How often do you check?

[staffsmatt]

Hi all,

Just a quick question. How often in a day (roughly) do you check your Blood glucose levels?

For me it's:

During the night,
Before breakfast.
10 o'clock
Before lunch
2 o'clock (2 hours after lunch)
3 o'clock (to see if I need a snack)
Before tea (6pm ish)
8pm
(extra one around here if I've exercised which I do about every other day)
Before bed

I've had a letter from my doctors asking me to cut back on the number of test strips I order, but can't really think which (if any) I can drop.

I'm type 1 and have been diabetic since I was 16 months (I'm 29 now)..

Thanks for your time.

M

 

[leggott]

I test my children between 7 - 9 times a day on average and my husband who also has type 1 tests between 8 - 10 times a day.

 

[Fallenstar]

what a nightmare Staffmat, that would be one letter I would dread and you really need to make an appointment and go and explain to your GP that is a reasonable amount for a Type 1 to check and any less could put you or someone else's life in danger. If you are having to put restrictions on testing at times when you really need to along with your regular checks to keep good control, as when you are about to drive or are on a long journey...or under stress it's a worry.

I test before and two hours after each meal, I test twice during long runs every day,before bed and always during the night once, so this will take me up to ,if not one or two more than you. I also could not imagine testing less. I took my young daughter for a long walk tonight ,conkering :lol: I tested while on the way back to the car just to be on the safe side as there was only me and her in a very remote spot...another one. it scares me when there is talk of cutting strips, you need what you need.
Hopefully as I have had such good results on my new insulins ,I will gradually feel more confident to check less, but if I do go on a pump, My DSN said I will have to test at least 7/8 times a day.

let us know what you do about it and what they say.
Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Herbie72]

It varies for me, Staffsmat. Some days I'll test 10+ times, especially if exercising and driving, but I'd say average is five or six times a day. I've had the same problem as you; a GP who knows very little about diabetes moaning about doing too many tests. Mine reckons we should only test a couple of times a day, crazy!! My hospital consultant wrote her a letter explaining the need for tests, but now I get grumpy phone calls instead. It's all just about the money, unfortunately :roll:

 

[staffsmatt]

To be fair I have spoken to my diabetic nurse (had the letter handed to me whilst waiting to go in for my flu jab) and she was very apologetic about even having to send the letter, apparently it's been decided that this is an area they can look at for cost savings and so the letter has gone out. She did say though that I should only cut back if I could do so without affecting my health (which is fair enough)!

The main aim of the post was to check if other people thought I was over checking (obviously not, which is nice to know).

On a side note I do find that my levels vary much more and much quicker on nova rapid than they did on the old act rapid..... This could be because of the younger age I was back then though I guess.......

Thanks for the replies

 

[LaughingHyena]

I don't usually bother with the post meal tests unless I am in the process of checking my ratios for that meal time or I am eating something unusual and I'm not sure of my carb count. I find before meals and before bed usually give me enough of a picture to see whether I need to tweak something. I hate testing so I do try and avoid it

Of course there are additional tests if I'm driving, exercising or just because I don't feel quite right.