Are You Battling Diabetes Or Battling Your GP For Supplies?

Sometimes having diabetes can feel like a real battle and that there are so many battles to face in order to win the war on diabetes. Whether it be on a personal level managing your insulin and your blood sugar readings. Or on the bigger scale of fighting small minded people and the myths they hold on diabetes. But in this instance the GP surgery to get the supplies needed to manage the condition.

Since I was a baby I’ve lived in the same house and so have belonged to the same doctors. The doctors themselves have always been amazing in seeing me through the healthcare transitions in my life from the little things to big, such as my diagnosis with diabetes 13 years ago. But in line with the continuity of their care there has also been a continuous bug bare. And not with the doctors and their level of care- but the prescriptions I need to manage my diabetes. The age-old disagreement that I’ve had with the prescription department is how much I’m allowed to have in terms of diabetes supplies.

They’ve always been very helpful when it’s come to supplies in situations such as having extra to go on holiday or when my monitor was broken and I needed a replacement they were there to help and support. But blood strips and insulin has always been the bug bare. At the moment I get given 200 strips a month for blood glucose testing and 10 strips a month for ketone testing. On average my blood sugar testing routine is a test in the morning for breakfast, two hours after eating, at lunch time, at half past four before I drive home from work, when I get to training before I start, sometimes during training but always after before driving home, before tea and finally at bed time. There may be additions to this for highs and lows over night and throughout the day two.

On average this is about 7-8 blood tests a day, a routine that I’ve adopted after collapsing from a hypo at the athletics track. Also because the blood glucose monitor I have is able to pick up patterns in readings. So the more you test then the more you know. This adds up to 225 tests per month based on these averages and not allowing for additional hypos. As a result of which I’ve been having to go to my GP surgery every 3 weeks or so to put in a new prescription. Having to go to my local pharmacy who then more often or not have to order the test strips in, which is fair enough. But adds an additional 2 days to the order. I’ve written a letter to my surgery explaining all this so watch this space to see what happens…