Thank you all who stopped by my TuDiabetes discussion on how often you test each day.
It seems that my wish to test 13-14 times a day is not the norm. Most of you are happy with testing only 6-8 times a day. I guess it’s just my craving for more information.
I also love Emily’s response to my question about how often you WISH you could test: NEVER!
Some day….
Lately I have been testing 12-15 times a day. A few of those are testing twice when I don’t trust my meter (did you know the “acceptable error range” is + OR – 20%? so if you’re 250, it could read as 200 or 300?!?! if you’re 80, it could read 64 or 96… etc. makes it kinda hard to make bolus correction/food decisions…). But definitely at least 12 or 13 solid tests a day. Often it’s because I want to know what my blood sugar is, but sometimes I test not too long after another test because I’m just curious if I’m rising or dropping before I make a treatment decision. Also, I exercise a lot, and often in the form of bike rides interspersed throughout the day, so I end up testing a lot before and after those.
I actually think it would be better if I tested a little less; right now I have great health insurance and am getting financial support from family on my health care costs, but I don’t know if that will always be the case.
I just had a discussion with my doctor yesterday that I like to test about 6-8 times a day. By testing often I am able to manage my blood sugers agressively.
His first comment was “… that get expensive…” thus the revelation of our health care systems real purpose…holding down costs. I wasn’t happy with his comment because I’ve been working hard on keeping my sugars manageble. I manually inject insulin and have been able to keep below 20 units per day.
The reality is this… one must take charge of his/her own fate regarding this desease. Ask questions, educate yourself, and do it all over again. My docter is not a endocronoligist, thus I need to get one…
I’ve already had a 3way bypass because of diabetes at the age of 40… I say this because the more you test and control the sugars the better your health. Don’t leave it up to someone else…
“…go ahead… test yourself…make your day…”