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Testing Strips Over Christmas Period

A

Aeron

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Hi,

My son was recently diagnosed with Type 1 and last week was his first week back at school. We have found that as his levels have changed because his level of activity has been all over the place, and he is needing to be tested more because of this. As a result we are burning through testing strips quicker then we have been over the last few weeks.

Ordering his prescription is taking around 5 days for his strips to come in and he only gets 50 a time so we are finding that we need to order more pretty much the same day we pick up. This has been a massive inconvenience but we have managed - what is worrying us is the Christmas period as there is a strong chance of us running out without being able to order more. Does anybody have any advice for what you do about strips over Christmas? Also is it unusual that we only receive the 50 strips a time? Everything else on his repeat prescription seems closer to a monthly supply and its become a weekly source of stress having to ensure we order the strips. Considering he is only 8 and we are expected to test 4-8 times a day (not including hypo treatments when needed) this doesn't seem like much at all.

Thanks in advance for any help given!
 
Hi,

Welcome to the forum.
Your lad clearly needs a review on the quantity in his script. I get 200, but can easily reorder every 2 weeks.
The turnaround is usually 2 working days.?

If you are able? You could invest in a Freestyle Libre sensor which would help spot trends with his wild levels & the meantime.
Only using strip a when necessary? You don't need a reader, just download the "Libre link" app to an NFC enabled phone?

Best wishes.
 
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You could try talking to your doctors, when my test strips got changed recently (by request from the hospital), they defaulted to 50 strips a month, but after I'd chatted to the relevant person about prescription amounts (was their pharmacist I think, so not a doctor) she totally understood after my explanation why I needed more and changed it there and then and even sent a prescription to my chemist when she did the change.
Often I think the numbers are set to a default, but if you explain with a reasonable reason at least at my doctors they are happy to change the quantity
 
I'm also a 200 strips at a time repeat, which is usually about a month's worth, and 50 would not last me long!

I'd be onto the GP surgery in the morning asking for the repeat to be changed. If they insist it's right, get onto the hospital clinic to sort it. (I am assuming your son is under the care of a hospital?) as they are used to sorting these things on their patients' behalf. At least, mine are.

I had a similar issue with needles, as I had to explain why one box of 100 didn't last a month. (And that re-using is, for me, a poor idea. I do not want the repeat of the infection issue I had.) There was no difficulty once I'd explained and I've never had any re-infected sites since.

Hope he (and you) get into the routine of it all soon. My levels can be all over the place with changing activity levels!
 
If you cannot get this changed in time before the Christmas break can you afford to buy extra just for that week?
(I'm T2 and my GP won't prescribe for me so I buy my own, either from a pharmacy or online.)
 
Get in touch with your consultant/DSN tomorrow and ask them to tell your GP immediately to amend your son's scrip to however many strips you think he needs for a month but try two months which is what I have. As a new type 1 and a child he should be having a lot more help. I'm sure you'll get what he needs, it’s just realising the mechanics of how to do it. Boring but essential, you'll get there.
 
As others have suggested my GP has a prescription department. I just spoke to one of the staff over the phone and they increased the amount straight away. No need for consultants or doctors.:)

Good luck.
 
Hi there, my initial prescription was for 50-100 but I am newly diagnosed and it just wasn’t enough so I requested more. Now I get 150 per prescription and I tend to reorder every 2 weeks. If you call your GP they should be able to change the prescription. I would do this ASAP. Also ask them about creating an online account if you haven’t already so you can just order the strips whenever needed, I will be ordering some more myself this week. Also, if I am ever struggling, I call my diabetic clinic and they will leave some out for me at reception. Have you got a diabetic clinic contact?
 
Aeron said:
Hi,

My son was recently diagnosed with Type 1 and last week was his first week back at school. We have found that as his levels have changed because his level of activity has been all over the place, and he is needing to be tested more because of this. As a result we are burning through testing strips quicker then we have been over the last few weeks.

Ordering his prescription is taking around 5 days for his strips to come in and he only gets 50 a time so we are finding that we need to order more pretty much the same day we pick up. This has been a massive inconvenience but we have managed - what is worrying us is the Christmas period as there is a strong chance of us running out without being able to order more. Does anybody have any advice for what you do about strips over Christmas? Also is it unusual that we only receive the 50 strips a time? Everything else on his repeat prescription seems closer to a monthly supply and its become a weekly source of stress having to ensure we order the strips. Considering he is only 8 and we are expected to test 4-8 times a day (not including hypo treatments when needed) this doesn't seem like much at all.

Thanks in advance for any help given!
Click to expand...

Hi,

I have several really good recommendations. Make an appointment with the prescribing team at your GP and tell them to increase it to 200 strips. I was previously getting 100 strips which annoyed me as they were barely lasting 2 weeks so I told them to double it.

Also another great item that you may be interested in is a Freestyle Libre 2 sensor - it’s around £57 per 2 weeks but it has optional alarms that will come to the phone, a sensor like this would be ideal if your child hates having fingers pricked
 
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