This kinda pisses me off

[Funnygrl]

Glucose testing for fun and profit - The Angry Pharmacist

[morrisma]

Me too. I posted this comment:

Moron.
First, oral meds and no insulin do NOT mean there are not other changes going on each day like exercise or big meals which would make frequent testing worthwhile.
Second, diabetes is a progressive disease (unlike smug stupidity) and many type 2 diabetics will progress to requiring insulin. Testing often will prepare them for that eventuality.
Third, many diabetics are mis-diagnosed as type 2 at first and the quicker they are correctly diagnosed, the less likely complication will set in. Best way to do that? Testing, especially 2 hours after each meal.

Mike

[JediSkipdogg]

I actually do have to side with that. I think for a type 2 not on insulin that they don't need tons of strips and 100 a month should be more than plenty. Of his first two questions...

Are you on insulin? "No"
Do you adjust your oral medications based on your readings? "No"

Those there seem very relevant to me. Now, I do understand some need it for figuring out how foods effect them, so that may be during early diagnosis, but besides that 100 a month should be plenty in my opinon.

[Funnygrl]

I actually do have to side with that. I think for a type 2 not on insulin that they don't need tons of strips and 100 a month should be more than plenty. Of his first two questions...

Are you on insulin? "No"
Do you adjust your oral medications based on your readings? "No"

Those there seem very relevant to me. Now, I do understand some need it for figuring out how foods effect them, so that may be during early diagnosis, but besides that 100 a month should be plenty in my opinon.

I agree they shouldn't be testing 5 times a day- but he recommends every 3 days? Good lord. Yes, 100 a month should be good.

But if someone wants to test more than that, and feels it's helpful, should they be prevented?

[JediSkipdogg]

But if someone wants to test more than that, and feels it's helpful, should they be prevented?

Depends on their reason and their knowledge/ability to monitor changes in their condition. If they are going to test 3 times a day and then download the results during their next office visit and leave the data up to their doctor then no, testing that much isn't necessary.

Heck, I'd support required classes that must be taken with doctors on proper training of what BG values mean and stuff like that before one could get more strips.

[Funnygrl]

Eh, required classes would be helpful only if the doctor knew more than the patient. I had a patient a few weeks back, who on her doctor's advice, was on sliding scale 70/30.

[xMenace]

As a type 1 who is currently non-compliant, I tell new type 2's or those soley on meds to test once or twice a day. Get two or three fasts a week and the rest a mixture of before meals and post-prandials.

I tell them their main objective is to look for trends.

BUT I also tell them to use their tester as a food discovery tool. Use it to find out if those potatoes are sending you high or whether that pizza is kicking in four hours after you eat it or whether that glass of wine is keeping you low or whatever!

I'd be more angry with the non-compliant diabetics. Gie them the **** for putting extra burden on our health care systems, not on the person working extra hard to stay healthy!

[fgummett]

^^That makes a lot of sense

[NoelD]

Haha, yea, he's a trip. Funny guy.

[Mich]

Who made this Pharmacist the boss of strip distribution? I immediately pictured a nervous Type 2 newby who was trying to figure it all out trying to get the tools to do so.

They had a scrip, so evidently had talked to the doctor about it. I just hate it when Pharmacists and managers feel they are more qualified to say what a person needs than their own doctor, particularly a specialist doctor.

I'd have two questions for him:

1. Does he question the overuse of antibiotics as vehemently as he does test strips?

2. Why are something as easy to make and so necessary as test strips so expensive?

Just my opinion,

Mich

[Jan B]

I'd have two questions for him:

1. Does he question the overuse of antibiotics as vehemently as he does test strips?

2. Why are something as easy to make and so necessary as test strips so expensive?

Just my opinion,

Mich

Good questions. Now what would that pharmacist say?!

[shiftzor]

Pharmacist is not a Doctor and most Doctors aren’t diabetic specialists, I would treat anything he said with a pinch of salt.

I would like to make a doctor a diabetic, just for a day, so they can learn what it’s like and realise that they not only need to educate themselves but to educate others. There are too many "opinions" or "theories". On occasions my pharmacist has asked me questions about people’s usage of various items but has never offered me advice other than being supportive, such as when my prescription for strips was change randomly, this is the way it should be.

That patient surly is on a dose of insulin specified by the doctor and has another appointment to adjust the dose, thus the 5 times a day. I wish my doctor would take an active interest in my insulin regime; alas I have more chance of that double-decker bus finishing me off.

[xMenace]

2. Why are something as easy to make and so necessary as test strips so expensive?

It would make me extatic if we could somehow start an effective lobby to investigate and change this. Any ideas?

[Evermont]

It would make me extatic if we could somehow start an effective lobby to investigate and change this. Any ideas?

If strips, from so many different companies are all coincidentally overpriced that would indicate price fixing. Lets get Elliot Spitzer on the case...

Oh wait, um, never mind.

[JediSkipdogg]

It would make me extatic if we could somehow start an effective lobby to investigate and change this. Any ideas?

That's what drives me nuts. These large corporations that can change that do nothing. Where is the JDRF? Where is the ADA? How about the IDF? Why are these companies that have millions donated to them yearly not helping the general public to make the items more affordable? Heck, they'd get twice as much money donated if they cut strip pricing in half (which in my opinion is very reasonable.)