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    • 1 hour, 30 minutes ago
      NANCY NECIA likes your comment at
      Have you had to switch diabetes medications in the past year due to health insurance changes?
      My doctor switched me without telling me from Humalog to novolog and told me it was due to insurance. I’m on Medicare and I never saw anything that said that was necessary. They call me periodically to see how I’m doing and I told them I didn’t appreciate being switched without being told. I thought initially it was a mistake when I picked it up at the pharmacy but they said that’s what the doctor ordered. Then the next visit, he told me all my issues with insulin switching and preauthorization holdups was my fault basically because he says “I have the wrong insurance”. Like I’m going to NOT use Medicare. My opinion? I think I have the wrong doctor, but it’s a hassle to switch.
    • 1 hour, 31 minutes ago
      NANCY NECIA likes your comment at
      Have you had to switch diabetes medications in the past year due to health insurance changes?
      Not this year, but in 2026, I need to switch from Humalog to Novolog.
    • 4 hours, 1 minute ago
      mojoseje likes your comment at
      Have you had to switch diabetes medications in the past year due to health insurance changes?
      NEVER accerptable or appropriate. Nobody's healthcare should ever be determined by a third party's profit margin(s) to determine what we are forced to take.
    • 6 hours, 3 minutes ago
      Phyllis Biederman likes your comment at
      Have you had to switch diabetes medications in the past year due to health insurance changes?
      My doctor switched me without telling me from Humalog to novolog and told me it was due to insurance. I’m on Medicare and I never saw anything that said that was necessary. They call me periodically to see how I’m doing and I told them I didn’t appreciate being switched without being told. I thought initially it was a mistake when I picked it up at the pharmacy but they said that’s what the doctor ordered. Then the next visit, he told me all my issues with insulin switching and preauthorization holdups was my fault basically because he says “I have the wrong insurance”. Like I’m going to NOT use Medicare. My opinion? I think I have the wrong doctor, but it’s a hassle to switch.
    • 6 hours, 22 minutes ago
      Lawrence S. likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      Insurance won't cover and it was several hundred dollars.
    • 6 hours, 22 minutes ago
      Marty likes your comment at
      Have you had to switch diabetes medications in the past year due to health insurance changes?
      Had to, no. But Medicare is adding coverage for FIASP in '26 so it will be "bye, bye, bye, bye, bye" to Lyumjev!
    • 7 hours, 14 minutes ago
      Gerald Oefelein likes your comment at
      Have you had to switch diabetes medications in the past year due to health insurance changes?
      Had to, no. But Medicare is adding coverage for FIASP in '26 so it will be "bye, bye, bye, bye, bye" to Lyumjev!
    • 7 hours, 29 minutes ago
      Scott Rudolph likes your comment at
      Have you had to switch diabetes medications in the past year due to health insurance changes?
      Had to, no. But Medicare is adding coverage for FIASP in '26 so it will be "bye, bye, bye, bye, bye" to Lyumjev!
    • 1 day, 4 hours ago
      eherban1 likes your comment at
      Multiple daily injections (MDI) users: Do you use an app or other device to track your insulin dosing? Share the tools you use in the comments below!
      I use InPen and it's great. Except they aren't keeping up with iOS so you now have to unlock your phone and open the app to check IOB instead of simply looking at the home screen. You can tell when app developers aren't users, otherwise they'd know how much of a pain this is when you check 50 times a day
    • 1 day, 5 hours ago
      Trish Bowers likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      Insurance won't cover and it was several hundred dollars.
    • 1 day, 5 hours ago
      Trish Bowers likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      Glucagon is $425 for me on Medicare. It is cheaper to get an ambulance! I have an expired one that will work if I ever need it, but I won't.
    • 1 day, 5 hours ago
      Trish Bowers likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      No. During the past century I threw out many glucagon doses about 5 years after each had expired - having never used a single glucagon dose.. This century, two dose kits were disposed of and never used. At this point, in my opinion, with modern tools for accurately monitoring one's body glucose levels, AND common awareness of how one is feeling, severe low BGL can be easily avoided thus not needing "emergency' glucagon. NOTE WELL!!! what I wrote in the last sentence, does NOT apply to the very young, and some newly diagnosed who have not yet mastered insulin dosing and who have not yet been accustomed to recognizing low or quickly dropping BGL.
