Running out of Test Strips!

So I’m 11 weeks pregnant now and I’m checking my BG levels quite frequently. My dr. wrote a prescription for 400 strips a month but it is no where near enough. My nurse gave me some free samples this month and I was also given some by a diabetic friend who’s not pregnant and felt sorry for me so I ended up getting about 85 extra strips this month and I’m down to my last box and I still need to wait over a week before I can renew my prescription for this month. I’ve ordered some more strips online but they’re not here yet. At the rate I’m going I will be broke by the time we have this baby because the strips are expensive enough with insurance cover-whatever about buying them out of pocket! Has anyone else had similar issues with not having enough strips? Any tips on what to do about this?

Congratulations Sharon, but woah, that is a lot of test strips! I advocate testing frequently (and know how it is early in pregnancy) but you are going to drive yourself INSANE (and to the poorhouse) with testing so much!! :slight_smile:

Can I ask why you are testing so frequently? Have you talked to your Dr to try to get another prescrip to tide you over until next month (or get more samples)?

If your BG’s are not within the levels that you’d like them to be, your doctor should definitely make adjustments to your rates. Your insulin needs will fluctuate throughout pregnancy. Mine increased x3 by the end. It is very important to be proactive about your insulin fluctuations and definitely, testing frequently will give you/your doctors plenty of info to go off of to make adjustments.

400 strips/month would give you roughly 13 tests/day. How much do the extra tests per day get you? Is it just extra peace of mind, or do you need to make adjustments every time?

Best of luck to you. Don’t drive yourself nuts testing. Enjoy this wonderful time!!!

Well I test in the morning then before breakfast, lunch, dinner. Then. I test 1hr after each meal and also before snacking. Before bed and twice overnight. This should amount to about 12 a day however, according to my dr. I shouldn’t eat a meal until my BG levels are under 110. It often happens that this is not the case so I need to check a few times until my BG levels come down. Also if I’m correcting a high then I need to check to ensure I’m not crashing. I’ve really tried to cut back but its just not happening for me…

Wow you test a lot! You will see that with time, when things settle down, you won’t need so much testing. I test 8-11 times a day. Sometimes i could jump testing but i don’t want to rely only on my feelings. I am 32 weeks now.

I don’t know how your sistem is there, but you have acces to a lot of tests!! I receive ONE test per day from my doctor!! The rest i have to buy and it’s not cheap here either! I have some help, otherwise i wouldn’t have anything to eat or how to pay my bills.

As i said, once things are stable you won’t have to check that often and 12 test per day should be enough!

In order to eat only when your bg is under 110, you should wait 15-30 minutes after bolusing and your bg will surely drop down and you wouldn’t have to check. Also, checking overnight will only be needed once. You will learn this by time!

All the best!

Depending on your insurance, your doctor should be able to write you a prescription for more strips than that. Right now I have enough strips for 15 checks a day (450/month). I don’t always use them, but it is nice to know I don’t have to worry about it if I do. My endo said that with most insurance companies they are able to argue for the extra strips due to pregnancy, so technically you will be less of a risk to the insurance company with the tighter control that you have.



I think you should check your BGs as often as you feel necessary. If you are staying stable every night, you most likely don’t need to check twice, but if you are still adjusting basals, then there is no reason why not.


Also-do you have a CGMS? If not, it may be something you might want to look into so you can see your trends and know what is happening in between BG checks.
Good luck!

I understand your frequent testing. I was testing 12, sometimes 15 times a day at different points in my pregnancy (without a GCM). Considering that you’re still early in pregnancy, you may consider getting a GCM in order to detect those trends before and after meals. I have one now and hope that it will somewhat simplify things if and when I have a second child. On another note, I have a backup testing machine that’s different from my main one, therefore insurance doesn’t seem to have a problem covering two different strip prescriptions. If you have an oldie but goodie machine that still works, you may consider getting your doc to write you another strip prescription. I’m also wondering if you should call your insurance company to find out if a particular brand of test strips would be cheaper.(Although it may require a different machine) My goodness I know they have birth control set in 3 different cost grades, surely they do the same with test strips. Best wishes!

Sharon - I am also on the test-a-LOT wagon and completely understand your frequent testing. I had a CGM for a while, but when I switched jobs and insurance, it was no longer covered. Which hasn’t been the end of the world (I never liked the CGM anyway) - in fact, its been the opposite. Frequent testing as made me more mindful, provided me with tons of good data on which to base decisions (I do all adjustments myself), etc.

My endo wrote the insurance company saying I was battling hypoglycemia and had to test more frequently… That seemed to do the trick. I was also able to get a different brand of strips covered (as backups). Before I knew if insurance would cover add’l strips, my husband ordered maybe 15 free meters (which come with free strips) from tv commercials, etc. Hey, its something… :slight_smile: