If you have type 2 diabetes and you use a glucose meter — or if you have a meter but don’t use it regularly for some reason — we need your help. I have been asked to compile an article for the ADA journal Diabetes Spectrum on T2 patient feedback and their experiences with glucose monitoring.
For this purpose, we are running a brief survey over at DiabeticConnect and I ask you to please, please (pretty please!) take a few minutes to give us your input. There are just about a dozen multiple choice questions and lots of room for you to add comments if you like.
UPDATE: Even though the survey closed on Friday, Sept. 14, we’d still welcome the chance to hear from you on this issue!
We all know that a lot of patients are sent home with a BG meter without good instructions on how to use this tool to improve their daily glucose management. So what do you do with it? Gather up a bunch of numbers to show your doctor at your next appointment in three months? Stash it in your drawer and promise to use it “tomorrow”?
Meanwhile, lots of fancy new meters with technology bells and whistles are appearing on the market. With wireless data transmission and “smart algorithms” that can hopefully help us make sense of the numbers — at least for people who take insulin and are therefore “tethered” to their meters 24/7.
But what about all the PWDs out there who are not on insulin? Surely these handy little glucose meters are still key to their diabetes management. Or are they…?
It seems there are two schools of thought out there among the medical experts:
- “People with type 2 diabetes do not need to be using glucose meters on a regular basis at all, because they can’t change the numbers immediately anyway, and their A1C results are useful enough information.
and
- Type 2s can and should be using their meters better/more often/more productively, but just aren’t getting the right training and education.
OK yes, it LOOKS complicated...
Of course, insurance companies love the first viewpoint because they don’t want to cover the cost of these tools, especially the expensive test strips…
It seems clear to me that lack of education plays a big role…
And that’s what we’re trying to get at here: What kind of explanation or training did you get on using a meter? Do you feel like you have a good grasp on its usefulness now? And in terms of motivation, how do you FEEL about the whole glucose testing experience?
If you feel negative and sometimes judged, you wouldn’t be alone. But we’re not putting words in anyone’s mouth. We want to hear from as many type 2′s out there as possible:
What are your thoughts on using a glucose meter?
Please click here to tell us.
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Many people with type 2 diabetes do not get ANY education on how to manage their condition, just “take these pills and see me in six months”. It’s often up to us to find these people, take them by the hand, and show them what is available to help them.
In response to tmana, I have to say I agree with her. When I was first put on insulin, I was given NO instructions on how to inject, and this was at a Endo’s office. Thankfully I was taking a medical assisting course and already knew how to inject.
I definitely had to teach myself almost everything. I remember spending weeks struggling to get enough blood to test and poking myself so many times I was in tears from frustration. All that on top of the emotional adjustment of the diagnosis itself was too much.
The education for diabetes patients is abysmal. No doctor has ever told me anything about the meter, how to use it to learn what to eat and what to avoid. I’ve never been told by any doctor or nurse when to test, how to test (they don’t know themselves) or even why this can help me to manage and control my diabetes.
The doctors should tell patients that THE PATIENTS are responsible for monitoring and controlling their diabetes, and the doctor will assist my giving the meds when necessary.
None of this is ever discussed in doctor’s offices.
I am testing three times a day. Fasting, before lunch or dinner and before bed. My A1C is currently 5.8. My doctor is pushing me to test only once a day on a rotating schedule. If this were to happen then my A1C would be much higher because it would take a very long time to figure out what a new food did to my blood sugar. Not a good thing in my book.
My doctor told me very little about anything – and he is also Type 2. I got involved with a diabetes education program that has been a lifesaver. Anytime I hear someone talk about having Type 2, it is always the same story – they cut back on dessert, don’t monitor, that is it. It kills me – I am reading and learning all I can, and others blindly trust the doctor. I am trying to put good information into as many hands as possible – thanks for this blog!!
I found out before a surgery that I was diabetic! So at age 49, had a hysterectomy, in the hospital for a week, was struggling from the surgery getting injections for diabetes and hospital did not know what to feed me so I went home not knowing what to eat, what my sugar numbers meant, if I could or should eat certain things, picked up a monitor and strips at the pharmacy on the way home from discharge and they not having a certain med I needed so supplemented and I don’t know even to this day if it was a percription as I use wal-marts brand now. I was put on metformin 2 times a day, unsure when to test, so went by what I thought they did in the hospital so tested 7 times a day to learn at my 2 month check up I was only suppose to check 4 times a day. So, went home with stitches, so no exercise was allowed, not knowing how to eat so tried to go off what the hospital gave me to realize it was not a diabetic meal plan. Then my life saver came through being allowed to go to our Wellness Center where there is where I learned through 6 different classes how to deal with diabetes 4 months later after fighting it myself. My dietitian was the best, and she always checked my numbers and recorded all I told her…thank you Carisa.
There is a lot of solid and relevant data around these questions tabulated from the adult type 2 diabetes RCT that I conducted for the State of Texas HHSC for its Medicaid members. The final report to the State can be downloaded at http://type1techventures.com/clinical-trials. A formal manuscript is under development and it addresses many of the issues raised in this post. Good luck.
[...] you have type 2 diabetes, kindly visit the CALL FOR INPUT: Glucose Monitoring Experiences of Type 2s page over at the Diabetes Mine and take the survey. It’ll only take a few minutes and [...]
My grandfather who has diabetes is testing at least 3 times a day and doing any less I think would be bad for him.