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Meters

Welcome to the forum. My understanding is that different medical practice groups around the UK use different meters and they sometimes change them, depending on cost. In NZ there is a national agency that dictates one type of meter for everyone, and it changed a couple of years ago. Everyone just returned their meter and got a new one with new strips for it. Hopefully that will be what happens for you, and the new meter will be just as good, and you won't need to pay any extra money. But, depending on your needs, the meter might not be suitable. There are dozens of types, and there's a list of them somewhere on this website too.
 
i had a very good tester in a usb form,brilliant straight to computer no hassle and instant records,now my surgery have unilaterally changed my meter and testing strips and it is cheap nasty and inaccurate,this will cost my surgery a lot more when the complications begin
 
Oh god. I was told the same thing at my chemist by the pharmacist. I need to ask my gp when I see him In 2 weeks time. I'm getting very stressed about it all which enables me to work and feed my family. He is aware so I'm hoping he might agree to just do ones I want til sugar is better controlled then go back on cheaper strips. I'll even compromise with cheaper lancets if necessary. Fingers crossed. Thanks for your reply too.
 
Mine changed our meters to a cheap, nasty and useless one nearly two years ago. It was disastrous. So inaccurate it completely undermined any intuitive sense I had of where my BS might be. I had a reading of 30!! I injected only 4 units of novorapid, being cautious, and 45 minutes later I was down to 2. The fluctuations damaged one of my eyes and I've only recently stabilised. All the visits to the eye specialist must have completely wiped out any savings they thought they would make on the meter. Now I've been allowed to go back to a proper meter! Still have damage to my eye but it's stable.
 
That's shocking. Your story could be used as an example of why they shouldn't mess around with people's meters.
 
Thank you
Yes, the eye consultant said he'd seen a few problems linked to meter changes and the optician I saw firstly said it was the severe BS fluctuations that had done the damage. The GP surgery didn't want to know and even after all that just kept on at me to use less testing strips. Heaven only knows what it did to my body! I will just say that it made me feel very very ill.

I've changed doctors now and I've seen a very helpful DSN so things are looking up. I don't think the CCGs who make these sweeping changes realise the devastating changes it makes to people's lives.
 
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