They are learning! "Rethinking Diabetes Nutrition" - article from Clinical Endocrinology News
Options
Replies
-
FYI on test meters & strips....
You can find Bayer Contour Next meters online (Amazon or eBay) for around $5.
If you keep your eyes peeled, you can find lots of soon-expiring test strips as low as $.10 per strip. (cheap!).
The data transfer function is nothing special, but it's easy to use and has a lot of storage.0 -
You can use a second inexpensive meter, it just won't communicate with your pump.
You would still benefit from the bg#s. If you got an actionable # you could
always use the expensive strip to alert your pump.
or 
1 -
Hi Aquawave- My doctor uses Medtronic glucose monitors, which is the leading company.
The monitor really improves the quality of life for a PWD type 1. With Medicare, there is a lot more
paperwork and verification. You must "document" your test strip uses, so you receive "exactly"
the number of test strips.....if you test 3 times a day, you will receive enough for 3 times a day.
Even if they are prescribed by your doctor, you can not get more than your numbers indicate you
need. He has to send in paperwork every three months, and I sometimes have to send in paperwork to
distributors for their documentation. The supplies I need are also closely regulated....they arrive
within a specified time period. If you can use a variety of test strips and meters, you should have
a much easier time. I also have a secondary insurance so I am luckier than most. I still write down
my numbers every day, but the stats can also be downloaded. Medicare brings an adjustment
from traditional insurance, but being aware of the transition makes it easier :-) It's all good :-)
Is it all good? Transitioning to Medicare from really good private insurance? My husband is working till he is 69 (another 4 years) so I am covered with Anthem. We are thinking of moving to Tampa area, so we can enroll in Humana Gold Plus. All of our elders were covered for almost every dollar in healthcare costs. HGP varies in coverage and price depending on the county you live in. It pretty much stinks in the Atlanta area. Florida coverage in Dade-Broward area and Tampa-St Pete, so much better.
I kinda thought Medicare restricted the strips to begin with, but I had no idea they were so Big Brother about it, to account for every strip you use? Humana Gold Plus, might actually do the same since they are pretty much an HMO. So, If your diabetes is in abeyance due to your WOE, you would not receive any strips? How do they decide the number of strips you need, is it by your A1C, diagnosis code? If you are testing to your meter trying to keep things in control, that's a ton of strips. I know that there are cheap strips on Amazon, but on a fixed income, do we end up eating cat food to survive?1 -
@bensnj Just to clarify, do you have a Medtronic pump and CGM?
If yes, you can calibrate your CGM with any meter, just just have to do it manually if you don't use a meter that is capable of sending your result to the pump automatically. Additionally, there was a One Touch (Lifescan) meter that would send the result to your pump... they do not make the meter anymore because Medtronic switched their contract from Lifescan to Bayer (for the Contour Next). However, you might be able to find a meter to be able to automatically send results. Not sure how the One Touch strips are treated by your insurance, but that might be an option to look into. If it would help you out, I could look if I still have one lying around that you can have if it will help you. Send me a PM if you want me to look for it.
By the way, I have the Medtronic 530G with the Enlite CGM's, but I've used most kinds of pumps in the past and used the original Sof-sensor CGM's with Medtronic when they were the latest technology (have since been discontinued with the more advanced Enlite's). My first pump was a Medtronic in 2003 and since then, I've used the Accu-Chek 360 system, Smith's Medical (Disetronic) up until that was discontinued, and ultimately returned to Medtronic for the integrated CGM back when it was still the Sof-Sensor. I got upgraded for free at the end of 2015 when they discontinued Sof-Sensor because my pump was still under warranty and *officially* the pump would not work with Enlite CGM's - i.e. they had no FDA approval, but to be honest, I know of people who were using Enlites with 511/711 and higher (below 530G).1 -
KenSmith108 wrote: »You can use a second inexpensive meter, it just won't communicate with your pump.
You would still benefit from the bg#s. If you got an actionable # you could
always use the expensive strip to alert your pump. or
@KenSmith108 - I don't know if that will work for the OP, but I swear, this is about one of the most common sense yet BLOODY BRILLIANT suggestions I've seen made here in a while. Thanks for that.0 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »KenSmith108 wrote: »You can use a second inexpensive meter, it just won't communicate with your pump.
You would still benefit from the bg#s. If you got an actionable # you could
always use the expensive strip to alert your pump. or
@KenSmith108 - I don't know if that will work for the OP, but I swear, this is about one of the most common sense yet BLOODY BRILLIANT suggestions I've seen made here in a while. Thanks for that.
