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On average, how many glucose strips would you estimate you currently use per week?
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I use a CGM because Medicare would only allow me 5 strips a day. This made it very difficult to manage my T1D.
I keep a container of strips in the house, but its expiration date needs to be checked.
I put 21-30. I use Medtronic and the sensors require a minimum of 2 calibrations a day, minimum of 3 on the first day. So that’s 15 strips I can’t avoid but often end up doing more. If my calibration time gets off I’ll do 3 so the timing doesn’t wake me up early. I will sometimes check if my sensor is too high or low but not always. The sensors do work great for me but I wish I could get away with one test a day at most.
Zero, on average.
Except the last week or two, the G6 tSlim X2 control IQ is demanding two per day calibrations! Have I set something wrong?
Every once in a while that happens to me. Once it starts, you’re stuck with it until the sensor period is over. When you start your next sensor, be sure to enter your sensor number manually and you shouldn’t have to calibrate. The last time this happened to me was when I changed both transmitter and sensor despite having entered my sensor number manually. Go figure.
I use a Dexcom G6 no finger sticks required. If I think something is wonky with my blood sugar or if I feel “off” I may check with a finger stick. This though is not the norm.
Said 3-5 but really 0 first 10 days of Dexcom G6 wear. Calibrate a little more after restarting.
I’m on the Dexcom G6, so 3-5 strips/week depending on whether my sensor is feeling reliable to me. If I didn’t have the CGM, probably around 70/week minimum to manage things effectively.
Over time this number has changed drastically from 7-10 day to about 4 per day (Medtronic sensor) and now on Dexcom I use barely any – to the point where I think I should be checking it more….A1c is around 6, so I guess it’s not that bad overall?
My Libre 2 CGM is accurate and consistent for its two weeks until it asks to be replaced with an equally accurate sensor. No finger sticks!
Used to calibrate CGM
My “average” is about three per week, but most weeks would be zero. When I have a sensor that moves off track, that requires calibration and rechecking. Then I may make six checks in a day. That drives the average per week up.
I usually use 7 per week as, even though the G6 does not require calibration, I can’t bring myself *not* to do a finger stick once/day in the morning. After decades of finger sticks only, it’s hard to completely rely on and my Dexcom.
I put 1 or 2. Usually when I first start a G6 just to make sure it looks OK. Only other times is when the G6 reads something I don’t think is correct, usually it ends up being right.
Obviously the answer depends on whether you use a CGM or not, but beyond that there are those who rely on it exclusively unless they see something grossly wrong and have to check or calibrate, versus those of us who haven’t given up the BG strip security blanket entirely. Having started with T1 before test kits were even a thing, I count myself in the latter category. I test first thing in the a.m. just for, I dunno, reassurance, so that’s 7, plus maybe 1-4 other times when I’m seeing a compression low or starting a new sensor or the like. So 11-ish for me.
Medtronic pump users should be aware the 770G plus CGM is adjunctive so it is addition to fingersticks. It will not work properly without glucose testing.
disappointed in my Libre2, far too may verification meter/strip BS double checks needed.
when you double check the libre with a test strip, how close are the readings?
in the middle of the night, it’s usually around 20 points lower than reality. had to shut off the alarm.
this particular sensor is consistently 20 points low
I think the Libre is made by Abbot which also makes the Freestyle meter/pdm that Omnipod uses. I have also found that my pdm is 20 points lower than any other device!
Dexcom G6 works pretty well so no need to poke so much
This brings to mind another issue. Back when I used test strips excllusively, I had to argue with insurance to cover more than 4 strips daily. (My safety and well-being was not a top priority to the ins.co.)
Now that cgms are in wide use, a learn that BC/BS will give me free, unlimited numbers of test strips, delivered right to my door. I have been reluctant to take them up on this offer,even as a back up measure, because I am aafraid it might make their policy change to cover only strips and not cgm.
I use my Dexcom 6 in “no code” mode (more accurate for me) so I calibrate daily. I often use more strips at the beginning and end of the sensor session when readings can be wonky.
31-40 strips was my answer. I use the 770G with CGM. It requires glucose testing in addition to daily calibration.
Me too, but I use a few more than that due to having frequent issues with the sensor/calibration/incessant demand to enter another *#%( BG!
