The first week testing is the hardest. But the meters today, are very easy. One Touch has free mini-meter...and I tend to recommend them because their chemistry of the strips is not affected by other sugars you may consume (maltodextrin, maltose, xylitol, etc). The other meters use a system that may read false elevations depending on your diet.

The One Touch mini is free... go to their website. It took 3 weeks for my coupon to come by mail though. So do it now. You will need an RX to claim the email coupon at a pharmacy.

My insurance pays 80% of the strips, and you need an RX for that too.

But really you need to keep a journal showing your food intake and readings later. This makes planning your meals easier. It seems complicated but once you do it, it is not so hard. The new lancets that come with the One Touch mini meter are almost painless...if you use 3 or 4 setting on the spring load.

After a while it is not so difficult. I had some problems for about 3 days. I even dropped the meter once! But it still works correctly.

I really urge you to start to do this...so you can become better aware of your day and what if any contribution erratic blood sugars have to how you feel.

Once you get your diary going, after about 3 weeks, you can back off testing to once or twice a day. Or even skip a day.
You really need to call the doctor's and get your A1C result ...it will tell you ALOT.

Truvia is a new sweetener with Stevia in it. All natural. You can try that. I use Splenda one packet a day in my tea. (I have 2 big mugs with 1/2 packet in them each in the mornings with my breakfast tea). I can't tolerate much more caffeine than that however!