relative in the UK and have them post to you as a gift (on the customs label), or better still bring over lots when they next visit

I might have thought about that....but if anybody's watching it was only a thought...honest ! I was kind of put off that when I read a list of stuff you're not allowed to send to France from a non-EU country, I think it was on the DHL site ? It did state that measuring equipment was forbidden. Perhaps one way of doing it would be to have a big supply with me when I'm returning from a visit to UK and tell les douaniers that it's part of my medication ??? However I visited Glasgow a couple of months ago and ended up getting trapped there for five weeks. I'm not at all keen on repeating that, thank you !

 

[bluecurlylegend]

I seem to have found a solution to my problem.... of sorts. Code Free is popular in Germany and Germany is in the EU ! So I've just ordered a load of Code Free test strips from Amazon.de at about € 0.28 a strip. OK that's twice the cost of getting them in UK but these will keep me going until I've steeled myself for another visit to UK.
I actually tried Ireland but it was just too confusing and I haven't got round to trying other EU countries.