Hello Everyone,
I am a newly diagnosed diabetic, but have experience with diabetes because I was a gestational diabetic with my last three children. I am currently using the Accucheck Aviva as a back up to my Freestyle Libre. However, the test strips are so expensive! Is there a reasonably priced glucose monitor and test strips that is accurate? I got burned with the wal-mart brand, so I am hesitant to deviate from my Accucheck. I just can’t spend $.50 a test strip.
Here’s a link to. 2017 test from DiaTribe. I used the Walmart Micro as a backup for Contour Next, and found them to be within a few points of one another.
Thank you so much! This is a big help!
Truemetrix are accurate and reasonable, 39.99 for 300 at Walmart
Thank you! I will look into it. I just priced my Accucheck strips and they are over $2 each.
If you use the libre CGM like I do you can keep all you Data in one place if you get the Abbott precision neo strips, 19.94 for 50 at Walmart, a little pricey and likely not worth the extra money
Hi @homeschoolingmomof5 - by your name you sound busy busy busy! Just wondering why you use a backup for the Libre? Not that it’s a bad thing, but when I’ve used the Libre I haven’t had any problems. If you have an issue with it not sticking well enough I found Simpatches on Amazon and they work great. They have ones designed for different CGMs - I use one over my Dexcom sensor - and they make them for Freestyle as well. They’re about $18 for a pack of 25, but they should last a while since the Libre is for 10 days. If your issue with the Libre is how long it stays on, that might be a less costly solution overall than test strips.
Hi @wadawabbit ! Thank you so much for your response. I am super busy! I love my Libre, but for some reason it has difficulty accurately showing me my lows. For example, yesterday, I received a number of 65 after I exercised. I felt fine so I checked my blood and found out it was really 88. This happens often enough so I try to always double check my readings before treating.
I have looked into the patches, simply because my 12 mo. old son keeps pulling at my sensors! I have been able to keep them on just by carrying my baby on the opposite arm. I have found that my Libre even sticks well in the pool without a patch. I have had no issues!
Hi @Lavallek - I have tried the Abbott strips that work with my Libre, but I don’t like them. They are all individually wrapped which is a pain when you have a 12 mo. old son on your lap while you are trying to make sure your blood sugar really is 67. They also use a lot more blood than my Accucheck Aviva. I have a really hard time getting a lot of blood out of my fingers. When I was in the hospital in March (I was diagnosed then because i had DKA and a blood sugar number of 915), the tech in the emergency room had a really hard time and had to lance several fingers to get the blood.
I decided to go with the Contour Next. The strips aren’t so pricey at Wal-Mart and the accuracy is good. When I had Gestational Diabetes with my youngest son, I originally used a Wal-Mart brand meter and found out the hard way that it was 30 - 70 points higher than my actual blood sugar. I was on too much insulin and was having really bad low incidents 5x - 6 x a week, but since my numbers didn’t show this, my doctor refused to lower my insulin dose because they thought I was lying. When I found out the problem and switched meters, my doctor thought I was making up numbers. It took the outrage of my nutritionist (who called a wonderful nurse at the practice) to get them to slowly drop my insulin dose. They actually had to cut my insulin in half before my low events stopped. I switched doctors at the practice…My nutritionist urged me to switch practices, but they are one of the best high risk practices in the area (I was 42 when I was pregnant with my son).
I used the Accuchek Guide meter and strips, which uses a small sample although I don’t know if others use less. I’ve gotten test strips off of eBay from time to time - never had any problems although you do want to check expiration dates before placing an order. I checked those steps on eBay and using Goodrx for pharmacies in my area, and eBay was about $3.00 less compared with pharmacies in my area. That difference may vary with other strips.
Hi @wadawabbit! I am so sorry I am responding late! I had good success getting my test strips for the Accucheck aviva on Amazon. However, they were still pricy. The last batch I bought was 3boxes of 50 for $115. I don’t have any health insurance, so I have to be creative! I hadn’t tried eBay. I will definitely look into it. Thank you!
Please don’t apologize! Goodness knows you’re busy times five!
I’m glad you had success with Amazon and I hope you find good deals with eBay. Also look into Goodrx - you can plug in the item you need and it will show the price at various pharmacies in your area - I think there’s a prescription savings card you can use. And there’s one cake Singlecare you can try as well.
I too have had some issues with low sensor readings that don’t match meter readings. I have learned that my biggest issue is dehydration. Especially after exercising I sweat so profusely that my skin becomes dehydrated pretty rapidly. I use my meter to check regularly but I have learned to pre hydrate before exercising and it has really helped me with the dependability of my sensor readings.
I managed to get the EMBRACE meter/strips/lancets through my insurance at no cost. Call your insurance and see if they have that one or another one they can offer. I also go through the company US MED and everything is shipped to my house.