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Expensive, about a buck a test, and Medicare will pay for a 100 a month. So since I have not tested mine in a year I have saved Medicare $1200.00. Actually, newly diabetic are frantically trying to get their blood sugar under control and the finger blood test is score keeper so to speak on how well you are succeeding. Recall this as rather frantic times trying to get it to do what your blood sugar level was supposed to do. What you need to know, is no matter how many times you take the reading it does NOTHING for your blood sugar level, it self. The big aid you get from these readings is helping you educate yourself as to what is going on with your blood sugar at the moment, what is the timing and effect of different actions and eventually to figure out what food or behavior, or timing or emotion or time of the day, or whatever effects it. What lowers it, such as a walk around the block, etc and what food intake exactly stirs it up. So if you are like most you are using it to figure out how much of your old eating habits can you still get away with. How big a portion of mashed potatoes can I eat before my reading goes off the dial? This is all very upsetting and maddening initially because it is not an exact or fast responding science. It is almost like an emotional meter. Your body is responding to all sorts of influences and they all show up in the blood glucose readings. Therefore you are never sure what caused what fluctuation here and well may not be something you ate affect you are measuring. You also need to realize that medications have an effect usually in a short time, whereas things you do on your own take sometimes weeks to eventually make a big dent. You read that cinnamon will lower your blood sugar 20%. So you try it at different times, different foods, etc. Its hard to tell what your blood sugar would have been with today's food without it? By they way, quantity is always hard to pin down but most say a quarter teaspoon three times a day. If that cuts it 20%, why don't I just take a half teaspoon and cut it 40%, and you will try that. Then you hear something else, (regularly) cuts your blood sugar 20% such as a tablespoon of Metamucil fiber before meals. Now you got a sure thing you figure so you use up a zillion more test strips as a human guinea pig to see what works. Save yourself all the trouble. I tried this all many times and it turns out taking five things that cut your blood sugar, say 20%, does NOT cut your blood sugar 100%. 20% seems to be max no matter how many combos you use. Understand. that when you are learning to control your diabetes with diet, it again is not going to be an exact happen today thing......in other words do not expect that your body reacts fast to change... So your readings and progress may be or likely will be disappointing initially. You can now purchase glucose read out meters that give you a way to see what is happening to your blood sugar as you go. This is a fast changing track so I wont go there, but this has possibilities of driving you crazy faster or maybe slower, trying to figure out what is going on or causing what etc. What really counts is your A1c blood test (at the lab every three months) which gives you an overall what's happening over time trend, is your blood sugar level coming down or getting worse. This is the ultimate score keeper you are concerned about. My position is that I have done everything I can do or know to do, which is considerable, and almost no matter what my reading I would not likely do much different anyway, because there is very little left for me to do. As long as my A1c is in good range and staying there, I see no advantage of continuing short range finger prick testing, all it does is upsets me, where did that reading come from? ....and they are no longer in the range to be of big concern. That's the advantage of getting and know your blood sugar is under natural control, (no input that drives it crazy) is not having to be doing this constant hassle. The other game being played here is a contest. riding a fine line, to see what you can eat and get away with, sort of like the "I quit" smoker who takes a few puffs every day out behind the barn and takes his nicotine pills. What can I get away with that I used to like, and the meter tells me how far I can go????
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