The Medtronic pumps allow manual BG entry, so an inexpensive meter could be used all the time... it is just more buttons to press to do it manually.1 -
RalfLott-Thanks for the info about the test strips. I was always leery of the quality of the strips when purchased on
line. That was great info.
0 -
Hi Aquawave- My doctor uses Medtronic glucose monitors, which is the leading company.
The monitor really improves the quality of life for a PWD type 1. With Medicare, there is a lot more
paperwork and verification. You must "document" your test strip uses, so you receive "exactly"
the number of test strips.....if you test 3 times a day, you will receive enough for 3 times a day.
Even if they are prescribed by your doctor, you can not get more than your numbers indicate you
need. He has to send in paperwork every three months, and I sometimes have to send in paperwork to
distributors for their documentation. The supplies I need are also closely regulated....they arrive
within a specified time period. If you can use a variety of test strips and meters, you should have
a much easier time. I also have a secondary insurance so I am luckier than most. I still write down
my numbers every day, but the stats can also be downloaded. Medicare brings an adjustment
from traditional insurance, but being aware of the transition makes it easier :-) It's all good :-)
Is it all good? Transitioning to Medicare from really good private insurance? My husband is working till he is 69 (another 4 years) so I am covered with Anthem. We are thinking of moving to Tampa area, so we can enroll in Humana Gold Plus. All of our elders were covered for almost every dollar in healthcare costs. HGP varies in coverage and price depending on the county you live in. It pretty much stinks in the Atlanta area. Florida coverage in Dade-Broward area and Tampa-St Pete, so much better.
I kinda thought Medicare restricted the strips to begin with, but I had no idea they were so Big Brother about it, to account for every strip you use? Humana Gold Plus, might actually do the same since they are pretty much an HMO. So, If your diabetes is in abeyance due to your WOE, you would not receive any strips? How do they decide the number of strips you need, is it by your A1C, diagnosis code? If you are testing to your meter trying to keep things in control, that's a ton of strips. I know that there are cheap strips on Amazon, but on a fixed income, do we end up eating cat food to survive?
0 -
Aquawave- You and your husband will do just fine :-) My secondary insurance still takes care of most of the costs not covered by Medicare. My issue is basically in the particular brand I need to use for my pump, and its cost because of availability. There is paperwork involved when using Medicare, but you get accustomed to the time
frame it usually follows. You are already looking ahead, which is always advisable, but retirement is a time to look
forward to. Take a deep breath and know that you are totally capable of handling Medicare for many years to come.
By the way, in my experience, the number of test strips is determined by your A1C and the number of times you need to test each day as determined by the doctor. Good luck :-)0 -
KnitOrMiss- Your brilliance is showing :-) Thanks for a great suggestion !0
-
midwesterner85- Thanks so much for taking the time to provide an in-depth explanation. It sounds like you were
on the ground floor of the monitors from all the brands you have used. I do not have the CGM, my results are sent
directly from my meter. The test strips are no longer available by mail order, but are still available at our local pharmacies...although I don't know if they will honor my 90 day supply script yet. Medtronic seems to be "controlling the market" on supply distribution, though. I am going to check to see if I can just send the
test results manually using an old meter to see if that would work because it certainly would be a lot more reasonable financially to use the One Touch strips. Thanks for the time and the enlightenment....have a great week.0 -
midwesterner85- Thanks so much for taking the time to provide an in-depth explanation. It sounds like you were
on the ground floor of the monitors from all the brands you have used. I do not have the CGM, my results are sent
directly from my meter. The test strips are no longer available by mail order, but are still available at our local pharmacies...although I don't know if they will honor my 90 day supply script yet. Medtronic seems to be "controlling the market" on supply distribution, though. I am going to check to see if I can just send the
test results manually using an old meter to see if that would work because it certainly would be a lot more reasonable financially to use the One Touch strips. Thanks for the time and the enlightenment....have a great week.
Yes, you can enter BG manually whether or not you are using a CGM. With the CGM, you can manually enter a meter reading to calibrate. Without the CGM, you can enter a BG manually for A) tracking through Medtronic so it will be included in uploads from your pump, or
using the bolus wizard to calculate an insulin bolus. In all cases, you can enter a BG manually... the only benefit of using a meter that will communicate with your pump is convenience. That is, letting the meter send BG to the pump is convenient and manually entering the BG is inconvenient. 2 -
RalfLott-Thanks for the info about the test strips. I was always leery of the quality of the strips when purchased on
line. That was great info.
FYI, @Bensonj, I've checked various batches of recently-expiring vs. expires-next-year Bayer Contour Next strips and never noticed any disparity in the results!1 -
Bump - lots of good stuff in this thread.1
