• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Struggling to test

P

Practalyborndiabetic

Newbie
Messages
4
Has anyone been struggling to test like I know I have to but I get side tracked by something or have to do something for my two year old or the dogs I am good at carb counting by the time I remember I may of only done my morning test I do suffer from depression and find all the testing medications and my other disability very overwhelming I know I have to test I sometimes forget and guess I know I shouldn't do this it's like I'm sort of pretending to be someone else or pretending I don't have all these problems has anyone else experienced this and is there a name for it
 
Welcome. I'm sorry to hear you're having a tough time of it. I'm self-funding a Libre CGM which is really easy to scan with my phone, so use that constantly to try to stay within the green 5 to 7 display. It feels more like a computer game, which is fun, rather than the sombre pastime of glucose checking.
 
1spuds said:
Can you break down the costs? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Well you need something to scan the sensors - so either the reader you can get from Abbott (which was about 60quid when I got mine 2 years ago but this may have changed) or a phone which has NFC.

But the main cost is actually the sensors as they need to be replaced every 2 weeks - when I last bought some (in April or May this year) they were £46.36 each from the Asda pharmacy, slightly more from Abbott, not sure how much from anywhere else. You do have to sign a VAT exemption form to get them that cheap, but I know my T1 status means I can sign said exemption form.
In other words it was costing me about £100 a month when I was self-funding (I now get a prescription for it)
 
There are some free apps for phones that remind you to test bg and you enter the reading into it mySugr is one I’ve used. They may help you to test more regularly.
 
How are your levels and are you T1 on insulin or T2 as that makes a difference to blood testing and when you should do it
 
1spuds said:
Can you break down the costs? Thanks.
Click to expand...
It costs me £40 a Libre sensor, from a pharmacy, every two weeks. The prices vary across the country from pharmacy to pharmacy. My free phone app Libre link activates the sensor and scans it, giving 8 hours of data.
 
Practalyborndiabetic said:
Has anyone been struggling to test like I know I have to but I get side tracked by something or have to do something for my two year old or the dogs I am good at carb counting by the time I remember I may of only done my morning test I do suffer from depression and find all the testing medications and my other disability very overwhelming I know I have to test I sometimes forget and guess I know I shouldn't do this it's like I'm sort of pretending to be someone else or pretending I don't have all these problems has anyone else experienced this and is there a name for it
Click to expand...
Hello, welcome! Have you discussed it with your team to come up with a solution? I struggled as a kid when it came to testing which resulted in DKA a few times but freestyle libre wasn't available back then. Due to my accident in 2013, I cannot go through a day without testing otherwise my anxiety shows up and decides to stay for a very long time. I was prescribed the libre on 10th June due to testing far too much. It was very difficult for my therapist at the time to draw the line between testing because I need to test and testing without a reason to test.
I second that if you have the means to fund a freestyle libre sensor, which is a FGM not a CGM. It might help you with your struggles. Prices varies across different pharmacies and you have to call in advance because they have to fulfil prescriptions first. Abbott have stopped taking in new customers to order it online.
However if you forget to test, will you forget to scan? Libre isn't a CGM so it will not give you results until you scan, whereas CGMs give you results every few minutes.
 
Back
Top