Seriously considering asking my endo about switching systems.
Only if my CGM seems off or is warming up
I have a CGM, no need for strips.
I was only using 3-4 a week up until about 3 months ago when my libre 2 sensors seemed off, but he quality of libre 2 has gone down substantially. I’ve had several instances where I would get a low alarm, not take anything to treat it, check against a blood test strip.. and my real glucose was 140-160. Compression lows make the sensors go off about 4 times a night, each time needs to be checked against a real glucose strip, because 33% of the time it really is low.
Only in the ever of a CGM failure!
The only time I use a glucose strip is when I calibrate my CGM or if my numbers don’t match how I feel. Before my Dexcom G6, I tested approximately 10-13 times each day.
I use the Dexcom G6 with Tandem X2 CIQ and test 10-20 per week. I calibrate the G6 if it is off by more than 0.5mmol/L(9).
Even Dexcom G6 is nowhere near accurate enough to fully trust so I use my BG meter and test strips almost every time I eat or when the CGM is giving readings that don’t match how I’m feeling at the time.
Prior to CGM use my employer used to require me to test a minimum of every hour while working my 10 hour shift so added to the 6 – 8 times I was testing at home or other jobs, prior to CGM use I was averaging around 16 test strips per day.
Since using Dexcom, their G4 sensors seemed much more accurate for me than their current G6 sensors are so despite using Dexcom G6 with my tSlim X2 pump with Control IQ, I still test with BG meter strips and average of 7 times per day or 49 times per 7 day week, and on average, I find my Dexcom G6 agrees within 30% of my BG meter readings barely 1/2 the time with the rest of the time an almost even split between G6 reading significantly higher and significantly lower than my actual BG meter reading. And every time compared to Clinic Lab results, my BG meter is consistently within 3 – 5 mg/dl of what the Clinic Lab says my BG reading was at the time.
I also have the problem of Dexcom not being accurate enough to rely on 100% of the time!
Since starting with DEXCOM CGM 18 months ago I’ve used fewer than 20 altogether
It depends on how my CGM is working each week. When it goes not report correctly, I use many more strips because I can’t trust the CGM readings.
Can I ask no what CGM you are using?
Patricia, I use Dexcom. I used to never test with strips but now I seem to have 24-48 hours of incorrect readings when I change my sensor.
Haven’t used One Strip this year, Dex G6 is always dead on.
Hard to answer this question. I use strips if I want to know my bg while my Dexcom G6 is warming up or in the first 24 hours. My endo says that it is not totally reliable for the first 24 hours.
I used to use up to eight times a day or more if I was in crisis. But now I use a CGM and I only check my blood sugar with my meter when I’m not sure of the reading I’m getting on the CGM or it has stopped working.
I use the test strips whenever I question the readings from my G6 CGM – I use 4 sticks on 4 fingers and then average them. I was shocked at how much they can vary. It goes a long way toward explaining why I had to be visited by the EMTs so many times before the G6.
I use a DexCom G6 so either 0 or 1 every ten days during sensor warmup.
“On average” doesn’t seem to apply to my life with T1D. Every day is different. The first 24 hrs. of a new Dex G6 sensor can vary considerably from Contour meter levels. The G6 will wake me with dire warnings of glucose levels in the low 50’s. Testing with the meter rarely confirms those low numbers. “On average” I use 3 – 5 strips a week because I no longer experience any symptoms of lows or highs and the G6 isn’t accurate 100% of the time.
If the Dexcom G6 is running accurate and BG is not rapidly swinging up and down, only 1-2 / week if even that many. I’ve probably went through 25-30 / week this past month as the sensors in this last box have not read well for the first 24-48 hours.
It depends, if Edgepark has sent my G6 sensors or if I’m waiting for them to arrive. I have gone a few months this year without my G6 because of Edgepark saying it wasn’t time to refill my 90 day supply; so I go back to finger sticks 10 times a day for 30 days or more, until they decide to send them.
Edge park acts as if they’re paying for the sensors, US Med is way more user friendly if you can change providers
I usually only use them when my sensor for dexcom is warming up, thats about every 10 days. Maybe once in a while with my numbers don’t match how I am feeling.
