I am mad. Ranting mad. Bear with me if you can.
Ok, not only does this bug me to no end, it really p****s me off. Since 2013 there has been this march on to significantly slow down the amount of blood glucose testing people with Type 2 diabetes are doing.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/type2-diabetes-blood-sugar-overtesting-1.4157581
Here's what I know about the change in testing:
1. It's based on research.
2. It is evidence based.
3. It may be the best evidence but it's not always the best practice.
I'm going to repeat that. It's not always the best practice.
How can advising that testing less is a good practise? Oh the argument that strips are expensive is a valid one. They are. Do the powers that be not 'get' that for many of us however testing with those strips is what kept us off meds??? It's a whole lot cheaper to pay for strips based on what the person's needs are than 3-4 oral meds, insulin, insulin supplies, and the testing equipment on top of that. The cost, well, that's a discussion for another day.
If you're new to this blog, then I will restate my situation. I was diagnosed in November 2005 with Type 2 diabetes. I had a history with my last pregnancy of gestational diabetes 10 years before that.
My treatment: try to change my lifestyle, manage my carbs, get moving, test.
I managed my diabetes this way for 8 yrs. 8 yrs!
Was I testing often? Yes.
Was it too often? Apparently not. Eight years with diet, exercise AND TESTING!
Am I unique? Not by a long shot. IMHO, this type of advice undermines people's ability to make positive changes for their health. It does not enable people, it disables them. It invalidates those of us motivated to look after our health. People have capacity. Gee, how about we recognize that capacity and find ways to motivate for change? The health promoters and HCPs have found a way to motivate smokers to quit. Can those strategies be used to change lifestyle? Of course they can.
Diabetes is progressive. Testing can help prevent that progression or at the very least slow it down. How about we support that?
I am now signaling the end of this rant. At least for now.
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