[Rhino]

Ok. I'm a bit OCD when it comes to my diabetes. I test like ALL the friggin time. Least I'll ever test in a day is like 6 or 7 times, the high average being 20-25 tests a day. It's not that I'm out of control, but I like to watch my bg like a hawk.

Basically I'm hitting a wall where my insurance won't cover more than 300 strips in a one month period, and I'm out of test strips, and cannot afford 35 dollars for 50 more until 4/17 when my prescription can be refilled.

My question is: What is the absolute and total completely cheapest way to have numerous tests. I will accept a larger margin of error and drop in testing quality to find mass mass quantity of testing materiel.

What solutions do you guys have for this? Your help is appreciated to no end.

Thanks!
-Rhino

[duck]

If you're asking who makes the cheapest meter/strip combo, whatever the Wal-Mart brand is would be my guess.

Sounds like you'll be happy when a viable CGMS is out, eh?

[Cyborg]

I test alot also since I am fairly new to the pump. Why are you testing so much? I can understand 10 times a day +/- a couple, but 20-25 times is an awefully lot of testing. I think I'd be heading for burnout if I was testing that much. Are you gaining any usefull information testing that often?

I just ordered a CGMS, but it was not cheap and the cost of maintaining it 24/7 is expensive since Insurance will not cover them yet.

[Rhino]

Yes I have gleaned quite a bit of info.

And on top of that,for some reason I just have those days. They can happen at any time, anywhere, where I follow my rigid disciplines and still boom... 248 mg/dl out of left field for no apparent reason. Because of that, I like to nip these things in the bud, and I'd rather catch a bad site, or bad insulin, or decreased sensitivity or whatever at 150 instead of 250.

I also never eat any food if I'm above 80, so if I'm 100, I do a tiny bolus (0.3 u) and wait for it to come down sub 80, etc.

And yes, all I want in life is a CGMS I can actually AFFORD.

[Erin]

Rhino,

I too, am a bit OCD about my testing, but I think more than 15 tests in a day is a bit excessive. Nevermind the cost, you are testing more than once an hour (unless you get up hourly during the night to test?) how are you possibly getting anything other than D management done? And what do your poor fingers look like? I understand the desire to constantly know what your Bg is, but why not trust your body? Are you hypo unaware?

But in practical terms, you need to get some test strips to cover you until 4/17. You will need at least 40 test strips, and unless you can get a float from the pharmacy (sometimes they will give you some of the medicine early, and just subtract it from your supply when you get the next refill) you will have to shell out the $$. The Wal-Mart brand would also be my guess as the cheapest provider of testing supplies, but in order to use their test strips you'll have to buy their meter, so it might be more cost effective just to buy some strips for your current meter. I also suggest getting your doctor to write a larger prescription, so your insurance will cover your needs. I do not believe it is legal for insurance carriers to deny coverage in the amount the doctor prescribes, particularly if the doctor writes the script "Test 15-20 times daily" rather than a blanket amount of test strips.

[JediSkipdogg]

Pretty much your only options would be to either find a cheap alternative second meter or to lower your testing. There are quite a few off brands out there that are just as good as the major brands. I think all the major stores (Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Meijer, Target) now have their own brand of test meters and strips where 100 strips cost around $30-40.

I myself would like to know why you want to test so often? 25 times a day is 750 strips in a month. And that means you are testing every hour even while you sleep. If you only test while you are awake, then that still means you are testing about every 45 minutes. You should be fine testing 10 times a day. So why the over testing?

[Tatermom]

We had to have endo send a letter to the insurance co. to say that we were required to test more than 4-6x a day. We are at 8-10x daily. I agree w/Cyborg. Seems like overkill. Why are you testing so much?

[stella117]

Originally Posted by Rhino

Yes I have gleaned quite a bit of info.

And on top of that,for some reason I just have those days. They can happen at any time, anywhere, where I follow my rigid disciplines and still boom... 248 mg/dl out of left field for no apparent reason. Because of that, I like to nip these things in the bud, and I'd rather catch a bad site, or bad insulin, or decreased sensitivity or whatever at 150 instead of 250.

I also never eat any food if I'm above 80, so if I'm 100, I do a tiny bolus (0.3 u) and wait for it to come down sub 80, etc.

And yes, all I want in life is a CGMS I can actually AFFORD.

100 is a perfectly fine fasting number. There is no need to bolus it down before eating. There is no reason to do correction boluses unless you are over 200. I thought I was hyper-controlling about my diabetes, but you really need to chill out. You will burn yourself out with all the stress you are putting on yourself.

