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Bloodless testing with patch and scanner

fleurtess

Well-Known Member
Messages
124
Location
Near Moffat Scotland
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
spiteful people, noisy naughty kids
I saw the specialist at the diabetic clinic today. I sort of got a little lecture and a WOW excellent results!! I am 68 and he said that at this age I should let my levels go up a little and relax the very tight grip I have on my diabetes. Apparently having levels running at 4.3mmol to 6 mmol is not a good idea and going to bed on 5mmol is a no no. Well, I don't know about this, I actually feel better when my levels are down at 5.what ever to 6 what ever than I do at 8 or 9mmol. But he is the specialist and I suppose I should at least give his words a try. He also told me that in England diabetics can buy bloodless testing kits which comprise of a patch and scanner. Apparently not in Scotland yet! I would go for this as my fingers are getting a bit worse for the finger pricking and I play the piano, so hate pricking my fingers. I am going to try to get this patch and scanner and go directly to NICE and badger them for it for all of us, and why not?
My overall long acting levels for the past 8 months has come in at 42 or 6 mmol, all he could at first say was fantastic, wonderful and the went on with the BUT and my age.......oh well, we will see how it goes, the only other good news is that I have lost more weight, another stone off.....wow!!!
 
Not sure I agree personally. If you have good control and it works for you then stick with it.

I think the patch he is talking about is the FreeStyle Libre system. Be aware it is still an invasive testing system. You have a sensor stuck on your arm for two weeks at a time that does still have a sensor filament under your skin.
It is not perfect and has issues of its own (see some of the skin reactions people have reported on other threads) but otherwise it is a pretty good system. I can say that I have one stuck on my left arm right now.

I don't get why they say as you get older you should relax control, are they trying to kill us off? Wait that is my inner cynic.
In any case if what you are doing works for you and you feel good where you are and are not having lots of hypos and you can still feel them coming then I say stick with your personal medical regime. "Specialists" work off general guidelines and we are all different, you are your own best expert when it comes to managing T1D since you live with it 24/7.

If you do want to go with the Libre be aware it is not cheap, you are looking at around £100 per month from your own pocket. But if you are still interested go and register sooner rather than later since there is quite a waiting list due to demand being massively higher than they expected. They listened to the "specialists" when doing their projections instead of those of us living with the condition.
 
Would be the freestyle libre your consultant refering to.

My consultant says that at 70 she would not expect me to have to have such tight control as I try to have at 50... I actually mentioned previously about insulin pump and what would happen if I lost my memory or ended up in a home where nurses and staff just have no knowledge... She said that my levels would nit be a concern in these scenarios and they would be allowed to be a lot higher...

Personally I do not accept this.. And so long as my brain is able to then I will carry on my own care with lower levels...
 
Well done on your recent results and weight loss @fleurtess

It's entirely up to you what bg levels you run at and your consultant can only advise, provided your hypo awareness is still good and hypo's are few and far between then I wouldn't worry too much about it. Good luck at getting the Libre funded, that would go a long way to protect those piano fingers
 
Thank you all. I was in shock after my appointment. I still intend to keep a tight control because this is when I function better and sleep better too. Why on earth should I go to bed with my levels at 9 mmol and wake up every 2 hours to go to the loo? When I go to bed I like my levels to be at 6ish.then I have a good night's sleep and wake with levels at 6ish happy and bright. Thank you so much to the new age people who have inspired me to go on as I have been doing.
 
I'm happy to go to bed on a bg level of 6 as I know my basal rates are fine (I'm now on a pump), but even when I was on MDI I was happy with levels above 5.6 as long as my lantus was set at the right dose, but yes @fleurtess high bg levels do mean frequent toilet visits which isn't good if you want a good nights sleep.
 
I really need a good night's sleep as I look after my husband who has dementia I can't do that properly if I am tired. I also can't function properly on high bg levels. My bolus is fine no problems there.
 
I like my levels to be above 4, 5 preferably before bed. It's not an issue for me. My hypo awareness is good and I always wake up if it drops to below 3.5. Like you I find my sleep is FAR more refreshing if my blood sugar is what I'd call "normal range".
Sounds like you've got it all sorted & well in hand. Don't rock the boat, even if you suddenly find there's a new & overqualified passenger on deck
 
Thanks I am so pleased to talk to you
 
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