Blood glucose monitoring

Good morning.

I think the answe is twofold.

Firstly the testing strips are expensive, too expensive for the NHS to pay for, that is if you get yours on prescription, and secondly because most surgeries have turned-into businesses where the more time a doctor spends with a patient the less they earn. So basically they don't want to be too bothered with individuals, they are more interested in the big bucks of having many people on their books who don't ever come in for attention.

Morning.

I think it is probably due to cost.  Was diagnosed as prediabetic last October and then sent away with absolutely no help or information.  Thank goodness I found a fantastic UK website (that they won't let me mention here!) that advocates low carb/highish fat diet.  This information is light years away from advice given by the NHS.

Would urge you to find the website (sorry can't be more specific) and test, test, test. How else are you going to know BS levels?  Since October, my HbA1c reading has already reduced to one point off non-diabetic so am convinced LCHF works.  Helps hugely with weightloss, too.

I suspect the main reason for GPs being reluctant for people to test is MONEY.  I have had Type 2 diabetes for 20 years, in spite of the fact that my weight has never been above nine and a half stone, even when pregnant.  Your sugar level of 30 was very high so I am wondering how you managed to get it down to normal levels as surely you must be or have been on insulin or tablets or both.   I am on four injections of insulin a day and if you are on insulin or medication that is likely to lower your blood sugar to hypo levels then you should be testing, especially if you start to lose the hypo symptoms which can happen to some people after a while.  

My GP practice changed all diabetics over to a different monitor because the sticks were much cheaper and actually I'm quite happy with it after having a different one which was always showing error messages.  Apparently a tub of 50 sticks costs the GP just over £5 but when I asked a pharmacist how much it would cost if I bought my own it was aroulnd £15.  If you are on insulin or medication then it is totally unacceptable for your GP to not supply testing sticks although they reckon that when on diet alone you are not likely to go hypo but that doesn't mean that it won't go UP.  If your GP really won't supply testing sticks then a way round it is to buy your own meter where you can buy the sticks a a chemist or online.   I have a little meter called an Accu-chek Aviva Nano that I keep in my handbag and use occasionally and I buy a tub of 10 sticks which costs about £6.50 for the odd times when I want to test if I am hypo.   I feel a lot happier if I know it's in my handbag and get worried if I have accidentally left it at home because I rely on my GP supplied monitor that I keep at home, not that I use it religiously every day but I want to know what certain foods do to my blood sugar and the only way is to use a monitor.   I am very lucky that my GP practice doesn't seem to limit testing sticks but I know that many do, yours looks to be one of them.  

What I want to know is why my doctor will not prescribe me a monitor despite being on metformin when the DVLC insist that you test your blood sugar levels before driving.  Anyone else had any problems with this?  Imagine if you had an accident when your blood glucose levels are high and didn't know you could be prosecuted or lose your licence I presume.

I'm a 72 yr-old male with insulin-dependent T2 diabetes. I suffered from the same advice, having been told that I don't need to test my blood glucose (BG) levels provided I kept a close eye on diet and took the gliclazide tabs I was prescribed. I did as I was told despite the on-line diabetes forums' advice to keep testing. However, about six months ago, I started feeling unwell with flu-like symptoms and I had a strange feeling it might be my diabetes. I took advantage of Lloyds Chemists' free blood glucose testing and it was >25 and they told me to see my GP immediately. I did so, and I ended up in the local hospital's diabetic clinic.and was put on insulin that afternoon. So you really should keep testing despite NHS advice and unfortunately it will cost you for lancets and test strips. You can usually get a meter for free from quite a few manufacturers. This limits you to their test strips so that's where they make their money. I find that using injecting insulin is really OK and once you get the dosage correct then you will enjoy seeing the positive effects of managing your illness.well. (This can take up to 6 mts).As a bonus, I get all insulin medication paraphernalia on the NHS and this includes BG test strips and lancets. However, don't let your GP intimidate you - it's your diabetes and you are going to deal with it in the way that suits you best, which is not necessarily what the NHS dictates.

 

hi.I found out 6months ago I had type 2.They put me on metformin and when I asked about a monitor was told I dont need it.A month later I was ill and they told me my level was high and they increased my metformin.I asked again about a monitor and got the same reply.my levels have not been checked since then.Been feeling run down lately so got the doc tomorrow...If it is to do with my glucose levels am I not intitled to a monitor to stop from getting ill in the future.