I test my sugar way too much, i know that already - when my doctors see my meter they think it's broken. I was living by myself last year and had a surprise sugar low with nothing in the house and shops 10 minutes away I freaked out and eventually found a stale chocolate bar that saved me .
Ever since then i feel a compulsion to test every 30 minutes to every hour - I think its become like an OCD problem now. Does anyone else feel the need to always test ?? My boyfriend complains, my friends complain and yes my bank balance complains too ! Last year I was living in Ireland and everything was free but now I've moved back to South Africa and it's costing me a fortune. My fingers are becoming hard and speckled like pepper and it's tiring to always be thinking are my levels to high or to low - i need to test !! All advice welcome, for these sore fingers be hating me !!
I’ve been working on consciously forcing myself to only test if there is a reason to, as I’d come to the realization that it was turning into a compulsive thing for me. I’m quite surprised how much less I could actually test and maintain the same level of good control. Just ask yourself before each test— what is the liklihood that this test will prompt me to do something different, such as snack or correct with insulin— if that liklihood is low, testing isn’t necessary.
I agree—this is what I do on days that I'm, say, running high or low and feel like testing more often, even when I feel fine. If I'm not likely to do anything about it (for example, if it's just after eating), then I try to put it off until I'm at a point where I'll take action if it's out of range.
I have the EXACT same issue! MY fingers look like pepper too :) I actually do have OCD and worry about my blood sugar 24/7, its quite exhausting and has been the main thing I've had to pray over lately as its getting out of hand. I test up to 10 times a day on TOP of my continuous glucose monitor giving me my blood sugar readings every 3 minutes. Have you considered a dexcom? Its literally saved my life!!
In 2009 I was working out twice/ day most days during the week, lifting and running at lunch and then Tae Kwon Do in the evenings, 1-2 hours, and I was testing 17x/ day but then my office closed and I moved and switched to running and now am more like 12-14x, maybe less on days when I do well. I think that testing should be a right as it has utility for public safety, lifte, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, etc.
I think you and I have quite a bit in common, although It appears I’m still in the honeymoon period, or possibly have something other than typical type 1… So I’m wondering how much benefit you perceive from testing that much as opposed to, say, 5-6 times a day. Currently I usually test before breakfast, before and after lunch lunch (the only meal I usually allow myself a significant amount of fast acting carbs) and before dinner, sometimes before bed… And of course more if I eat something with which I have to guess or don’t have experience with. I can exercise pretty hard without dropping much as long as no bolus on board
I was like that at first, but I have toned it down a lot, I don't think I was testing quite that much all the time though. I think it was the initial fear of not knowing what is going on and the learning curve. I still have times when I test a lot though, after lows and highs to avoid spikes etc. But if your fingers are getting that bad you need to stop this for sure. Do you have a cgm? many people like those although it didn't work out for me unfortunately. I think the only reason to test that often would be if you took too much insulin or something else weird is going on.
I use my phone a lot to set alarms for when I should test & take basals etc. although lately I seem to almost intuitively test myself 1.5- 2hrs after meals.
i agree with most posters in that its easy to test a lot (not saying "too much"). i try to keep most variables down to a mínimum (iob, carbs)so that i kind of know where i am bg wise. i exercise a lot so do test a lot more around movement. if i had to test on top of that for iob and carb intake then i think my fingers would be like yours!
also, someone put up here about using one finger for a whole day and rotating-thats helped my fingers loads!
I did a lot of testing twice before and after workouts to confirm that things were sitting flat, rather than going up or down. Now, I do a test like a couple hours before and then again before I "blast off" but a lot of that is because I'll approach two numbers that are close, like 85 and 110 a little bit differently. I came up with a day that makes sense to me that's probably pretty close to what I do and have posted it before. Most of my exercising had been running although the last couple of months I've mixed in T25 for a change of pace, which I've enjoyed too.
1) 1) wake up, test bg 2) before eating test BG 3) before driving to work test bg 4) 2 hours after eating test bg 5) lunch test BG 6) 2 hours post lunch test bg 7) drive home test BG 8) get home, run 3 miles...oh wait, don't forget to test your bg! 9) post-exercise maybe, maybe not, maybe eat dinner and, you guessed it, test BG 10) 2 hours post BG, test BG ****AGAIN**** 12) stay up late? Maybe squeeze in another one, what if you have errands to run, what if you want to exercise more (when it's nicer out, I'll run 6-7 miles during the week, more on the weekends...a lot of times, I'll run a long run on Saturday and then a 20ish mile bike ride for fun, speed and recovery on Sunday...there's several extra strips in there...).
if you sleep for 10 hours though 14 is every hour. How much does everyone test when they work out ? I'm going to try test every hours then around meals. I really want a CGM and feel like that will help with the worry as my main concern is obviously having a low and not realising - considering I test almost every 30 minutes I haven't had a proper low in over 6 months , but have actually been having higher sugars as i constantly check and make sure I dont go low.
SO HAPPY to see I'm not the only one :) Yay diabetics and our weirdness all together !!
On a more serious note, testing every 30-60 minutes during waking hours (I assume you sleep, Char :-)) is 15-30 strips a day. Let's split the difference for my purpose here and call it 23.
That's 690 strips a month. Depending on the brand, ballpark cost is roughly $70-$150 for 100.
That's ~$500-1,000US!!! Are you really spending this kinda bank on strips?
If so, that's more than enough to cover a Dexcom G4 and 4 sensors a month. With the longevity of the sensors most of us are getting, you probably will only use 2-3 a month in practice.
So, you could get a G4 CGM, cut your finger-stick testing WAY back to 5 or so a day to keep the G4 honest, and have some money left over.
Mike, I'm starting to think you only tell us (other discussions) you were a fat lazy out of control D at one time just to make the rest of us feel better :-) :-)
Once you've got basal control dialed in, trust your body. If you don't do anything BG disruptive (take in carbs or burn them significantly) while in fasting state, there's no need to test again once you've measured that fasting number.
For example, 3 hours after eating you're 85. Great! Now you work at your desk job for a few hours, before heading out at the end of the day for the gym. Do you need to test during that time?
Really, no. Like I said, if you're basal management is working well, you'll still be in the 70-90 range. Just test before working out, and adjust accordingly for the upcoming activity (eat a snack, turn down the basal if on a pump).
Now, Mike? He's a special case... If he has an 86 he'll give himself one ten thousandth of a unit to correct back to 85. I strive to be like him, but alas don't think I'll ever be up to the task...
(j/k Mike... I love all your enthusiasm, dedication, discipline, and shared advice; for that, you need to get some guff :-))
Yeah, I have a prescription for 300 strips a month but it's not uncommon for me to run out before I can refill from my prescription. Every few months, I'll have to purchase strips out of pocket.
I absolutely need to know what my entire BG profile looks like. That requires data points. I thought getting a CGM would solve a lot of that issue, but I spent so many fingersticks checking the accuracy of the CGM, I actually blew threw strips faster when I was using a CGM.
I force myself not to test more than 10 times a day which is what my prescription allows. Some days, I'm better than others. It helps that my A1c has remained mostly stable since putting myself through self-imposed rehab. If it ever goes back up, I'll be off the wagon.
