Medical devices as prevention savings good or bad idea?

[QuarterMillionMan]

As a preventative measure, I'm thinking about buying a blood testing kit in order to test my blood sugar let's say once a month in the morning after fasting. Family history is present for diabetes but I don't have it but I'm thinking about buying a cheap blood test kit to prick my finger in the morning after fasting once a month as a preventative measure to keep an eye out rather than going to my doctor one day and finding out that way. Also, in my family high blood pressure runs in the family and I may buy a cheap blood pressure machine. Rather than wait until I get diagnosed with let's say diabetes and having to buy a blood testing kit in the future should I get it, I will just buy it now and start testing myself, good idea or bad idea?

[kork13]

I wouldn't necessarily term it as a money-saving measure, but as a health maintenance practice? Absolutely makes sense. Awareness & prevention are almost always more effective than trying to deal with a problem retroactively. Particularly given your family history, periodic blood pressure & glucose monitoring seems very reasonable.

From the financial perspective... Depending on your insurance coverage, you may be able to get them covered by insurance as DME (durable medical equipment) if your PCP agrees to write you a Rx for it. Alternatively, if you use a healthcare FSA, these (and periodic refills of lances & test strips) would be great options for how to spend off remaining FSA funds.

Last suggestion would be to keep records of your BP & glucose levels, so that you can bring & discuss it with your doc at your regular checkups.

[QuarterMillionMan]

If I see my numbers increasing I can change my diet or get in more exercise or do something to try to bring it down. Whereas if I wait and do nothing in the future my doctor may say "you have diabetes" and it would be too late. Trying to be proactive and test myself and like kork recommended to keep good records (if needed down the line). As for insurance, I doubt they'll pay without a confirmed diagnosis so I'll just pay for it myself to be proactive.

[ua_guy]

You can save money by having your blood pressure checked by a machine in a store (local pharmacy). Fire stations usually do it for free and you can make friends with the shift.

A glucose monitor is a good tool to have around if you suspect you're having a diabetic event. Personally I wouldn't trust it much beyond telling me if I'm really high or really low...best results are probably going to come from a lab/ your doctor including other diabetes screening.

Ah, EMS drill night...I remember doing my workup on an "unconscious" colleague playing patient, found in a stairwell, and getting a reading of about 500 on the glucose meter when I checked him. Dang! He had rubbed syrup on his fingertips. Nice trick to throw off a probie expecting a normal result 80-120.

[disneysteve]

As a preventative measure, I'm thinking about buying a blood testing kit in order to test my blood sugar let's say once a month in the morning after fasting. Family history is present for diabetes but I don't have it but I'm thinking about buying a cheap blood test kit to prick my finger in the morning after fasting once a month as a preventative measure to keep an eye out rather than going to my doctor one day and finding out that way. Also, in my family high blood pressure runs in the family and I may buy a cheap blood pressure machine. Rather than wait until I get diagnosed with let's say diabetes and having to buy a blood testing kit in the future should I get it, I will just buy it now and start testing myself, good idea or bad idea?

I think both are perfectly good ideas, especially with a family history. Neither device is particularly expensive and they're very accurate. Don't freak out if you get one abnormal reading but if you see a trend over several days or if you have an abnormal reading coupled with not feeling well, absolutely contact your provider.

[disneysteve]

You can save money by having your blood pressure checked by a machine in a store (local pharmacy). Fire stations usually do it for free and you can make friends with the shift.

I don't know about the fire dept idea. I can't imagine fire depts want a bunch of random people wandering in just to have their BP checked. Checking at a store is fine but having a home monitor is even better since you can check any time of day and track the trend over time.

A glucose monitor is a good tool to have around if you suspect you're having a diabetic event. Personally I wouldn't trust it much beyond telling me if I'm really high or really low...best results are probably going to come from a lab/ your doctor including other diabetes screening.

I disagree. Home glucose monitors are very accurate. The monitors you can buy at Walmart or CVS are the very same ones used in doctors' offices and ERs. As a doctor, I can tell you we absolutely base treatment decisions on the results from those monitors. And as I said for the BP monitor, being able to track your sugar over time is valuable.

Ah, EMS drill night...I remember doing my workup on an "unconscious" colleague playing patient, found in a stairwell, and getting a reading of about 500 on the glucose meter when I checked him. Dang! He had rubbed syrup on his fingertips. Nice trick to throw off a probie expecting a normal result 80-120.

That tells me that you failed to follow good testing technique. Had you thoroughly cleaned the finger with alcohol prior to drawing blood, you would have removed the syrup residue (which you probably would have noticed since his fingers would have been sticky) and you would have gotten a normal reading.

[Like2Plan]

I don't see anything wrong with checking from time to time. But, I also think you should get your annual labs to see if anything else has gone awry. Do you think this would be something that would come on suddenly or do you think it would be a gradual thing that would slowly trend away from normal range?

[disneysteve]

I don't see anything wrong with checking from time to time. But, I also think you should get your annual labs to see if anything else has gone awry. Do you think this would be something that would come on suddenly or do you think it would be a gradual thing that would slowly trend away from normal range?

Good question. I think seeing a trend, especially early on, could be beneficial, especially with diabetes but also for high blood pressure. Both are conditions that may have absolutely no symptoms until they're quite severe. Normal fasting blood sugar is under 100. Over 125 is considered diabetic. A patient may not experience any symptoms until their sugar is 250 or 300 or more. Blood pressure is called the silent killer because it could be sky high and you could feel just fine... until you have a stroke. 120/80 is normal but you could be walking around at 200/110 with zero symptoms.

Annual physicals are great, but a lot can change in a year also.

[QuarterMillionMan]

[QuarterMillionMan]

Discovered today that I can earn $300 from United Healthcare, got $17.50 today. Have all of 2024 to earn the remainer so will try to get the max.

[disneysteve]

Discovered today that I can earn $300 from United Healthcare, got $17.50 today. Have all of 2024 to earn the remainer so will try to get the max.

My mom has a similar program with her UHC Medicare plan. She doesn’t get all of it because it would be a lot for her to do but she does get some of it.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I just ordered my biometric kit to try and get the $50 but not sure what that would entail. If too much hoops to jump through I might not pursue it.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Got up to $42.75 thusfar to be redeemed for a Visa gift card.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Using the control solution I am getting the correct range indicated on the test strip container. Tomorrow I'll be ready to take my first real fasting test.

[kork13]

Interesting concept. I've heard of health insurance policies & employers trying to incentivize various healthy habits. Covering gym memberships, policy discounts/incentive bonuses based on recorded exercise or other wellness activities, paying for/providing a variety of wellness-focused services/activities/devices, etc.

In general terms, I think it's really smart -- prevention is the best medicine. From the an employer/insurer perspective I'd rather pay for someone's gym membership or 5k race registrations than pay later on for their psychiatrist & internist.