An American Diabetes Association (ADA) survey found that "21 percent of adults with type 1 diabetes never checked their blood glucose. Of those with insulin-treated type 2 diabetes, 47 percent never monitored, and among those with type 2 diabetes who were not using insulin, 76 percent never checked.
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Hello Dave, it is great to see you here. This is a good site. I am doing very well except for dizziness, especially in the morning. I think Mary read my posts on that issue. My recent A1c was 5.6 and my pumping is going very well.
You say you are doing well, so no new problems?
DD has a large membership now and there are so many replies being made that are very good. I don’t feel needed there now. I sent David a PM and told him I would not be posting there very often now. I have chosen three smaller sites where I feel more needed. One of them is a fairly new UK site.
Nice hearing from you!
Richard
this is scary …could this be one of the reasons, that 2 glucometer companies were invited to attend our Canadian Diabetes ■■■’n Expo, in my community and declined ??
I really don’t understand how anyone with type 1 could not check there BG. It is scary to me. Or type 2 how would anyone manage it?
Be loved
It is very frightening to learn that there are so many diabetics who do not accept their diabetes and until they do they will do little or nothing to take care of themselves. It is much worse in so many other countries where test strips are not available. Even insulin is scarce in many countries. Diabetes is the number six disease in causing deaths in the USA. It may ne much closer to number one in some countries.
I test less because the new meters are so inaccurate that they are random number generators and not sure if they are of any use for tight control. Cost is also an issue here in Alberta where diabetics have no insurance.
Anthony …with this an invite to move to BC , Fair Pharmacare better coverage here !! Afterall we have welcomed many Albertans …, ha, ha .
No Extended Health Benefits for you through your past employer ?? Get on the advocacy bandwagon !! Unfortunately today it depends where you live , when you have diabetes.
When I had my last A1C , I also had a random blood test done against my Bayer meter …result …must admit a bit low : I had just finished my morning exercise …glucose random : 3.6 , gluc-meter 3.7 …I understand that if result low , the numbers are relatively close ( with any brand meter ) ; the concern is the higher numbers, the percentage difference may creep up to 15 % ( ??) .
I know Type 2s whose doctors never discussed frequent testing. They test randomly–maybe once a month. I’ve been encouraging them to test frequently, but bet they think I’m over the top. They get their A1cs tested regularly & they’re not very good. Their docs say they’re doing fine & to keep taking their meds.
The problem with moving to BC is that you are not covered for anything up to a year and I cannot buy insurance. I am too sick to survive the stress of moving.
Not only no health benefits from former employer but we were screwed out of any pension.
Advocacy in Alberta is pointless super Nazi govt here. They have cancelled funding for the cataract operations. I cannot see out of right eye anymore. Left eye has cataract also. I guess we sent all our money to Québec in the old days and now to Ontario for the car bailout.
Do you think BC will get anything to save the last pulp&paper jobs? Looks like Catalyst paper going under. One of the last producers on the Island with fairly modern equipment. BC carbon tax help them to go under. The greens in BC must be pleased, P&P was always considered to be the anti-christ of the environment.
It is good news that a least the meters are accurate at 3.7 range. At that reading I would not need a meter I would see stars and my hands would be shaking. What I dont like is say I get a reading of 9 is it really 9 or is it 7. Makes a difference to what action you take. I had a reading of 5.5 with a one touch when my hand was shaking so I am sure the truth was a lot lower.
Can the CDA advocacy be used to get some meter company to remake the good old 60 seconds meters, they were acurate. My elite elite was always 5% below the lab results and this consistently over years and with a large range of readings.
P.s. to get US units multiply by 18.
Hi Anthony,
Dreadful to have no insurance coverage. Also not good that we have such inaccurate meters where bells & whistles are more important than what we need most–accuracy. 20% -+ is not acceptable.
But not testing is sure not a path to tight control. I have several different brands of meters (freebies) & tested them against a lab test. Yea, there were differences, but none were hugely off.
If your meter readings approximate A1c results, than you’ll have a better idea of your meter’s accuracy.
Dear Gerri
As noted in my other post there is no technological reason to have inaccurate meters. the problem is the 5 seconds measuring time. The meter has to decide when to start adding up (integrating) the electric current from the reaction between the test strip chemical and the glucose in the blood. A second error in 5 seconds is 20% whereas in 60 seconds it is negligeable.
Ridiculous! I’d gladly wait 60 secs for a real number. Think of how many times I’ve retested thinking the result wasn’t true.
Pretty darn sad, I could sit and fret for a half hour or find out definitively in five seconds with my meter 
I know someone like that…tests once a day, takes a pill and eats whatever he wants, never exercises. Soooo maddening. His doc says all is well, or so he reports. Can that be? I heard that less than 10% of diabetics have an A1c of 7 or less.
I know it is double the cost but I was wondering if one did double measurements using an accucheck that reads high and a one touch that reads low at the same time and average you would get closer to the real value.
It is really demoralizing these days to have to question every reading you get, it matters if it is 80, 100, or 120.
That’s a very sad & scary statistic.
Seems that a lot of doctors don’t have particularly rigorous expectations or goals for their patients, aside from not want to spend the time to educate them. Think in their minds they’re thinking–another Type 2, big deal.
My friends are so lax about taking care of themselves that I worry about them.
That would be an interesting, if expensive, experiment.
Do what I did–take your meters with you to a lab & measure against their result. There I was with my meters lined up in a row:) The lowest reading I got that day was from One Touch.
Yep, so frustrating.
Mine are very accurate to I also use Lifescan. I do a clean catch though so I don’t know if that helps. I of course clean my finger then the first drop gets thrown away I test the second. It is not really called a clean catch I just call it that cause it is like a clean catch urine test
If I get a really high BG reading I always back to back check it.
Be loved
Have you contacted all glucometer companies or at least Bayer about your 5 seconds versa 60 seconds concerns ? I think , it maybe more effective as an user to tell them your story and how your results compare with the Lab , than CDA advocacy . By the way I always carry 2 meters with me .
And I felt sad for you reading about your eyesight …cataracts will never improve without surgery .Been there, done that …and what an improvement
I moved from Ontario to Sask and eventually to BC …what I recall about coverage from one province( territory ) to another : one is covered for the month in which one leaves and 2 consecutive months ; coverage maybe extended for up to 3 extra months while in transit . And one should contact the Medical Services Plan of the " new " province /territory asap. So there you are …on the other hand you are correct …moving is stressful 
You know…back to what has been said before, docs are given 10 minutes to see a patient and T2’s historically are not compliant, so the docs offer them the minimum, expecting little. Such a shame.