Self Testing
Okay three months ago I was diagnosed as having Type 2 Diabetes. I was immediately placed on metformin which has horrendous side effects so I was placed on SR Metformin (slow release metformin) which while better is still a tablet I HATE taking as it has to be taken with food and I normally only eat once a day suddenly having to eat three times a day just wasn't good so after my fiancee did a serious amount of research she find that loads of diabetics swear by a diet called the LCHF diet which is an acronym for Low Carb High Fat diet.
mopst people get their calorific energy from carbs so by cutting out carbs you're losing that source of energy so you regain it from the high fat potion of the diet. You're probably sitting their saying but fats bad for you but you know whats worse for you if your a diabetic sugar and carbs turn into glucose which is sugar in your blood stream and at its root diabetes is inability for the cells in your body to absorb that glucose. If you look at the picture labelled diabetes cycle you'll see why this is a bad thing by cutting out all the carbs or reducing them to almost nothing you can reduce your blood glucose level to almost normal while a diabetic will always have diabetes it can be controlled.
What does all this have to do with self testing being too expensive. I'll explain according to the NHS a type 2 diabetic has no need to test their own blood glucose levels, their own GP will do it once every 3 months. That means that a type 2 diabetic is meant to wait 3 months before finding out if their medication diet or life style changes are having an impact on their blood sugar levels or not.
Now that doesn't sound to bad until your realise that the effects of having too high or too low a blood sugar level over a prolonged period can include but are not limited to diabetic coma, blindness, loss of sensation in toes, feet or lower legs, in worse case scenerios the need for amputation of toes, feet or lower legs.
Are you starting to see why most type 2 diabetics pay for their own testing kit? Now this isn't all the National Health services fault. A random blood glucose meter can cost upwards of £30.00 with the test strips and lancets being extra most test strips come in tubs of 50 strips to a tub. Heres why it gets expensive most tubs of test strips cost the same as if not more than the meters themselves.
It doesn't have to be expensive though a little known company called Home-Health UK sells a meter called the SD Codefree for £11.25 and its tubs of 50 strips are just £6.95 a tub but for some reason the NHS insists on using some of the most expensive meters on the market when they do issue them and considering that some people have to test up to 8 times a day when they are first diagnosed it places a huge strain on the NHS especially when you consider that there are 3.9 millon people in the UK alone who have diabetes and 90% of those have type 2. The NHS spends an estimated £14 billion pounds a year on treating diabetes and its complications just think how much they could save if they actually start to buy the cheaper options and in the long term think how many people lifes it could improve if their had a meter and were able to educate themselves about the impact that the food that they are consuming is having and by that I don't mean that all diabetics over eat I know I don't but something as simple as cutting out white bread, rice, pasta or even milk can drastically reduce the number of carbs that you are consuming.
So despite what everyone will tell you about Diabetes being a progressive disease it can be managed, you can lead a normal life with some limitations but it doesn't have to be the end of life as you know it there is hope.
Also if you are diabetic or you just want more information about diabetes then I would highly recommend www.diabetes.co.uk. The forum there is full of people who have diabetes and who live with the condition and know the up and downs and the ways of making life easier because they've had to go through it themselves.
Do I follow my own suggestions? the answers yes when I was first diagnosed my HbA1c was 10.6% after following a LCHF diet for three months it was tested again and my new HbA1c was 6.9%.
if your interested in the SD Codefree you can google Home Health UK if you're interested in the diabetes cycle click the pictures tab at the top of the page.
And thanks for reading I'll be back soon hopefully.
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