[MsTCB]

My Doc has directed me to test my BG 4 times a day: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Bedtime. The nurse gave me some log sheets to record these on and she marked out the post-meal testing sections and said I don't have to check BGs after I eat.

Even with insurance, I still have to pay $23.00 for a month's supply of test strips.

I've noticed that a lot of you all test after you eat.
I have a couple of questions about that:
1) Did your Doctor's order you to do that?
2) How do you afford to test 7-8 times per day?

 

[diabetes86]

Romney care I live in MA the health ins I have is helped with Romney care.

If you can qualify a lot of the drug Co. have offers to help with the cost of testing supplys and drugs.

Abbot for test strips.

 

[magicplinger]

I've noticed that a lot of you all test after you eat.
I have a couple of questions about that:
1) Did your Doctor's order you to do that?
2) How do you afford to test 7-8 times per day?

My doctor told me I can check my bg once a month if I want to. They all tell you something different, so you have to do what is right for you. Not all of us check 7-8 times a day, but I disagree with your nurse about not testing after eating. Otherwise, how will you know how different foods are effecting your bg.

Many of us use the Reli-On tester and strips from Walmart. They are a lot less expensive, and the general consensus seems to be that one tester is pretty much as good as another.

Froggie

 

[smorgan]

My doctor suggested twice per day and prescribed accordingly. I quickly talked him into more and did about 5 or 6 times per day at first. Once I figured out and began maintaining the macro-nutrient mix which works for me, I have much less need for testing. Now, I'm more or less down to twice per day as he originally suggested. Some days I don't test at all. My prescription still allows 100 strips for 25 days, so I'm hoarding them in preparation for a day I might not have insurance coverage. Another motivation to eat right - stashing away more strips for the future.

 

[jwags]

I have high deductible insurance so none of my strips are covered until I spend $6000 of my own money each year. Pretty early on I made the decision I was going to spend my own money. We cut out other things from our budget to allow my extra testing. I buy my test strips on Amazon. They are 40-60% cheaper than most pharmacies. Also Walmart's Relion strips are probably the cheapest.

 

[foxl]

When Iwas dx'd Type 2, my internist ASKED me how often I tested. I said AT LEAST 4x/ day so he gave me 100 strips /month. It is dictated by insurers, and it eats time and effort for doc offices to fight the insurers.

I hoarded strips so I could test specific foods. I would follow the twice-per-day, rotating times each day, protocol outlined by my first endo in the hospital. Who was all for LESS testing! (But perhaps he was taking my lead, as a n00b?).

Then my antibody testing led to switching to a Type 1 official diagnosis, and I now get 200 strips per month. I do not use that many, more like 5 - 6 per day, but they are there if I need them, thankfully!

They are worth every penny when used judciously.

 

[Daytona]

In the past my strips weren't covered at all (it was pretty poor insurance!) So I signed up online for program with the manufacturer of my strips. They gave me a card to show the pharmacy and it limited my out of pocket cost to $15/mo.

Now that I have insurance from my husband's government job, they are free!

One good way to get the most out of a limited amount of strips is to carefully pick when you are going to use them up. So if you only have 2 strips a day for example, on Monday test when you get up and after breakfast, Tuesday test before lunch and afterwards, Wednesday test before dinner and afterwards. Or save up a few days strips and really test out a new food (before, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 1.5 hours, 2 hours).

I make sure that every time I test, I will be using the information. So if I'm not going to make changes based on the number (e.g. my fasting is always under 100), I'll skip it and save the strip for when I really need to know how a food is affecting my BG.

 

[foxl]

Keeping in mind that when you use insulin, you really need to know, more often, though! ... and sometimes, knowing which direction you are headed in is equally important, which means at least two tests.

 

[Shanny]

My doc directed me to Walmart & ReliOn as soon as he diagnosed me. I tested a lot in the beginning; less as time goes by & I don't try new foods. The budget just gets tighter & tighter, so most days I take a fasting reading, but occasionally I don't even do that.

 

[Adjitater]

My test strips are the least expensive of all my supplies. Insulin alone is almost $100 for my copay.

Sent from my iPhone using Diabetes

 

[MsTCB]

Great ideas!

I should have mentioned that since I am insulin-dependent, I have to test before I eat so I can determine how much Insulin to inject. And, I don't want to give up the bedtime testing b/c I wouldn't want to go to sleep with a very low BG and then not wake up.

I didn't realize you could just get this strips online via Amazon - I'm assuming with no script?

Jwags-- I live on a fixed income of $12,000/year, so there isn't much I can "cut" from my budget. Your out-of-pocket of $6,000 would wipe out 50% of my income. YIKES! Love the Amazon idea. I'll check into that.

 

[Daytona]

I didn't realize you could just get this strips online via Amazon - I'm assuming with no script?

Yup you can buy online or fromWalmart, etc without a script.

 

[Patdart]

Better than Amazon maybe is check on eBay. I've bought them there before before I gave up and went to Relion.

 

[1970clea]

I buy all my strips on eBay. So far I haven't had any problems with that and usually pay about £12 for 50.