Here I vent… I’m on MDI and use a meter. I am aggravated by hearing random doctors, diabetes educators, pharmacists, meter manufacturers and nurses tell me that I only need to test “four times a day”. 
None of these people who suggest this to me have T1 themselves (I asked), and even though they are supposedly aware of the importance of testing they just don’t get how every little thing we do affects blood sugar! For me, to keep my good A1C on four daily BG tests, I would have to sit still in one spot all day, eating two pre-measured meals of the exact same foods at the same time each day, never have PMS or get sick or take any meds or have a sleepless night. I would be unable to drive, exercise, get excited or upset because it all ******* changes my BG. I test 7 times on an average day, more if things start slipping, and I never test for fun… Gah!
Why is sugar surfing such an insider secret???
The basis of the problem is that if you don’t walk in these shoes, you don’t understand the terrain. That’s a trite saying, but it really matters here because we are talking about health care professionals, people whose job and responsibility it is to give advice to others. It’s as though you were an aeronautical engineer and understood everything about the science of flight, but having never having flown a plane yourself and not knowing how cockpit workload is organized nor how controllers and pilots interact, you were to lecture a pilot on correct communication and on who should perform the pre-landing checklist, and how.
Get this: During my daughter’s first post-diagnosis appointment with her (now-ex) pediatric endocrinologist, instead of praising her for doing a great job self-managing her Type 1, she was scolded for using 10 test strips a day because that was “being wasteful.” 
Just pre-breakfast fasting plus lunch, dinner and bedtime gets you 4 as an absolute minimum for MDI. How about exercising–we’re supposed to do that too, I hear?–that gets you up to six for before and after. Not to mention “Oh crap, this feels like a low coming on” and “My coworker brought brownies, maybe I can have one.”
The FNP who diagnosed me and treated me for Type 2 (for 4 months until she realized something else was going on) told me to test only 4 times a day maximum. It made no sense to me and when I asked her why, her only response was “you’ll drive yourself crazy testing any more than that”. Unfortunately, it drives me crazy to LIMIT myself to 4 times a day. I want to know what my blood sugar is at all times! I want to keep TIGHT control and with my cantankerous pancreas (honeymooning), I need (for my own sanity) to know what my BS level are at any given time. There are times when I want to know but can’t test (usually in a meeting) and it drives me NUTS.
Huh, maybe I should look into CGM…
I can’t begin to imagine why a D educator or a meter manufacturer would think less testing is better. For strips, about 10 a day seems right, and that’s without variability and uncertainty from out-of-the-regular-routine days with travel or whatever, when you really need more frequent testing to get decent control. I do realize not all health plans will provide that many strips, but four a day seems like your health advisors are reading guidance from 20 or more years ago.
I will use this analogy and next time I get the “why-do-you-test-so-often” look, I will politely ask to be allowed to fly my plane like I know it’s safe!! 
For real?? That’s preposterous to tell a young girl who is just finding her footing with D!!! Talk about insult to injury… So aggravating!
Apparently, you cannot have a brownie because you are over your testing limit already at lunch time!
Incidentally, those professionals who believe in the four times a day testing regime also think cgm’s are unnecessary 
Exactly. It is an outdated protocol. Just seeing the label on my strips saying “test 4x daily” annoys me. Imagine if I just naively stopped afer 4 tests… at, say 11 a.m.? Also, what about meter errors or compromised readings? Do they count??
This argument of limiting the amount of test strips we can use has always baffled me. Four strips a day is actually quite sufficient if you do everything just right and stay on your familiar schedule that allows this. I do it often. But, to think I could do that every day is insane. When I first started using insulin and adjusting my diet I tested at least 10 or 12 times a day. After six years, I still have days where I get close to 10. There are too many reasons we all are aware of that cause this. Unfortunately, too many healthcare providers don’t get it.
Here is my best analogy for this. Present this scenario to the next person that tells you you only need three or four strips a day.
I need to know what my blood sugar level as in order to navigate my day and maintain my health. How do you suppose (Dr. or??) It would work for you to get in your car and begin a cross-country trip after painting the windshield black. Could you drive down the road for hours only to poke your head out the window two or three times a day to figure out where you are at? Think you would get where you wanted to go? Would you and everyone around you be safe that way? Give me my damn strips.
Oh come on guys, admit it, you just test for fun. If they gave you all the strips you want you’d be off getting your “kicks” in those wild finger-jabbing parties!
Oh and they’ll yank your license if your caught driving low. They don’t seem to ever consider that you test prior to driving.
Well, Jim26, if you are going to be driving on any particular day, you should simply plan ahead and allot one of your four strips that day for testing before you get behind the wheel.
What, you say you are going to be driving a long distance and will need to test more than four times? Well, that’s why PWDs shouldn’t even be allowed to drive!
Thank you! Exactly! I hate to say it but so many of these professionals are so flippant.
If I was to test as few times a day as they recommend, I would’ve had many emergencies by now. In fact I might not even still be here. Don’t listen to these so called professionals with that stuff. They are not going to make it up to us if we have a hypoglycemic coma or get complications from taking their snappy advice, nor do they care. I let them cause me to feel shame way too long for using more strips than I’m covered for. So many times I wanted to say to them, Its more than enough that I have to buy strips (on my disability income) that I can’t afford, and that this bg checking is consuming my life and making a wreck out of my fingers, without them giving me their stupid 2 cents and trying to make me feel like a freak for trying to be careful. We know what we need! We’re the ones that go through it. Safety has to come first.
Two. Assuming you want to get back home after an extended period of time out and about.
Words to live by—literally.
I used to get so embaressed buying strips from my pharmacist whenever I’d run out of them too soon and not be covered. A few times I went to other pharmacies to buy them even though mine was much cheaper, just to not get their speeches and disapproving looks again. They finally got used to me and are much better now. They’re so expensive though! And besides the unrealistic # of strips they expect to last us, they don’t take into account that a few strips here and there don’t work.
That’s so wrong. I’m beginning to wonder if rudeness and ignorance are requirements for being an endo. Sure seems like it.