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

Why do GP recommend not to test blood sugars with glucose meter?


i agree with you complications will happen more because no one is testing there blood plus people will end up close to death or die from a hypo or if too hyper, and it affects other organs in the body, the body can not cope with the out of control suger, and if other problems happen in the body it will cost nhs more to treat people, so they need to address all this now to prevent a major situation on there hands, people are people living souls and there lives are important..no one wants to die, they want to live.
 
one question i never put to anyone else nor have i heard anyone talk about it, is insulin injections has anyone ever had a side effect to it ? and it does not have to be one type of diabetes. if you have had the experience what happened and how did you deal with it? and are any insulin injections like tablets treated in same way for side effects? I used to have insulin injections for gestational diabetes years ago, and like you do as a mother expecting it can be a over whelming experience a worry taking insulin whilst pregnant and wanting all to be all right. for those who are not even pregnant and has or is taking insulin do you find it is better than taking tablets or not? tablets i know are not for pregnant women.
 
only significant side effect from insulin injections which I would say we all get at some point is a hypo, and yes the treatment is exactly the same for when your sugars drop when on tablets. Take fast acting sugars and follow up with slow a bit later if required.
 
when i was started on metformin 22nd may, i was not on it long it made me very ill and i am glad the tablet got changed, some people will be all right with metformin have no side effects, yet those taking any type of tablet, did you have any side effect or experience you did not like when taking it? and are you happy with the medicine your on now?
 
did you find it difficult when you first ever went on the insulin, and how do you cope now and what signs are easy to spot with your hypos or even hyper if you had one? and sorry to hear your on insulin injections and is dealing with alot with diabetes, and it must tricky at night coping with sleep to make sure your on top of insulin, i know there are night insulin's to help through the night to get a good night sleep, not sure if your on that or doing it some other way testing in the night.
 
i think the side effects you read about in the medication sheet you get all will have different things to be aware of, the concern that i have seen is when you take medicine for a illness and it says it can affect another organ in the body it can be another freightner when you know out of so many people some one will be affected by that side affect, i have had times i think why provide the medicine if it can cause all that, you want a medicine that will not cause problems any where else in your body so it is like a catch 22 situation how to get around all complications even with that, so you think what is safe, how do you beat diabetes if there are other side effects in medicines, some you may not know is happening to you some you will know, but do you blame the side effects causing more problems especially those your not aware of is happening and find out later is the cause and then by then is it too late to fix, suppose we can not dwell on these things we would go crazy however we need to be aware of hat can be a harm to us and work round it being as body aware as possible.
 
bayanne said:
this is bayanne my dr said i should test my b/s every month is this right
Click to expand...
hi sorry for my late reply, blood sugers need to be checked every day with a meter when your a diabetic, type 1 diabetics have to check there blood glucose before eating and 2 hours after like type 2 unless a doctor or nurse wants you to check it any other way,if you have concerns over your blood suger and feel you need to check it often or not you must address your concerns to your doctor or nurse,if they do not listen you have a right to get second opinion with another doctor,a lot of type 2 diabetics are not getting the meters to check there blood all time before and after meals many get in to complications because they do not have the option to keep check of there sugar to know how to manage there diabetes regular and get there sugers controlled to the safe level, i know when i have no meter, i know i am at risk, and i had to get my own meter and strips, meter i got was from years ago when i had gestational diabetes,strips i have to buy, i think the nhs is not coping with the high demands of diabetes so type 1 gets priority over type 2, yet both should be treated equal the same even pre diabetes as you need to know when your heading for a hyper or hypo as type 1 and 2 suffer the same on that level, peoples lives are serious and at stake, if things go out of control nhs will have to wake up and realize it will cost them more when people end up in hospital or dead due to lack of care and not enough support and monitoring for those with type 2 diabetes,if they can not give them a meter they will need something in place to keep people safe and healthy, meter or no meter it not enough, once a year checks for high blood pressure not enough either those showing signs of high or very low blood pressure are at risk of heart attack, strokes etc and other complications besides and it is a serious concern and should not be put on the back burner to be ignored.
 
bayanne said:
this is bayanne my dr said i should test my b/s every month is this right
Click to expand...
What's your gut feeling? Some say don't test but how do you know how you're doing? I check my bs to help inform of foods I can and can't eat. For example, my bs when well fasting is between 6-6.8, after food it peaks at 7.5-8.5 and after 2 hours is between 6-7.5. If it's 8 or above I feel unwell. I know from testing thT rice, bread and pasta are big no nos for me. Potatoes are ok but I don't like them unless they are chips or crisps so I don't eat those either. Cereal is horrific. I love fish, meat, eggs, salad, vegetables, cream and cheese. I also love berries but limit them as they contain fructose. I can have 2 squares of dark chocolate. Sometimes I pinch the odd sweet from my kids. My taste buds have changed. Milk chocolate is too sickly now, I can have a couple of glasses of wine a week too. By testing I discovered that I was having a hypo. I've had 3 since I've been diagnosed. Once was due to too many meds as I'd lost a lot of weight. Twice because I was ill. Everybody's an individual. Do what's right for you. Not you dn or doc or anybody else. Take carex
 