    • 1 day, 5 hours ago
      Trish Bowers likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      I do because it Costc me over $300 to replace it. Too expensive.
    • 1 day, 5 hours ago
      John Barbuto likes your comment at
      Multiple daily injections (MDI) users: Do you use an app or other device to track your insulin dosing? Share the tools you use in the comments below!
      Medicare has added FIASP for 2026! Besides the great news of being able to use this once again, it is one of the few fast acting insulins that works with the inPen. I am considering doing that in the new year
    • 1 day, 5 hours ago
      John Barbuto likes your comment at
      Multiple daily injections (MDI) users: Do you use an app or other device to track your insulin dosing? Share the tools you use in the comments below!
      Been using fiasp for 2 years (in the UK) and it's significantly better than novorapid. Would highly recommend to everyone, especially if you find your insulin a bit slow to act.
    • 1 day, 6 hours ago
      Lozzy E likes your comment at
      Multiple daily injections (MDI) users: Do you use an app or other device to track your insulin dosing? Share the tools you use in the comments below!
      Medicare has added FIASP for 2026! Besides the great news of being able to use this once again, it is one of the few fast acting insulins that works with the inPen. I am considering doing that in the new year
    • 1 day, 10 hours ago
      Ahh Life likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      The last Glucagon prescription that I purchased was 15 years ago. Now it's way too expensive because my insurance doesn't cover it. They just want us to either die or use ambulance service to use or send us to ER. Pretty stupid to me. I've had T1D for 52 years and never needed it really. Only 3 times during early morning hypos in 2015-16 I needed rescue to wake me.
    • 1 day, 15 hours ago
      René Wagner likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      My experience over the past 65 years is that a sugary drink and patience will bring me out of a low satisfactorily. If I’m unconscious, as has happened four or five times over that period, the EMTs know what to do.
    • 1 day, 15 hours ago
      René Wagner likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      Glucagon is $425 for me on Medicare. It is cheaper to get an ambulance! I have an expired one that will work if I ever need it, but I won't.
    • 1 day, 15 hours ago
      René Wagner likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      No I haven't a glucagon in yeans. Reason being:, every time I had a prescription, the glucaagon was never used and expired.
    • 1 day, 15 hours ago
      René Wagner likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      No. During the past century I threw out many glucagon doses about 5 years after each had expired - having never used a single glucagon dose.. This century, two dose kits were disposed of and never used. At this point, in my opinion, with modern tools for accurately monitoring one's body glucose levels, AND common awareness of how one is feeling, severe low BGL can be easily avoided thus not needing "emergency' glucagon. NOTE WELL!!! what I wrote in the last sentence, does NOT apply to the very young, and some newly diagnosed who have not yet mastered insulin dosing and who have not yet been accustomed to recognizing low or quickly dropping BGL.
    • 1 day, 15 hours ago
      René Wagner likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      I do because it Costc me over $300 to replace it. Too expensive.
    • 1 day, 15 hours ago
      René Wagner likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      Insurance won't cover and it was several hundred dollars.
    • 1 day, 15 hours ago
      René Wagner likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      No,insurance won't cover it. T1D for 45+ years and haven't had a situation where I needed it - so far so good
    • 1 day, 17 hours ago
      Vicki Breckenridge likes your comment at
      Do you have Glucagon on hand that is not expired? If not, please share why in the comments.
      Glucagon is $425 for me on Medicare. It is cheaper to get an ambulance! I have an expired one that will work if I ever need it, but I won't.
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    Which of these best describes how often you typically change your lancet?

