It was the same with me. I couldn't afford a continuous glucose monitor. I was checking my blood sugar 10+ times a day, because I was having hypoglycemia anxiety.

Even after I got a job and starting earning money, I hesitated getting a continuous glucose monitor because it costed so much. I was using the cheapest glucose meter that tested with blood, because the strips were cheap. It turned out that machine was inaccurate and my diabetes nurse gifted me a better glucometre.

I recently was able to switch to a continuous glucose monitor (the tamagochi type thing) and things got much better.