Anything 130 and under is acceptable for before meal fasting levels. Under 120 is better, but give yourself a tiny break. Anything 160 and under is acceptable post-prandial, but give a little leeway on rare occasions for up to 180. Don't do corrections if you under 200.

I think instead of finding extra cheap testing strips, you should look into whether your insurance covers therapy sessions. It is not healthy to be so obsessed and so hard on yourself. Mental stress has just as many negative effects as uncontrolled diabetes. Take a yoga class or something.

BTW, I test 4 times a day--when I wake up, before lunch, before dinner, before bed. If I have a high I may do some check-up post-prandial testing to make sure I'm bolusing correctly. But on average FOUR is more than enough. I brought my hbA1c down from 15.7 to 6.4 in 3.5 months. I expect it will be a bit lower after my next endo appointment.

[lgvincent]

I've bought a lot of strips on e-bay. You can often get a pretty good deal on expired strips. From what I've seen, I haven't found them to be too much off the mark of unexpired ones.

I've also found HypoGuard products to be priced pretty low. I've bought a lot of QuickTek strips in the past. I've never compared them to lab results so I don't know how accurate they are and I can't remember the price because I've been getting my strips by mail-order during the last year, but the price I paid wasn't too bad.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by stella117

There is no reason to do correction boluses unless you are over 200. I thought I was hyper-controlling about my diabetes, but you really need to chill out. You will burn yourself out with all the stress you are putting on yourself.

I found myself doing the same thing when I started the pump. I was doing correction boluses a little too liberally and bolusing for little things like coffee with cream, etc. I ended up with a couple too many lows, I was testing a little too often, and I was trying too hard to be a perfectionist. The thing that I try to do now is remind myself what my numbers used to be while on MDI. That brings things back into prospective and reminds me how well I'm doing.

[duck]

Bernstein's goals are 90 for Type 1's...That freaks me out.

[DeusXM]

Don't forget, 'normal' people don't keep their BG rigidly under 100 at all times either. Give yourself a break or all that's going to happen is that you're going to break down and just jack it all away.

You really shouldn't let your blood sugar dictate when you eat. If it's a bit high then just take a bit more insulin than you usually would - that's what it's there for.

There's a reason why your insurance 'only' runs to 300 strips a month - you don't actually need any more than that. There's not even any point testing more regularly than every two hours since BG simply isn't that reactive, so you're looking at a maximum of 12 useful readings a day, and that's if you don't sleep.

I don't mean to sound harsh but with all that worrying, you're going to have a good life expectancy but not much of a life. There's frankly no point at all in controlling your BG if all you're going to do is exist.

[Rhino]

I appreciate all the concern about my mental well-being, but I feel good testing as much as I do. I don;t typically test 25 times a day, this month I HAD tested that much at a time because if you recall my posts, I was having strange BG readings that I finally attributed to insulin gone bad.

I'm happy, I really am. BG doesn;t stress me out. I've been doing this now for 30 years, and I feel happy knowing where my BG is at all times, and I agree with the Bernstein concept of goal being 90. The reason I don't eat if I'm above 80 is because it spikes me up 60-70 points one hour after eating. Two hours, I'm about 30-40 mg/dl above normal, and getting back to about 80-90 a few hours later. If I START at 100 or above, My blood sugar is >140 for up to two hours, and sorry, that's not acceptable for me.

Everything is different for each person, I just happen to like to test more often than a lot of people do, and it makes me more relaxed to do so. At this point in my life, it's like washing my hands after using the bathroom, it's just something I do.

[Cyborg]

For me, one of the reasons to get a pump was to get away from being tied to a restrictive diet and a restrictive eating schedule. Something I do rather than letting the insulin dictate when I eat is to take my bolus and wait a short while before beginning to eat. This lets the insulin start driving my bg down before digging in. Just don't forget to eat! Sometimes I'll even take a bite or two, then wait awhile before finishing, this way the food is in front of me...

[seacomp]

Originally Posted by duck

Bernstein's goals are 90 for Type 1's...That freaks me out.

If you're eating pasta, pizza and popcorn, yeah, it's impossible to meet a goal like that; any minor miscalculation and you go way hypo.
If you are on a very low carb diet, no more than 12 grams of slow acting green vegatable carbs, it's possible since you are taking so little insulin per meal.
I can't say that one should do this, but one can do that, if it's worth it to them.

And, it's a goal; goals can be valuable even if you never reach them.