    Home > LC Polls > Which of these best describes how often you typically change your lancet?
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    In the past 7 days, how many nights was your sleep disrupted by device alerts, checking blood glucose levels, or treating a high or low?

    Sarah Howard

    Sarah Howard has worked in the diabetes research field ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Marketing Manager at T1D Exchange.

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    44 Comments

    1. KC

      I use a CGM, so I infrequently use a lancet anymore meaning I no longer have the burnout associated with changing it. I still don’t change it EVERY TIME, but basically every time.

      3
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
      1. sweet charlie

        Please check your finger stick OFTEN… do not fully trust your CGM!!!!!

        1
        3 years ago Log in to Reply
    2. Leigh French

      I use the Tandem x2 IQ insulin pump so I test my blood sugar infrequently.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    3. Molly Jones

      Definitely not nearly as often as I should. I change it when I remember to. I don’t use my glucometer on a regular basis or often.
      This question is a good reminder to keep the lancets in a visible location with my meter and only insert them before I use it when/if that occurs.

      1
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    4. LizB

      I have Medtronic so I still have to test a minimum of twice a day, more often on the first day of a new sensor. I rarely remember to change my lancet. When I finally do I can tell the difference when I poke myself but that’s still not enough to get me to change more often.

      3
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    5. Lenora Ventura

      I rarely check my blood sugar using a meter thanks to my Dex. Been using since 2008 yet I make sure I have unexpired test strips & lancets available for when I do need to. My lancing device has cartridges of 6 so it can be over 6 months before I need to change it out. For the record, I have never reused a lancet.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    6. RegMunro

      I seldom use my lancet as use cgm

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    7. Ahh Life

      I think the Plank constant might be the smallest thing in physics – ten to the minus 34 power or so.

      That’s about how often I change a lancet. 🦖

      7
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    8. dave hedeen

      When I was using 780g, slept thru every nite. Back on 770g, CGM pumps requires BG every 4 hours !

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    9. gary rind

      pre CGM, I would change my lancet daily.

      2
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    10. Lawrence S.

      I use a new, clean lancet every time I do a blood test. Sanitation is very important to me. When I first started became a diabetic, one of the first things my doctor told me is that sanitation is always important.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    11. Rebecca Jervey

      I change it when it starts actually hurting. This is sometimes every couple months and sometimes (more often since I have the CGM and only test a couple times a month) every couple years. But if I do a test and it really hurts I move on to the next needle!

      6
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    12. mojoseje

      I keep a lancet a long time if it doesn’t hurt. I know I shouldn’t but I’m in range 90% of the time so my pump/CGM are doing the job.

      1
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    13. Nevin Bowman

      You can change them? (sarcasm) I still have boxes of lancets from the 1990s if that is any indicator of how often I change them.

      7
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
      1. Lynn Smith

        👍🏼

        3 years ago Log in to Reply
    14. Amanda Barras

      Rarely use them anymore on Dexcom. When I do it’s maybe once a month… probably less…

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    15. Ginger Vieira

      CHANGE my lancet? Why would I ever do a crazy thing like that?! :p

      5
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    16. Bruce Schnitzler

      Using a DexCom G6, so very rarely need to use a lancet except once in a while during the two hour warmup.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    17. AnitaS

      I try to change it every time I check my blood sugar, but sometimes get lazy and change it ever 2 times. I also don’t check my sugars often since having my cgm–usually if I can’t wear a CGM for a few days because I am scheduled for an MRI in the next few days, or if my CGM is giving me unreliable numbers and I want to double check with a blood glucose meter.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    18. Cristina Jorge Schwarz

      Having worked with testing equipment for over 20 years, I know I to always calibrate the instrument.

      I check my CGM vs my meter, calibrating when necessary, once per week. Sometimes that’s coincident with a CGM change, other times I’m checking the CGM is still accurate. CGM accuracy drifts, sometimes a lot!

      1
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    19. Jeff Balbirnie

      Give me 10 minutes with the &@ing imbecile who came up with this Middle Ages leeches let’s bleed to test someone’s health ignorance… bloodless would be the only standard within days, and I wouldn’t require the whole 10 minutes to change their thinking 👺

      Every time it bends e.g. getting blood is impossible. Anytime it takes two or 2/3 tries to get blood, averages out to a couple times a month lancets get changed typically.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    20. Andrew Stewart

      For the last few years it’s almost never which is same same for how often I do a finger stick BG test.

