I’ve been going through a lot of test strips lately. I’m new to the pump, and I have CGMS but still find the need to test all the time, mostly during problematic times, like exercise.
For example, I test right when I wake up. I test when I get back from exercise, then again after I shower / before breakfast. The reason I do those so close together is because my BS seems to rapidly change during that time and is COMPLETELY unpredictable and my CGM doesn’t keep up. Sometimes my BS will be falling fast, and others rising just as fast. Ideally, I’d like to get a grip on this, but I haven’t found a steady pattern yet.
Anyway, after that I test mid-morning. Then before lunch, during my afternoon snack, before dinner, and before bed. That equals… 8? Then there are sometimes when I don’t believe me meter. Or when one of the other times wasn’t working for calibrating my CGMS, so I had to throw some extras in.
Explaining this, I really don’t think it’s unreasonable. It helps me and keeps me sane.
However, when I called my doctor’s office this morning and requested a new prescription allowing for more strips a month, I got the totally shocked response of: “You’re testing 10 times a day!?” Me: “Well…up to.” …as if that makes it sound much better.
She put in the request, and I’m wondering if my doctor will call back asking me what is going on. I didn’t give the nurse on the phone my full spiel because it seemed unnecessary.
I also have no idea if my insurance will cover this many. But figured I’d try!
It’s almost funny how much I’ve changed. Earlier this year I would test once a day, before bed. And that was it. And you know, my A1cs weren’t that bad all things considered. 7.8 was my highest ever. Of course, I know now, the bad parts for me were all the rapid changing. Too high and too low many times a day.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what my next A1c is (February). I still struggle with some things, but when I look at the big picture, I’m doing just plain awesome by comparison.
My totally awesome 24-hour CGM graph that I just had to share: