I have started on the pumping journey. Until I recive my continuous monitor (which they promise me that I will be getting in another 10 weeks but am looking forward to seeing the quality data too) I am currently taking 8 to 10 finger sticks a day. Which has gotten expensive as my current RX only supports 4 sticks a day. How many finger sticks are you doing? And the most important thing I suppose is if you are doing lots of sicks does your insurance cover 200 strips a month? Finally…how do you manage the used up strips. I have noticed that there are used strips everywhere: my car, my classroom, my house. The cat plays with them. The dog will walk around with them stuck to her fur. I will occasionally look down and find one stuck to me. It’s not that I leave them and then drop them, but most times when I am away from home, I put the used test strips in zippered pouch in my monitor bag…and they escape from there.
My insurance covers 300 strips a month (10 a day). I'm Type 1 - the "4 a day rule" is usually for Type 2's, though I think many would like more, especially if on insulin!
Those little buggers have a life of their own, but at home I use an empty test strip vial which I keep where I test. Away, I too put them in my monitor case if no garbage is available.
Hi Dee Dee, it's very exciting that you're on your pumping journey! I test 10 to 12 times each day. My prescription used to be written for 6 to 8 times per day but I was running out and having to buy out of pocket because my insurance would only cover the amount written. I had my doctor re-write the prescription for 10 times each day and now my insurance covers 300 test strips per month. My CDE says the insurance balks when it goes above 10 times per day. So try asking your doc to re-write your prescription.
And, yes, I find test strips everywhere too. I try to be really careful with them because I don't want my dog to get choked on them but it never fails that one escapes and the dog finds it. :)
My doc rx's 14x day although BCBS are always trying to "shave" it one way or another. I've come up with a chart:
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...).