      For those that don’t trust the CGM technology, are you still using urine strips? I didn’t think so.

      #BeWell

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    21. E24murph@gmail.com

      I use a cgm as the main way of monitoring. I rarely stick myself so I don’t change the lancet unless I see the need to.

      1
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    22. Chrisanda

      Since I use a CGM and Tandem Pump, I only check my BG to calibrate or if I feel something is off. I only change the lancet about once every 3-4 sticks.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    23. Bea Anderson

      In the context of accurate CGM use I answered once a month. I have high confidence in my Dexcom and know other companies have also provided good devices. That said before CGM I checked bgs 8-15 times a day and would change lancets daily when they began to hurt.

      1
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    24. Glenda Schuessler

      Since beginning to use a CGM and following that with a Tandem pump I am using the lancet much less so I do not change it often. Prior to this I changed it regularly, but not daily or weekly, perhaps monthly or as I felt it should be changed.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    25. Janis Senungetuk

      Other, I change the lancet when it hurts. If I question the Dexcom 6 results I’ll use my meter to check. Since that hasn’t happened that often I’m not using the lancet that frequently. At the most I might change the lancet once every four months.

      1
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    26. Jane Cerullo

      Have Dexcom so only when I change device or reading seems off.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    27. Stephen Woodward

      If it grabs skin or I have to push hard to get it to bleed, >once a year.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    28. KSannie

      When I was testing about 12 times per day, I would change the lancet when it began to hurt, once or twice a year. But with my Dexcom, it is every few years, since I rarely need to do a finger prick.

      1
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    29. Thomas Cline

      I think this question should have also included how many times a day (week) we do a finger stick.

      2
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    30. Robert Wilson

      Whenever I have to reset the clock for daylight savings…LOL

      1
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
      1. Jordan Harshman

        Funny, I was looking for this option, but didn’t see it!

        1
        3 years ago Log in to Reply
    31. Bob Durstenfeld

      With a CGM, I hardly use my blood glucose meter anymore.

      1
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    32. Kelly Wilhelm

      I very rarely use my meter since my Dexcom is spot on for me. I never calibrate it. But, if I were checking my blood sugar regularly with a meter I would likely only change the lancet every couple of months.

      2
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    33. Sondra Mangan

      I change my lancet with every Omnipod change—every three days.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    34. Yaffa Steubinger

      I change my lancet each time I replace my Dexcom…every 10 days.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    35. Michael Andrews

      I change my lancet every time I need to use my Meter, but i rarely use it b/c I never have issues with my Dexcom G6.

      1
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    36. William Bennett

      Wait, you can change those things?

      😉

      4
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    37. PamK

      I chose “other” because I don’t use my meter/lancets every day. I use a CGM and only check my blood glucose with my meter when necessary. When I was using my meter every day, I would change the lancet once a week or when the point was too dull to puncture my skin. Now, it’s once every few months to a year.

      1
      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    38. Steve Rumble

      Since I started using a CGM I rarely use lancets. Pre CGM I normally changed lancets when I opened a new set of test strips, usually a couple times a month.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    39. Joan Fray

      Really?!? You’re kidding right? Once a month, if that. I have a cgm, don’t check unless something seems really amiss.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    40. ConnieT1D62

      I rarely use a BG meter anymore since being on Dexcom. However in the days when I did use a meter I would change the lancet when it started feeling dull to prick my fingers – maybe once a week or so. Nowadays? Since I rarely use a meter unless my CGM is having an issue I change it once a day since I may have to prick my finger 5 times or more while waiting for the CGM issue to be resolved.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply
    41. Wanacure

      I seldom use alcohol wipes before using lancet device. Years ago from another T1D I learned NOT to draw blood from finger pads where nerves are really dense. Instead i use backs and sides of finger tips for less pain. Also suspect fewer.germs on those areas compared to pads of fingers.

      3 years ago Log in to Reply

    Which of these best describes how often you typically change your lancet? Cancel reply

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