New to forum

[Suzuki sue]

Hello
I’ve just joined this forum, for information and mutual support from fellow diabetics.
I live in UK, am a 61 year old white female.
I’ve was diagnosed Type 2 diabetic since 12 years ago. It is being controlled (I hope ) with diet exercise and Metformin medication 2000mg a day.
I’m struggling! I count carbs obsessively, do at least 10 hours of aerobic exercise a week, gave up smoking 6 years ago and have cut down drinking alcohol to 1 bottle of white wine a week.
I went to the doctors yesterday for 3 monthly blood tests, hba1c and cholesterol. The nurse refused to do them! She said my diabetes was under control and 3 monthly tests weren’t necessary.
My questions to this forum are-
My HBA1C in December 2022 was 50 mmol.
I have been told by a medical practitioner that nerve damage starts at 52 mmol.
Should I buy an HBA1c testing kit? Are they accurate? Any recommendations ?
Am I worrying too much?
Thank you and
Hello
Sue

 

[catinahat]

Welcome to the forum Sue
Sounds like a cost cutting exercise by your nurse to me.
A HbA1c of 50 while not excessively high is not particularly suggestive of good control either.
Personally I think a glucose meter and regular testing around your meals would be more beneficial than paying for a private HbA1c.
The HbA1c will tell you what your average levels have been over the previous 12 weeks or so.
It will not tell you why, or rather what it is you are eating that's keeping your HbA1c firmly in the diabetic range.
@Rachox has some info about meters if you don't have one, I'm sure she will be will be along soon to share it with you.

 

[Rachox]

Thanks for the tag @catinahat and hi @Suzuki sue .

Here’s some info on UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.

HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews if you use this link and select the meter plus 5 packs of strips, and then add the code dcuk (all lower case) at check out you may get money off, I’m not sure if this code is still valid.

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/

Links to the strips for future orders:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/glucose-navii-blood-glucose-test-strips-50-strip-pack/

There are also discount codes for when you come to buy more strips - "navii5" and "navii10" will give you 20% off purchases of 5 packs of strips and 25% off 10 packs of strips respectively. Again I’m not sure if these codes are still valid.

Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/

Discount codes for the Code Free strips, again I haven’t used them in a while.

5 packs 264086

10 packs 975833




SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + which is quite popular:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793

The strips are to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097

Some members have got a free Tee2+ by phoning up to order, with a large order of strips they often throw the meter in for free:

Phone number 0800 8815423

If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.



Here’s the link to the Freestyle Libre site, this is what I use these days, https://www.freestylelibre.co.uk/libre/products.html



Don’t forget to check the box if you have pre diabetes or diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)

You can also check your HbA1c at home with an A1C Now:

A1C Now® Self Check |

www.a1cnow-selfcheck.co.uk

 

[Suzuki sue]

catinahat
Thank you, I did think the same.
I will take your advice and get a pin prick monitor. I have had 2 in the past, but cannot get testing strips.
Anyone any recommendations?

 

[catinahat]

Anyone any recommendations

The post above from @Rachox should help.
One thing to consider is that all the meters have to comply with the same accuracy standards, some come with a few bells and whistles like Bluetooth and connection to various apps. But the main cost to testing is the price of the test strips, which can vary considerably between different meters.
In the early days of testing you will get through a lot of strips so if cost is a consideration it pays to choose the one with the most cost effective strips