My hospital (in Japan, social medicine) just informed me that starting in April, this year, CGM users will only receive enough test strips and needles to check our blood glucose 3-4 times per day. I’m pretty upset at this because my CGM is not as accurate as my meter. I just gave birth and has a fabulously healthy pregnancy and birth, due to my extreme care of my blood sugars, and that from checking with my meter all the time and calibrating my CGM accordingly.
It seems to me that not checking bg’s as often will result in worse diabetes care.
I need advice, thoughts, experiences from y’all.
Thanks!
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My understanding has always been that the more you test, the better your control.
Can your doctor override this new rule with a written prescription for more testing? If not, can you supplement your supply with out-of-pocket purchases of adequate number of strips?
Congratulations on your happy childbirth and great BG control. Caring for a newborn is stressful. Be sure and take time for yourself.
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My thoughts? Their rules are written by bureaucrats without knowledge of what we go through to lead as healthy lives as we possible can. That rule ticks me off. I’ve been wondering when I’m also going to be subject to a “rule” of fewer strips per day than I get. I had my Rx reduced voluntarily from 15/day to 10 thanks to the G5, but I don’t want to see the limit reduced further unless I can actually get by with some new, lower quantity.
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Wow, this was my huge fear, when Dexcom got approval to dose off it. And I like you, don’t always get the most accurate numbers and am very insulin sensitive. So being off can have some bad results. But I have also learned if I do try to trust the CGM and it’s off, it does alert me when I start dropping. So I still end up being ok. But I am hoping next year, they won’t change the number of test strips allowed. Every time, it seems to be another battle with insurance companies.
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I purchase my own strips out of pocket just because I don’t like the meter and strips my insurance covers. When paying cash there are some pretty affordable options out there. I currently use the true metrix strips…
Would purchasing your own be an option?
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Here in BC (Canada) people who are insulin-dependent are limited to about 8 tests per day (without CGM as CGMs are not covered). However, this rule can be overridden by an endocrinologist writing a letter to the Ministry. I would see if a similar exception may exist where you live.
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Could someone ship you strips from home country?