good to hear your positive feed back to bayanne, i agree with you the meter helps identify how foods and drinks react with your suger and plus gives you the warnings for hypo and hyper,when i was given the first day i was diagnosed last month metformin it made me so ill my sugers was more over the place and my blood pressure was rising,i was feeling bad i went hypo and my gp said metformin would not of caused the hypo i checked that out and it did say on the side effects it is not supposed to cause the hypo, due to being a person who has had low blood pressure most my life i knew the tablet was raising me levels since i stopped taking that tablet been on a new one i feel lots better, i could not concentrate i felt tired more on metformin my life was completely stopping on it,plus i did have pain in stomache and that pain with a hiatus hernia which could be something else will get it re checked it is not good feeling crammed and food and drink takes forever to get through the body, though since getting rid of the artificial foods and processed the fresh foods do my health better,everyone will suffer something with food or drink once you identify those foods and you have the meter to help you eliminate them from your diet your suger levels gradually go back in the norm range or close to it. My body is very sensitive it reacts to anything so i have to be so careful even with house hold products like cleaning products that to believe it or not can affect your health even breathing in those fumes so be careful. Cereal chocolate etc is bad news to eat they are not good on the suger, levels can go in double figures on meter so keeping it out of double figures is best, getting to a safe zone below 7 and above 4 is better just avoid the 3's and the higher double numbers.
 
...spirits and bayanne, good to see you've joined, welcome..

..something that worries me is all those diagnosed who don't find a site like this or do any research....told by a GP or DN to eat plenty of carbohydrates, told they don't need a meter as no need to test...why would they not believe them unless they have an enquiring mind like all of us here [!]....

....we all know there's an epidemic of diabetes and if the NHS is trying to save money by refusing strips and monitors then they're barking up the wrong tree as its going to cost them a darn sight more treating the complications which will set in for patients who never know what their bs levels are and eat what they have been told is a healthy diet..
 
I was actually told by the diabetes nurse not ti go on the internet! She said it would just confuse me. I'm 42, not 2! I am Scottish and have been told no chance of getting a meter to test. It'll make me paranoid apparently. I thought, stuff it and got a codefree one. I credit this site with saving my life and feel sorry for others who put their trust in a system that treats us like morons. It's time it changed guys.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Coming from the same place. Do we have the same dn? Lol! Also feel same way about this fabulous website and all the lovely new friends I've made! Have you tried LCHF?
 
Scandi, I am your biggest fan as far as lchf goes. I absolutely love it, I thought when I first found this site that it went against everything I had been taught. Then I read all the stories about the amazing results and decided to give it my best shot. I am positively evangelical about it now!! Even my highland farmer husband!! Said he was not so keen on bread now (fainting...) hee hee.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I was diagnosed pre-diabetic several years ago, to start with no meds, then 1 metformin, then 2 and most recently 4 a day. Self monitoring has never been mentioned. I was given the normal info about a balanced plate, half veg, quarter potato or such, quarter meat. At the last appointment as my average reading had increased and as I couldn't think of anything specific that might have caused it the nurse doubled the metformin (after checking with the doctor) and while she didn't say it, it seemed she just thought I was on the downward spiral of more meds. I also hadn't been told what the treatment progression was, I left feeling that the next visit would see me on injections, a road I was reluctant to go down.

So I made the decision to get a meter, an SD Codefree one as it was relatively cheap and didn't seem to have a bad review. It has been the best decision I have made. It is still early days for me, but hopefully it will show in my average when I see her next.

I think that when I was first diagnosed I wasn't ready to try and take control so offering me a meter then would have been a waste of money. However things change and I do feel that a meter should be available to all diabetics when they are ready for one.

Just to clarify one thing, people have mentioned that the NHS does not seem particularly consistent on the types of meter offered. What many people do not realise is that the NHS is not one big organisation but something similar to a franchise where each Primary Care Trust (PCT) or similar is responsible for its own funding and sourcing of supplies. This is why it can be such a postcode lottery when it comes to treatment, some advise is given but each trust makes it own decision in the end.
 
Hej Scandichic, thanks for the information - I will for sure look into it .

I am currently using a Bayer Contour xt meter - had it sent for free via their Danish Homepage (imagine this applies for their UK website too? - though I may be wrong here?). And I do understand their policy for this freebie (ha!), as they will make an everlasting profit on their test strips.

In the beginning I tested a lot, but I have now more or less pinpointed which foods are the 'suspects' in raising (my) numbers - may be different for others though. So - generally - avoiding those foods, I will now only be testing my fasting bg - and that said, if I have had a 'suspicious' meal or a meal not yet tested, I will measure over the day. - I can get by with this as I am a T2 (and not yet on meds or insulin). But I expect that the situation is vastly different for a T1 or a T2 on insulin.

But it is my firm belief that it is especially in the beginning - after diagnosis - that the need for monitoring is the strongest!

annelise
 
I think GPs are trying to save money from their budgets, which is not right, our surgery have changed our meters twice in the last two years because the test strips are cheaper.
I am a type 2 diabetic and have been for the last 12 years, that's 10 years kidding my self I didn't have it , and due to recent health problems realising I am actually diabetic for the last 2 years
I test my sugars regular now and found that when I was not testing for long periods, a: you kid yourself that your not really diabetic, and b: your hbac1 readings shoot up. Yu have no idea what's happening.
As peoples daily routine is usually the same every day, I Now test every third day, and on that day I test 7 times a day, before and after each meal and once before bedtime. I find that it keeps me aware of my eating habits and portion size, and also how to adjust my insulin doses to suit my lifestyle.
WITHOUT TESTING YOUR BLOOD SUGARS REGULARLY YOU ARE JUST GUESSING, AND THAT CANT BE RIGHT CAN IT .?
Good luck in the future, hope this helps
 
Luckily I get test strips on prescription but if I didn't I would do what another poster suggested and get the visually read strips, which can be cut into a number of pieces (I think four) making a box of strips four times cheaper than the equivalent box of machine read test strips. I don't know why more people who have to buy their own don't try these, I think they are not very popular now that we are in the modern age where everyone has a meter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…