Feeling overwhelmed

Ok, take a deep breath and relax.

This question gets asked quite often and we usually recommend the SD Codefree. This is because the test strips are generally the cheapest to buy and if you're self financing the cost of testing several times a day soon mounts up.

You can buy these online from several vendors but Homehealth.com is probably the most popular as they offer discounts for bulk buying strips.

@bluetit has discount codes (and maybe @Rachox ) I can never remember !

Good luck.

I don’t use a ketone meter so can’t comment on those. As you rightly say ongoing costs of strips are the main consideration (and availability I cheapest are around £7 for 50 going up to close to £30 for 50. Some manufacturers will give you a free meter if you phone and order strips directly.

Theoretically they all are made to the same standard of 15% accuracy in a particular range. That sounds quite broad but it’s what we currently have to work with. Tbh apart from a little frustrating it’s enouhg to see the trends and get a reasonably good idea of where we’re at and what a good does to us. After all type 1 and other insulin dependant diabetics dose a potentially lethal drug using these so it obviously works.

Some will be more consistent within themselves than others. Some will regularly thrown out a random reading.some will read a little higher some a little lower. But as I say it’s trends not decimal points you need to be concerned with.

Personally I use an accuchek mobile - because I got it free! However I like the fact there is a cassette not strips and that makes it more compact with just one cassette to thrown in the bin rather than strips littering the place up. Also attached to it is an accuchek multiclix finger pricker. This is like a pen loaded with another cartridge filled with 6 lancets that fire at the press of a button with adjustable depth. It all retracts back into the cartridge and again just goes in the bin, no sharps to be concerned with. And now they’ve brought out a blue tooth adaptor that also attaches to the same unit that sends data to mysugr app at the touch of a button. All very simple and neat.

I also have a “Mycontour next” which is similar in that it is very small and has Bluetooth and they give them away in “prize draws” on Facebook all the time so probably a phone call would work here too. That does use strips and a separate fiddly looking lancet with individual points but I guess you could buy a multiclix separately easy enough. Reportedly it’s very accurate/consistent but so far I’ve not used it.

The tee2+ is also popular on here as the strips are cheap and it does what it needs to do.

Hi @Tumbleweed2018
A lot of us used the SD Codefree in the past but started to have some quite erratic readings with it so switched to the Tee2 meter from spirit healthcare
https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/collections/tee2
The strips whilst not so cheap as the Codefree are still one of the least pricey and the meter seems to reflect more accurate levels for me in any case.
As for ketone measuring at the beginning its probably not necessary just reduce your carbohydrate content drastically. if you rally want to measure then I'd suggest a different meter such as the On Call GK Dual but just use that one for ketone measuring as the blood sugar strips are more expensive than the Tee2. This is the best deal so maybe wait untulback in stock if you really want one.
https://www.valuemed.co.uk/collecti...ood-ketone-strips-here?variant=20494218559546

Hope that helps.

Tumbleweed2018 said:

Thanks, @bulkbiker . That's very useful to know. I see your name on Twitter sometimes. I read people like Tim Noakes, Jason Fung, Ivor Cummins, Zoe Harcombe, and you pop up occasionally. I don't have an account though - I just read other people's words of wisdom.

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Oops caught out.. I hope I make sense some of the time at least ... although I feel quite embarrassed to be included in that pantheon of greats!

Tumbleweed2018 said:

Thanks for all that information, HSSS. I hadn't twigged that it was possible to avoid the hassle of lancets and sharps, so that is useful to know.

Talk of apps and Bluetooth is alarming to someone whose knowledge of technology hasn't moved much in the last 20 years. I don't have a smart phone, and I've resisted having a Facebook account too.

I'll look into the things you and urbanracer have mentioned and will see how I get on.

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It might seem overwhelming now but if you decide to start monitoring you'll probably soon find yourself being a bit of an expert yourself, and the apps are a great way of having data at your fingertips - my dr. was very impressed with my monitoring and really liked the MySugr app.

I found MySugr very easy to use, and I have little patience with apps if they're not intuitive.

I use the Caresens Dual. It measures glucose and ketones. Here’s a link:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/collections/caresens-dual

Tumbleweed2018 said:

Thanks for all that information, HSSS. I hadn't twigged that it was possible to avoid the hassle of lancets and sharps, so that is useful to know.

Talk of apps and Bluetooth is alarming to someone whose knowledge of technology hasn't moved much in the last 20 years. I don't have a smart phone, and I've resisted having a Facebook account too.

I'll look into the things you and urbanracer have mentioned and will see how I get on.

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Morning!

I don’t bother with all the Bluetooth/downloading/chart stuff although sometimes I wish I had. Start simple, test your levels before and after meals and take it from there, you’ll be astonished and possibly hooked.

Meant to add if you are a bit data nerdy record all your data in a spreadsheet.. won't be long before you are graphing away happily!

Tumbleweed2018 said:

I still haven't worked out how to use the graphing functions. *Sigh*

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sounds like a project then?

I do think that you might be overthinking this - as you are not diabetic, tot up all your carbs for a week or so and then go for half that number - if it makes your meals rather skimpy substitute low carb veges for the dense carb ones, and be sure to avoid anything labelled as low fat. Lots of nice crisp salads, tasty stir fries and proper foods such as meat, fish or other sea food, eggs and cheese as the basis for your meals - nothing breaded, battered or messed about with should feature.
Asda do a low carb protein bread - it looks like a brown brick and is a bit expensive, but it means you can have something like a sandwich a couple of times a week - I eat it with kippers. Nothing else without bread bothers me at all - just kippers, so I was glad to find the 4 gm of carb per slice option.
You might find that it is easy enough to lose weight on low carb just by carb counting - a late edition of Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution might help if you can find one - lots of lists of foods to eat, what to reduce, graded levels of carbs etc.
If you get a cheap glucose meter you can see if some foods raise your blood glucose more than they should - but testing for ketones is a bit hit and miss anyway.

Tumbleweed2018 said:

Thanks for all that information, HSSS. I hadn't twigged that it was possible to avoid the hassle of lancets and sharps, so that is useful to know.

Talk of apps and Bluetooth is alarming to someone whose knowledge of technology hasn't moved much in the last 20 years. I don't have a smart phone, and I've resisted having a Facebook account too.

I'll look into the things you and urbanracer have mentioned and will see how I get on.

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Hi there. It can be quite daunting - all this talk of tech, I keep it simple. I have a glucometer, a food diary and occasional use of a set of scales and a tape measure. I did buy the 'Carbs and Cals' book which is available as an app and was very useful in the beginning.

Then go for a meter with cheap strips so you can test frequently - the ketones aren't all that important but if you see how carbs affect you that could very well be a good motivator.
Just over a year from diagnosis I had two Christmas dinners (two offspring to visit) and each time I saw a low reading on the meter - I knew I'd got it beaten then.