About meters

Floss, short answer: Yes.

Unless there's another way to determine your blood sugar I don't know about! A T2 may not need to test as much as a T1, but you certainly would in the early days in order to work out how you're reacting to different foods/your meds. Your DSN may have a different view, but there's plenty of stories on here about the importance of it, and the struggle some have to obtain test strips.

I've never had a problem with testing, and you should see the instruments of torture we had to use back in the 80s, also known as finger prickers!

Flossie
I'm one of the T2s who buy their own strips. I've just got a letter from my PCT explaining why they can't afford to let me have them on prescription. I don't agree with them, but they won't budge.
Obviously, I use my srips arefully. I test first thing in the morning and often last thing at night too.
that works for me
Hana

I brought my moniter,and 100 strips,I went to the diabetic nurse a couple of weeks ago and asked if i could get the strips on prescription and she said yes,i was so shocked lol.Ive also got the strips on a repeat prescription.

WEll done Tracey
my gp just told me that the PCT would love me for buying my own strips.
Hana

has anybody who uses the breeze2 noticed the difference in their readings i have mine they are reading much higher than my last one :?:

Hi Flossie,
Testing is absoltely necessarily a (vital) part of your life now. It needn't be painfiul nor daunting. The testing kit I was given by the diabetic nurse was absolutely awful. (you'd think it was the 1950s..) It was big, fiddly and hurt like hell. And they're still using them on people now..
So I went looking for my own. The one I use is absolutely amazing. It's called 'freestyle mini'. (I think it's been replaced by the 'lite' model). It is tiny and you do not feel A THING. Honestly. It was inexpensive (under £10) and strips are available on prescription. The NHS don't like this because they cost a lot (I tried to buy some once and for a tub of 50 it was £25!!) but they are obliged to do so, so don't worry on that account.

Linda

Angeldust said:

strips are available on prescription. The NHS don't like this because they cost a lot (I tried to buy some once and for a tub of 50 it was £25!!) but they are obliged to do so, so don't worry on that account.
Linda

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Unfortunately Linda it isn't that simple.

Many of our members are forced to buy their own strips as the GP/Practice decide that it is too expensive to prescribe them, and also in some way, stressful to test ? This means that many cannot get them prescribed at all or are severely restricted, i.e. 50 strips for three months or less. An average of 1 strip every other day.

How anyone is supposed to control Bg levels with only that number of strips is beyond me. At this moment I have to test anything from 7 - 10 times daily......fortunately I have a GP who is happy to let me have 200+ a month without any hassle. The opposite side of the coin. Even then I sometimes buy some from Ebay to supplement what I am using.

This week at my 6-month review my GP decided to add my test strips to my repeat prescription medications. I was absolutely delighted, given other people's experience recounted on this forum. I regard regular testing as an important part of my diabetes treatment. It will be interesting to see if the quantities I can get are limited in any way.

Angeldust said:

The NHS don't like this because they cost a lot (I tried to buy some once and for a tub of 50 it was £25!!) but they are obliged to do so, so don't worry on that account.

Linda

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(My emphasis)

Unfortunately not correct.

Like everything else from NICE, supplying the equipment for self testing blood glucose is only a recommendation. That means that the PCTs are free to chose whether or not they wish to do so (and pay). Mine does, but this seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

IanS

Wow really ?????
I thought that the NHS had to.
That is awful. I can't begin to fathom that.

Right now, being off work sick I would never ever be able to afford these. And I need to be testing ALL the time.

If there's anywhere I can sign up to kick up about this then let me know. I'm sorry to hear that not everyone can get these on prescription. That's terrible.

This is what everyone refers to when they talk about the "NHS postcode lottery". What health care you get depends very much on where you live.

One of our erstwhile contributors has a petition running on the No 10 website (a brief search should find it as it is linked frequently enough). You can add your name to it.

IanS

As type 1 I find meter manufacturers are tripping over themselves to offer me free new meters (as a lost leader obviously).

I've heard the strips are a horrendous price and the meters are becoming increasingly carefully designed to make you waste a strip if you're not very careful. It's annoying to see that the meter will audibly notify you when it's ready to apply blood.......but silently (only visually) warn you if it's not set right.......25 tests and you haven't re-checked the batch code for example.

And one has to ask......if they can make strips to a specific code, then why do they have to have 49 different codes, why not just one?

It all seems a big con.

With the vast number of type 1 diabetics in the UK, you'd think it would pay the NHS to commision it's own meter manufacturing facility, thereby only having to pay cost of manufacture, rather than the huge profits the big companies make out of UK Diabetes.

Surely it would soon pay for itself.

What we need is a universal strip that will work in any meter, the prices would soon come down.

I have had a couple of meters stripped down to work on this idea, when I find the answer I will be retiring to Barbados :lol:

In the mean time I will get back to scraping the ice of the car.

Flossie I know exactly what you mean by having a thing re finger pricks and well remember my family hooting with laughter as I held device on my finger and just couldnt bring myself to press the trigger or even if I did moved my finger away before contact. As time passes it gets much easier and now dont think anything of it so keep trying thats if you can get the strips and on that note just tell your GP that you are trying to be responsible for your diabetes and that you feel that should be a two way thing between you,it worked for me now I get them when I need them

Meters need not be expensive. I happened to be in Boots in Haddington a week or so ago and they had three different Aviva meters each priced pennies under £17.00. However, only 12 miles away the High Street chemist all three meters were on sale priced under £6.00. Somewhere in the middle someone is making a lot of profit. Shop around!

Similarly, some time ago when I tested twice a day I ran out of strips and went to the local chemist on a Saturday to purchase a box. The Pharmacist was away for the weekend; if he had been there I am sure that he would have given me a box with the promise of a scrip on Monday. The stand-in first asked why I wanted to buy as I was diabetic and should get them free. I explained. He then said that they would sell me a box. At that point he asked the Assistant for the price list and the type I was after was about £14.00 for 50. Not bad thought I. The Bombshell was that the assistant then pointed out that as they were being sold rather than prescribed the additional mark up listed in the catalogue was 175%. So its not always the manufacturer that is adding to the cost. If the Chemist makes a profit on the initial price he makes a whopping additional profit with the added mark-up. So the question might be where does this catalogue mark-up originate.

If you are type 1 and phone / email the various meter manafacturers they will send you a free meter.

But I know three people who are type 2 and tried this and got told they could buy one.

Yet when they phoned a few days later and got "confused" :wink: and said they were a type 1 the free meter was sent
.

I have had many free meters, I'm a Type 2.

I just tell them (Companies) that I test anything from 6-8 times a day. They usually are falling over themselves to send me one with all the bits and pieces ! So it is more to do with the number of tests, rather than what type you are......PROFIT !! :wink:

Before anybody says anything about getting loads of meters, ALL are given to Diabetic's in my area who need one but for whatever reason can't get one.

cugila said:

I just tell them (Companies) that I test anything from 6-8 times a day. They usually are falling over themselves to send me one with all the bits and pieces ! So it is more to do with the number of tests, rather than what type you are......PROFIT !! :wink:

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Where there is a will there is a way.
no need to pay for one when they are wanting to give you one for free.