6-7 per day so 42+ per week. MARD is supposed to be 8-10% for CGMs mine is more like 30-50% and sometimes higher. Until that improves I wil never use a closed loop system. G6 is just not accurate and reliable for me. No idea why and it’s frustrating.
Thankfully, Dexcom G6 mostly eliminated finger sticks. My fingers will forever be happy.
I believe my G6 is more accurate/reliable than any single test strip. For me, duplicate finger stick results often vary by 20% or more from each other. If I do need to rely on finger stick results for bolusing during sensor warm up, I use the average of multiple strips.
Calibration purposes or when I question how I feel it varies .
Prior to using a CGM (January 2019), I was finger-pricking a minimum of 8X/day or using 52 strips per week. Now with my Dexcom G6, I rarely need to do so (Thank heavens, because Medicare refuses to pay for any.) In 18 months (about 547 days), I’ve used less than 50 strips (when I feel the need to verify a reading or during the 2 hour warm-up interval when the sensor has been replaced.) Type 1 for 46+ years and last A1c (in July) was 6.0.
I put 11-20, and that’s in addition to having the Dexcom. I test when my Dex reads before 90 (I’m usually lower), test when my D4D Dog alerts (he’s faster than Dex), test when I’m riding my bike cause, you know, Dex is slow even with the algorithm. I haven’t downloaded Basal or Control IQ because of the disparities I have with the Dex readings.
I have a CGM. I test once a month.
A better question would be, “How many Glucose strips would you estimate use per Month.” On a CGM for a very long time and never used more than three strips at one instance.
I’d be lying to say that I still use finger sticks. It seems wrong to rely on those to check the accuracy of the Tandem with G6. I have to trust the system I use, to stay sane and healthy, keeping my eyes open for news or warnings of problems with the technology. With almost 70 years of living with this and now an aging diabetic labradoodle, I can’t spend all my time worrying about one more thing. I really do just try to stay alert to possibilities.
I actually answered “other” I don’t use many at all until it’s warm-up time for the Dexcom, then the 24 hour adjustment it seems to need to get in line!
I use the Libre 2.
For the past 8 years, usually NONE, except in very rare instances when disconnected from CGM. I do keep a back-up supply of test strips as “just in case” insurance so I have something to test with in case of CGM failure or a delay in getting the next shipment of sensors or a new transmitter delivered.
I have 3 devices to check my blood sugar with:
Dexcom G6 – which only works well 70 to 80% of the time.
My Freestyle meter/PDM for my Omnipod – this meter is generally 20 points lower than other devices.
My “calibration” meter (a OneTouch Ultra 2) is used the see which of the other two devices I should believe.
This is most important when the first two devices are 80 or 90 or 100 points different like it was this morning (42 for G6, 129 for Omnipod).
So, there are those wild differences, but also the frequent errors I get (usually on day 7 or 8 of the sensor life.) It’s rare for me to get a full 10 days of sensor life…. But, it’s _still_ better than finger sticks only! 😀
This question should specify whether one is using a CGM or not.
Rarely. But, yesterday, I hit blood when I installed my CGM, a gusher. I had to wipe up and wait. I wasn’t sure I wasn’t getting accurate blood glucose readings, so I did a few blood tests. They were similar to my CGM readings. All is well.
I put ‘other’ as it depends on what is going on…. If the CGM is wonky, or expired prematurely – I’ll use more test strips, as in about 10+/day. If the reading on the CGM seems incorrect, I’ll use a test strip to confirm or otherwise. Most weeks I use well under 6 or 7.
I don’t trust my cgm to take insulin by
Around 7 or 8, I have never counted, don’t
Totally trust my Dexcom.
Glucose Strips??? Do you mean the strips that go with my meter? If so, I only test when needed. So it might work out 1 per week at most.
I put “0” since my CGM is usually accurate and that is my most common answer. If on the rare occasion I don’t trust a reading, I may do a finger stick. If I forget to apply a new CGM to myself a day in advance of starting it (on the last day of my old CGM), I will do up to 4 fingersticks between the time I apply a new sensor and when the old sensor stopped. I do this because the readings of the sensor are too low on the first 12 hours or so.
I don’t have to test because I use a Dexcom G6 CGM. I trust it 99% of the time