Self Monitoring of BG Levels

The Canadian version of Evidence Based Medicine have published my reply to an article by a Professor Farmer who did not support test strips for type twos.

Print this out and give it to your GP.

"Self testing but not self managing"

With respect to the commentary by
Waldron-Lynch and Dinneen,1 self testing
is clearly not going to benefit people with
type 2 diabetes unless they know what to
do when their blood sugars are out of
their target range.
Treatment options for those with type
2 diabetes are limited. If they do not use
injected insulin, they need to rely on their
endogenous insulin to deal with the sugar
they make from their meals. The more
carbohydrates their meal contains, the
higher the glucose load their body has to
deal with. As they have lost their firstphase
insulin response and often have
limited ability to make insulin "to order,"
they need to limit the amount of carbohydrate
they eat to ensure adequate blood
sugar levels after meals.
Some diabetic people prefer the certainty
of normal blood sugars by restricting
their meals to quantities of items that
they know their pancreas can cope with.
How do they know if they need to cut
back on dietary carbohydrate the next
time they have that meal? They test of
course.
Unfortunately, carbohydrate counting
and carbohydrate restriction are still not
taught at mainstream diabetic clinics.
This has little to do with science and
much to do with politics. Fortunately
there are online forums and publications
that can help those diabetic patients who
are not willing to play Russian Roulette
with complications:
http://www.dsolve.com
http://www.diabetes-normalsugars.com
It costs 9 times more to treat patients
with diabetes who have complications
compared with those who don’t. The
diabetic patients who choose to master
their blood sugar control and who need
test strips to do it should be supported.
They get a personal benefit and the
NHS gets a long term financial benefit.
Katharine Morrison
1. Waldron-Lynch F, Dinneen D. Commentary on ‘‘Selfmonitoring
of blood glucose did not improve glycaemic
control in patients with type 2 diabetes not treated
with insulin.’’ Evid Based Med 2008;13:7. Comment on
Farmer A, Wade A, Goyder E, et al. Impact of self
monitoring of blood glucose in the management of
patients with non-insulin treated diabetes: open parallel
group randomised trial. BMJ 2007;335:132
ebm8521 Module 11 Evidence-Based Medicine 10/6/08 15:07:31 Topics:
Letter
1

Good letter,Katharine,any response to it so far?

I don't know because I would have to buy a subscription to find out and I'm too Scottish (mean) to do so!

Someone on the Bernie forum posted the original article that I applied to and I hope can post any follow ups.

Nothing wrong with being Scottish,in fact it's a positive asset ! The word is thrifty ,Katharine ,mean just sounds.....well.....mean! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Thanks Sue,

Professor Farmer's reply was published with my reply to his article. In his reply he was very gracious and said that using strips in this way was rational and that further research on this would be a good idea.

Small steps,Katharine ,small steps!!