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Type 1 -Testing per day

C

Charlie1

Member
My Husband is a Type 1 Diabetic and is testing sometimes over 70 times per week!!!. I was wondering what other type 1 diabetics were doing?, as my Husband thinks its okay to do this. I feel is far too many tests!!!.

Any feed back or advice would be great, thank you in advance :)
 
Seems excessive but is there a reason for it? I rarely test if I am feeling well - although I accept I should do it much more often. If I am feeling poorly I will test regularly - sometimes four or five times a day.
 
He says he needs to reduce it but doesn't do so. I feel its down to carb counting and knowing how much insulin to do per meal, his sugar levels are up and down continually.He has been a diabetic for 32 years and old habits die hard I guess.
 
It's probably too much but if it's how he feels most comfortable and confident about managing it then I wouldn't have said it's a massive issue - much better than not caring enough to check at all anyway. I'd be interested to see what others say...
 
I test on average 10 times a day. I'm on a pump and find I know whats going on and feel more confident the more i test. When i feel unwell i sometimes test hourly. I think its just what you are comfortable with really. Xxx
 
Naah, lots of us type 1s test a lot, there was a thread asking this in the insulin pump forum about 4weeks ago & it seemed to vary from 6-14 tests daily. It depends on lots of things - for a start anyone on insulin is legally bound to test every time before they drive, plus we need to test before we give any insulin to know whether the dose needs increased or reduced to correct high or low glucose levels, so we're really talking an absolute minimum of 4-5 a day. Testing 1-2 hrs after meals tells us if we got the last insulin dose right & whether we need to correct or if we may end up hypo in the next couple of hours, so that's another 3.
 
Aree with others - if testing more regularly works for an individual and they are able to get on with their life with a bit more re-assurance through knowing regular blood readings then that's fine. I test on average 10-12 times a day (that's when things are not going haywire!!). At the moment more as I'm having to increase testing as I seem to be needing more insulin day by day - the only way to check if changes to insulin are right is through testing.
 
Hi iam type one and probably do the same, my problem is they will only issue me one box a week that i have to collect the same day every week its annoying, hence i buy beg and borrow extra strips just so i have them in. Its a personal choice every diabetic is different. For some people few times a day is more than enough...What i think there missing the point is strips should not only be perscribed for geting better control etc for me as my diabetes has changed alot i like to test just to know where my sugars are. Years back all the way through school i never took my meter with me once because i knew where my sugars was, had great HBA1cs.. I spose i can be a sucker for double testing sometimes one after the other just to compare numbers, As before as my diabetes has changed i rely and feel more confident when knowing where my sugars are so il test as often as i like within reason...one GP said because i tested around 7/10 times a day its borderline self harming wow lol. Iam not even working but il still keep paying for for extra strips at 10 to 20 quid a box its financially killing me off, even if my sugars dont dramatically improve it still gives me peace of mind...And as ive just bout ran out again and cant get my perscription till monday i know what il be doing today first try and borrow the money then go buy some more.. britain 2013 wow
 
Danny - what you say about double testing is true for myself too. Not all the time, but if I do get a reading that's higher or lower than expected I test again. Interestingly my DSN tells me that I should so this as you can get false results and I have, so I am pleased with myself that I have re-tested. The fact that you are only allowed 1 box is, in my mind, disgraceful. Type 1 diabetics need to test regularly for a variety of reasons, including good control, knowing what basal/bolus rates are doing and if they need changed, before driving, before and after food and very often for our own sanity to know that we're not in the dangerous zones - be they hypos or highs with dangerous ketones that can develop very quickly on a pump. I think I would demand to see the queen if they tried to limit my strips :roll: :crazy:
 
Hiya

As a newly diagnosed type 1 I am also testing a lot... Carb counting, learning how different foods affect me along with variations in my requirements at time of day , and time of month all means I need to test frequently while learning to manage this disease.

If testing a lot means he is in better control, then I fail to see where the harm is.
 
No harm at all Twinkle. It all boils down to money at the end of the ay and different LHBs/GP surgerys with different policies on how many strips they will fund per patient per month. I'm in West Wales no I can only say that mine have never question the amount of strips ....yet!
 
At the moment we test our daughter between 7-10 times a day. She's newly diagnosed and her levels can be quite up and down. I feel more comfortable testing more regularly as she can sometimes go hypo without being aware. Also, as we are learning about how certain foods affect her it can be really useful to test afterwards. I might also do an extra test if her BG is much lower or higher than expected to see what her levels are doing (going further down or up) so I can hopefully spot any hypos/hypers before they happen. Then there are times when she isn't well, or she is really active - all affecting her levels. I'd love to test less, and I hope we can do so in the future. At the moment though I think this isn't possible.
Self-harming?? Really?? What planet is that GP on! LOL
 
Basal bolus insulin regimes are hard to use every day with people adjusting their bolus insulin using a ratio.... No two days will be the same so to be safe with using it...... it's important to be able to test frequently like every 2-2.5hrs which for most people will be about 6-8 teststrips per day as an average. Sometimes a lot more strips will be needed depending on whether someone is ill or when someone is trying to adjust both the bolus and the basal.

If people start using far less strips, this will then start to put lives in danger as its very easy to develop high bg levels and not be all that aware that something is wrong. Newby diabetics will usually feel thirsty but once someone has been diabetic for about 15 or more years... the thirsty feeling is no longer there until bg levels climb extremely high so this is another reason for bg testing to be done.

The only good thing about restriction is that the huge corrupt money making business that bg testing is, will start to topple and shake and many of the large companies will see a drop in revenue. As this has already happened.... many companies are now competing against the prices charged by other companies and so the fun begins as the only way many companies will be able to stay in business will either depend on a drop in prices or literally depend on the needy diabetic buying them privately!!!
 
Provided we put every test strip to good use then I don't see a problem with how many times people test per day, I can use as little as 6 per day and as many as 10-12 if I'm pariculariliy active, out on the road or in times of illness, as a norm it's 7-8 times a day.
 
If I've got high ketones 3+ or 4+ I can test up to 12 times a day whilst I monitor to make sure my BG's are coming down-It's neccesary at times.
 
Yea as stating before i do get a box a week so that is an average of 7 times a day but i often just dont make it and end up buying them, i also like to have spare just in case i lost my meter the other week and it was at night and because i only have 1 meter and one box of strips i had no back up, my problem at the minute is sometimes i can feel hungry etc with normal to high sugars, so if i didnt test often i would just eat through a potentially high sugar making things alot worse, as of the lancets issued one a month to prick my fingers, i sometimes run out of them so i have to re use them and they can get blunt and make my fingers sore, few years back i had amples of supplys 8 boxes each time... And it does effect my life because as i run out of strips i stop doing things like going out the house or activitys etc because i cant test regular and dont want to go high or low etc, its gone abit mad really, then soon as i get my box of strips again the anxiety goes down then i can concentrate on my life again for the next few days, wouldnt be so bad but my brother inlaw few doors down dosent really test that often hes type 2 and got about 10 spare boxes lol luckily i dont have to buy them this time but wow how are things geting. 32 at the minute not been too clever for last few years, i dont want money house or a brand new care want to get myself fit and well again but jesus at least give me the tools to do the job lol
 
Before and after each meal, before and after exercise, before bed and before driving. I sometimes combine readings e.g. my before driving home from work test is also my before dinner test.

Think about it like this: if you don't know what your levels are before eating, how do you know how much insulin to have? If you dont test after, how do you know you had the right amount of insulin? Same philosophy for bedtime and exercise tests.
 
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