Testing
- Thread starter angie99
- Start Date
Angie, sometimes you have to convince a Doctor that YOU do need to test! It is your health that is at stake here, not the Doctors.
I found the best way to convince them is to buy a meter and test before and two hours after each meal. Keep a detailed food diary showing the blood sugar levels and how the food you have eaten affects the levels.
The NICE guidelines 2011 say that patients should be involved in their treatment, not dictated to ! If you can convince him you are going to be very proactive in your treatment and control then he MAY give you the prescription for the test strips.
Before buying a meter check with your local Pharmacy which test strips are most commonly prescribed in your area.
I think if your Doctor came on this Forum he would be torn to shreds on any excuse he has for not prescribing the test strips for you ! :twisted:
I found the best way to convince them is to buy a meter and test before and two hours after each meal. Keep a detailed food diary showing the blood sugar levels and how the food you have eaten affects the levels.
The NICE guidelines 2011 say that patients should be involved in their treatment, not dictated to ! If you can convince him you are going to be very proactive in your treatment and control then he MAY give you the prescription for the test strips.
Before buying a meter check with your local Pharmacy which test strips are most commonly prescribed in your area.
I think if your Doctor came on this Forum he would be torn to shreds on any excuse he has for not prescribing the test strips for you ! :twisted:
It generally seems to be the case that the medical community will not change its routine practices until there have been studies published in peer-reviewed academic journals.
Obviously these trials cost money, but I wonder if one or more meter manufacturers would fund such a study?
Sure, there would be the usual charge of bias being introduced into the study, but that is not uncommon (think of funding for drug trials) and studies are usually designed to minimise that effect.
Perhaps it takes a few GPs sympathetic to self-monitoring of T2s (and perhaps also pre-Ds?) - I'm sure they would have no trouble at all attracting a big enough cohort of patients for a statistically valid trial - they probably wouldn't need to look outside this this forum!
Meter manufacturers would probably fall over themselves to fund such a study.
How to measure outcome after, say, 3 years? A1c is an obvious choice together with the usual biochemical markers. But retinopathy (lack of) is something else that is easily quantifiable and testing for it already forms a routine part of diabetic management.
Further, if a reduction in retinopathy outcome *were* shown, if would be a gold-standard for funding self-testing, bearing in mind how the cost to the state goes up to support people who go - unnecessarily and preventably - blind.
Likewise strokes and cardiovasculaer events - costly when they happen, so even a modest reduction from better self-management would probably be cost-effective.
Anyway, just a thought or three before I walk off to work in the cold winter sunshine!
MarkD
Obviously these trials cost money, but I wonder if one or more meter manufacturers would fund such a study?
Sure, there would be the usual charge of bias being introduced into the study, but that is not uncommon (think of funding for drug trials) and studies are usually designed to minimise that effect.
Perhaps it takes a few GPs sympathetic to self-monitoring of T2s (and perhaps also pre-Ds?) - I'm sure they would have no trouble at all attracting a big enough cohort of patients for a statistically valid trial - they probably wouldn't need to look outside this this forum!
Meter manufacturers would probably fall over themselves to fund such a study.
How to measure outcome after, say, 3 years? A1c is an obvious choice together with the usual biochemical markers. But retinopathy (lack of) is something else that is easily quantifiable and testing for it already forms a routine part of diabetic management.
Further, if a reduction in retinopathy outcome *were* shown, if would be a gold-standard for funding self-testing, bearing in mind how the cost to the state goes up to support people who go - unnecessarily and preventably - blind.
Likewise strokes and cardiovasculaer events - costly when they happen, so even a modest reduction from better self-management would probably be cost-effective.
Anyway, just a thought or three before I walk off to work in the cold winter sunshine!
MarkD
angieG
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 725
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
As Sugarless Sue suggested it is often best to buy your own and prove you want to be proactive.
I was diagnosed late November with a level of 25. My Practice Nurse and Doctor decided to take the risk and try Metformin and Gliclacide rather than sending me to hospital. (I am a coach driver and lose my licence if I go onto insulin). Fortunately the gamble paid off and my levels started to fall.
I went out and bought myself a meter and some strips and began eliminating foods. I told the Nurse the next time I went and she perscribed me strips and was impressed with my food diary and testing records, saying she wished all her diabetics where as good!!
I have now stopped taking the Gliclacide as I don't need them anymore and I went last week for my first A1c test. She doubled my presciption for the test strips since I was doing so well and also I have to test regularly being a driver (DVLA rules).
Yesterday when I rang her she said my A1c was 8.9 (which I was pleased with after coming down slowly from 25!!) but she also asked if I could go back in months time for another one as she would like to compare the results with the food and testing records I am making. A good incentive to be even better controlled!!
Hope this helps someone.
Regards
Angie
I was diagnosed late November with a level of 25. My Practice Nurse and Doctor decided to take the risk and try Metformin and Gliclacide rather than sending me to hospital. (I am a coach driver and lose my licence if I go onto insulin). Fortunately the gamble paid off and my levels started to fall.
I went out and bought myself a meter and some strips and began eliminating foods. I told the Nurse the next time I went and she perscribed me strips and was impressed with my food diary and testing records, saying she wished all her diabetics where as good!!
I have now stopped taking the Gliclacide as I don't need them anymore and I went last week for my first A1c test. She doubled my presciption for the test strips since I was doing so well and also I have to test regularly being a driver (DVLA rules).
Yesterday when I rang her she said my A1c was 8.9 (which I was pleased with after coming down slowly from 25!!) but she also asked if I could go back in months time for another one as she would like to compare the results with the food and testing records I am making. A good incentive to be even better controlled!!
Hope this helps someone.
Regards
Angie
angie99 said:
All you need to do is go to angieG's post above and click on the PM button underneath her name and joining details. This is on the righthand side of the screen. Then type in the message box and submit.
You can clear what is already in there or leave it and type below.
Hope that helps.
